UNCONDITIONAL

I recently had opportunity to discuss the subject of unconditional love one on one with friends and I would like to share some thoughts about this topic, if you don’t mind listening.

It seems, at the least, we struggle with thinking that somehow God’s Love is not dependent on our love.  It must be, we say, because… well, I guess because we just can’t get over the fact that we can do nothing to earn God’s love and salvation and we want to.  We somehow have a need to be loveable because we love.  But the truth is that we cannot love without Him because He is Love and we love (only) because He first loved us. Not only is this a declaration of His unconditional love but it is a statement that He loved us before we ever knew that He was willing to love us or even that He showed His Love for us in Jesus Christ.  He did not ask us for anything before He loved us:  For God so LOVED the world that he gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life (in everlasting Love.)

But beyond the struggle to relinquish our stubborn need to find favor with God because we are such good, loving people, is the struggle we have with His admonition to love one another as He has loved us:  unconditionally.  Somehow we find this nearly impossible to do.  And, actually, it is hard to do on our own.  But God.  God will love us into this if we let Him.

Someone I love dearly called me early in my recovery from living a life of hate and anger to tell me a lesson she had just been given from God:  “God made a point today to remind me that I am to love others… and that my submission to tolerating them was not enough.”  To help clarify the importance of this call, let me say that she is a pastor’s wife who was tolerating a lot of very annoying people. :)  That call was a great help to me as I worked through my recovery from living a life of hate and anger, taking offense wherever I could find it.

Very slowly it became clear to me that I had no right to not love someone just because they irritated me or because they were not me or anything like me, or even because they had actually done something hurtful to me or to someone I love.  And, then, there are those who actually break God’s laws and bring havoc into the picture. Yes, we are to love them unconditionally, too.  Even our attempts to bring them back into the fold must be done in love and without conditions, even though there will be some sort of consequence from what was done.  We simply have no right not to love.  And that means we have no right to hate, disdain, or otherwise snub and be hurtful to others.

So where am I coming from?

One friend is having a hard time unconditionally loving another because the other is not taking the advice given for living a healthier life.  The two were very close, but one has come to the end of his rope and finds there just isn’t enough rope to keep hanging on.  Yes, we need to love even those who refuse our good advice and continue on a path of self destruction.  I guess this conclusion only makes sense if we go back to the fact that it is not our plan for their lives that matter, but God’s plan for their lives, and what He can do and will do to use them for His Glory even as they make (what are in our opinion) bad choices.  He loves them more than we do and we must let Him have His way with them.

Another friend has a problem with feeling snubbed.  Have you ever felt that way?  I sure have and so have many of my loved ones.  Some use it to excuse drifting away from God.  Others use it to excuse the behavior of not loving that person.  One person I love has even remembered a slight that did not happen as a reason to growl every time the name comes up.  One of the places this comes up a lot is in relation to social acknowledgements at church or seeming betrayals of our children by other children or adults:  You know, the “not gushing enough over their accomplishments”, etc.

One of the major problems with taking offense at possible snobbery is that we are setting ourselves up on pedestals as VIPs when we are in fact just plain folk.  NOBODY but God has the ability or the time to put every other person In first place in their lives.  EVERYBODY is focused somewhere else some of the time.  And, truth be known, sometimes we don’t get noticed like we want to because we have not made ourselves noticeable by giving love to the person who seems to be snubbing us.  As in, how much time do we give reaching out to and caring about them?  How often have we ever sought them out for simple conversation and meaningful inquiry?  Consider the fact that most of us ask, “How are you doing?” while hoping we won’t get an answer.  And then consider how often do we go to them with whining on our minds?  There’s a big one.  A friend in need is a friend indeed, but friendship can be worn thin if all we do is seek comfort for our latest miserable experience every time we approach certain people.

Let me close with this thought:  If you have a problem with a brother/sister take it to them and find a time to discuss what is on your mind without “accusationnal” posture.  Sound familiar? 

Again early in my recovery I found that someone important to that recovery was totally ignoring me, to the point that even when sitting across the table at dinner one night, this person would look at and talk to every one around us but not to me.  This was difficult to say the least.  So… I gathered my courage and made an appointment to talk with this person.  Sure enough this person was not aware of what was happening and prayerfully promised to conscientiously make a point of paying more attention to new comers and not just old friends.  This person still has flaws. :)  But we are still loving, caring friends and I am still being buoyed up through this person’s life.

May we all keep the air cleared of the trash we like to pick up and toss about in the air like funnel clouds do.  May we truly love one another and everyone else the way that God does: unconditionally.  And may God bless us, and them in turn.

THE WRECK

There is a lot of talk these days about distracted driving.  And there is a lot of reason to be concerned about it:  Texting is only one of many ways to be distracted, but probably the most necessary clamp down because of the “eyes off the road” time it takes.  I rode about 1000 miles once with a texting driver and it was seriously frightening.  But the car’s owner and the teen driver were perfectly content with the situation and I am sure the driver is still texting unless the worst has already happened.

As for me, I can be distracted enough by my rear view mirror, my heat console (with all those stupid circular switches) or my radio with all its buttons.  I don’t need cell phone action on top of that.  Oh, yes, if I am taking you home from somewhere keep your eye on me or I will take you home to my house because I will be distracted by our conversation and will take the “auto” root straight home.

In the study book I am reading about Solomon, which is based on the sermons of Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll says this: 

Solomon had a heavy foot on the accelerator.  Intoxicated with fame, fortune, and females, his spiritual eyelids were heavy with lethargy.  It would take more than black coffee to sober him up to his responsibilities as ruler of God’s people.  With only one arm propped on the steering wheel of the kingdom, Solomon was fast on his way to becoming a spiritual fatality.

Solomon appeared to have it all.  In today’s terms, that might be described as several palatial homes complete with swimming pools, tennis courts, movie theaters and any other home amenity that strikes interest; a fleet of fancy cars, yachts, jets, and maybe even space ships these days.  And let’s not forget all the latest electronic equipment available today, and all the hot babes that these things attract. He truly appeared to have it all and wisdom too.

But the derailing of the train was already in motion as it sped down the track.  Solomon was bored and disillusioned.  Swindoll says, “Fortune, fame, friends, and fulfilled fantasies became his daily delights. But like a steady diet of luscious desserts, these pleasures soon sated his appetite and made him nauseous.”

Solomon put it this way in his “diary,” the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 2:

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure.  So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility (vanity, meaningless.)  …I explored (pleasure)… (for myself);  I enlarged my works, I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards - gardens - parks  and all kinds of fruit trees for myself.  I made ponds of water for myself... to irrigate a forest of growing trees.  I bought slaves, male and female and had home born slaves. I collected for myself silver and gold.  Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem….  (and on and on.)  And behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was not profit under the sun.

It was a “subtle trap.”  There were signs of erosion, an opening which had allowed the winds and water to enter and erode the very basis of his commitment to God and the ways of his father.  The first was the all too quick decision to marry and become unequally yoked together with the Pharaoh’s daughter and thereby the Pharaoh of Egypt.  The last straw seemed to be the turning of his heart from God to seek pleasure in worshiping the idols of his 700 wives and 300 concubines.  The train wrecked, the car crashed and the people of Israel were never the same again.  The kingdom was divided and conquered.  It’s a tragic story.  And one we should never forget.

We cannot divide our allegiance with God for any reason. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:26 (KJV)  With our hope and our lives depending entirely on our salvation through Jesus Christ we know that we cannot be permanently divided from Him, but we certainly can be turned away from His daily blessings by seeking the thrill of this world over the thrills of our Lord.

May we decide today to keep that from happening by listening, learning and living in the Word which is Him.  May we seek our happiness and pleasure in Him knowing that He has the greatest hope and plan for us and will see that it is done.  May we rejoice right now that He is ours and we are His.

And while I am thinking about it, perhaps I might suggest that we need to run our driving tests a little differently and subject the drivers to “distracted” driving in a controlled environment so that we can become more aware of how dangerous we really are behind the wheel of a car or the controls of an airplane or train… or at the controls of our own lives.  Just sayin’. :)

SORTING LAUNDRY

Last time I mentioned several questions I was struggling with and talked about David’s position of honor in God’s eyes.  I also mentioned that I have a problem with liking Solomon.  I don’t like him.  I always feel guilty about that, but I think there is quite a bit of evidence that God did not like him either, eventually.  So today I wish to discuss this topic in the understanding that I am only sharing what I am thinking, not trying to change your mind about anything; except things in our own lives that depict how we really feel about our God and show others who we think He is.

Therefore I have taken some extra time to study the issues I have by digging into study notes on Solomon in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, as well as some outside study sources and I found a few things that help me understand my own reaction to Solomon.

The first and possibly most important is about how Solomon can be considered such a wise man, when he made so many unwise choices.  The study notes indicate that the chronicler (who wrote the Chronicles) tied the wisdom sought and given directly to the building of the temple.  David had requested that God give his son Solomon “the whole hearted devotion to keep your commands, requirements and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure (temple) for which I have provided.”  Then Solomon answered God’s inquiry as to what he needed and wanted from God with the request to be given “wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people…” 

In Kings, the first thing Solomon does is marry the Egyptian Princess; this was a sin, for all leaders of God’s people were forbidden to marry foreigners.  Not a wise choice and the roots of his later failure to worship only the one true God.  But meanwhile God was with Solomon, giving him the guidance he needed to build the temple to exactly what God wanted it to be.

This reminds me of David and the fact that he was “a man after God’s own heart”, even though He had sinned greatly.  He and Solomon both refused to worship any other gods.  This was wise.  Sources I have read also relate that Solomon “did right in his youth (say, the first 20 years…) and then did evil in his old age.  This is not surprising in that he married at least 700 wives and had 300 concubines, all of whom were foreigners in the land and who worshiped other gods.  The evil of his later life was that he followed his women into worshiping false gods.  He also, apparently, made the northern tribes something like slaves with all the taxes he put upon them to support the Kingdom of Judah and him.

Meanwhile he had followed another of David’s failures in that he did not raise up his sons in the way they should go and they did not go that way.  I feel that much of the other three books attributed to Solomon show us that very thing: He tries to show the error of his ways through advice that comes too late.  (This is a very personal interpretation, so don’t use it as fact.)

Anyway, my own personal reaction to Solomon is that he was a womanizer.  There was a womanizer in my life and I cannot get memories of that out of my mind when I read about Solomon and all his women.  Can you even begin to imagine what life was like for those women who fell in love with him (or not) and then were tossed aside as he found new wife after new wife, 1000 times?  I am quite overwhelmed by the horrible lust that brought this about.  This is not the action of a wise man.  But God gave him wisdom and he chose to ignore it in his personal life.  Personally, I have done that and still do.  That is not a good thing.

This whole story reminds me of a man who was teaching marital counseling and said that when he was asked to counsel anyone thinking of dating or marrying a non-believer he would always ask them to ask themselves this important question:  “Is this person drawing me closer to God or further away from Him?”  Perhaps considering this question would have helped the wise Solomon to make better choices in life.  Perhaps considering that question would help us to make better decisions ourselves, whether about people or activities.  All too often we come up with “but” I could be useful to God in this situation.  That is wrong.  God does not want to use us in situations that are dangerous for us:  thus the commandments and laws to keep ourselves clean, and the directions to the Israelites to clean out the country as they moved in, getting rid of the influence of those who worship other gods.  And, thus, His directions to us to not be unequally yoked together, whether in life ties or favorite activities.

And, FYI, today is laundry day for me and I do not actually sort my laundry.  It all gets put in one load because I am cheap and I do not want to spend the extra money for two loads unless I have some extra household things to wash.  Thus, certain items in my laundry come out gray after a few washes.  There is a lesson there somewhere. :)

Thanks for listening and I pray that we will all be more aware of the influence our activities and other people have on us so that we may wisely guard ourselves against the corruption of false gods in our own lives. Have a great day.

Q & A

After a couple of weeks of distraction, I find myself bursting with questions that need to be answered.  But, first, you may need to know that I have started studying Kings for the summer.  As we left our Ladies study in James, we were directed to Ezekiel and his prophecies.  That got me started on this trip through the Kings.  I started after Solomon with the split of the kingdom.  Q1:  Why did I do that?  A1: I don’t like Solomon.  Q1a Why don’t I like Solomon?  I will talk about that at a later time because I found that skipping to Jeroboam left me with too many unanswered Qs, like, Q3 “Did God forget that David sinned?” and Q4 “Why is Jeroboam back and from where did he return?”  So I gave up and started at the beginning, as is only right. :)

Now I find that having a study Bible to help answer some of my questions is a real blessing.  I have possibly found a satisfying answer to Q4 which I will discuss in a minute.  Meanwhile, here are the challenges I face at this time:

Why is David still the icon of obedience, the pillar of faith, even though he sinned greatly?  What are the geologic consequences of the Genesis Flood?  Why can’t I find a mango colored blouse in my size?  What does “without form and void” mean; covered in water or dry like Mars?  Why do I love to laugh out loud at silly things, including Ellen De G, silly pictures and AFV? LOL.  Why did the “old prophet” lie to “the man of God, then have the man’s body buried in his own tomb?  And “Why did Jeroboam have his wife disguise herself before going to see the prophet Ahijah when Ahijah was blind?  Well, I have a lot of thinking to do, and I will try to share some of it with you this summer.  But for now let’s see about David’s sin, with the help of my “study” notes.

When I first read I Kings 14:8-9, I found myself really puzzled.  I knew and know that David was (and is) forever a “man after God’s own heart” and the example to follow (before Christ) in matters of obedience.  But the wording confused me:  “…you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands, and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.”  What?  How can this be said when we all know that David made several very bad decisions over his lifetime?  Did God forget about his bad decisions?  I immediately answered “No” to that, remembering that God cannot forget.  But He can and does choose “not to remember” those sins we have confessed and asked Him to forgive.  This is shown in chapter 15, verse 5, where it says, “for David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah, the Hittite.”  So… there is not a desire to hide David’s sin from us, nor is there an attempt to pretend it didn’t happen.  God has chosen not to remember and thereby not hold these against him, but He wants us to remember and learn from all of David’s life, not just the good parts. “Hence,” we must pay attention to what was really going on in the lives of those who did and did not follow in David’s footsteps. And that brings me back to James and his reference to the “double-dminded man.”

It seems that the double-minded man refers to a man who cannot make up his mind to follow God, even though he has been given proper guidance through God’s word and an example to follow in David (and in Christ, and the apostles, later on.)  In the books of Kings, we find that most of them followed the example and teaching of Jeroboam, rather than David.  Perhaps one of the circumstances where David failed God was an impetus toward this behavior:  David failed to discipline his sons.  Even Rehoboam, whom God appointed successor to David, failed to follow David’s single-mindedness. 

You see, the true test of David was his single-minded loyalty to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He never even considered straying from worshiping his God, the one true God, let alone did he ever worship any other God.  He sought refuge with an enemy of God when his own enemies were hot on his trail;  He stayed home when he should have gone out to lead his army and ended up committing adultery and murder; and he failed to pay attention to training up his sons in the way they should go.  But none of this compared to breaking the First, and foremost, commandment:  “Thou shalt not worship any other god before me…!”  Even as we look back at the failure of the Israelites to commit to going into the Promised Land, we find that it was the worship of their own eyes and imaginations that determined their downfall.  God will not have it. God will deal with it.

And Jeroboam, as the appointed king of the northern tribes, set out to do exactly that:  He set up an entire system of worship which left Almighty God on the sidelines and magnified the presence of false gods and set himself up as the priest of that religion.  As King passed to King in the northern tribes (Israel), they are repeatedly marked as choosing to follow in the sins of Jeroboam. That is described this way:  He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he (Jeroboam) had caused Israel to commit. 

For us it seems to come down to this:  Who do I allow to influence my way, and who do I encourage others to follow by my way?  Do I allow the things of today to influence my choices to the point that I sacrifice others opportunities to follow the one true God and Him only?

God, give us the sensitivity to realize that our choices are of extreme importance, not just in our own lives, but in the lives of all who look to us for example and guidance.  May we be alert to glorifying you with our daily lives and choices.  We are weak, but You are strong.  Amen.

DESTINATION WEDDINGS

There is definitely a trend these days in throwing a wedding “out-of-town” and having the guests all come a distance from home to celebrate with the bride and groom.  Some of these can be very extreme in extravagance, while others may be quite simple, but never-the-less require the guests and participants to travel out-of-town, even if they live quite close to the Bride and Groom.  What fun to have everyone take a small vacation just for their special occasion.

Though I have traveled distances to attend weddings, one (of two) destination weddings I have attended was at the beach here in Oregon.  Wonderful place to go and not so far from Salem as to limit guests to those who could stay the night.  (And it was a beautiful day.)  But since we were traveling anyway, we left after the wedding and spent the night in Seaside, where we just happened to run into the Bride and Groom. :)

This weekend many from my family will be attending a destination wedding near Yakima WA.  They will be traveling from as far away as Arkansas and Vancouver B.C. as well as from here in Salem OR.  Everyone is excited to be there and enjoy this time together.

Coincidentally, in study tonight we will be discussing the Destination Wedding that was attended by the 10 virgins, 5 wise and 5 not.  That started me thinking about the responsibilities connected to going to a destination wedding.  As was often the way of things in the days of the Bible and for many, many years of history, everyone had to travel to the wedding, sometimes from great distances and they had to be prepared for possible variations in the schedule.  Unfortunately, 5 of the virgins failed to prepare for the possibility that the groom, who had to travel in, might be delayed in coming.  They did not bring extra oil for their lamps and ended up missing the wedding altogether because they had to go and by more at the last minute.  

At least one underlying truth to be learned from this episode is that we “People get ready, Jesus is coming, soon!”*  And we don’t know exactly when.  We have to be prepared to wait, and we have to be prepared to meet Him right now.  There will be no second chance once the door is closed.

As I thought about this upcoming wedding it occurred to me that preparations were needed.  If guests intended to stay a night or two, rooms had to be reserved, bags packed and a trip planned.  But the “oil” of the weekend just might be making sure there is enough money available to buy gas when coming home.  :)

As for our inclusion in the wedding He has prepared for us, we must know that we are invited; that we are part of His Bride, the church, because we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior AND we must be moving closer and closer to Him by His own leading and our willful, obedient following.

By seeming to change the subject in the next section of this 25^th chapter of Matthew, Jesus is actually telling us that we are required to keep on  keeping on, and helping Him to grow the church until He returns  We must not become unwise and settle into bored tedium because He has not come yet.  We must not give up waiting for Him and doing all that we can to draw closer and closer to Him.

May we daily be reminded that our responsibility is to be ready to meet Him and ready to wait.  As John says in Revelation as he closes:  Even so, come Lord Jesus.  And may we celebrate together very soon!

*People get ready Jesus is coming, soon we’ll be going home, People get ready Jesus is coming, to take from the world His own.”  AVALON   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_JJ84ugpmo

CONTENDING

One of the things that delights me often is being presented with a whole new idea.  Many times these come from lessons I am studying, but many other times they come from out-of-the blue: almost accidental sources.  But, since I don’t believe in accidental education, I take delight in thinking that God has something He wants me to think about.

The subject I am about to broach came at me through a surprise blog post in Christianity Today’s on-line magazine.  I was sent there by another blog call “The Poached Egg” which was set up purposely to direct people to apologetic sights of interest to Christians searching for more information on defending our faith.  Otherwise, I would never have known that Christianity Today had a web site let alone a blog aimed at women.  The particular pageI was sent to was written to women asking them to consider becoming apologists. It basically suggested that we women need to get better at defending our faith and maybe even work more at doing so.  It gave me pause:  Imagine all the studying that would involve. :)

Meanwhile, I am studying in James and Matthew and both are encouraging us to KNOW, without a doubt, what we believe and stand firm in it.

Then last week I received a newsletter from my cousin-in-law who is a missionary pastor in the Vancouver B.C. area.  His teaching thought for the day was about the overabundance of self-made religion around us today.  Basically this takes the form of piecing together what we like in religions and putting out the things we don’t like and then stating that this represents our beliefs.  The example he gave was not even a Christian believer, but one who followed (?) a very different religion and kept the things he liked in his religion and pretty much ignored the things he did not like. That would have been a fun conversation to hear, I think, because my cousin likes those kinds of challenges.

So, then came Sunday and the book of Jude.  Our pastoral intern was at the podium speaking about the purpose of the book as well as enlightening us to the controversies that come up about the book.  (I have read Jude at least four times.  I felt as if I had never seen it before in my life. That really got my attention.)  But what stuck out for me was the call to “Contend for the faith…”  Once again, a call… to do what?  To KNOW what we believe and defend it against all comers, or at least STAND OUR GROUND when they come at us with their false teaching.

Interestingly enough, one of the things these false teachers were guilty of was teaching that our firmly established salvation gave us license to sin, to the gory of God.  That took me back to when I was 17 and had only recently been able to stand up for my faith, be baptized and join a church after 7 years with out any church connection.  I was definitely a babe in the woods.  We (the youth group plus) were painting the interior of the church.  A couple I did not know and never saw again came over and started telling me about how we could not really sin because God controls everything and He would not let us sin.  Supposedly everything we would do would be approved by Him ahead of time or we wouldn’t be doing it.  Talk about bologna!!  Even with my total lack of education in the Word, the Holy Spirit turned on the light in my mind and made me able to chuck that whole idea on the spot.  He stepped right in and saved me from these false teachers and I am forever grateful.  He helped me stand my ground. 

Now, looking around us, who can we help stand their ground?  Do we have a sure enough knowledge of what we believe to actually assist others needing to defend what they believe, let alone resist those who would destroy their faith?  I don’t know about others, but I do know that I could never sit down and write a list of the Distinctives which define my church and get them all right without looking at them.  And neither can I jump to specific Bible verses which are supposed to prove my point.  But I have been blessed to realize that I do know what I believe and I hope that as I share things, others will be blessed to know that the reading and studying and thinking that we do does enrich us, strengthen us and embolden us to stand firmly in our faith and let no false teaching intrude.

May we all let the excitement of discovery send us searching in the Word for more and more Truth, and may we be eager to share what we discover as we walk with God.

LIVING A GAMBLE

Of all the things that have been swimming around in my head lately, gambling is the last thing I might have thought to write about.  But, suddenly, this morning I am thinking about it as I study James 5.  Here James is getting down to it with the rich.  He is pretty much blasting them for there arrogance in living richly off the backs of the poor, warning them that they will come to a miserable end for what they are doing.

One of the questions asked in the study is “What were they doing to the poor?”  To that I answered that they were stealing from them and making their lives unbearable so that the rich could enjoy even more richness and merriment.   Then my brain took off and ran me around a lot of possibly unrelated thoughts.

Facebook has gone public today, so that made me think about the stock market and the speculative investments that go on in oil and agriculture and other world wide product production.  In that setting, people try frantically to make money off of forcing prices up and stripping the poor of any buying power they might otherwise have from their meager incomes.  Each has his own agenda but together they work deliberately to raise money by trampling on others.  And they gamble on the outcome.

Then I thought about the multitude of sports fans who gamble, in one way or another, on the outcome of sports events.  And here I was remembering someone in whose house I visited at times and noticed that this person could not be attentive to his small children because he had placed bets on just about every football game out there and he had to pay attention to the progress of each one.  He had two at a time on his television and several going on over the phone, sharing with others what was going on with the games they were watching.

And then there are poker players who play hour after hour, day after day, sure that their luck will change if they just keep playing.  And they always have a lot at stake and a need to keep on keeping on to a better ending.

But as I thought about these things, a new picture began to form in my mind that I thought I would share with you.  It is a picture of wanting to be God.

Why is it, after all, that a sports fan cannot bear to miss watching a game that has a hold on his heart or his money?  Why is it that people who buy and sell stocks and futures have to be in the middle of everything and worried about every move that everyone in the world makes that might effect the outcome of their “wager?”  Why is it that card players, horse players, and even causal slot players think they need to keep playing in order to, in effect, change their luck?

It was then that I began to wonder, “Does it have anything to do with wanting to be God?”  Where in the world did that question come from?  But think about it.  Let’s use my favorite and most perplexing example:  WHY do football fans think that watching the game (giving up other possibilities of how to spend the time) is somehow going to effect the outcome of the game?  That somehow, their being there or watching it on TV will help their team win.  Do they perhaps feel that they can actually help determine the outcome of the game just though watching?  Do they have some need for that to be true?

Satan, the first to desire to be like and even be God, was at least up front about it.  That power and presence is what he wanted and what he went for.  And he has left that taint on all of us. We have a longing to control; to be in charge, to be an effect on something.  And gambling, in one form or another, sets us up for just that.  We can do it.  We can effect the outcome of the game.  We can make it work out in the end if we just persevere, if we just keep watching and “esp”ing the way to win.  Even if we have no financial investment, our hearts can be just as heavily invested in the outcome.  We want to win and we want of help it happen.

But back to the Futures investors: Now there is a group willing to have their way at all cost.  And it does cost.  But James and Jesus, Himself, admonish us to wait it out, being patient because the end of it all is coming and they will loose and we will win. In the meantime we need to keep our desire to control under control and not let it lead us into sinful behavior.

May we be alert to times when we just have to have an effect for something and we keep trying instead of relying on the power of God, and the very fact that He is God, to get the job done.  May we seek to submit the outcome of all things to Him, through prayer and trusting.  May we be willing to give up manipulations and rely on Him to achieve the outcome He desires. 

By the way, I love my sports fan friends and dearly enjoy any opportunity to help them cheer their teams on.  But maybe missing a game or two would not be the end of the world?  Maybe they can win without you once in awhile? Just sayin’ :).