To Live is Christ — better than positive thinking

Computers are reliable — sometimes. My neighbor is fighting with hers. She is trying to get a wireless, Windows 7, 64-bit laptop to connect to a printer hooked to a Vista, 32-bit tower, on cable. They refuse. She is frustrated. I have a similar system and know how she feels. I have two printers connected to my Vista desktop. I can print with one of them from my Window 7, 64-bit laptop, but not the other. Who knows why?

I’m glad God is not like that. While I cannot always figure out what He is doing, but He does communicate with me, and He is not whimsical. He is faithful so I can trust Him.

Today I read a quote that said, “Promises get friends, but performance keeps them.” It made me think about the promises and performance of God. He makes them, but He also keeps them. His motive for His performance is not to keep me on the hook, but because that is who He is — totally dependable.

The Bible is filled with analogies about God’s reliability to protect and care for His people. The verses that I’m reading liken Him to a fortress and a rock.

The time is coming when the people of Judah will sing this song: “Our city is protected. The Lord is our fortress, and he gives us victory. Open the city gates for a law-abiding nation that is faithful to God. The Lord gives perfect peace to those whose faith is firm. So always trust the Lord because he is forever our mighty rock. (Isaiah 26:1–4, CEV)

Gibralter may be the closest thing to an impenetrable fortress in this world, but God is not of this world. He created it. He sustains it. He is above all that we know here, and far more powerful. He is reliable, like a rock.

He is also sure of Himself. He does not need to perform so we will be our friends and bolster Him. Instead, He asks our worship because if we do not worship and trust Him, we will worship and trust something less — to our detriment. He alone is worthy of our homage.

On my side of things, I am to trust Him. I’ve noticed that when my faith takes a dip, peace dips with it. Also, I’ve no stability in my heart if my mind wavers from God and begins to focus on anything less.

Even further, when faith is abandoned, law-abiding goes with it. I have no stats on what has happened since the Bible and prayer were banned from public schools, only the testimonies of terrified teachers worried what this generation will do when they get old enough to rule commerce and government. Shove God out and lesser things come in, even evil things. He alone can keep us at peace.

The older Bible versions use the phrase “. . . whose mind is stayed on Thee. . . .” If my mind stays too long on anything but God, it is not long before my head is filled with negatives. From there, it can drop rapidly into far worse and my emotions go with it — producing even more motivation to seek His presence and think of Him.

While I like my computer and use it all the time, God’s promises are far more practical for everyday challenges, and far more reliable too. Yesterday included a trip to the dentist, the one that had to remove my implant with a torque wrench. Up front, I had some problems, but eventually God helped me keep my mind on Him. He shoved fear aside and filled me with peace, even adding great joy as a bonus. Only God can do that, and because He can, I am quite happy to trust Him and keep my mind stayed on Him. 

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