Wednesday, August 24, 2016

life goes on
















I am not a fan of commercials, and with one of the features of our DVR, we can tape our favorite shows, and watch them later commercial free.  Even if we happen to be home, we still tape some and watch them later, sparing ourselves from the commercials we don’t care to participate in.  It can take a 30 minute broadcast and take it down to 20 minutes, sometimes less sans interruptions, of enjoyment. Of watching only what we want to watch, instead of what is being foisted upon us.  Thank goodness for record, play, pause, and start buttons....they have changed the way we watch TV.  They have enabled the show to go on for us, and to tune in to only what we want to see.  But as well as that works for our viewing pleasure, going from radio, to records, to 8 tracks, to cassettes, to CDs, and finally to pay radio, we can choose what we want to listen to, and block out the rest of the world.  If only it worked in traffic, of course you can always take the bus or train. 
But I am continually amazed that despite the interruptions life throws at us, how we continue on.  How a job loss, break up of a relationship, or stay in the hospital may change your course for months, but life goes on.  During and after.  It seems we are more adaptable than we think, in most cases more than we want to be.  And even though we claim to have little faith, many times the outcomes are based on what little we have, and what God does with it.  It has been said that bad decisions make the best stories, and hard times make the best testimonies.  A time when we turn to God for all he is worth, yet we long for the good times, times of rest and enjoyment.  How many stories of a restful weekend with nothing happened would make a good story?  Give insight to God and his spirit?  Are we more interested in a commercial free life, than one that makes us channel surf to see what else is on?  Have you driven the same route to work for years, knowing just how long it will take and planning for it?  Or has an occasional detour taken you through another area and found new roads, new places to eat, and even a better way to go?  Is it time to quit fast forwarding through the commercials, and see what else is offered?  Have you come to that point in your religion where it is all the same?  And you know there just has to be more?
Many of us read the Bible as if it had commercials in it.  Some stay safely in Psalms, some avoid Proverbs, some do everything they can to avoid the gospels, and some have entered into Revelation and never left.  They pass over the hard parts, the parts where it may require a relationship with God to get through and understand, and deny the spirit’s guiding, safe and secure that they know it all and all that God has to offer.  Paul talks about being raised on milk, but having a desire for solid food, more of Jesus, can you say the same?  Do you want to go deeper with Jesus than the same old teachings, same old studies?  Is your prayer life stagnant, “now I lay me down to sleep,” and then you do?  Are reading more and getting less, as one man confess to me?  He thought his copious reading was bringing him closer to God, it only impressed others who were on the same track to nowhere.  It just took him longer.
Scripture reminds us that faith constitutes a risk and an adventure.  That it seems to defy the circumstances.  That it is exciting, and will show us things of God we never knew.  And when led by the spirit, the mysteries, the things not yet revealed about God, will be available to us.  And suddenly we get it, but it takes listening to the spirit, no matter the situation.  It involves risk, risk of failure and ridicule, but also the risk of a depth in your relationship with God.  How many thought Abram to be nuts, “where you going Abe?”  “Not sure, but God will get me there...” with no map or GPS.  Noah built a boat on dry land, and it had never rained.  And Jeremiah while in prison, was told to buy land from his cousin.  Not knowing if he would ever be released, or why, he did it.  All based on faith.
Which is why we go to a doctor looking for a cure.  Or why men study and obtain a degree in jail.  Why when in my hospital bed I still dreamt of riding again, “how was I going to ride with all the tubes and hoses in me?  I can’t even get out of bed.”  It is that faith that allows life to go on despite the circumstances, and when led by the holy spirit, not only do we arrive, but we have a trip worth remembering.  And we get closer to God, and our testimony will affect another, encouraging them to trust God.  Trust starts with faith, goes on to obedience, and arrives at trust. 
It is hard to trust someone you don’t know, so get to know Jesus.  Go beyond the words on a page, go beyond prayer, go beyond your desires.  Ask the Lord to make him your desire, and see him give you the desire of your heart-himself. 
Living in the spirit allows you to go beyond church, Bible studies, and personal prayer time.  It allows your education no big or small to see the things of God, to let Jesus rule and reign in your life.  To know what commercials to pass over, and which ones to watch.  Which road to take, which one to avoid.  And when you realize that it takes all things to work to good, you see Jesus in the tough times, and how he is leading you through.  It allows you to build your life where no else would, and be called foolish.  To travel where no one else goes, and be blessed.  And to spend time with Jesus, here on earth, just as he promised, “on earth as it is in heaven.”  With a simple four word prayer request start you off, and keep you, “thy will be done.”  Do you hear the spirit calling?
I choose to join the ranks of the crazy ones in the Bible, to build arks in my life when it hasn’t rained.  To ride without a map, to go places I never knew about.  To move to places I have never been, to take a job I have never done, and to trust God because I cannot trust myself.  Life goes on no matter your choice, why not make the right choice and trust God today?  If God so loved you to send Jesus to die for you, don’t you think he can guide you through life also?  By his spirit will we know Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life.  Don’t wait for a problem to arise and call upon the Lord.  “For if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”  Why not give it to him while still here, while still awake, life goes on.  While you were asleep last night, the spirit was still awake....so don’t live life to be played back at a later time, know Jesus now and find that life you desire, for only in him is life found. An amateur built the ark, engineers built the Titanic.  Abraham had no map or GPS.  Jesus had no address.  Paul had no TV in prison, so don’t let a bad haircut bring you back to God like it took Samson.  The spirit is willing...and all it takes is your weak flesh.  Maybe the story of Joseph may remind you....and the faith to go where God leads.  If this sounds ridiculous, Jesus is the antidote you have been waiting for.  So you can get along with your life...
love with compassion,
Mike
mattehw25biker.blogspot.com