Here’s a random post that came to me this morning. I was thinking about some of the things that encourage me in life.
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Just an average guy with a dream…
(Of course, he followed his dream and is no longer average.)
The shortest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 117. I have often wondered what was going through the Psalmist’s mind when he recorded his thoughts for this Psalm. Was he finished? Did he get interrupted? Was there something else he wanted to say? Was he satisfied with his work? (Obviously God was.) This shortest chapter has huge meaning. If we were to memorize just these two verses and implement them in our life, I think it may make a difference in our perspective on the world and the situations in which we find ourselves.
We are in the middle of a family series and I was talking yesterday about marriage and specifically the need to commit ourselves to making marriage work. My co-pastor Chad and his wife sang while Cheryl and I danced. It was a visual picture of the leadership of the church admitting that marriage is tough, but our commitment to make it work is what can make a marriage strong.
At that point, perhaps more than any other time, they realized with everything in them that This WAS Jesus. Did they understand Him completely? NO. Would they question Him again? YES. Would there be other storms? Of course!
For this one moment in time, however, nothing else in all the world mattered.
I always find that verse interesting. These were the disciples. These guys had left everything to follow Him. Jesus gave them authority to cast out demons. I don’t have that authority. These guys had a front row seat to all the best of Jesus’ teachings. Some of them wrote books of the Bible.
Jesus had a way of building a relationship with sinners, without condemning them, giving them an example of holiness, but fully convincing them that He loved and cared for them as individuals. He is the guy I want to follow as my example.
Consider this question: What if your biggest problems are really just an easy fix for Him, but you have never trusted Him enough to work His will? Sometimes we underestimate His power and His love. Sometimes He has the solution, but we are too busy trying to find it without Him that we never get to His solution for us. James wrote in the Bible, “You don’t have because you don’t ask…”. Could that be your problem today?
The question for me at this stage of my life is not why the storms come, but how am I going to allow God to use them to make me into who He wants me to be? Are you asking that question?