A warning: the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things (i.e. more stuff) can choke out the power and effectiveness of God’s word in my life. Can there be a more timely warning for our culture than this?
A principle of life: With the measure you use, it will be measured to you – and even more. It’s written into the DNA of life itself. We can’t outwit, outplay, or outlast it. What we do and how we live comes back to us. In the big picture – God’s picture – life is fair after all. Judge and you’ll be judged. Give and it will be given to you. Bless, even those who curse you, and in the end, you will be blessed.
A mystery: This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. As a pastor, I’ve thought a lot about this one. People grow spiritually, but I’ll never completely understand how that happens. There is no program that captures it, no plan that guarantees it. It’s a God-thing. That doesn’t mean I sit on my hands and wait for God to act. As soon as the grain is ripe, [the man] puts the sickle to it (this is hard work), because the harvest has come.
An unforgettable story: what always grabs me about the story at the end of this chapter is when the disciples were terrified – not when they thought they were about to die in the storm, but when they were confronted with God in flesh. It’s when the storm is over, danger passed, that they were terrified and wondered who is this guy – what is this guy? I love that. It feels real.
– Paul Abbott
Is this fear that grabs us and causes us to panic and be anxious called "lack of faith?"
ReplyDeleteVerse 40: He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
I pray that we never forget THE GIVER of life is also the giver of faith, wisdom and love. Any time I lack these, anytime even the smallest faith is absent, anytime I fear and get anxious I MUST make the conscious effort to ask HIM for FAITH. From HIS gift of faith perhaps will come the love I don't have to give, the wisdom and the initiative to not judge, the supernatural capacity to be His LIGHT, even in my darkness. WOW, I guess the supernatural presence of the one and only GOD in me is terrifying! The thought that "this guy" can tell my most drastic and catastrophic storm to be still is terrifying! Yet, this is ONLY what HE asks of me: Have Faith, BELIEVE, be still, KNOW that I AM GOD!
I am SO eternally thankful and flabbergasted!
Very good words, Paul.
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