the basic message #E313
11/20/04
"Oh, my God!" How many times have you said or heard that expression? I was watching one of these "reality shows" last night that allows a family to "start over". In the episode last night, the father was given a shot at starting a new career that he'd dreamed of for years, and rest of the family was given makeovers. The family house was completely renovated and upgraded with all of the latest bells and whistles. At the unveiling, one phrase was heard over and over and over. You know what that choice of words was: "Oh, my God!"
Out of the millions of families in the world, only a few are selected to be the recepients of such a giveaway. The rest of us will have to settle for a "normal" life. What's wrong with that? For those of us who have faith that God's decisions for our lives are good, there's absolutely nothing wrong. Sadly, most folks put more emphasis on fake, external changes like "extreme makeovers".
Matthew 6
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you
will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look
at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet
your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who
of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the
field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even
Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that
is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So
do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What
shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well.
Jesus Christ knew our hearts then, and he knows them today. When he spoke the words above, there were people around him that were putting way too much emphasis on material things. "What shall we eat?, what shall we drink?, what shall we wear?", is heard even more often today than it was 2000 years ago. Materialism is a real problem in our society, and it appears it will only get worse. What is the solution? Jesus gave us good advise when he walked on this earth, and that advise is still pertinent for today: "...seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
How many Christians really seek God's kingdom and righteousness first and foremost? From my experiences, I'd say not many. That's sad, since life would be so much easier and richer if we would simply follow Jesus' advice. It seems like Americans are always seeking that "quick fix", like winning the lottery. The stories of people whose lives have gotten worse after winning probably outnumber the success stories, but the lure of the "quick dollar" is so strong in some folks that they spend their hard-earned money chasing dumb fantasies. I've become a big believer in giving back to God. You might assume from that statement that I'm a solid tither, but I'm not. I've witnessed people who've given 10% of their income for years and after a while, it becomes routine. In the past 10 years, God has clearly spoken to me dozens of times as I've given time and resources to increase his kingdom. The latest episode involved a local church that does missions work in other countries. In their last newsletter, they had a need for a cassette tape duplicator. I must assume that God spoke to me and said, "this is your opportunity to help", and I did. Within a week, my boss said, "You'll be getting a bonus check this week". Now this might not seem like a strange sequence of events, right? You'd need to know that our division hasn't exactly been doing great in sales lately, so in reality, we didn't even remotely qualify for a bonus. I think God is working through my boss to increase my faith, and guess what? It's working. In this latest case, I received a check that returned my entire contribution to the missions project, plus leaving a few hundred dollars to boot. "Seek first" is more that just idle talk, friends.
It's high time the real Christians in the world start saying, "Oh, my God!", followed by "you are awesome!" Or, "Oh, my God, you never cease to amaze me!" How about "Oh, my God, you're good to me even when I've done little to merit your goodness!" The phrase "Oh, my God" has become as empty as a puddle in the Mojave Desert. Don't take my word for it- do your own research this week. Be listening for the phrase, "Oh, my God!", and after you hear it, discern for yourself whether the person saying it is having any thoughts whatsoever about God. I think you'll find that God is the last thing on their mind. I hope I'm wrong.