To Enter Perchance To Win!

At this time of year our hearts turn towards God with great expectation as if ‘we’ were soon to become the sheppard’s who at the birth of the promised Messiah would hear something akin to that ourselves. Yet it is in the rush of and for that better gift filled with feelings of excited expectation that we remember how we once awoke to see if Santa had come and left us our hearts desire. We adults, even those who live daily for Christ can find the holidays daunting. Perhaps there is less money, loved ones and friends have passed or moved far away. For many just the idea of being merry when there is so much unrest here and in the world and people are being killed daily to further radical agenda’s, might make us think that Christ isn’t coming back…or has waited too long and this once peaceful nation, guided by the belief that we were one nation under God, who blessed those who live here find ourselves at sixes and sevens with those who…

Trying to recapture that which is lost is like trying to become God and in that attempt we can either with or without our knowing it make ourselves out to be judge and jury of others. As the wife of a pastor and field missionary it saddens me to see this occurring though I understand that when there is a real or perceived void, we humans try to fill it in with something…but the reality is that all our attempts are futile for trying to do things in our own strength is how we got here in the first place.

I say all of this as a prelude to the reality that I am no different than my contemporaries. I to seek approval from others and desperately need to be considered worthy of…Yet, I am aware that should they find me worthy one moment and surrounded by smiling faces, in the next I could experience the antithesis of this. But God, in Matthew 3:16-17 has given us His answer. Before you read it, please know that the moment you received Gods forever forgiveness, he saw you as he sees me, for we are in Messiah and as such are seen without blemish or defect! So when we read the Matthew 3:16-17 passage we know that God sees us as he saw his son so please read the scripture and receive God’s blessing! As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Now all of this said I know feeling God’s blessing is different from walking in it. This is where the rubber meets the road, and where ones entering a contest to win accolades can be fraught with DANGER! Not danger from above, or from others, but the danger that lurks within. The danger I speak of is the belief that if one fails to achieve the pinnacle of…our silent fears are well founded and we are nothing.

Yet all those we read about in scripture's Faith chapter beginning with father Abraham dealt with their human nature and desire to become somebody of... To do likewise, we do not pretend to be other than we are, but knowing fully who we are we accept the challenges and press on.

It is then that winning becomes a moot point, for though winning is nice, walking with God is best!