Re-Run

*This post I wrote about a year and a half ago. So very relevant still. Someone replied to that particular post with great insight, that follows.

How many people sit in our pews devastated and disappointed, or have left the pews for the bars where everyone really does know their names? When it comes right down to it, it is not the people in the church that have let them down so much as, in their minds, it is God Himself. They came to Christ wanting....__________ (fill in the blanks); a family, healing, love, prosperity. After a while the Jesus that they expected was not enough, was not there, people shafted them, and the world once again looks like a much safer place than the Church. Been there done that!

This week I read a review of a book in World Magazine. The author is a former religion writer for the LA Times. The book is about his "journey" of giving up his faith, a faith he came to years ago through disappointment. He was disillusioned and disappointed with his life in his twenties which culminated in his "giving" his life to Jesus. Now "Jesus" has disappointed him through the lives of people in the pews. Is there a pattern here? This is a good opportunity to do some self reflecting, some soul searching. What were the circumstances surrounding how you came to Christ? Like this reporter, was it disappointment with life? Did you think that Christ would give you the life that you always dreamed of? Was it a lack of family? Whatever it was it will be tested. What ever our human motivations were, the bottom line is that Christ is the one that has found us, and our motivations will be tested. If you were trying to escape a harsh family, a life that chewed you up and spit you out, or a life that was one onslaught of sin after the other, God will test your faith, guaranteed. Whether we haven't realized it yet or not, we didn't deserve His attention in the first place, or His love, if anything we deserved our circumstances, we deserved Hell for crying out loud. In His grace God woos us and draws us using a myriad of experiences-He never wastes a sin! As we mature though, He tests those motives in order to show us even more of His great mercy and grace!

Have you gotten to the point in your experience, walking with Christ, that the trials, tribulations of life seem much worse than when You first came to Christ? Have Christian people disappointed you seemingly more than the ones in your non-Christian past? Have you begun to question just what are you living for, is this what you signed up for? Are you"losing" your faith as the above mentioned reporter has? Only time will tell, but God is changing you so that the lessons of life will not shake you, on that you can be very encouraged. He is turning timidity into boldness, double-mindedness into perseverance, sight into a strong faith that will never disappoint. His Word is the anchor, His presence is the ointment, and His grace is sufficient.

"Sometimes the sun stays hidden for years. Sometimes the sky rains night after night. When will it clear? But.....Our hope endures the worst of conditions. It's more than our optimism. Let the earth quake..our hope is unchanged."

Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant

Sunday Ken preached from Mark 5. Jairus's daughter was dying, Jesus delayed, a woman was healed, professional mourners laughed, a twelve year old looks dead, and God's glory was revealed. We are all so very self absorbed to think that life's circumstances only revolve around us.

This was the reply from"anonymous", so good!

LIMITING THE BREAD JESUS OFFERS

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" John 6:66-67

What caused the crowd following Jesus to turn away and leave? Jesus words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. They were content to eat the bread He offered as long as it was physical provision. When hungry, they eagerly consumed the loaves and fishes. As soon as the subject turned to spiritual food, their interest faded. The concept was too radical; the cost too high.
Today, I can be equally limiting. I can pray for the miraculous provision necessary to pay an overdue bill but reject the bread that promises to expose, then heal, my anger. I will embrace bread for the body but reject bread for the soul. Yesterday while in prayer, Jesus spoke to me about my life's story, and I felt the Spirit ask me the question, "Where would you still like to be changed? How would you like for your story to be different a year from now?" I'm still thinking about that and will be prayerfully carving out an answer.
Whatever landscape Jesus touches changes. I would be shortsighted if I only desired His effect in the physical and not the spiritual. I can ask Him to bring peace to my home but forfeit the opportunity for Him to bring peace to the tormented places in my mind. I can ask Him to bring healing to my body but still live in want of the inner healing of my deepest childhood wound. I can ask for Him to provide the next meal for my family yet fail to eat the sumptuous spiritual meal He has prepared for the renovation of my soul.
Following Jesus is to embrace all of His teachings. While He will allow me to pray for superficial things and give me the choice on whether or not to go deep, the only one who loses when I choose superficiality is me. At the end of my life, I don't want my testimony to sound like this. "In 1989, I prayed and Jesus miraculously provided the money I needed to pay my electric bill." Rather, I pray that this story will be told. "I was once afraid of everything, unsure of myself, and played it safe. I ate of the bread of life and over the course of my lifetime, He changed me completely."

I don't want to go away, like the crowd. Your questions are hard, Your bread sometimes threatens the places where I'm comfortable, but I eat of You today. I am hungry. Amen