II Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
O.k...here is dumb statement # 1 for the day...
"Life is a journey"...there I said it.
Of course life is a journey and the last stop along the way is death. At least here on this side of eternity. We all are pointed in that direction. From the moment you come out of your mother's womb and the doctor slaps your behind, the clock starts ticking.
But shouldn't it be more than a journey....
Shouldn't there be a purpose to our existence?
Oh, I'm not talking about greatness or destiny....being a financial guru or a mover and shaker in the political world.
Scripture points us to the simple fact that we were created for God's good pleasure. He loves us in spite of our mess ups and failures. He loves us in spite of our running away from Him. Now don't get me wrong, when we reject God, it does not please Him, but the love is still there. Kind of like what a parent feels when their own kid rebels and rejects anything to do with parental authority.
So why all this "Purpose in life's journey"?
Because yesterday, as I was teaching a class at Rapha, I caught myself really looking into the faces of those who were present.
If you didn't know what Rapha was (a drug and alcohol treatment center) you might never know that everyone in that classroom had an addiction problem. As I was looking at them, a thought crossed my mind..."This is so not normal for these men to be here". In other words, God did not create anyone to become an addict. They shouldn't be in a treatment center. They should be at work earning a living so they can take care of their families. They should be in college working on the degree they abandoned. They should be somewhere other than a place where you are told when to go to be and when to get up. Such a life isn't really normal, is it? Don't get me wrong...to me, these guys get all the points, plus $10.00 out of petty cash for coming to treatment. They truly are trying to do something about their condition. And right now, at this point in time, their primary concern is sobriety. The thought that God might somehow play into this whole "living sober" idea is foreign to them.
Sometimes the hardest part of life is embracing the simple things. The idea that there is a POWER greater than ourselves that could restore us to sanity is almost like science fiction to these men when they first enter the program. Why? Because anything to do with God, Jesus, salvation,and the Bible is filtered through a "religious/church" lens, and the picture isn't always right or even close. My thing is to separate Jesus from their old concepts of who God is and the way they believe He acts. To them, God is angry all the time and is sitting up in heaven with a handful of lightning bolts ready to hurl them to earth and fry those who disobey. They can't see a God who loves them beyond anything they can comprehend. Such a thought is the same reason we started Vineyard ReCovery. We wanted a place where the focus was on the POWER that was available to move us out of addiction, into a life that had meaning and purpose. We want to focus on Jesus, showing Him as the only way to walk out the steps to sobriety. Not only walk out those steps, but to thrive and prosper in process.
Romans 8:12-14 (The Message Bible)
SO don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons you. There are things to do and places to go.
It all begins, this new life, with a decision that is made by the heart and not the mind/brain. It is a knowing deep inside you that there is a better way. Such decisions are made when you are simply sick and tired of being sick and tired. That is the beauty and simplicity of the life that has always been there waiting for you to embrace.
One final word to you this morning from Romans 12:1-2
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you; Take your everyday, ordinary life----your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life---and place it before God as an offering> Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God.You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from and you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
In other words....
Keep this whole journey simple...
Don't complicate the obvious....
or trivialize the momentous...
Keep it simple...
God on you...
mb
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