“When they had pasture, they became satisfied; they were satisfied, and their hearts became proud. Therefore they forgot me.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Where do you turn when things get tough? I’ve asked that question before. You already know what I think the answer should be: God. Perhaps you do turn there and good for you. Many people turn to something they identify as a higher power when things get tough. That’s not at all unusual. It’s also not what I am interested in this morning. I just wanted to distract you a bit. Here’s what I’m interested in right now: Where do you turn when things are smooth and easy?
“You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
If you are someone who would claim the title “Christian,” why do you do that? Were you born into it? Did someone coerce you into it? Were you swayed by the evidence in favor of its reasonableness? What pushed you over the edge to accept that mantle? If I may be so bold, I suspect there was someone other than you who played a role in your decision; possibly a significant role. They played a role in saving your life. Shouldn’t you return the favor by doing the same thing for someone else?
This past Sunday, we continued our new series, Being Useful, by looking at the first character trait on Peter’s list that will make us more useful to Jesus. Item number one: Faith. What is faith? What does it look like to have faith? And how does growing in faith make us more useful to Jesus? Read on to find out.
Making God Happy
We were sitting in
a restaurant the other day and over my shoulder a family had been seated at a
pretty large table. They needed the
space. The waitress came over like she
would for any customer and took drink orders.
Not long after, they called her back.
They wanted to make some special requests. Then they called her back again. Then she came to take their food orders…and
they made some special requests. Then
the drinks came out. And those weren’t
right. The appetizers were wrong
too. So was their dinner. The manager came to the table at least once,
maybe twice. It took a couple of trips
by the waitress to get dessert ordered and right too. Now, this was a busy restaurant and certainly
mistakes are occasionally made in the industry.
But as we looked around the room, we didn’t notice anybody else getting
the amount of specialized attention they were getting. Now, they were never ugly that we could tell,
but the fact that just about all of their stuff wasn’t quite right began to
suggest a pattern. The pattern wasn’t a
restaurant that couldn’t get its stuff together. The problem was a family that was hard to
please.
“For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
We like for things to be incremental. We want to be able to advance toward pretty much everything in life in a step by step fashion. Every big store offers payment plans for their big ticket items. Cars get paid off over three or four years (and increasingly more). Houses take 30 years even though few people live in one place that long anymore. Why can’t the same be true with getting into Heaven?
“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
I want to matter. I want for my life to count for something. That desire pulses deep with every beat of my heart. If I were a betting kind of man, I’d bet that you feel this too. While it may manifest itself in different ways, this desire burns at the heart of every single one of us. We want to be able to look back on our lives at some point and be able to say: I accomplished something of value to this world. One of our deepest fears is meaninglessness. Anything that helps at least sort of scratch this itch gets our attention. Given that, what Peter says here should have us rapt with it.
The Nexus 