Good Morning MABC!
In the office this morning, I am visiting with Mike Lawson and we touched on the topic of yesterday’s message. He said he almost wore his Mercy Me concert t-shirt that says “Even If.”
Even If is the title of one of their most recent hits on contemporary Christian radio. The writer relates that he is going through a bad spell. He says that his songs are to remind the broken that everything will be alright, but he is losing so badly and doesn’t think it will be. Then he asks the question we kind of touched on yesterday…what will my witness be when things are bad, when I am held to the flame?
It’s easy to sing when there’s nothing to bring me down. But what will I say when I’m held to the flame like I am right now?
And the answer comes back telling us to trust in Jesus.
I know You’re able, and I know You can save through the fire with Your mighty hand, but even if You don’t…MY HOPE IS YOU ALONE!
Isn’t that what Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego say in Daniel 3:18 when they tell the king they will not bow down to the statue he has commanded them to worship? Don’t they tell him where their hope lies? Go back and read their response…even if he doesn’t.
It is my hope that as we go through this “Shaken” series that you will indeed not be shaken but stand firm in your faith. That even if God does not resolve your crisis the way you wanted or had hoped for…you will still worship Him. Not forsake him as culture says to do when you don’t get what you wanted. You see, too many in the world today treat Jesus or God like Santa Claus or even a genie whose sole purpose is to bring you whatever you want to make you happy.
Gary Thomas wrote a book called Sacred Marriage. In it he poses a great question which is applicable to all your marriage relationship but I think is good for any struggle as well. What if marriage isn’t designed to make you happy but to make you holy? What other opportunity in life do you have where you learn to be more like Christ each and every day? So let’s take that question and use it in other life circumstances – broken family relations, financial struggles, even health problems. What if God is using them to help you become holy? Remember, holy means set apart for God to use. What if God is teaching you to respond to whatever life throws at you in such a way that people have no choice but to say that you must be a follower of Jesus? Didn’t Darius in Chapter 6 of Daniel issue a proclamation that everyone in the nation was to fear Daniel’s God as the living, eternal God? Daniel was set apart from the beginning of his time and through the trials of living in captivity and having his faith challenged he changed a nation.
I am not asking you to change a nation today but maybe your response to a current struggle in life leads someone else to ask you how are managing to cope with “X” crisis? Maybe, just maybe you can change a life…that changes a life…that changes a life…that changes a life…
Have a great week MABC family! And even if you don’t …
Pastor Rick