A few years ago, I was preparing a message on judgment when I was struck with a surprise – It was a message of hope.
— Even when there are no signs of life in the tree, the Gardener gives another year — and lovingly tends the tree to eek out the life that no one else sees but He still believes may be there.
In a message of judgment and destruction, imagine this main message is: God still believes in you.
Perhaps you'd consider returning the favor!
"Harsh judgement is based not on the sternness of the Holy Ghost, but on my refusal to bear someone else's burden." –Oswald Chambers
Sometimes, we just misunderstand.
John came the altar and entreated, "Please pray for my hearing."
Shouting and gyrating, the preacher laid hands on him and shook his head for 5 minutes.
"How's your hearing now?"
John replied, "I don't know. It is next Wed. in Superior Court, but thanks for the prayers."
Sometimes, the stress is a bit much.
But sometimes, we are truly appalled.
There are things, about which, we may be, must be, should be appalled.
We are in ministry for God and others, not for ourselves. With all the rewards, it is still not about us.
We have rights and prerogatives that we do not exercise. We are free to do so, but we are also free to let them go because our loyalty, our values, our marching orders, indeed, our very purpose for existence is focused on something higher and better than our comforts.
We set aside our preferences for the good of others because that good is in the heart of the One to whom we have pledged our total loyalty — to love whom He loves and to care about the desires of His heart until they become the desires of our hearts as well.
" If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?"
"Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ." – 1 Corinthians 9:12 (ESV)
You may be moving into some new, unknown, precarious, and frightening territory in your life. You are proceeding with caution and trepidation. It is a place where you must go, but you do not know the terrain or the hidden agendas of these new days … All you know is Who is with you and leading you …
… and that is enough.
" And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, 'Jacob, Jacob.' And he said,'Here I am.' Then he said, 'I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.'"
"Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him." – Genesis 46:2-5 (ESV)
It was all the assurance that Jacob needed to set out and forward.
It is all we need.
God bless you in your NEW journey … for each day is a NEW JOURNEY!
None of this "otherness" is to suggest a lack of balance or an abandonment of dreams.
Don't let your bucket list go empty … Keep things moving out, but replace them regularly.
Plan to die with some things undone for others to take up and do. Never stop looking forward. Eventually, your gaze will be firmly fixed on the heavenly prize, but the path to Heaven passes through these green pastures, still waters, shadows of death, feasts of plenty here.
Goodness and mercy are following you all the days of your life and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever — But keep replenishing that bucket list!
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All of this has been a patching together and redaction of eclectic social media comments I have made on this day over the last ten years. Rather than weave them together perfectly or wait for the right moment or theme, I have offered them here.
Even what follows is recycled:
Deep thoughts? Deep words? How much time have I wasted looking and waiting for something deep to say or think when the deep waters are everywhere and everything that exists has un-fathomed depths beyond the imagination to be explored?
How deep could I plunge anyway given the quantity of hot air that occupied every part of my soul?
I am much more likely to float than plumb the depths. To do other requires weight. In Greek, weight is "doxa," from which we get "doxology" and "glory."
The heavier the glory that weighs us down, the deeper we go.
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