Friday, July 15, 2016

YOUR REASON FOR LIVING (4)




Excuse me, but your purpose is showing.  That’s right.  The way one lives reveals the  real reason for living. Actions really do speak louder than words.

                                    
RECAP:  There is no point pleading with God for help when we have ignored the instructions.  If it is any consolation to us, even a man like Moses got into trouble in this way:

RESUME:  When the Israelites were camped at the Red / Reed sea shore with the Egyptian army closing in behind them, Moses began praying to God and explaining their difficult situation to him.  God's terse response was “Moses why do you cry out to me?  Tell the children of Israel to march on.”  God had already told Moses what the Israelites were to do — they were to march into the sea.  All they had to do now was obey the order and when, eventually, they stopped complaining (remember, we spoke on the whining children last week) to God about what an unpleasant order it was and did as they had been told they found that actually God did know what he was doing after all because the waters parted and they walked through on dry ground.

Joshua also found himself in this situation at an early stage in his leadership:  In Joshua chapter one, God promises the land over the Jordan to Joshua but instructs him “Only be strong and very courageous, that you will be careful to act according to all the law that Moses my servant instructed you.  Do not deviate from it, to the right or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go.  This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth; and you shall meditate upon it day and night, that you may be careful to act according to all that is written therein; for then you shall have good success in your ways, and then you shall prosper.  ...”  

When Joshua later complains to God (Joshua 7:6-13) that things are not going well, the reply he receives is rather terse: “Stand-up!  What are you doing down on your face?”  The implication is that if Joshua had believed what God had said (Joshua 1:6-8, as shown above) then he should already know why things are now going so badly.

Jesus has promised to be with us always until the end of the age so we have nothing to fear from obedience.  The demands of Jesus may seem severe but, because they are backed by the promises of God, they are risk free.  We are told not to store-up treasure on earth, we are told to give to the poor, we are told to do dozens of things that most of us somehow never quite get around to doing.  Now why is this?  Why is it that we seem to think that the commands do not apply to us?

When we follow the simple commands that have already been given to us we will find that many of the situations that we wanted God's advice about will have ceased to exist.  In other cases, we will find that once we are free from the choking weeds of worldly worries we will find that it is much easier to see clearly what the real priorities are.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  ...  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  ...”  Matthew 7:26 NIV.

And James found it necessary to write: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.”

Acting Wisely and Avoiding Procrastination.

There is a time for dedicated prayer and there is a time for decisions and action.  If we want to know which “door” we should go through we could try opening some of them and seeing what is on the other side.  In some cases, it will be obvious that we should not enter.  In other cases, it will be obvious that the room contains work that we could usefully be getting on with.  For the remaining cases where we feel truly unable to make a sensible, fully informed decision we could either find something else to do while we put the question back to God or we could make a decision anyway and see where it leads us.  Any decision — even a bad decision — is far superior to procrastination which is never productive.  “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”  James 1:5-8.  Attention to James' words apply to requests for wisdom and it is wisdom that “will be given him”; there is nothing to indicate that James' words may be applied to requests for anything else…..to be cont’d


In Christ,
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts

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