Charting a course?

Sometimes the needs in the world and even the needs nearby can be overwhelming. I know I’m not responsible for all of them, even to pray for all of them. At the same time, I’m thankful that God hears and answers prayer.
I’m also thankful that God does not tell me, “Go and do everything.” I know that He gives me what I am to do rather than thinking I need to do it all. That burden alone would drain the little strength that I do have and make me more tired and less useful than ever. Instead, He wants me to focus on what He has gifted me to do. He says:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit... (1 Corinthians 12:4)

To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. (Matthew 25:15)

In the above verse, ‘talent’ is not the word for abilities we use. Instead, it means a unit of currency used in those days. It could be better translated as ‘resources’ and therefore means God gives me the resources I need to use the gifts He has given me.

Those resources may be few or many. The to-do list can be long or short. God considers these as part of my job-description and is wise in what He asks of me.

The steps of a man (or a woman) are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. (Psalm 37:23–24)

This makes the Christian life less confusing. God is not asking me to witness to world leaders, but I am to pray for them. He is not asking me to stack chairs after our church service, but I am to eat and visit with those He puts in front of me. I’m not asked to teach a college class but I am called upon to share what He teaches me with those who are puzzled about the same topics.

This trust in Him to work His way is easy and natural. I don’t need to strain or worry about what comes next for He is well able to show me. This is also His way of freedom:

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

PRAY: Jesus, I feel heavy today because of the burdens shared with us yesterday. The list was long, sad, and troubling. At the same time, I hear You whisper as I pray for the person who shared them, and for the things told to us. You keep saying, “I got this” and without that lovely assurance of Your care and power, I would be totally overwhelmed. Thank You. I will keep praying as You ask me to do and glad that the tasks You give me does not need to be carried all by myself!

An appetite for living forever

 

1 Chronicles 19–20; Jonah 3; Luke 8; 1 Peter 1

Last night our Bible study small group discussed what was necessary to life before a person was saved. What would make a person choose God over sin? Was it a good family upbringing? Adam and Eve shot down that theory. Is it all up to God who is saved or not? But we are told to serve Him.

Jonah’s story is interesting. The city where God sent him to preach was large and evil. He didn’t want to go because “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (4:2). Jonah believed that God would change the hearts of the Ninevites, and He did but this man didn’t like it. Finally, after the fish tossed him out . . .

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. (Jonah 3:4–5)

Then the word reached the king and he did the same thing, then issued a proclamation:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:7–10)

This city could have been half a million people, but whatever its size, this was an amazing event. I try to imagine the change such repentance would bring if every city (or even one city) in North America turned from evil to God. How could that happen?

In Luke, Jesus tells the parable of the sower to illustrate responses to the Word of God and the Gospel. Some are so hard of heart that they don’t even hear it. Some hear it but their response is too shallow and when their ‘faith’ is tested, they falter. Others hear it but “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” choke their growth. They are distracted and do not mature in their faith. Only a few hear, hold what they heard “in and honest and good heart” and bear fruit with patience.

These days, it is not too difficult to see lack of depth and those weeds that choke out spiritual truth. Shallow living is rampant as are concerns over life, money and pleasure. The message that Jonah took to Nineveh is not welcomed nor even heard, let alone responded to with deep concern and repentance.

What makes the difference? Nineveh was evil and repented. Our cities are filled with sinful attitudes and actions but where is the repentance? Like the parable of the sower, some believe but not cities full of people.

Peter speaks of God’s work to change lives. He says:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3–5)

He tells how that faith will be tested but because it is a gift from God, genuine faith passes those tests. The Bible calls this transformation a new birth that is not from “perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God” — using that term ‘rhema’ twice in reference to its permanence and to how it comes to those God sends it. Grass withers and flowers fall . . .

“ . . . but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:25)

Rhema could be called a personal message from God rather than a general message to the world. Hearing God speak changes human hearts.

APPLY: This rhema word is in “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” It is my ‘daily bread’ and manna from heaven. It changes the way I think and live. I seek it, ask God for it — like a baby wants milk. My life depends on what God says to me, whether my heart is needy, ornery, at rest, or hungry. I can be distracted by the cares of this world. I can resist those tests that plow up my shallow ground, but this Word is persistent and God is faithful. He feeds me new life every day. My part is to read it and feed from His generous gift.