"Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance." Isaiah 55: 2
The New York State government in its efforts to make some money (and allegedly improve the health of its residents) have proposed a somewhat controversial sugar tax. Under the new proposal, all soda pop (non-diet) and sugary beverages will be taxed 1 cent for every ounce. Bureaucrats believe that this sugar tax will net the state a cool 400-450 million dollars a year. This same proposal came up last year as well but was voted down, though all signs this year point to its passing. Many people are outraged over this tax, especially those who make a living off of the production, distribution and selling of these drinks, and those who love to drink them.
To me, it's much ado about nothing. I guess it doesn't bother me at all, because I don't drink these drinks - but it did get me to thinking...it's interesting that Soda has absolutely no nutritional value for us. In fact, Soda has a negative effect on our health - it actually hurts us. Nutritionally speaking, God designed us to consume certain things in order to survive and function - Soda is not one of those things. Whenever we buy and consume a Soda, we are inevitably spending our money on that which does not ultimately satisfy. You have to have a really good marketing department to create and sell something to people that has no redeeming value and actually hurts you.
Our addiction to purchasing and consuming Soda even though it does not satisfy us is really a good metaphor for our spiritual consumption as well.
We spend a lot of time and effort chasing after this and that to make us feel important, validated, fulfilled, and satisfied. We spend a lot of money on leisure time, big screen TV's, cars and boats, investments, you name it. We spend a lot of time on self actualization, relationships, climbing the corporate ladder, making as much money as we can. All of these pursuits are done with the hope of finding satisfaction in life.
The reality is that they will not...they will always leave you wanting more. In fact, much like Soda Pop they can actually do you harm. The Devil and his marketing department have done an excellent job of creating and selling something to people that has no redeeming value and actually hurts you.
Our only real satisfaction comes through Jesus Christ - knowing, glorifying and loving Him. Says Jesus to you today, "Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance."
Be God's, Scott
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
To Good To Be True
"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy, and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price."
Isaiah 55: 1
Isn't that a wonderful bit of Scripture from Isaiah! Imagine with me for a moment that the above quote was taken from a Newspaper article for the grocery store here in our River community. Could you imagine the response from the readers..."hello, what is this?!? Free food and drink for anyone that wants it! What a great store!"
I suspect the lineups and rush to cash in, on this incredible freebie would be long, and swift to grow. I also think that this store would very quickly run out of groceries at the expense of their greedy consumers. I mean, who wouldn't want something for nothing - where can you get that anymore? And this offer is apparently for anyone, because everyone thirsts, right?
I guess if I read this in the newspaper, I would just figure it was a joke (perhaps April Fools Day) or that there would be some type of strings attached. My folks taught me when I was little that if it sounded too good to be true, than it probably was.
Of course, this Scripture is not talking about real food and drink, and grocery stores gone wild - so then, what is it talking about? It still seems like a pretty incredible offer, no?
God our good Father offers us all salvation and new life in Jesus Christ. He offers to quench our spiritual thirst for a saviour, and our spiritual hunger for the Word of God, now and forever more. And this offer from God to you is an incredible one! There is nothing you can do to earn or purchase it, it has already been purchased for you by Jesus. It's a gift that you need only grab and claim with thanksgiving. All may come and avail themselves of this amazing freebie. This offer from God is not too good to be true...it's real.
May you enjoy your salvation today, and the simple knowledge that Christ fully satisfies you!
Be God's, Scott
Isaiah 55: 1
Isn't that a wonderful bit of Scripture from Isaiah! Imagine with me for a moment that the above quote was taken from a Newspaper article for the grocery store here in our River community. Could you imagine the response from the readers..."hello, what is this?!? Free food and drink for anyone that wants it! What a great store!"
I suspect the lineups and rush to cash in, on this incredible freebie would be long, and swift to grow. I also think that this store would very quickly run out of groceries at the expense of their greedy consumers. I mean, who wouldn't want something for nothing - where can you get that anymore? And this offer is apparently for anyone, because everyone thirsts, right?
I guess if I read this in the newspaper, I would just figure it was a joke (perhaps April Fools Day) or that there would be some type of strings attached. My folks taught me when I was little that if it sounded too good to be true, than it probably was.
Of course, this Scripture is not talking about real food and drink, and grocery stores gone wild - so then, what is it talking about? It still seems like a pretty incredible offer, no?
God our good Father offers us all salvation and new life in Jesus Christ. He offers to quench our spiritual thirst for a saviour, and our spiritual hunger for the Word of God, now and forever more. And this offer from God to you is an incredible one! There is nothing you can do to earn or purchase it, it has already been purchased for you by Jesus. It's a gift that you need only grab and claim with thanksgiving. All may come and avail themselves of this amazing freebie. This offer from God is not too good to be true...it's real.
May you enjoy your salvation today, and the simple knowledge that Christ fully satisfies you!
Be God's, Scott
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Great Understatement
"As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)" Luke 9:33
So Jesus took three of His disciples with Him (Peter, James, and John) on a little trek up a mountain to pray. Once they got there, and while they were praying, something pretty amazing happened. The rugged and plain visage of the earthly rabbi Jesus was visibly and physically altered right before the eyes of the disciples. Jesus face changed and His clothing shone and flashed like lightning. In short, Jesus fully revealed His heavenly glory to these 3 disciples. What was previously covered and hidden by the limitations of human flesh, beautifully spilled out of Jesus for the disciples to gaze upon. Their eyes beheld the full glory of God - an incredible gift.
Now, to make this moment even more amazing - long gone heroes of the Jewish faith, Moses and Elijah miraculously appeared before them also shining majestically. They proceeded to speak with Jesus about His impending life, death, resurrection and ascension. Moses, and Elijah! This is the American equivalent of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln showing up at your backyard Barbecue. Yet there they were, right before the eyes of the now mouth agape disciples, frankly discussing Jesus end game.
So, in light of this incredible, never happen again situation - the full glory of Jesus shining like the sun before them, and the very real presences of Moses and Elijah there joining Him - Peter makes his great understatement...
"It is good for us to be here."
Now, I don't know if He was trying to play it cool, or if he didn't really get the gravity of the situation, but whatever the case, here was this incredibly awesome event unfolding before him, and Peter utters a statement that might have been more appropriate for someone attending an exciting football game. "Boy, this is a good game, we should stay til the end." This seems to me to be a real underwhelming response to an overwhelming event. I'd like to think that if I was blessed to have been in Peter's shoes that I would have been immediately thrown to the ground prostrate on my face in worship of Jesus, instead of looking for tents.
What if I told you, that as Christians, even though we can't physically see Him, we are in the holy and glorious presence of the fully glorified risen Lord Jesus. I often like to think of this when I attend worship on Sunday morning. How often is our response to Jesus' glorious and real presence in worship really a great understatement. More often than not, we say even less than Peter - "it was not good to be here, I would rather be somewhere else." And far, from putting up tents and staying longer, we impatiently check our watches when the service goes one minute past the regular dismissal time.
The glorious Jesus deserves more than our great understatement. May your life be filled with the reality of the presence of our awesome King, and may your response be nothing less than awe and worship.
Be God's, Scott (ps. next post will be on Mon. - meeting all day tomorrow in Syracuse)
So Jesus took three of His disciples with Him (Peter, James, and John) on a little trek up a mountain to pray. Once they got there, and while they were praying, something pretty amazing happened. The rugged and plain visage of the earthly rabbi Jesus was visibly and physically altered right before the eyes of the disciples. Jesus face changed and His clothing shone and flashed like lightning. In short, Jesus fully revealed His heavenly glory to these 3 disciples. What was previously covered and hidden by the limitations of human flesh, beautifully spilled out of Jesus for the disciples to gaze upon. Their eyes beheld the full glory of God - an incredible gift.
Now, to make this moment even more amazing - long gone heroes of the Jewish faith, Moses and Elijah miraculously appeared before them also shining majestically. They proceeded to speak with Jesus about His impending life, death, resurrection and ascension. Moses, and Elijah! This is the American equivalent of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln showing up at your backyard Barbecue. Yet there they were, right before the eyes of the now mouth agape disciples, frankly discussing Jesus end game.
So, in light of this incredible, never happen again situation - the full glory of Jesus shining like the sun before them, and the very real presences of Moses and Elijah there joining Him - Peter makes his great understatement...
"It is good for us to be here."
Now, I don't know if He was trying to play it cool, or if he didn't really get the gravity of the situation, but whatever the case, here was this incredibly awesome event unfolding before him, and Peter utters a statement that might have been more appropriate for someone attending an exciting football game. "Boy, this is a good game, we should stay til the end." This seems to me to be a real underwhelming response to an overwhelming event. I'd like to think that if I was blessed to have been in Peter's shoes that I would have been immediately thrown to the ground prostrate on my face in worship of Jesus, instead of looking for tents.
What if I told you, that as Christians, even though we can't physically see Him, we are in the holy and glorious presence of the fully glorified risen Lord Jesus. I often like to think of this when I attend worship on Sunday morning. How often is our response to Jesus' glorious and real presence in worship really a great understatement. More often than not, we say even less than Peter - "it was not good to be here, I would rather be somewhere else." And far, from putting up tents and staying longer, we impatiently check our watches when the service goes one minute past the regular dismissal time.
The glorious Jesus deserves more than our great understatement. May your life be filled with the reality of the presence of our awesome King, and may your response be nothing less than awe and worship.
Be God's, Scott (ps. next post will be on Mon. - meeting all day tomorrow in Syracuse)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Citizenship
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which is able even to subdue all things to Himself." Philippians 3: 20-21
My oldest son is a high achiever - he does very well academically in school. For him, anything less than a 90% kind of bums him out. He recently came home from school with this perturbed look in eyes. I could tell something was bugging him because he had this indignant clenched jaw thing going on. So I asked him how his day at school went. He went on to tell me that in his 7th grade social studies class they were given a pop quiz for credit consisting of actual questions from the US citizenship test. My little perfectionist was definitely non-plussed about the 60% he scored. I actually thought it was pretty good, considering he is a Canadian and has only been in the US school system for 1 and a half years, but I could see how his youthful fairness meter would be tipping to unfair.
Me, being the clever Father that I am, suggested he obtain some questions from the Canadian citizenship test in order to quiz his teacher and if she failed to score better than he did on his US quiz - he could get a guaranteed A+ in the course...that was when I got the "Dad, you're a crazy man" look.
Citizenship is an interesting thing. In order to become a citizen of the US, you need to either be born here, or naturalized into one through a number of different means. It can often be a long and difficult process to become a naturalized citizen of the USA. However, once you are a citizen, you are a citizen, just as if you were born here, complete with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that come with it. To become an American is to live into the ideals and precepts of freedom and democracy, as well as abiding by its constitution and bill of rights and the law of the land.
Paul describes Christians as having a citizenship in heaven. New life in Christ allows one to become a birth citizen in the Kingdom of God - this is an incredible privilege. It's also one that is not a difficult or onerous process - there are no tests, paperwork, fingerprinting, and time constraints. The entrance point is simply faith in Christ.
And citizenship in heaven trumps any type of earthly citizenship because it is eternal and our leader is a holy, all powerful God rather than a fallen worldly leader. So what is our responsibility as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven?
Just as American citizens are called to abide by the constitution and the bill of rights and the law of the land - Citizens of heaven are called to obey and abide by the Word of God, the Bible.
Just as American citizens are called to live into the precepts of democracy and freedom - Citizens of heaven are called to live into the precepts of love and mercy.
As citizens of heaven, we are called to allow our identity be swallowed up in the glorious identity of our head - Jesus. May we endeavor to do so, and as we do - may others recognize the amazing privilege of our citizenship and want to join in too.
Be God's, Scott
My oldest son is a high achiever - he does very well academically in school. For him, anything less than a 90% kind of bums him out. He recently came home from school with this perturbed look in eyes. I could tell something was bugging him because he had this indignant clenched jaw thing going on. So I asked him how his day at school went. He went on to tell me that in his 7th grade social studies class they were given a pop quiz for credit consisting of actual questions from the US citizenship test. My little perfectionist was definitely non-plussed about the 60% he scored. I actually thought it was pretty good, considering he is a Canadian and has only been in the US school system for 1 and a half years, but I could see how his youthful fairness meter would be tipping to unfair.
Me, being the clever Father that I am, suggested he obtain some questions from the Canadian citizenship test in order to quiz his teacher and if she failed to score better than he did on his US quiz - he could get a guaranteed A+ in the course...that was when I got the "Dad, you're a crazy man" look.
Citizenship is an interesting thing. In order to become a citizen of the US, you need to either be born here, or naturalized into one through a number of different means. It can often be a long and difficult process to become a naturalized citizen of the USA. However, once you are a citizen, you are a citizen, just as if you were born here, complete with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that come with it. To become an American is to live into the ideals and precepts of freedom and democracy, as well as abiding by its constitution and bill of rights and the law of the land.
Paul describes Christians as having a citizenship in heaven. New life in Christ allows one to become a birth citizen in the Kingdom of God - this is an incredible privilege. It's also one that is not a difficult or onerous process - there are no tests, paperwork, fingerprinting, and time constraints. The entrance point is simply faith in Christ.
And citizenship in heaven trumps any type of earthly citizenship because it is eternal and our leader is a holy, all powerful God rather than a fallen worldly leader. So what is our responsibility as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven?
Just as American citizens are called to abide by the constitution and the bill of rights and the law of the land - Citizens of heaven are called to obey and abide by the Word of God, the Bible.
Just as American citizens are called to live into the precepts of democracy and freedom - Citizens of heaven are called to live into the precepts of love and mercy.
As citizens of heaven, we are called to allow our identity be swallowed up in the glorious identity of our head - Jesus. May we endeavor to do so, and as we do - may others recognize the amazing privilege of our citizenship and want to join in too.
Be God's, Scott
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Giant Delivery
"And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD."
Psalm 27:6
Triumph, victory, that feeling of having overcome an difficult obstacle - these are feelings and opportunities that we are blessed with every now and then. And they are wonderful empowering moments in any ones life. The only problem is that getting to that feeling, means first undergoing adversity, and difficulty while facing hopeless looking odds. These types of situations we are more familiar with...yes?
I mean, how often do the circumstances of life stack up against you? A mountain of debt, a relationship that looks beyond repair, a fearful disease, the hurt of losing a dear loved one - I could go on, but you get the idea. Everyone of us faces our own unique giant enemies, and at times we feel consumed by them.
David, who wrote this Psalm, knew these giant enemies all too well. Sometimes we forget that David the poet and songster King began his biblical career as a boy slayer of Giants. David literally was faced with a mountain of an enemy in the form of Goliath, that frankly, he had no chance of overcoming. Yet...armed with only a sling, a stone, and faith in a God who does move mountains, who does crush giant enemies, and who is larger and greater than all our obstacles - overcome he did.
Listen to David's brash words to his giant enemy. "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel...for the battle is the LORD's." I love it. David's confidence and strength to overcome his giant enemy came not in his own strength or might or chance...but from the hand of the LORD. It was really His battle. God overcome David's enemy on His behalf.
The same is true for us. Do you really believe that there is any obstacle or giant enemy facing you that God cannot overcome, slay, and deliver you from? Put your faith in Him and allow Him to fight your battle for you. He will give you triumph, victory, and that great feeling of overcoming an immense obstacle. He can, because He is almighty...He wants to because He is a faithful Father.
And when He does, please, like David, do not chalk it up to coincidence, or your own self actualization - give thanks and praise to God. Worship Him with all you've got. He is your deliverer.
Be God's, Scott
Psalm 27:6
Triumph, victory, that feeling of having overcome an difficult obstacle - these are feelings and opportunities that we are blessed with every now and then. And they are wonderful empowering moments in any ones life. The only problem is that getting to that feeling, means first undergoing adversity, and difficulty while facing hopeless looking odds. These types of situations we are more familiar with...yes?
I mean, how often do the circumstances of life stack up against you? A mountain of debt, a relationship that looks beyond repair, a fearful disease, the hurt of losing a dear loved one - I could go on, but you get the idea. Everyone of us faces our own unique giant enemies, and at times we feel consumed by them.
David, who wrote this Psalm, knew these giant enemies all too well. Sometimes we forget that David the poet and songster King began his biblical career as a boy slayer of Giants. David literally was faced with a mountain of an enemy in the form of Goliath, that frankly, he had no chance of overcoming. Yet...armed with only a sling, a stone, and faith in a God who does move mountains, who does crush giant enemies, and who is larger and greater than all our obstacles - overcome he did.
Listen to David's brash words to his giant enemy. "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel...for the battle is the LORD's." I love it. David's confidence and strength to overcome his giant enemy came not in his own strength or might or chance...but from the hand of the LORD. It was really His battle. God overcome David's enemy on His behalf.
The same is true for us. Do you really believe that there is any obstacle or giant enemy facing you that God cannot overcome, slay, and deliver you from? Put your faith in Him and allow Him to fight your battle for you. He will give you triumph, victory, and that great feeling of overcoming an immense obstacle. He can, because He is almighty...He wants to because He is a faithful Father.
And when He does, please, like David, do not chalk it up to coincidence, or your own self actualization - give thanks and praise to God. Worship Him with all you've got. He is your deliverer.
Be God's, Scott
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Home is...
"One thing I have desired of the LORD, that I will seek: That I may dwell in the home of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." Psalm 27: 4
"Home is where the heart is." "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." "Home is not where you live, but where they understand you." "I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself." "Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes." "Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, but grow old wanting to get back to." "Home is an invention on which no one has yet improved."
What is home for you?
Home at it's best is an idyllic safe haven. And it's more than just a place - it's a place where loving community happens that you can join in on. In other words, home is defined not so much by the bricks and mortar and property on which it sits, rather by the relationships that happen therein.
Many of us, have at times, been privileged to live in homes such as these - though in reality, even those homes had their rough spots, and were anything but perfect. In fact, a good many of us grew up in poor homes. Homes that did not always feel safe; where loving relationships didn't really create an atmosphere of home. Many of us merely grew up in houses. It could be that many of us are merely residing in houses right now, and long for the warm sense of home that seems out there somewhere.
Everyone longs to be in a home like this, because we were made to dwell in a home like this.
God made us in order for us to dwell with Him in His home. The Psalmist identifies this inner human craving, by putting voice to our inner thoughts - I desire and seek to dwell in the home of the LORD all the days of my life. We sell our selves short whenever we choose to hang our hats anywhere else. Dwelling any place other than the home of the LORD is a huge step down, whether we realize it or not. That's why the Psalmist declares later on "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the home of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness." (Psalm 84:10)
The LORD offers an idyllic safe haven for all to dwell in - a home where we can rest in the presence of a relational loving God. Of course the best part is the view...gazing upon the beauty of the LORD.
Why settle for any other house, when you can dwell in the perfect home with the perfect family all the days of your life.
Be God's, Scott
"Home is where the heart is." "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." "Home is not where you live, but where they understand you." "I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself." "Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes." "Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, but grow old wanting to get back to." "Home is an invention on which no one has yet improved."
What is home for you?
Home at it's best is an idyllic safe haven. And it's more than just a place - it's a place where loving community happens that you can join in on. In other words, home is defined not so much by the bricks and mortar and property on which it sits, rather by the relationships that happen therein.
Many of us, have at times, been privileged to live in homes such as these - though in reality, even those homes had their rough spots, and were anything but perfect. In fact, a good many of us grew up in poor homes. Homes that did not always feel safe; where loving relationships didn't really create an atmosphere of home. Many of us merely grew up in houses. It could be that many of us are merely residing in houses right now, and long for the warm sense of home that seems out there somewhere.
Everyone longs to be in a home like this, because we were made to dwell in a home like this.
God made us in order for us to dwell with Him in His home. The Psalmist identifies this inner human craving, by putting voice to our inner thoughts - I desire and seek to dwell in the home of the LORD all the days of my life. We sell our selves short whenever we choose to hang our hats anywhere else. Dwelling any place other than the home of the LORD is a huge step down, whether we realize it or not. That's why the Psalmist declares later on "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the home of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness." (Psalm 84:10)
The LORD offers an idyllic safe haven for all to dwell in - a home where we can rest in the presence of a relational loving God. Of course the best part is the view...gazing upon the beauty of the LORD.
Why settle for any other house, when you can dwell in the perfect home with the perfect family all the days of your life.
Be God's, Scott
Monday, March 1, 2010
Staring at the Stars
"Then God brought Abram outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And Abram believed the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." Genesis 15: 5-6
Life is never dull when you're walking with God.
Our culture beckons us to pursue comfort. Relaxation and leisure time are noble worldly pursuits; and the ability to simply not do anything is something that many people work their fingers to the bone for. We find comfort in our toys, our vacations, our retirement, our days off, our technology - lots of things. God says to all who will listen, "Comfort, comfort my people." Is God really calling us, as Christians to pursue this type of leisurely comfort as part of faith walk? Does our salvation give us a free ticket to no longer worry about what may come and therefore relax your way towards heaven - Hakuna Matata.
I believe that the life of a comfortable Christian in this sense is really a misnomer. It makes the Christian life seems easy, and quite frankly, a little boring. God does not call us to a life of dull inactivity. What God calls us to is a life of surrender - "carry your cross and follow me." What God calls us to is a life of radical faith - "follow me and I will make you fisher's of men." What God calls us to is a life of suffering for His name's sake. What God calls us to is a life of thankful obedience. These callings from God certainly do not come across as comfortable to me (at least in our understanding of the word comfort). So what kind of comfort does God offer us in the midst of this radical call to change your lifestyle?
God certainly upset the applecart of Abram's comfortable life. In his old age, God called him to be the father of His children - the person through whom God would interact and bless humanity with. God chose to do this by making Abram an impossible promise, and then by asking him to believe Him, and obey Him no matter how crazy it sounded. Abram, naturally was a little hesitant to the idea. I mean, who wants to have their life turned upside down, from a life of creature comfort to a life of difficulty. Could he believe this promise making God?
God convinced Abram to follow Him in faith, by taking him outside on a beautiful clear night and directing his attention to the skies. He showed him the vastness and beauty of the stars, and said "see all those stars, that's how many descendants you will have, I'm good for it." Abram, at this point, believed the promise keeping God, and as the story goes, God did exactly what He said He would do, and we today are one of those stars he initially gazed upon.
Abram found his comfort, not in his circumstances, but in a promise keeping God. He did not let the impossible or difficult nature of the call dissuade him from following, because in his heavenly gazing, he saw a vast awesome God that dwarfed any impossibility or any difficulty.
The stars have been up there for a long time. Did you ever stop to think that the same stars that God showed Abram, are the same stars that we see in our night sky? When we gaze into the heavens on a clear summer night, we are not only staring galaxies and astronomical occurrences - we are staring firmly into the eyes of an awesome promise keeping God.
The Christian journey is not intended to be comfortable, and as a result it is certainly not dull. God will call you to do impossible and difficult things. He will make promises to you that will seem ludicrous. So why do them? Why pursue this type of illogical comfort?
Just look up at the stars.
Be God's, Scott
Life is never dull when you're walking with God.
Our culture beckons us to pursue comfort. Relaxation and leisure time are noble worldly pursuits; and the ability to simply not do anything is something that many people work their fingers to the bone for. We find comfort in our toys, our vacations, our retirement, our days off, our technology - lots of things. God says to all who will listen, "Comfort, comfort my people." Is God really calling us, as Christians to pursue this type of leisurely comfort as part of faith walk? Does our salvation give us a free ticket to no longer worry about what may come and therefore relax your way towards heaven - Hakuna Matata.
I believe that the life of a comfortable Christian in this sense is really a misnomer. It makes the Christian life seems easy, and quite frankly, a little boring. God does not call us to a life of dull inactivity. What God calls us to is a life of surrender - "carry your cross and follow me." What God calls us to is a life of radical faith - "follow me and I will make you fisher's of men." What God calls us to is a life of suffering for His name's sake. What God calls us to is a life of thankful obedience. These callings from God certainly do not come across as comfortable to me (at least in our understanding of the word comfort). So what kind of comfort does God offer us in the midst of this radical call to change your lifestyle?
God certainly upset the applecart of Abram's comfortable life. In his old age, God called him to be the father of His children - the person through whom God would interact and bless humanity with. God chose to do this by making Abram an impossible promise, and then by asking him to believe Him, and obey Him no matter how crazy it sounded. Abram, naturally was a little hesitant to the idea. I mean, who wants to have their life turned upside down, from a life of creature comfort to a life of difficulty. Could he believe this promise making God?
God convinced Abram to follow Him in faith, by taking him outside on a beautiful clear night and directing his attention to the skies. He showed him the vastness and beauty of the stars, and said "see all those stars, that's how many descendants you will have, I'm good for it." Abram, at this point, believed the promise keeping God, and as the story goes, God did exactly what He said He would do, and we today are one of those stars he initially gazed upon.
Abram found his comfort, not in his circumstances, but in a promise keeping God. He did not let the impossible or difficult nature of the call dissuade him from following, because in his heavenly gazing, he saw a vast awesome God that dwarfed any impossibility or any difficulty.
The stars have been up there for a long time. Did you ever stop to think that the same stars that God showed Abram, are the same stars that we see in our night sky? When we gaze into the heavens on a clear summer night, we are not only staring galaxies and astronomical occurrences - we are staring firmly into the eyes of an awesome promise keeping God.
The Christian journey is not intended to be comfortable, and as a result it is certainly not dull. God will call you to do impossible and difficult things. He will make promises to you that will seem ludicrous. So why do them? Why pursue this type of illogical comfort?
Just look up at the stars.
Be God's, Scott
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