he remembers his covenant forever.
24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 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?
and Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:
7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
Our provision is not dependent on our own efforts, on our jobs, or on the economy. Our provision comes from God. He gives us the skills and talents that we can use in making a living, certainly. But when our circumstances are such that our own efforts come to nothing, we need not live in fear for our food and clothing. Our provision comes from God. It is that simple.
I think that in this country we have become so accustomed to a lifestyle that is so excessive that the thought of actually being content with having just our needs met is, by comparison, terrifying to most of us! But the bottom line is: If I have less to occupy my time in care and upkeep, I have more time to spend with God and family and friends. What are my standards for contentment in life? Are they based on things? or are they based on relationships? What are God's standards?
Maybe by answering those questions, we can find a right perspective on the events that are happening in front of us. Whether the person we believe should be in office wins or not, whether the economy recovers quickly or we enter into an economic crisis - these things I know - God is sovereign and His ways are not our ways and He loves us and is pursuing us with a passion and I want to return that passion to Him. My response can only be - Whatever it takes, God.
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4 comments:
That blog was absolutely the truth. Have we all had so much "stuff" for so long that anything else is unacceptable?
Submission to authority is not absolute. Acts 5:29 says We must obey God rather than men - And if you read it in context, the apostles were told by the authorities not to speak in the name of Jesus and multiple times thoughout the Bible they (among others) were arrested, imprisoned, scoffed at and put to death - for doing what was right - against the authorities (and majorities). Submission to authority must be on the basis that the authority is not in conflict with God's authority. Our focus must always be on Jesus, in any and every circumstance. Voting is a serious responsibility and we must ask ourselves WWJD. As a Christian, our God-given convictions must influence ALL aspects of our lives, and where we find conflict, the Word of God must rule. Our founding fathers knew this best - as separation of church and state was meant to keep govt from interferring with "religion." It was never meant to keep "religion" (Christianity) from influencing government, Christianity NEEDS to influence government, and it should be obvious the correlation of decline of influence to our nation's decline in morality. Our nation was meant to be One Nation Under God and if we do not use our vote to stand for Godly principles, we will be held accountable. The choices that we make now will determine not only the shape of the nation that we will leave to our young, but how they are shaped by the society we help create, either directly or indirectly - by ignoring Christian convictions, by being complacent or by following the Word of God and using our positions to influence the world around us in accordance with Biblical principles. We cannot ever separate ourselves from Christ, if we are for Christ, then we must be for Him at all times, and if our job or any interest interferes with our Christian convictions then we must either find a new job/interest that doesn't or change the one that does. If we have done all we can to fight the liberal take-over of our government and society, then and only then can we expect God to protect us, otherwise we can expect something like 1 Sam 8:18 - When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you've chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won't answer you on that day.
We must seek God and pray that we each recognize what He would have us do, and we must seriously ask ourselves if who and what we are voting for align with Him. Eph 6:12 - For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. If this struggle is not obvious to us in this election then we are not paying attention and need to wake up.
While I do see your point in some areas, I personally prefer to save a "whatever it takes Lord" for a last resort. In the case of this election, there is more to vote for than just the Presidency, our other elected officials have the potential to have just as much or more determination in the future direction of our government and I would strongly recommend praying about and researching those candidates as well.
My post was not meant to address IF we should vote or WHAT we should be voting for. It was to address the fears and anxieties that I am seeing and hearing from so many as we face the uncertain times in which we live.
The point was not to encourage political activism (that is not my particular calling) but to encourage a deeper trust in God, a deeper relationship with the Most High. That is what has been made available to us by the atonement of Jesus Christ. His beautiful sacrifice has made it possible for us to be in right relationship with God and that is the only safe place to be, regardless of circumstance.
If your heart is right with God, if you are in right relationship with Him, if His will has become your will, the natural outflowing will be to do the things He has purposed for your life; whether it is digging ditches, or representing your community in the US Senate, or casting a single vote.
That is my heart cry for this nation: a deeper relationship with Jesus.
I feel as Americans we are so spoiled. We are used to getting whatever we want and when we want it.
I used to think people judged me by what I had. As I grew older & wiser (lol) I realized that if they did not like me for who I was and not for what I had, they were not friends at all.
We put too much value on our possessions! We all want big homes, nice cars, wonderful vacations...but what really matters is our time with God and our families.
When it is our time to go home to be with the Lord, possesions will mean nothing. If we have lean times in the future it will be nothing like those that live in poor-stricken countries. We are a blessed people. Why do we complain so much? Because we have got our eyes off the Lord.
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