Headlines—Rush Limbaugh Hopes Obama Fails. That sounds pretty harsh and negative. Could the headlines be any worse? What if the front page of every newspaper declared: God Wants [your name] to Fail. Now that would really be extremely harsh and cruel. But can it be true? Does God ever want you to fail? What’s true about all headlines is that you must keep reading to hear the rest of the story.
Pastor Betters talked about how God creates a context of failure in our lives and society. The state of our nation and its moral decline is not too difficult to trace. The path to ruin in the lives of sports figures and other celebrities is even predictable based on their life choices. The truth below the headline that he was expressing is that anything that sets itself up against God is doomed to failure. When we try to satisfy our hearts outside the will of God, fulfillment escapes us. But this is not some sort of passive process on God’s part. God actually builds and superintends a context of failure around our lives that will point us and lead us in one direction – up to Him.
The difficulty for me, however, is when the context of failure comes when pursuing ‘Godly’ things. Often I don’t want to look too deeply when failure or disappointment occurs in my life. Why would God purposely want to stop me or allow me to fail? King David wanted to build a temple for God’s holy name. The prophet Nathan even gave the idea his full endorsement only to find out directly from God that He didn’t want David to be the one to build it. God gave David tremendous zeal to build the temple. David just didn’t understand his role.
The same thing may happen in our own lives. A person may want to start a children’s ministry, a couple may want to adopt, or a church may want to start a drug intervention ministry but somehow things just don’t seem to move forward. These things are great things. But what if it is not in God’s time, or if in the wrong location, or done for the wrong motive? God has a reason. Sometimes I’m so busy for God that I fail to see what He really wants. I plead with God, “Please tell me your will and I’ll do it!” The problem is that I sometimes approach God as if He is just an Information Center and I’m His robot. God is not interested in me accomplishing His ‘list’ as much as He is interested in relationship. It is in this context of failure that my heart becomes fertile to receive His wisdom and direction through the leading of the Holy Spirit. I no longer walk beside God but it is God who does the walking in me. It is in this way that God keeps me from all the negative press and He grabs all the headlines.
Bill McConomy
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
His Story II
Pastor Betters pointed out in his last sermon how the Book of Acts ended rather abruptly. He suggested that the ‘unfinished’ ending seemed to represent how the Acts of the Holy Spirit are still unfolding and being written into our lives. Our lives and the men and women of faith before us represent the next chapters of His Story.
Do you recognize His Story in your life? How would the chapters of His Story read in your life? I asked myself these questions and noticed a pattern. I’m afraid that the following chapter has been repeated too many times in my life:
Chapter 25: Bill went to church, heard a good sermon, sang songs, gave God some glory, went home and waited for next Sunday.
Pretty boring, huh? Don’t get me wrong. I believe God can be glorified in the mundane but the chapter summarized above wouldn’t make the Editor’s cut for His Story? Where is the ‘Go’ of the Gospel in my life? Does someone have to read between the lines or use their imagination to see His Story and His glory in my life? Or worse, does God?
The life of a Christian shouldn’t read that way. It should read more like a novel of action, suspense, or adventure—not a tragedy. Sadly, what is missing from some of the chapters of my life is the part where I take risks for Christ. How has God called me and how have I followed?
That's the problem for me and for many like me. It’s easy to hear God’s calling to us as husbands or wives and fathers and mothers and many other ‘standard’ aspects of the Christian life. But how is God calling us in taking greater risks for Him? Some people may be waiting for God to speak to someone else and just follow that call for their own lives. That may be helpful in casting a corporate vision but each of us must hear and follow what God is saying to us personally.
As Pastor Dan preached a few weeks ago, God’s calling has to be radical. But being ‘radical for Christ’ must mean more than just being different. Jesus calls us to live outside the norm in a much greater sense. Being radical for Christ must involve personal risk. The word 'radical' has somehow watered down the original Biblical words of ‘dying’ and ‘living sacrifice.’ Jesus never intended for that to happen. Jesus’ call is very clear. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)
This language is radical but it is also deadly! How is Jesus calling you to die? The verses above represent the plot that the Holy Spirit wants to use to write His Story into your life. It is that story which will make for irresistible reading and He promises that it will never be boring.
Bill McConomy
Do you recognize His Story in your life? How would the chapters of His Story read in your life? I asked myself these questions and noticed a pattern. I’m afraid that the following chapter has been repeated too many times in my life:
Chapter 25: Bill went to church, heard a good sermon, sang songs, gave God some glory, went home and waited for next Sunday.
Pretty boring, huh? Don’t get me wrong. I believe God can be glorified in the mundane but the chapter summarized above wouldn’t make the Editor’s cut for His Story? Where is the ‘Go’ of the Gospel in my life? Does someone have to read between the lines or use their imagination to see His Story and His glory in my life? Or worse, does God?
The life of a Christian shouldn’t read that way. It should read more like a novel of action, suspense, or adventure—not a tragedy. Sadly, what is missing from some of the chapters of my life is the part where I take risks for Christ. How has God called me and how have I followed?
That's the problem for me and for many like me. It’s easy to hear God’s calling to us as husbands or wives and fathers and mothers and many other ‘standard’ aspects of the Christian life. But how is God calling us in taking greater risks for Him? Some people may be waiting for God to speak to someone else and just follow that call for their own lives. That may be helpful in casting a corporate vision but each of us must hear and follow what God is saying to us personally.
As Pastor Dan preached a few weeks ago, God’s calling has to be radical. But being ‘radical for Christ’ must mean more than just being different. Jesus calls us to live outside the norm in a much greater sense. Being radical for Christ must involve personal risk. The word 'radical' has somehow watered down the original Biblical words of ‘dying’ and ‘living sacrifice.’ Jesus never intended for that to happen. Jesus’ call is very clear. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)
This language is radical but it is also deadly! How is Jesus calling you to die? The verses above represent the plot that the Holy Spirit wants to use to write His Story into your life. It is that story which will make for irresistible reading and He promises that it will never be boring.
Bill McConomy
His Story
Pastor Betters mentioned the adage that all of history is His-Story. We all love a great story. We live in a world surrounded by stories. We feed our love for a good story through TV with sitcoms, dramas, news, and even sports. Sports? Yes, every sporting event tells a story of sorts about teams or individuals in their quest for victory. Also, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of our passion for stories if we don’t mention the written form of our desire such as books, magazines, blogs, and newspapers.
We have this insatiable desire for a story. God created us to communicate, relate, and share. We do a great deal of that through stories of some sort. Would it be such a broad stretch to say that God designed us as story beings? Is the story something we can live without? A story would not be ranked too high according to Maslow’s assessment of man’s most important needs: air, water, food etc.
However God’s word, His story, is elevated to a class all by itself among stories and man’s needs. God elevates the importance of His word to the same physical level as food and drink. Jesus, in His own words, says, “…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). And God’s word is more than just provision for physical life. It is our only sustenance in spiritual life. Our spiritual lives depend on this Word “…that became flesh and dwelt among us.” God’s Story comes off the pages and lives within us. This kind of story needs more than all of our senses and 3-D glasses to perceive.
If God’s word is God’s story and His glory through His Son Jesus, then why is it sometimes like dry toast to me… or worse diet popcorn? Why is it that I would sometimes rather turn on the TV than open God’s Word? Maybe this is more of a statement about the reader (me) than the Writer.
I believe this happens when I approach His word as just words on a page. I approach His word looking for information or insight instead of relationship… or worse I’m reading because Christians are supposed to.
God’s word does not have to come alive. I do!
Do you ever feel this way? Do you ever approach God’s word as a ‘religious’ chore or duty? Join me in asking God to give us fresh eyes to trace His hand and see His glory in the lives of the heroes and fathers of our faith. But let’s not just be satisfied with seeking His glory of the past. Let’s ask Him to help us to see His Spirit and glory moving and working around and through our lives today. Let’s beg Him to use us in His Story as if it were the very air, water, and food of our souls.
Bill McConomy
We have this insatiable desire for a story. God created us to communicate, relate, and share. We do a great deal of that through stories of some sort. Would it be such a broad stretch to say that God designed us as story beings? Is the story something we can live without? A story would not be ranked too high according to Maslow’s assessment of man’s most important needs: air, water, food etc.
However God’s word, His story, is elevated to a class all by itself among stories and man’s needs. God elevates the importance of His word to the same physical level as food and drink. Jesus, in His own words, says, “…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). And God’s word is more than just provision for physical life. It is our only sustenance in spiritual life. Our spiritual lives depend on this Word “…that became flesh and dwelt among us.” God’s Story comes off the pages and lives within us. This kind of story needs more than all of our senses and 3-D glasses to perceive.
If God’s word is God’s story and His glory through His Son Jesus, then why is it sometimes like dry toast to me… or worse diet popcorn? Why is it that I would sometimes rather turn on the TV than open God’s Word? Maybe this is more of a statement about the reader (me) than the Writer.
I believe this happens when I approach His word as just words on a page. I approach His word looking for information or insight instead of relationship… or worse I’m reading because Christians are supposed to.
God’s word does not have to come alive. I do!
Do you ever feel this way? Do you ever approach God’s word as a ‘religious’ chore or duty? Join me in asking God to give us fresh eyes to trace His hand and see His glory in the lives of the heroes and fathers of our faith. But let’s not just be satisfied with seeking His glory of the past. Let’s ask Him to help us to see His Spirit and glory moving and working around and through our lives today. Let’s beg Him to use us in His Story as if it were the very air, water, and food of our souls.
Bill McConomy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)