Don’t expect life to be handed to you on a golden* platter

One of the things that impresses me as I drive through oak bay, broadmead, and other areas of finer homes, is the beauty of the landscaping. The homeowner (or their gardener), can’t sit back and hope that in the spring the bulbs will pop out of the ground, or in the summer the grass will stay green and at an even 5cm high. The homeowner must get down on their knees and plant the bulbs and flowers. They must water, mow, and edge the lawn, for it to look nice.

I have a friend in cobble hill who is renovating a 75 year old home. It was built without a foundation, has no insulation in the walls, and when looking at the support beams - they have a definite arch downward. In other words, the original owner put up a two story shack that put a roof over his head, but was shoddy workmanship. Getting down on his hands and knees, my friend has crawled in the two foot crawlspace (with all kinds of other rodents) and jacked up the house. He has put in a cement foundation, and is slowly creating a home where the wallpaper doesn’t flap when the wind blows!! Scraped knuckles, and bumps on the head, has produced something more than an unimaginable vocabulary!

When a person commits their lives to god, it is the beginning of a eternal relationship with our creator and redeemer. As I look back to the hundreds that I have seen make that commitment, it saddens me to see so many of them having turned back to their old lifestyle. As we read Galatians, Paul asks the church point blank why they have turned aside from the good news and gone backwards. Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem after a few year absence, and found his Jewish brothers having done the same. Both the Galatians, those in Jerusalem, and my friends at bible camp, had originally been excited about their relationship with god. What happened?

Just like creating and maintaining a garden or home, to follow Jesus isn’t a one time act. To follow means work. It entails getting up from in front of the video game and taking action. You cannot have any type of a relationship with another person if you don’t talk with them, or listen to what they have to say.

if we aren’t prepared to set aside time every day to read his guidebook to us (the bible) and talk with him (pray), then our relationship with god is going to go downhill, just like an un-watered lawn.

Most of those reading this have already discovered that life isn’t handed to us on a golden platter. Neither is an intimate relationship with god. If we are going to prove anything to the world, its got to be that a relationship with Jesus is more than just another religion. Get off the couch, and get to work......

Narrowgate

(* ed. This is obviously an even more challenging version of the old idiom"hand to on a silver platter" meaning to provide with something valuable for nothing, or give an unearned reward to; also, make it easy for. Both terms allude to being elaborately served at the table. [Early 1900s] ;-)

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Theodicy And Salvation

by narrowgate

“The Lord hasn‘t forgotten His promise to return like some people think. He‘s just waiting patiently, because He doesn‘t want anyone to go to hell; He wants everyone to turn to Him. But, He is coming.....” (Letters To Street Christians - 2 Peter 3: 9)

In 1710, Leibnitz, a theologian, created the word “theodicy” for something that most of us have battled in our minds at some point. The Funk & Wagnall’s Standard Dictionary defines the word as: “the justification of Divine providence by the attempt to reconcile the existence of evil with the goodness and sovereignity of God.” To put that in simpler terms, it is “the defense of God’s goodness, and nature of being all powerful; in light of the existence of evil.”

When we read the newspapers or watch the telly, we are bombarded with a world gone beserk. We can easily get upset at God when we see the pedophiles preying on young children, violent abuse of others - even for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, wars, AIDS and HIV epidemics, or global warming. Most families in North America either have someone affected by some sort of cancer, or know others that do. The papers this week are talking about the cross between crystal meth and ecstacy hitting the streets, one of the scariest drug combos yet. Where is this all going to end? Why doesn’t God reach out and do something about this? How can God, who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving, tolerate such apparent injustices and rampant evil?

Maybe God is even more upset about it than we are! Since God is omnipresent (everywhere at once), He can see when some young child is taken and abused; a girlfriend or wife that is beaten up; children becoming orphans because of disease, war, or starvation; people affected by other’s greed and lust; and the results from temptations young people find themselves in as the result of peer pressures. If God was sick of the Israelites after He led them out of Egypt, and wanted to wipe them off the planet (Ex. 32: 9-10), what must He feel about our generation? He wants to destroy the earth and bring judgement because of what people do to others. Yet, He holds off. And people keep suffering and dying.

As you nod your head in agreement, here is something for you to consider. Both you and I owe our salvation to Him for holding off!!!

God has been ready to wipe out the human race longer than any of us have been alive. It is only because of His mercy that any of us are still here after so many decades of evil. I became a Christian on August 10 (a few years ago). But, what if His patience had run out on the world on August 9? What if His patience had run out the day before YOU became a disciple of Jesus? One day He is going to pull the plug. He is going to draw a line in the dirt, and whoever is on the wrong side of that line is going to be in BIG trouble. I was raised in a Christian home, went to Bible camp every year, and attended church three times on Sundays. Yet, I balked at making a committment until I was nearly 15 years old. What if God had pulled the plug before I’d committed to follow Him?

When I hear of thousands in China becoming Christians every week, and whole villages turning to Christ in India, Africa, and Indonesia, I know that there are millions of people out there who might come to Jesus is they were given just “one more day.” When we hear about terrible things and we throw up our hands and wonder why God didn’t intervene, we need to thank Him for everyone who has heard the good news and found Him - today.

I am against making “New Year’s Resolutions,” as I am very aware that they last a few hours at the most. However, we daily need to ask God to mold our lives, making us more like Christ in our language, our conversations, work ethics, and inteaction with others. In doing so, we will be reaching others for Christ - while there still is time.

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