Sidetracked
“No doubt about it! God is good— good to good people, good to the good-hearted. But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness. I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world.” Psalm 73:1-5
It’s easy to get sidetracked when you stop looking up and start looking around. When you compare who you are to the people around you (2 Cor. 10:12). If you are like me, you tend to come up short. God did not call you or me because we are wise, mighty, or noble. Who does he call? God calls the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised… the needy. Why? So that “no flesh should glory in his presence.” God will not share his glory with anyone (1 Cor. 1:19-31)!
Jesus Christ demonstrates his great love and power through broken vessels that this world discards. Like a scrap-yard for old and unwanted cars our Savior steps through the wrangled mess and whispers “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)...
And the seed of God’s Word broke through our stony hearts, took root, and now here we are… and if we are not diligent about living, growing, and sharing our first love with others—repenting of our sin, reading God’s Word because we crave it, praying, loving, helping, and standing for Christ then what are we?
We are those who looked at the world and liked what they saw. Those who compromised. Those who watered down the Gospel. Those who use canned preaching methodologies, building on mega church techniques, and not the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who seek to gain the world’s approval and not the approval of Almighty God (John 12:43). Those with a lukewarm approach to Christianity, so much so that they give the name ‘Christian’ a discredit (Revelation 3:14-22).
“These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” (Jude 12-13).
Don’t compromise the truth of God’s Word. As Xanda my daughter would say, “it is what it is” and so is the Gospel. It will stand when thrown into the fiery furnace, it will stand when questioned, and it will stand in your heart when you feel rejected. Feelings lie. God’s Word does not. The Gospel will stand and it will offend, it will cut, it will divide, and it will sheer off that which is sin, shameful, unholy, unrighteous, unnatural, and unable to face the brightness of the glory of God (Genesis 3:22; Matthew 10:34; Acts 23:7).
You who bare the mark of Christ also know the goodness of Christ. You know his mercy. You know his forgiveness. You know comfort, deep abiding joy, and unknown courage that helps you to spread his Word. To broadcast seed in stony places. To trample through rotten weeds and prickly thorn patches in search of good earth… a needy heart willing to hear the Gospel (Mark 4) or return to the fold the brother or sister who went astray (Matthew 18:12).
Christian, we are different. The Comforter glows within our hearts and because of that “we are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). The Spirit of Truth resides in our hearts and it “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” and shows us “things to come” (John 14:17; 16:6-8,13). Our job is to live, to love, and to witness.
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” 1 Thessalonians 5.
It’s easy to get sidetracked when you stop looking up and start looking around. When you compare who you are to the people around you (2 Cor. 10:12). If you are like me, you tend to come up short. God did not call you or me because we are wise, mighty, or noble. Who does he call? God calls the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised… the needy. Why? So that “no flesh should glory in his presence.” God will not share his glory with anyone (1 Cor. 1:19-31)!
Jesus Christ demonstrates his great love and power through broken vessels that this world discards. Like a scrap-yard for old and unwanted cars our Savior steps through the wrangled mess and whispers “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)...
And the seed of God’s Word broke through our stony hearts, took root, and now here we are… and if we are not diligent about living, growing, and sharing our first love with others—repenting of our sin, reading God’s Word because we crave it, praying, loving, helping, and standing for Christ then what are we?
We are those who looked at the world and liked what they saw. Those who compromised. Those who watered down the Gospel. Those who use canned preaching methodologies, building on mega church techniques, and not the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who seek to gain the world’s approval and not the approval of Almighty God (John 12:43). Those with a lukewarm approach to Christianity, so much so that they give the name ‘Christian’ a discredit (Revelation 3:14-22).
“These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” (Jude 12-13).
Don’t compromise the truth of God’s Word. As Xanda my daughter would say, “it is what it is” and so is the Gospel. It will stand when thrown into the fiery furnace, it will stand when questioned, and it will stand in your heart when you feel rejected. Feelings lie. God’s Word does not. The Gospel will stand and it will offend, it will cut, it will divide, and it will sheer off that which is sin, shameful, unholy, unrighteous, unnatural, and unable to face the brightness of the glory of God (Genesis 3:22; Matthew 10:34; Acts 23:7).
You who bare the mark of Christ also know the goodness of Christ. You know his mercy. You know his forgiveness. You know comfort, deep abiding joy, and unknown courage that helps you to spread his Word. To broadcast seed in stony places. To trample through rotten weeds and prickly thorn patches in search of good earth… a needy heart willing to hear the Gospel (Mark 4) or return to the fold the brother or sister who went astray (Matthew 18:12).
Christian, we are different. The Comforter glows within our hearts and because of that “we are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). The Spirit of Truth resides in our hearts and it “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” and shows us “things to come” (John 14:17; 16:6-8,13). Our job is to live, to love, and to witness.
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” 1 Thessalonians 5.
posted by Michael Byrd at 2:23 PM
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