Doing It Your Way

Stubbornness

Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.

Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860, German Philosopher

Jer 5:23-29
'But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed. 'They do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest." 'Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have withheld good from you.

What is it to take advantage of the Lord’s goodness, or to take for granted the blessings He delights to give those who love and serve Him. Well, for one thing it is to take the attitude that we deserve those things. God says in Genesis, that all of this we see around us is for our benefit and we are to rule over it fairly and justly. All of this was created just for our benefit and is linked closely to us.

How closely is creation linked to us? Let us look at Genesis 2:5, there it says this; “Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.” When I look at this, I see that all that God was waiting to create all of those the plants and shrubs, He wanted us to be there first, He, God, wanted us to watch them grow, to see His love and care for us.

When I see the sin in the world today I wonder, I have to ask myself the question; “Is God pleased with us, and how would He show us His displeasure. In the Old Testament I see that God looked upon the rebellion of man, man’s iniquity and sins and those things turned away the good that God wanted to bless them with.

We are, in the United States, a spoiled and proud people. We have many comforts and an abundance of good things. In fact, we have more that practically any country in the world, although China is catching up quickly. Our comforts are many, but it doesn’t take anything but a strong wind to bring us to our knees. Isn’t it time for the church to wake up, before we lose those things due to our loss of relationship with the God who created us?

We the church must leave those comforts and reach out to change our world for Christ. Time is running out quickly, those things that we take for granted are going to be completely gone before long. The fact is that these things that provide our comfort will disappear, and we will be sustained only by our God, we will dwell with Him and He will be our only need. In light of that fact, are we preparing ourselves, and the world for that event? And if not, then why should we expect God’s Blessings…God Bless?

Pastor William