Some thoughts from Galatians…
3:3 “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
And 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. “
Wow, thanks for the 2 x 4 upside the head, God. I think that complacency is a huge problem. God gives us a vision and commands we serve with excellence. He deserves nothing less than our all, our best. Yet for various reasons, we fade out, we don’t quite make par. I was reading this weekend, and this post hit me hard. Stop focusing on the Twitter part and read where it talks about excellence and only having just maybe one shot to reach people. That’s tough stuff right there, but it’s real, it’s true. And more than that, it’s time we started acting that way.
We start things because God has given us a vision. We trust Him and He provides for us, opens doors, makes amazing things happen. He draws people to Himself and gives wisdom and peace and reaches people that haven’t been reached before. Are we so foolish as to think that WE did it? Are we so foolish as to think that the devil is going to ignore that and not attack us? Are we so foolish as to think we, in our 35 years of experience, can battle evil, with 3,000 years of experience, on a spiritual level? Are we so foolish as to think we are too smart, too observant or too spiritual as to be tricked? Or is it that we are so untrusting of God as to start leaning on our own understanding instead of Him?
We talked Saturday night at Bible study about leaning on God instead of our own understanding. It sounds so simple, but it isn’t. When we need money in large amounts, our own understanding says for us to go to the bank and get a loan. God’s word says not to let a debt be outstanding. It says that He will provide. I don’t think that means that God provides a clear path for us to get something He doesn’t want us to get in the first place. Satan can clear that path and lookie here, we’re in debt, in a position that God never intended for us to be in. And once we are in it, it is so hard to get out. We try to pigeonhole God’s will by saying that, “Well, God made it easy. He gave us favor with the bank and really lined it all up. If He hadn’t wanted us to get that loan, He would’ve kept us from it. He would’ve thrown up obstacles.” DUH! Seriously? Do you remember this thing he gave us called FREE WILL? We make our own choices, and He hopes that we come to Him for guidance with them. He doesn’t prevent us from sinning or making wrong choices with big billboards. Instead, they are called scriptures, His word, and He gave them to us to know. To pray for something that is not in His will then say that because it was easy to get, it must have been God’s will is ridiculous. That’s like telling your child not to play in the street. When the kid wants to go in the street, just because you aren’t there blocking his path doesn’t mean that you want him to be in that street.
What does that mean for mortgages, car loans? I have no idea. I only know that I do not believe churches should be in debt for any reason, period.
At what point do we diverge from His will and start down another path entirely? Because I can guarantee this, it was something simple, something small and we convince ourselves that it was, in fact, His will because of how it happened.
That doesn’t mean His pathway is easy or that trusting Him is a piece of cake. On the contrary, sometimes it is HARD. But it is good. It is good to trust in Him. Sometimes, though I’m human and I get tired of trusting in God and for some prideful reason, I think I’m pretty smart and have a pretty good solution. I get tired of doing good. I don’t see a result His way, but I see an easy one my way. Sometimes though, my way is just a quick fix and is no where near the abundance that He wants to shower on me if only I would trust in Him and follow His path.
