There Must Be More!!!!

I Corinthians 12:31
..........And I show you a still more excellent way.

Sometimes I like to ruminate on things of the past. It's not that I live there or even lay claim to it being better than my today. But the past does hold a nostalgic feel to it, doesn't it? Old television shows are great, not because they are well done or the actors were better. They are great because there are memories attached to them. I can watch an episode of Combat and have mental pictures of being over at Don Standfields watching it with him. I can see all the guys I grew up with, decked out in various pieces of Army gear, ready to take on the dreaded enemy. Me with my web belt and canteen. Michael Plemons actually wearing a fatigue shirt. Others with helmets or packs and entrenching tools. All these memories still fresh in mind as the day we played army. It is fun to take this backwards side trips with our memory from time to time. It isn't healthy when I let my mind live there and my longing for the past overtakes my need to find the future.

Sometimes it is easy to get so caught up in the past the we loose sight of the future. I like the verse in I Corinthians where Paul is talking about spiritual gifts, saying that we should "earnestly desire the greater gifts," but that he would show a still more excellent way. Those are fancy words for "There is more!" Somehow I have always carried this thought around with me as a believer. There is more than what I know or understand. It wasn't about information or knowledge or anything to do with my mind or brain. It had to do with the Holy Spirit working inside of me so that the things of the Kingdom become clearer to me. That I see the hand of God at work and know that I am growing spiritually. I am not satisfied with today. I want to chase God and see where He leads. I want to follow when He says,"Move!" and I want to sit still when He says, "Rest." I sincerely believe that blessings and clarification concerning God's Kingdom work here, is contingent on me being obedient. 

What I speak of isn't a matter of works. It is a matter of heart. It is a matter of love for the Father. It is a matter of forsaking all for the Kingdom. Doesn't fly to well in the face of today's church. Seems as though some folks only want to go to church on Sunday and sit and sing so they can get up to leave and come back next Sunday to sit and sing some more. Along the way they throw some money in the offering plate and feel like they have done their "Christian Duty" for God and country. I cannot believe that this type behavior is all there is to the Kingdom of God here on earth. I believe when we stand and pray earnestly from the heart and ask God for "Kingdom will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven," God will take us up on that. I do not have the luxury or desire to nail down my beliefs and relationship with God over something in the past. I have seen people stand to give a testimony to God and it was couched in some event that took place back in 1953. 1953? Has God not done anything for you since 1953? John Wesley said that if what ever you share about the workings of God in your life is over a week old, you've got yourself a serious problem. John Wesley's view was toward a God that was at work all the time in the lives of His children. This ongoing work should be the fuel and fire that awakens us from religious slumber and sets us on the path of following Him to the more excellent way.  As we count down the days left here in 2011, let us be about the business of  "laying aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Let's embrace the entrance of 2012 as the year in which we live with all sincerity a life that is pleasing to God.
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's
Michael & Vicki