A Promise (finally) Kept

Sunday! Did you think I had forgotten about Sunday? Absolutely not! It has been a matter of being positively swamped. So much is going on ... and Andy is away again. BUT! She came by this evening. I called her today (because I couldn't call Andy) when I got upset about something and we made arrangements for her to come by this evening. She did a load of laundry (of course!) and I took her to our usual restaurant for dinner. She left a little while ago and I feel better. I don't know if she feels better - or even if she needed to feel better - but one thing I could usually count on with her is a great ear and some common sense speech. She usually makes very good points. *giggle* Thanks, kiddo.

So...Sunday. Yeah. Well, Hearing God's voice while in the choir came as a surprise to me. Since going back to the choir I haven't really heard Him. I almost always do if I'm in the congregation, but it is usually a personal 'message' from Him, meant to encourage and build me up. What I heard this past Sunday was more like a congregation-wide finger shaking. To be perfectly honest, I think what I heard could be applied to the universal church, not just my local church body.

The basic message was that we are a sleepy people. We stand (or sit) in church and sing these songs that are supposed to be expressions of love and appreciation to Him, but there is no heart behind what we are singing. We call Him friend, but forget that He has done more for us than any earthly friend ever could. By being sleepy, we are missing Him at every turn in our lives. He is active, He is there, and we don't see it because we are too busy going through the motions. How sad that is! How much more effective & powerful could the church be if we just woke up??

During the second service, I felt as though God was still speaking to me. He was basically saying that even though we are a sleepy people, He will be praised. It is our choice to worship Him, and when we make that choice there is a benefit. The best way I can describe it is to mention the heart and blood. Blood moves into the heart to be cleansed, refreshed, and oxygenated. (Forgive me Chet, if I don't have it exactly right - I am not in the medical profession!) Our praise is something like the avenue through which our dirty, imperfect lives can be made clean again. We give Him our worst and He replaces it with His best. We want His best, yes? Then we make the decision to be meticulous and purposeful with our worship. We need to stay focused, people!!

Our pastor has been teaching on wisdom and its importance. He used Proverbs 4:7 as his base text: Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. The word "principal" means first or of chief importance. If that is true, then everything must flow through wisdom to be effective, to include love and faith.

Wisdom is the 'learning' side of Christianity. The rest is imparted or walked out. Because attaining wisdom requires some work on our parts, we tend to avoid doing what it takes to become wise. Yes, the Bible says we can ask for wisdom and God will give it to us, but the quesiton is HOW does He give it? In short, wisdom cannot be replaced with faith & prayer.

Pastor John said - and I agree - it is easier to engage in a religious/spiritual exercise than to act sacrificially. It is easy to pray for someone. The problem is, it is often necessary to actually DO something in order to reveal Christ to people. The how and what to do requires wisdom. This is especially true in the area of relationships, and if we stop to think & consider for just a moment, we will realize that almost everything in life is related or connected to people & relationships. It makes sense, then, that we need to be 'people-wise.' Pastor said, "Relationships are the soil from which all success & achievement grows."

We need to remember that God is not fair. He is just. There is a difference. Because He is just, the favor we are given in the area of living life is obtained, not acquired or claimed. This type of God's favor is different than the unmerited favor given in grace for salvation. For example, favor is not God forcing your boss against his will to give you a raise that is not deserved.

To illustrate this point, Pastor John used Daniel as an example. If you read the first two chapters of that book, you will read that Daniel had wisdom and understanding. This is what led to Chapter 2's dream interpretation and ultimately Daniel having the favor of the king.

I really liked this part - it is what I have been trying to tell people for quite some time, now: We are created to take responsibility for our lives. If God were responsible, He's doing a pretty lousy job of it. My continuing thoughts: Think about the condition of the world, of our hearts. Yeah - if it were God's "fault", it would contradict what we know about Him. He gave us brains and a free will for a reason. And it wasn't so we could sit back and let them atrophy while letting God play some sort of global chess game in which we are pauns.

The thing about taking responsibility means we can no longer rely on cop-outs. No blaming the parents, etc. We choose our paths for ourselves. Not that we shouldn't prayerfully consider major decisions, but that ultimately we do choose.

The first law of wisdom: Take responsibility for your life. It requires a comittment to stop whining and complaining about our lives. Are we ready for that?

It is my belief that seeing God as a loving, caring entity who wants to be our friend & fellowship with us seriously contradicts the picture of a hard taskmaster that will punish if we don't walk in His 'perfect will.' If we do not "hear Him" correctly.

The perfect will of God? To know Him and have fellowship with Him so that we can spread and show His love to others.