Tuesday

Complacency was the word of the day yesterday. Its a word I keep coming to in my time alone and one that I truly am beginning to dislike. How easy to find complacency in others, how much harder to accept your own. To stop growing to stop learning to allow things to stay at status quo…..complacency. To more or less “give up” on things that need to grow and mature, or to change, because the energy required to enact such changes, not to mention the strength to withstand those who dislike change ……well….it becomes easier to be complacent. One thing though….complacent people rarely get anywhere…..or get anything done.
It seems to me when Jesus got to the end of the day, he didn’t say, “well, the job before me is just too hard, so many wouldn’t like what I have to say or do, so I”ll just let it go” no…..when he looked at the hungry large crowd, he looked at what they had in hand….a few fish and loaves of bread….then he relied on God to multiply his effort and the materials at hand. He didn’t have a counsel vote, he didn’t wait to see if the crowd was ready for a feast, or if appropriate folks had approved the plan, he led them in what needed to be done.
Ministry is a tough gig. If you’re in it for approval from the ones you minister to, most likely you’ll be seriously disappointed. Presenting God’s truths to folks can be a comforting thing for those who are searching for them and a disquieting thing for those who are not living them. I don’t think any minister, including Jesus, would tell you the path is easy or without its own frustrations. Jesus seemed to be consistently disappointed in his disciples understanding of the gifts he was trying to bring them from His heavenly Father…..yet we were made to be imperfect and in that imperfection have a need, a relational need for our creator, through Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father.
Pharisees live today….if you don’t think so, try out some of the committees your churches have or its board. Folks who may be some of the hardest working folks you know, but at times may worry about the supply (“No, sorry Jesus, we only have 5 fish and 2 loaves, that feast feed is out”) or may worry about the publicity (“Could you simply not do those healings on Sundays? After all we don’t want the negative public view”) or may not quite care to follow the risk of believing what God says (“Now lets not say ALL things were healed by your stripes…after all….that leaves some folks feeling bad if they do not get instantaneous healing”) Obedience is a very tough row to how. Tougher still is a life without it.
Have you thought lately about what it means to be physically dead for three days and then live and breathe again? Have you thought just how different Jesus was? Have you considered that Jesus said we can do all the things that he did when he walked on the earth? The laws of the supernatural that he called upon….provision, healing, life, calling down natural forces such as wind, storms…multiplication……can all be ours to use as He told us? Have you dared to believe that truly our sins and transgressions were removed from us on his cross….that sickness and disease have no power over those who dare to call them down in Jesus name?
It seems that I hit alot of brick walls in my thinking lately…..then God quietly reminds me that His word is true, that my limitations are my own…..that His word is a Word of provision for mind, body, and spirit and a path for my life’s questions……and more than anything that He loves me and that Love indeed….never fails.