Are You Satisfied?

We are all seeking satisfaction in one way or another … aren’t we? It is a condition that is built into us.

Before God created us, He created an environment of great beauty, power and mystery … a place for us. In us, He created the abilities to interact and enjoy all of it. The Lord, in His great love for us has given so very much and yet we seek our satisfaction in other things … often the very gifts themselves.

The recent untimely demise of singer, Whitney Houston, reminds me of another singer who wailed, “Thou I try, and I try, and I try, and I try, I can’t get no satisfaction!” Here is a young girl who was given a gift from God … a voice like an angel … and continued to search for satisfaction in all the wrong places.

Are we much different than Whitney and Mick … are we much different than the Israelites in the days of Amos?

In the days of prophet, Amos, people had been given much and had turned to the pleasures of the day to gain their satisfaction. Thou they had been given great gifts by God, they had turned to worship of the gifts and not the giver. And, in so doing they had forgotten the provider and turned drastically away from Him.

In this day the covenant of God to provide for all of our needs, (Philippians 4:19) has never been more evident. But, if you’re like most of us, you’ve worked hard and have accumulated things, forgetting that the strength and ability to do this work has been a gift from Him.

James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like sifting shadows.

Some of us have been able to acquire great wealth and wind up counting our money instead of counting on the giver of that wealth … the ever merciful and gracious God.

Many of us spend time in nature, hiking or traveling around this glorious land, the trees, the mountains, beautiful bodies of water, ever changing landscapes and we wind up hugging trees instead of thanking the Lord.

Many relish the power gained in their lives and deny that the abilities that brought them to the top of whatever pinnacle they are on were given by our Creator.

Many of us are wallowing in the pleasures of life provided by the Lord and racing off to worship those pleasures … those gifts and forgetting to take time to thank the Giver.

In the times of Amos, the Israelites prospered, but it is God who gave them the strength, knowledge and perseverance required to do everything they did, as vile as it had become. They had lost sight of the fact that He can just as easily take it all away.

At that time the punishment was put forth by the Lord thru Amos in chapter 8, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. That famine eventually came and the Lord was silent for over 400 years.

The punishment of those who had worshiped the gifts of God but denied the existence of God was separation from God. Verse 12 states, “People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.” In that day “the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst."

Could we face that same punishment as our society, as our schools, as our leaders try to separate us further and further from the Lord? Without the Lord we have no anchor in our lives, we wander from this pleasure to that pleasure searching for meaning. As we continue to deny God in our lives, we lose our stability, we “become faint because of thirst.” Our soul thirsts for communion with its creator and we become faint of heart.

Let us all remember that God’s gifts are given to turn us TO GOD … not toward the GIFTS!

Once we are able to come to grips with this fact and we stop chasing after THINGS instead of GOD to make us happy, we will be like Paul who said in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

Larry Abele - Editorial Team

I Resolve To ......

Here it is the second week of a brand new year. I have purposely waited to publish this post until most new year resolutions have been broken. Or, are you one of those who valiantly keep your resolutions. 

Possibly you are one of those who make them so practical that they can be kept … “I resolve to spend less time exercising.” “I resolve to watch more TV.” Or, maybe, like me, you usually find them useless and therefore make none at all. After all, it is just a new calendar … nothing else.

Paul sent me a note with his take on this whole process:

“Some time ago, I became somewhat disillusioned with the whole resolution thing. I've found myself to be pitiful when it comes to meeting these long term, sweeping and really rather undefined and general promises for change.

Those who actually make change do not vow to do so, since that places such changes in the future, where they can be postponed continually - rather, such people (of whom I'm rather envious), simply change. They alter their behavior in small ways on a day to day basis.

However these changes have their limitation. Real consequential changes, changes of eternal value comes not from within us … they come from the Lord.

King Salomon said; "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3: 5-6) These words capture the essence of my resolution for 2012 perfectly: to trust the Lord in all things and pray for Him to reveal the next step in our journey. Can't wait to see all of the “good” things that He has in store for our family this year!”

As I struggled with the highs and lows of this past year … from the birth of my first great-granddaughter to the tragic end to three of my best friends, I am reminded that life is fragile, for newborns and for young men … for the middle aged and for seniors. Let us not let the mechanics of living out-weigh the compassion of living. And, remember that the fruit of our lives will always be representative of the god we follow.

I am making a resolution this year … one that I know the Lord will help me keep … one that I encourage all of you to make. I resolve  to love deeper, to care more fervently, to give more unselfishly and to savor every precious moment that the Good Lord gives me.

And, as Paul closed his note …

“Larry and I pray that the year 2012 is a great year for you, a year in which you will come to trust in the Lord and experience the blessing of His leading.”

Larry Abele – Editorial Team

Boxing Day - A Tradition That Needs To Be Revived

Boxing Day is traditionally a day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants. This tradition, dated from the Middle Ages, has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions. 

What should be the attitude of the Christ Followers toward the needy? 

Before offering our opinion, let us consider the strong scriptural basis for helping the poor: In the Old Testament, God gave the Israel specific guidelines for taking care of the poor. He commanded that the corners of fields were not to be harvested so that something would be left for the needy to eat (Lev. 19:9-10).

God also promised a special blessing to all who gave to the poor (Prov. 19:17), and judgment to those who oppressed the poor (Ps. 140:12). 

Robbing and cheating the poor were condemned (Hosea 12:7). Widows and orphans - who were especially vulnerable to oppression - came under special protection from the law (Exod. 22:22-23).

God - in the law - also made provisions for poor and foreigners who were not a part of Israel's theocracy. Gleanings from the harvest were to be left for them (Deut. 24:19-21), and they were ranked in the same category as widows and orphans as being defenseless (Ps. 94:6).

Jesus is very clear about our responsibility to the poor and oppressed. Christ's strong warning that eternal condemnation awaits those who do not feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoners (Matt. 25:31-46) shows that the disadvantaged are not merely a peripheral concern of His. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus taught that anybody in need is our neighbor (Luke 10:29f.).

The biblical view of the poor and oppressed is such that God's people everywhere should be appalled at the poverty of the people in the world. 

In my opinion the Church of Jesus Christ must act to help relieve the suffering of the needy in our world. Now, as a new year approaches, would be a great time to start!

Paul Weresch