Good morning,
I
am so thankful that the church in America, and the world at large, is
finally getting back to the place where we will become much more vibrant
and useful. Those of us who are known as followers of Jesus and who
live in what is known as the Western world, have for many generations
been viewed with respect for our willingness to help people in need. We
have brought our money and education to bear on the problems of life
and have been seen as a helpful part of the world’s cultures. The Good
News that we brought with us has been seen as a stabilizing force in the
face of world wars and cultural confusion. That picture of the useful,
stabilizing, constructive people of the cross is now getting back to
what has been true through most of history. The Psalmist who wrote
Psalm 119 expressed the usual condition that has identified God’s
children throughout history. People around us are seeing us as
insignificant and troublesome people who keep trying to impose old rules
on a modern, free, anything goes self centered way of living.
This
is the kind of pressure that is wonderfully able to get us to begin
depending on our Eternal Father and his plans for our lives. We must
decide to drift away with those doomed to destruction or begin to
discover how God thinks and acts and build our lives on his character
and his ideas of what is right and wrong. The kind of pressure and
stress that we are now facing is designed to break us down into nobodies
who have nothing to offer and nothing to say. But this is also the
kind of pressure that can wean us away from being content to be “good
people” and settle into being faithful followers of our eternally just
and eternally perfect Savior. This is the kind of pressure that can get
us to read the Bible with a open, searching mind to satisfy our hungry
hearts. When we get to the point of looking forward to hearing from our
Savior and then spending time in worship and praise with our Eternal
Lover, then and only then will we find the joy that our Father has built
into his commands. May the Lord help us to trade in our “goodness” for
the godliness and joy that he has prepared for us.
Psalm 119:141
I am insignificant and despised, but I don’t forget your commandments.
142 Your justice is eternal, and your instructions are perfectly true.
143 As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.
Roy Wisner
