What are we fasting for?

For anyone observing Lent in any way, chances are you have given up something for this 40 days. One of the most common ones I hear is chocolate. "I'm giving up chocolate for Lent".

Growing up I either I've forgotten, I was oblivious at the time, or the churches I went to didn't observe or promote Lent. Whatever the reason, it was only last year that I actually talked to people who were giving something up and found out what this Lent thing was.

My first thought was, what exactly has giving up chocolate got to do with anything?  

But that got me thinking about fasting in general. What is it for? Why do we do it? And how are you meant to do it right? 

Is it just denying yourself something to practise piety and self control? Is it a trade  - "God, I'll give you this time of fasting, and you give me what I'm praying for. Deal?"

I think not.

The Bible puts it rather well, as it tends to do:

Isaiah 58:6-7

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

Ah, so that's the reason. But what's chocolate got to do with it?

I think if you give something up on Lent, it's got to be about more than yourself. You could give up food entirely for the whole 40 days, but if you turned your back on your neighbours, neglected your family, focussed entirely on yourself - what is it for?

Fasting is not for your gain. That should be obvious, since it's about giving something up - but ironically many people think of it in terms of what they can get.

Give up something like chocolate for Lent if you want, but more importantly, give up something of yourself. Put aside your own needs for the good of others. For the glory of God.

"...then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” 

            The mouth of the LORD has spoken.       (Isaiah 58:14)

Seek and you will find - but what are you looking for?

Have you ever sought hard, earnestly, til you hurt...and then nothing happened. It makes you wonder, where exactly is God? What about all that 'seek and you will find' business, huh?

God does say that we when seek after him, he will be found. So what's going on?

And at times like that, when we feel let down, we know that God says he'll never leave us or forsake us, but it can be hard to really understand it.

But it doesn't seem to "work" - when I seek and don't seem to find God, perhaps I was actually looking for myself and not for God at all.

Worship is about glorifying God, and yet how often do we come away thinking about what we did or didn't get from it, how we felt, what God did for us?

Seek and you will find. It's true. But what are we looking for? If we look for ourselves, we're always going to find it. And we'll always be disappointed. Because our spirit longs for God.

Just a thought...

Nothing is wasted

Sometimes what we are doing seems small. We feel small.

We work hard and get weary, and sometimes it's hard to see what we are even achieving. Sowing into people's lives, into relationships, into faith and into a walk with God - it's not results based. There's no quantifiable measurement or report card or award to tell you your progress.

The seeds you sow today may not sprout or be harvested for years. You may never see the outcomes.

And sometimes it feels like if you just gave up and did nothing it wouldn't even make a difference.

But when you feel like throwing it all in, that's when we need to remind ourselves of what it is we are actually working for.

It's not for immediate results or recognition. It's for eternity.

And nothing we do to serve God is ever wasted. Even if it seems small now, even if you can't see how it will ever pay off, even if not a single person notices how hard you are working - God sees. And it counts.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Faith that He is and that He will

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
-Hebrews 11:6

Without faith, we cannot please God. And faith in what? That God exists. That's the first thing. But I just noticed something that I had never noticed in this verse before. It doesn't end with just believing God exists, but also having faith that God cares and will respond to us.

The Message version words it helpfully:

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

All this time I've believed and had faith that God exists, that God is there, that he is real. And I am seeking him. But where my faith has faltered, and where I think many people's does, is in really believing that God will actually come through if I earnestly seek him.

And so I've half-heartedly sought him, afraid that I'll just be wasting my time, that nothing will happen, that he won't be found and I'll just be left disappointed.

But to approach God, I can't just have faith that he is there - I know that - but also have faith that I actually can draw near to him and that he will draw near to me.

Why do we find it so hard to believe? The Bible is full of verses telling us that - come near to God, and he will come near to you. Seek, and you shall find. Call on [him] and [he] will answer. 'You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart'.

And therein lies the rub - that's risky, that 'all your heart' business. We are used to our hearts being breakable, fragile things. The thought of giving all of it - well, that's scary.

But if we want to approach God, that's what he requires. Not that we do enough good deeds and pray the right prayers. But that we earnestly seek him. That we give all of our hearts.

And our faith that he will respond.

Devote and destroy

When the walls of Jericho fell (Joshua 6:20&21) the Israelites rushed in a devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed it totally.

In re-reading an old journal entry I found a note: devoted, "the Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them."

Devoted. Never has that word seemed so scary.

We say we have devoted our lives to God, but have we really?

Devotion means destroying our former selves and lives completely. That's why it can feel so scary to be completely submitted. Not because we don't think God has good plans for us, but because we know along the way there will be a lot that is uncovered and destroyed before God fulfills his plans in us. And we can be pretty certain that it's rarely going to be a painless process. Especially since many of us have spent a lifetime building a walled fortress far more imposing than Jericho around our hearts.

How much are we trying to cover and hide with walls as if God can't see through them? Yet still pretending we are fully devoted to God.

But you know what, those walls come down relatively easily if we let God have his way. A job that seemed impossible - destroying Jericho - the Israelites did by simply walking around the city. They didn't have to go in fighting and battering - they simply had to show a bit of commitment, and ignore the inevitable thoughts of "this is stupid, everyone is laughing at us" and let God have his way. Sure it took a while, but compared to what it would have taken the human way to defeat that city, marching was nothing.

Then when everything was laid bare, they had to destroy it completely. Spare nothing.

Leave no vestige of your old life or sinful nature behind to sprout again like noxious weeds. Devote it. Destroy it.

Then what you will have left is the promised land. A clean and pure heart. No obstacles or distractions between you and God.

It IS worth the pain.


Peace and joy. (Romans 5:1-11)

Jessie.


But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The joy of the Lord is my strength

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
-Nehemiah 8:10

This is even from the old testament - you know that bit of the bible that we tend to think of as the 'harsher' God.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

The joy of the Lord is your strength. Not - God will give you joy if you a strong and stick it out.

His joy is your strength. Rejoice in Him.

The Sabbath is for us

Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

Sometimes we look at 'the Sabbath' as some rule God has given us that we have to live up to or else we aren't being holy.

You know what, you can relax. You'll never be holy enough anyway.

And here is Jesus telling us something we often forget - the Sabbath was made for us. God knew out lives would be hectic and busy and full of responsibility and stuff to get done, and that we'd need rest; time to get closer to Him. So he said to us "take a break. Rest in me."

Might you feel differently about 'keeping the Sabbath' if you looked at it as God's gift to you? His permission to take it easy!

The stones will cry out

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:37-40


Don't let the rocks out do you! Don't let anyone tell you to keep quiet about our God!

  

They'll know we are Christians by our ________?

They'll know we are Christians by  our ________?

By our congregation size?

By our happiness?

By our prosperity?

By our fun youth group games?

By our professional standard of lights and smoke machines at church?

By our blog posts?

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Oh, by our love. Really? That's it?

We complicate Christianity a lot more than we should. We add a lot to the Bible in our minds and views and then end up reading it like it was there all along. I think because the enormity and of God is difficult to comprehend, so we like to give Him more boundaries and restrictions ang guidelines.

So then we underestimate it because we've tried to package it and present it so neatly. 

Like love. Seems so basic. And yet it's actually the most important and the most challenging thing of all.

I think that's why God likes to remind us of it so often.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing

 the greatest of these is love

over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind

Love your neighbour as yourself.

love your enemies

Above all, love each other deeply,

let us love one another, for love comes from God.

We love because he first loved us

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us

God is love.

Verses:

(John 13:34-35

1 Corinthians 13: 2 &13

Colossians 3:14

Matthew 22: 37 & 39

Luke 6:35

1 Peter 4:8

1 John 4:7 & 19

Romans 5:8

1 John4: 8)

It's simple. But He never said it was easy. 

Death, be not proud

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. 

 

-John Donne

He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces... Isaiah 25:8

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.  Hebrews 2:14-15

Put on a happy face?

Sometimes we think we've got to hide our sadness and keep on going. Sometime we think we've got to have it all together and not show any signs of weakness.

Once I heard a girl at school say, 'The guy said, "Being a Christian is the way to be happy". But I know heaps of happy people who aren't Christians.' Inwardly I cringed.

I think it's the wrong idea if we say "Be a Christian, it'll make you happy." Happiness is a subjective emotion based on circumstance. And God doesn't promise that our circumstances are all going to be happy ones. He doesn't promise we aren't going to have any problems or that life is going to be easy.

People are watching us. They are not, as we might suppose, looking to see us living in perpetual happiness. That is fake. They are looking to see real people, with real hardships and real weaknesses - and they will then see the acceptance, belonging and redemption that comes from God in the midst of this. And a real, true joy. 



Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing. Our work as God's servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right; when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all. 

2 Corinthians 6:4-10 (The Message)

Hope and Disappointment

The biggest complaint people have about hope is that it sets you up for disappointment when what you were hoping for doesn't work out. It can feel like more often than not we get let down by our hopes and expectations.

But a life without hope is a hard life to live.

Maybe is not hope that is the problem, but what we are hoping for.

New Every Morning

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3: 22-23

God has great promises for us. His great love will never fail us. We do not need to be consumed by the troubles of today, but wait and rest in Him with the hope of new things.

This morning I woke up with worry and turmoil on my mind uncertain about what the outcome of the day would be. And in my email inbox was a gift of hope from God. (Not directly from God - I don't have his email address I'm afraid - but definitely a blessing from Him through someone else.)

When has God lifted your day with new blessings and compassion? Don't doubt that he will do it again. Great is his faithfulness.

The skies proclaim

 

The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them. 

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.  


You don't have to look very far to see evidence of God. If he takes this much care to create sunsets so beautiful, how much more will He care for you, His child?

This photo was taken of the view from my house, where I'm blessed to get a beautiful reminder of God every evening. What reminds you of God's wonder?

Beauty is Created by God

If God was a purely practical, technical God, then he could have created the world to be a much more streamlined place - it could have been all black and white and square and plain.

But he didn't. He created a complex and intricate world, with wonder at every turn. And he created us with a mind that appreciates what is around us.

When I drive home from work, coming around one particular bend on the highway is a tree. It has no leaves on it, and never has in the three years I've been driving past it. It's dead. But where it stands, its bare, grey branches stretched out, silhouetted against an ever changing background with the shifting seasons and changing light - it is a symbol of the perfection and beauty of God's creation. He even created trees to grow into a shape that we find pleasing and beautiful. Even a dead tree.

It's no accident that our hearts are filled with peace and joy at the sight of a sunset, the majesty of snow on the mountains, a wide, open African plain.

And it's no accident that God placed that tree there - he knew how often I would be driving home and need a lift after a day at work. I'm sure it's there as a gift just for me! :)

I stopped to take a photo - but a photo doesn't quite capture it.

Afraid of Love

We live in a world that doesn't really know what love is. It takes many different forms, from getting confused with lust or attraction, to "I love shoes".

 As Christians we feel like we have a different view, the real view. But the truth is, a lot of us are still walking around afraid of love. Of it's wild and consuming nature. Of what it really means.

But if we are afraid of love, we are also afraid of God. God is Love.  (1 John 4:8)

Usually the reason we are afraid of something is because we don't really understand it. We shouldn't be afraid of God, or of Love, because if we understood it completely we would know that as well as being big, and consuming, and powerful, God also promises to never let us down, never leave us or forsake us...so if we are completely safe, why are we afraid?

 

God is love - There are three ways to emphasise that statement.

GOD is love.

What is love? GOD is love. So when we are searching for the real meaning of love, the answer is God. Everything that God is, that is love. Eternal, powerful, compassionate, forgiving, holy, perfect. So when we show other people love, we are showing them God.

God IS love.

God doesn't just show love to us. He IS love. He is the embodiment of love. So everything he does will be about love - because that's who he IS. It's like everything you do will come from being a woman, or a man, because that's who you are. You don't just act like one, you ARE one. That doesn't change like a feeling, it isn't influenced by circumstance. Where ever you are, whatever you are doing, you are still a woman or a man. So in whatever situation, whatever context, whatever is going on - God IS Love. It's not a feeling that might change, it's not dependent on how good or bad you've been. It is as constant and unfailing as God himself. He IS love.

God is LOVE.

Who is God? He is LOVE. Perfect, amazing, unconditional, unending love. So when we are unsure what God is like, what hiss attitude towards us is, how he is going to respond to us, when we wonder "Who is he?". The answer is love.

We tend to be afraid of love because we sense that it is meant to be consuming and powerful, but we feel like anything like that is dangerous. That is makes us vulnerable. And we have been taught in our lives on earth that being vulnerable is not a good thing because it allows people to hurt us. And it unfortunately is often true in life that we will be hurt by other people, because we all have an  incomplete, imperfect view of love and fail at showing it to other people.

But make sure you are separating the fallibility of humans from the real love that comes from God. Go to God with your search for an understanding of love. It seems dangerous, it seems big and overwhelming. You will need to make yourself vulnerable to Him. But you can be completely assured that His love is safe. That he will never let you down.

Without God, there is no love. God is love. You cannot separate the two. You cannot have one without the other. So no wonder the attempts at love in the world are failing so badly. No wonder we have no idea what it really means, that we've taken it and totally perverted it. We've tried to discard God and still have love. But that's just not possible.

So if you are afraid of Love. Afraid of loving someone, or letting someone love you, then the first, and only place to go is God. Find your definition and meaning and security in Him. Rather than searching for love in the world, let all your focus be on finding God's love. Let Him love you, and love for and from other people won't seem so hard anymore.

1 John 4: 7 - 12  

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Glimpsing Heaven

I feel like I got a little glimpse of heaven today. In a real way, not in a "Is that a giant closet twice the size of Oprah's filled with free clothes and shoes all for me?" heaven kind of way. It wasn't tangible in a physical sense, and I'm sure it's going to be really hard to explain in words what I felt.

I didn't see streets paved with gold or hear angels singing. But I felt like I just got a little step closer (a tiny, tiny step compared to all there is to know) to understanding what heaven is. Being in total communion with God, and with all Christians. I am a separate person, and lay down my own life to be used by God, but it doesn't diminish me, it fills me with strength and joy. I am just one person along with many others, but that makes me more significant and we are all together a part of something amazing.

We are built to long for heaven. To long for complete communion with our creator. It is why here on earth we long for acceptance, to be part of something. It is why we come away from worship or fellowship feeling all warm and fuzzy and uplifted. Because we were designed for it. And every time we get a tiny hint of what it feels like to be in perfect harmony and unity with God, or with others - for even those who don't believe in God will know the feeling, - our souls recognise it.


And on the other side of this, realising just a tiny bit more clearly what heaven is, I also realised what hell is. It's not about a pit of fire with demons jabbing you with red pitchforks. It's not even about some sort of eternal physical tourture and pain. It's the opposite to heaven - complete and utter separation from God.

I think we get caught up in questions about heaven and hell in wondering about their physical place, imagining heaven as a place in the sky,  hell below us, as some places we just move to when we're not on earth any more. And heaven will be really pretty and happy, and hell all dark and firey. We think of it in very earthly terms, according to what we find pleasurable and painful here on earth.

But I think because it is difficult for us to comprehend, often we don't make it past those surface thoughts to really get what heaven and hell are. More than just an arbitrary reward or punishment for being good or bad, it is the outcome of the purpose we were created for.

We were created by God, designed to be with Him. If we reject him, we miss out on that. That is heaven and hell. Either being completely with God, or completely without Him. And I don't think we fully comprehend how that will either be far better than any feeling we've ever had on earth, or it will be far worse than any pit of fire or physical pain.



I'm sure my words don't really describe at all the understanding I had in that moment, and it's one of those glimpses that was so clear and real at the time, then quickly fades when you try to remember it. It will always be the way while we live here in our earthly bodies. But that doesn't mean we stop seeking.

What are you waiting for?

We're taught to want things immediately, faster, sooner...now, now, now. We're impatient when things don't happen quickly, and if we have to wait for something we'll often take a different option rather than wait.

I get impatient if a webpage takes more than 10 seconds to load. And if it takes more than 30...well, you may as well forget it.

So when God says

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." Mark 13:32-33

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Matthew 24:43-44

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Romans 13:11-12

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

this has been interpreted as soon. Our definition of soon. As in, "Ok, I'm ready, where are you?"

But we've been interpreting it as our definition of soon for 2000 years or so.

And I'm sure most of us can think of other times in our lives where we've felt like God was saying he was going to do something, something we needed to be ready for. So we got ready. And then waited. A day, a week, a couple of months. Then when nothing happened, we either got angry at God for not keeping his word, or angry at ourselves for thinking it was God when it wasn't.

Only to discover, maybe even years later, that God's timing wasn't ours. We waited a few months, he was working over a few years. Even a lifetime.

The world teaches us to be impatient, to want things fast and now. The eternal God's definition of now, of soon, is vastly different to ours.

God keeps reminding me of this. He keeps saying to me "What is one year compared to eternity? What is one lifetime compared to Forever?"

That's a frustrating thought when we're in the midst of something we want to change. But it's actually a comforting thought when we really think about it. We know God always keeps his word, so when we know he's not acting immediately on our terms, we can be assured he's got the bigger picture in mind. If God was like the ancient Greek and Roman gods acting on fallible human whims and impulses we'd be in a whole lot of trouble.

We can be thankful God is eternal and knows a bigger picture than we can ever comprehend. Sometimes we just need to be patient.

So why does he use words like 'Now is the time', 'Be alert. Be on guard', 'You must be ready' when he wants us to be patient?

Because patience is not necessarily passive. Patience shouldn't go hand in hand with idleness or complacency. He wants us to wait with expectancy.

So if you are waiting for something, wait with patience, but with hope and expectancy. Expect that God will do great things. For he will, and he already is, even though you may not know it. And it may not come in the form you imagine or want, but we can always be assured of God's perfect Love and Goodness. He will be everything you need.

Wait! Good things are coming! Wait! Never before has the word wait seemed so exciting and promising!

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14

Shepherds and Wisemen

(A belated Christmas inspired post.)

Jesus was a gift to the world, from God.

Often we have trouble accepting that gift, because we feel undeserving, or we're not in the right place yet, or don't know enough about what it's all about.

But the thing with that is, God didn't put any qualifiers on the gift. He didn't say, "once you've worked out all the answers, and know the right lingo, and have your life sorted out, then you can come to me."

He meets us where we are and uses what we know to lead us to Him.

Take the shepherds who were watching their sheep when an angel came to tell them about Jesus.  (Luke 2:8-20) They were out doing their thing, when God sent messengers to meet them where they were. Before that, they didn't have to find out on their own where they were meant to be. They weren't even looking for it - God came to them and told them about Jesus.

He met them where they were at, and led them to where they needed to be.

The Wisemen weren't even nearby - but they were looking. (Matthew 2:1-12). They were searching for something they'd heard about but they were looking in the wrong places. But God used what they knew to lead them in the right direction - he used a star, which they knew (possibly being astrologers), to lead them to Jesus.

He used what they knew, and led them to the truth.

So whatever you feel like you do or don't know, whether you feel like  you're nearby but not sure where to look, or if you feel like you're searching but in all the wrong places - trust that God will meet you where you're at and use what you know to lead you to Him.

And if you are concerned about others who don't seem to be in the right place or seem far away from finding God - preoccuppied with their lives or into things that seem to be taking them in the wrong directions - trust that He is in control. The shepherds weren't even looking - but God sent them a message in a big way. The Magi were looking in the wrong places - but God led them to the right place.

God meets us where we're at, and uses what we know. But the second part of that?  He then uses that to LEAD us. That requires us to move. So when God meets you where you're at, no matter where that is - respond! Get up and move. Let him lead you.

 He'll meet you where you are, but then he wants you to get where you're supposed to be - and that's closer to Jesus.

It's Eternity that really matters...

This morning driving to work I got a realisation - one of those moments when something you've known in your head all your life suddenly becomes crystal clear and make sense in your heart.

Eternity is what really matters.

I was listening to music and just got to the line
"Care less you think if I'm dope.
I could have the freshest rhyme flow.
I could have the dopest live show.
Without Him, don't mean a thing, so...." (Do Yo Thang - KJ-52)

Now, never mind if you life aspiration is not to be a rapper and be 'dope' with a 'fresh flow' and 'dope live shows'....the point of it is, all our aspirations and life goals don't mean a thing without God.

Eternity is what really matters.

We get so caught up in the business and busyness of living our day to day lives that I think we often forget this vital point.

We can't take it with us. The things we strive for on earth are really insubstantial, temporary and fleeting. We worry so much about them, but in the end we can't take it with us. We might work all our lives and store up fame, money, possessions coming out our ears - but then we die and what does it all count for then? That's when we have to deal with eternity - then all that stuff we had on earth really means nothing.

And yet we worry so much about our physical lives, and spend so much of our time focussing on them.

It must be so much worse for those who don't believe in God and don't know there is an eternity waiting for them. Acquiring things, searching for something to make them happy, fulfilled - to make life seem meaningful consumes us. And destroys us.

Because there is NOTHING in our earthly life that can make life meaningful. Anything , no matter how good it my seem to us, without God it is worthless. Pointless. Empty.

It's like when you have a bad nights sleep because you were tossing and turning worrying about things, and all things you had to get done the next day were even invading your dreams. You wake up in the morning feeling anxious and stressed and overwhelmed.

Then, when the bad dreams dissolve away, when you actually look clearly at what you have to get done, or at the problems you were worried about, they turn out to be not so bad.

In the middle of the night all our worries are amplified because we're half asleep, thoughts become large and all out of perspective in dream land, and we're consumed with it because there's nothing else to think about but our problems.

The night time is like life on earth - it's right in front of us, dominating our thoughts. And so those daily things become everything. But we forget what we should be really focussing on.

Eternity.

It's like waking up. And then everything falls back into perspective and we see what really matters. This life is temporary - we're visitors here. Our real life is when we are with Him in heaven for eternity.

Sleeping to waking.
Sleep walking to living.

Death to LIFE.

When I was younger I used to imagine that the life I thought I was living was really one big dream, and one day I was going to wake up into my real life. I'd wake up and find that my real life was completely different to the one I had thought I was living while I was actually dreaming.

It wasn't until later that I realised that my childish imagination wasn't so far off the truth!

What are you storing up for yourself? Are life's troubles, the world's goals and aims, possessions, money...are these things consuming your thoughts, taking your eyes off the real goal?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6: 19-21

When you 'wake up' and find that all the physical things around you that you thought were so important have disappeared, what is going to be left? A fleeting memory of an insubstantial life and whole pile of 'stuff' that is now worthless. Or the comfort, and peace, and real, lasting joy of a relationship with God, no matter how difficult or troubled the path was.

'There your heart will be also'. When we see everything in the light of Heaven, our troubles and worries on earth seem so small. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things on earth become strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." (My favourite hymn). So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 1 Peter 1:6

Don't conform, be transformed. (Romans 12:2) Don't worry that everyone else is concerned and consumed with worldly things. You don't want to miss out on eternity with God because you were too worried about fitting in for a few years on earth.

So, in the words of KJ-52, 'Care less you think if I'm dope....Without God it don't mean a thing, so bring it....Go ahead and just do yo thang'.

:)