God spends a lot of time just on me...good thing He's omnipotent.
Often with the best of intentions in mind, I get pulled into a path of behavior that isn't...well...very Christ-like. Just a few weeks back, I wrote about ongoing dialogue with a number of different people about God, most of whom didn't actually believe He even exist. God was convicting me about my mannerism with a passage from Timothy. Well it seems that correcting took a little longer to sink in than it should have...that's a shame on me.
My exchanges didn't take a kinder, gentler turn after that post. Instead, another exchange on
Abundant Living (sorry Tracy) actually became pointed and sarcastic, and that's completely my fault too. I often pray for God to guide and direct my life in His will...but praying and listening are obviously two different things.
Abundant Living (sorry Tracy) actually became pointed and sarcastic, and that's completely my fault too. I often pray for God to guide and direct my life in His will...but praying and listening are obviously two different things.
A hymn came to my heart during the several days that covered the exchange, and I couldn't shake it for the life of me...
He is here, Hallelujah, He is here, Amen
He is here, Holy Holy, I will bless His name again
He is here, listen closely
Hear Him calling out your name
He is here, you can touch Him
You will never be the same
He is here, Holy Holy, I will bless His name again
He is here, listen closely
Hear Him calling out your name
He is here, you can touch Him
You will never be the same
Now, we haven't sang that hymn where I go to church in probably two years or more, but I requested we do it the next Sunday to our Praise Team leader, and he immediately responded with an emphatic yes. I was left to wonder where this was going...
While playing the song this past Sunday (which was the last song we did), I finally got it. Worshipping in complete humility is something I should do each and every Sunday, but I should also live my life each day in that same humility...because He is here...with me...always.
Paul, in one of his greatest speeches, tells the Greeks of Athens in Acts 17:24-28
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
I finally got it Sunday. Not that it had to happen during worship and praise...it could happen anywhere at anytime. I finally realized that God is here. Always. I should conduct my life in all aspects in complete submission and humility...because I am a light for Him. Jesus doesn't need me to win His battles. We know the ending to the story of this world. Jesus wants me to show love for my neighbor, because in doing so, I show His love.
Please Father, forgive me for not listening...and thank you for always being here with me. Amen.
4 comments:
Amen. And thank you for such an uplefting message. God bless, Lloyd
OK Tony, so I can't resist commenting on the exchange to which you allude.
You're intentions are so spot on, I know you want people to come into relationship with Jesus. I also totally understand how sometimes those guys can be so darn annoying because they come across like they really know so much, and how what they are saying is so "factual", when what they are saying are accepted facts truly are not. I'm not as knowledgeable as yourself, David, GCT, JD, tinkbell13, or Gandolf. I do believe that it's a good thing to be as knowledgeable as you guys, that we need people who are; it's just that God hasn't made my heart to get excited about those things. I tend to relate to people on the human level, to try to find some connection. Typically there's so much that is common to all of us. Then take it from there. But either way - trying to convince them into the kingdom or trying to relate them into the kingdom - it isn't gonna happen. Like you so beautifully illustrated in your last post here - it's that move of the Holy Spirit that draws people to God.
May God be present in a big way in our lives, our writing, and our encounters - may He draw people to Himself.
I have the same issues sometimes with doctrinal things. We get so puffed up that we tend to forget that God starts and finishes EVERTHING. The scripture you pointed out is perfect. It is God who gives all men life and breath and everything else. We "fight in love" so others can see and feel what we do, but unless God gives them the hearing ear and the seeing eye it will not be done. By His grace we plant the seed, and by His will the seed grows. (John 1:10)
When one which has highly opinionated views on a subject debates with one that also has the same level of opposite views, it will always be a draw with neither side gaining an advantage.
The fact is we only have one source that was methodically compiled to suggest evidence of divine creation and that the bible is the source and the truth. All other theories are exactly that. Just theories and speculation relying solely on a scientific anology that is hard to prove or disprove.
The fact that God or the Holy spirit speaks to us today in numerous ways can only lend credibility that God in fact does exist.
Another fact relates to the prophesies in both the Old and New Testament that have came to pass over the last few thousand years. Over 500 have actually been fufilled to date. Israel again becoming a nation in 1947 comes to mind as a recent one.
Realizing this, one has to certainly follow the scriptures as Jesus had laid out to His disciples concerning love for others inside of the faith and outside.
We may not be able to bring all into the faith but we can certainly witness when we have the chance.
Post a Comment