We are back from Cuba! Yes, our Work and Witness Team returned on Monday night with our hearts full. We will be looking for a time to share the things we saw and the impact that it had on our lives in the weeks to come.
I remember eating at a restaurant for several meals. We ate there so many times at the end of our day that we started to personally get to know the waitresses. I figured out that they had one menu translated to English. The problem was that it was an old menu. I noticed that some of the new items were not mentioned on the old menu. That got my mind wondering what it would be like if you were given a menu based on your maturity level. Yours contained a list of nothing but baby food! – stewed prunes, creamy carrots, mashed peas. If you were told that you don’t appear capable of handling anything more solid, you would certainly feel insulted, wouldn’t you? Christians are expected to mature in their faith and not remain infants indefinitely. I believe that the Hebrew writer was talking about transformation and not just information. The Hebrew writer was talking about what you do with the Word of God and the faith we have in God. If it stops with information, then you will not live in the transformation and change the Spirit of God wants to make on your life and the impact on those around you. We need to get to a point of making, “Word-driven decisions rather than circumstance-driven decisions.” Read Hebrews 5:11-6:3. If you are old enough, you will remember the song by Amy Grant entitled, “Fat Baby.” I remember girls singing that for our district talent contest. I heard the song way too many times. Author Andrew Murray, in the book, “The Holiest of All,” wrote, “In commerce, in study, in war, it is so often said: there is no safety but in advance. To stand still is to go back. To cease effort is to lose ground. To slacken the pace, before the goal is reached, is to lose the race. The only sure mark of our being true Christians, of our really loving Christ, is the deep longing and the steady effort to know more of Him, Tens of thousands have proved that to be content with beginning well is but the first step on a backward course, that ends in losing all.” Revival is needed whenever disciples of Jesus are no longer moving ahead in their walk with the Lord. Spiritual awakening is needed when you have remained at a certain spiritual plateau for too long. Let’s continue to remember to approach the Word of God for the purpose of transformation and refining of our hearts toward God. I enjoyed worshipping with our Cuban brothers and sisters in Christ, but I will be glad to be in worship with the people of God I have grown to love here in our church. May God be glorified in all that we glean from the Word of God and have many opportunities to put into practice this week. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike
0 Comments
|
Details
Rev. Mike McClurgSenior Pastor, Findlay First Church of the Nazarene Archives
March 2020
Categories |