Homethings I think about sometimes:
why?
How?
just kidding, but really
Why I can go to a hospital with a card and get my child taken care of when most of the world can’t even fathom it?
Why would I get to live somewhere I can turn on my faucet and have clean pure water?
Why have I been blessed to live in mostly safety and peace most of my life when much of the world is in turmoil and violence?
How am I able to support 5 people, drive a late model minivan, a 14 year old car, both in good working condition when many around the world have to walk miles and miles anywhere they need to go?
Why have I been able to work at one of the largest corporations in the world and make a good wage?
Why don’t I have some terrible monotonous job?
Why have I never gone hungry for lack of resources, money, food, etc..?
Why does God have mercy on me? Why does He show me grace?
I don’t know why. I don’t understand. And don’t think that I am complaining. I’m not. But what I do wonder sometimes is “have I gotten my just reward?”. That is not a question of have I been rewarded, or when does the real reward come in. It is a question of “is this what I’m living for?”. Do I live only to consume and enjoy? Because I’m learning that if these things are my reward, then they will not satisfy me, not for eternity and I won’t get to take them with me?
I am only stating the obvious. Tom Brown doesn’t deserve these things. Tom Brown deserves hell. The life that I lived prior to Christ, more so, the life that I lived prior to being 5years old brought me that deserving fate, or more biblically, I deserved it from the womb, though the years after definitely secured my deserving and my place there. that is, if it wasn’t for God and His saving work in my life to change that.
I believe that we here in this country are spoiled. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take the benefits. But we do start to act and think like we are entitled to this level of comfort and wealth. I personally want to be more thankful, more aware of what I have been blessed with, how I can bless others and how I can use less on myself. If I believe that God is the true provider of everything… water, wealth, air, matter, time, etc., then I should probably live a bit differently than I do. And yet there is this war inside me, the war that Paul talks about in Galatians, in Romans, the war with the flesh that wants to be comforted and spoiled. And yet there are people that need to hear about God. There are people that need to see His love. There are people that don’t believe because they haven’t seen and they haven’t seen because I’m on my couch, watching tv, listening to my ipod, playing my guitar, typing on my computer, recording home movies, driving my car, lighting my house, eating the spoil of rich and fat living.
Ok, enough of my tirade. Back to the real message.
I want to be more thankful and I am thankful for these things. But what I am most thankful for is that 2000+ years ago, Christ came, as a baby, God wrapped in human flesh, that as it says in Hebrews, He might be familiar with our weaknesses and our trials. He lived a sinless life, doing what the first Adam, and those after Him, could not do. And when the predetermined time came, He went to the cross, becoming our sin and paying the cost for our sin, those that would believe, that He might bring peace with God to us. Without this work, this transaction, there is no hope for a sinner, for there is no good in any of us, not that is of ourselves, not that is pure.
So, I deserve hell. I still deserve hell, today, 10+ years into this Christian walk. But by the grace and mercy of God, He has given me faith in Christ, security in knowing I cannot make it on my own, but knowing that I need another. This transaction is folly to the world it says in 1 Corinthians. The cross makes no sense to those who are perishing. But to those whom are being saved, it is the awesome display power of God.
do you know Christ? lots of times I am not sure whether I do. But there is security in no other. He offers water that gives eternal quenching of your thirst. More so than our money, our things, our families, our kids, our jobs, our fun, our comfort, could ever do. We just don’t see it. But wouldn’t you want to spend eternity with the being that created everything anyway? The source of life and power and light? Wouldn’t that being be more beautiful and glorious than anything else we can even imagine? The being that put the billions (uncountable) stars in the sky? The vastness of space, the complexity and detail of DNA? The countless grains of sand, the hairs on your head, all are known by Him. He offers the most beautiful, most extravagant gift to you. Not heaven, not your own desires played out for eternity. But He offers Himself. The most satisfyingly beautiful, powerful, awesome, infinite being. You can be with Him forever, if you realize that you are really lost (no matter your worldly status) that He is your only hope, your only safety, that He is God and there is no other.
He sent Christ to glorify Himself, that sinners might be saved.
things I think about and ponder… why? how?
Merry Christmas!