Unthankful Hearts

During a Sunday worship service, our congregation said this prayer of confession in unison: “Gracious God, like many believers before us, we complain when things do not go our way. We want abundance of everything rather than what is sufficient to sustain us. We would rather be elsewhere than where we are at the moment. We would rather have the gifts You give to others than what You provide for us. We would rather have You serve us than serve You. Forgive our lack of gratitude for what You give.” –David C. McCasland (from the Our Daily Bread devotional)

How true that prayer is.  So often we are so focused on what we lack that we forget all that God has given us.  We forget that God will give us everything to do His will (1 Thessalonians 5:24—He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it).  It also shows how weak our flesh is.  We are continually drawn to things of this world that other people have that we do not have.  We forget to delight ourselves in the Lord and so we miss out on God giving us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).

Knowledge of Good and Evil

As part of my training work, I am to read How People Grow by Henry Cloud and Stuart Townsend.  In the part that I read today, they talk about how one of the roles God intended during Creation was that God was the judge of life and we weren't; we were to experience life.  They write, "[God] didn't want humans to 'know' what he knew about evil.

Even though we, as humans, ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we do not and cannot completely comprehend good and evil.  We have finite vision of what is to happen in our lives, linear vision of time, and limited vision of good and evil.  This made me consider:  How can I come before God, knowing that I do not have full knowledge of good and evil, say to God, "This is not good for me, please take it away"?  How can I say to God, "This is good for me, please allow me to have it"?  Or how can I saw to God, "Why are so many bad things happening to me?" How can I say these things if I do not have total knowledge of good and evil?  How do I know whether certain things are truly good or truly bad for me?

It was such a great moment of realization.  How arrogant I had been, thinking I knew what was good and what was bad in my life.  Only God knows.

I was thinking further on this subject and realized that one of the biggest lies Satan can tell us is that we know good and evil or that we are capable of knowing fully about good and evil.  If we believe Him, then we will start to wonder why "bad" things happen to "good" people.  In doing so, we'll be just like Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and we'll think we completely know good and evil and we'll take things into our own hands instead of trusting the One Who fully knows good and evil and will be with us through everything.

The Calmer of Storms

Jesus Calms the Storm (Matthew 8:23-27)

I love this picture of Jesus calmly standing in the midst of the storm.  A lot of times when I face difficult situations, I face Jesus, kind of like how the disciples did, saying, “Do you see this?  Do you see what I’m going through?  I can’t make it through.  How come it seems like you’re not doing anything?  Are you aware that this is going on?”  And of course Jesus always knows and He responds, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”  Why is it that when I face times of trials and tribulations that I am so afraid?  Jesus can squelch the storms of our lives with a simple word and bring complete calmness like he did in this passage.  Even if the storm is not immediately calmed, God promises to provide us with everything we need to do His will.  He is the Lord Almighty.  Why am I so afraid?

Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance

2 Peter 3:9—The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

I was reading through Matthew and realized something.  It seems so sad that some people genuinely thought that Jesus was heretical.  It seems so sad that though God came down to show people the way, people rejected him.  It’s sad that on the last day, people like Herod, Caiaphas, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Pilate will have to sleep in the beds that they made.  It’s sad to think that they’ll have that feeling, “Oh, I was so, so terribly wrong.”  I think that’s why Jesus, as he was being crucified, said, “My God, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”  They truly didn’t know.  They were genuinely doing what they felt was right.  It seems so sad that anyone should perish, though in reality, we all deserve it.  I hope that this motivates me; I hope that I will have a heart like God’s--He loves everyone in the world and doesn’t want anyone to perish.

And in turn I hope that this will motivate me to have compassion on people of this campus and beyond this campus.  I hope that I will not desire anyone to perish and in turn go and share the gospel with people.  I hope that this love will overcome any fears that I might have.  I hope that my love for them will cast out any fear that I feel—any fear of rejection, any fear of breaking of a relationship.  I hope that I will truly deem God’s relationship and my friendship with him greater than the friendship with anyone on this earth.  I want that to be true in my life.  I want doing His will to overshadow everything on this earth; I want it to all fade into the background.  I want to share His gospel, scary as it may be sometimes.  I hope that my love for them will cast out any fear that I fear.  Any fear of rejection, any fear of breaking of a relationship.  I hope that I will truly deem God’s relationship and my friendship with him greater than the friendship with anyone on this earth.  I want that to be true in my life.  I want doing His will to overshadow everything on this earth; I want it to all fade into the background.

I really believe that God's heart for everyone is revealed in 2 Peter 3:9.  I believe that that is why in Matthew 24:14, it says how the end will come after the gospel is preached to all nations (i.e. people groups).  God wants everyone to have a chance to come to repentance, so He’s giving people the chance and waiting.

Though as a Christian, I often think of the last day as a time of joy, but for the ones who do not have the assurance of salvation or for those who reject God, it will be a time of weeping and deep sorrow and regret.  I don’t want anyone to perish and to have that awful feeling of regret.  Out of love for them, I owe it to people to share this wonderful knowledge with them.  Out of love for them, I ought to tell them what God has done for them and I ought to tell them of the full and abundant life God has for them.