Sunday's Comin'

It's a new year!! Happy New Year to everyone! It's that time when we shake off the disappointments and letdowns from the previous year and look with great anticipation at the New Year with all its promises of a bright future and new beginnings. We make our resolutions, and set our minds to be resolute to see those promises to ourselves and others are held to. Personally, I stopped making resolutions at the beginning of each New Year because I never seem to be able to hold to them. So I am not encumbered by such things.

As we look at the upcoming year, it is easy to realize just how full of challenges it will be for us all. The economy is in the tank, and it's going to take a long time for us as a nation to recover from it, if we are able to at all. Washington keeps printing money like there is no tomorrow, and, there may not be if they continue. At this writing, unemployment is at 6.7%, a 34 year high. The big 3 American auto manufacturers have their future in doubt, which could mean the loss of up to 3 million more jobs. We are all concerned about our own employment, and the security having a paying job gives us. I myself work for a faith-based ministry. My career brings me into contact with pastors globally, and I can tell you that the economy is giving us all cause for concern, as we see giving is really down. Consumer confidence is shaken to the core. People are afraid to part with what money they have for fear of not having a job soon. We are in the midst of a government transition, and for conservatives, the incoming administration gives great cause for concern on many fronts. The war against terrorism is far from over, and there is fear of an imminent attack within our borders, to test the mettle of President-Elect Obama. The list just goes on, and on, and on. There is so much on a daily basis we are all having to deal with, who wants to think very far ahead right now, when we have to concern ourselves with today.

That brings me to my point. Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:25-32 that we are not to worry about tomorrow. He tells us that such worry about life, and the things in life we have no control over and cannot change, is useless and pointless. Who can argue that? In the most straight-forward way He can, the Lord reminds us that our heavenly Father knows what our needs are, and is only too happy to provide those needs for us, according to His riches in heaven.

Allow me to point out some obvious things that we as Christian's sometimes forget. Before you were born, God knew every need you would have for your entire life. Not only that, He had committed to provide for your needs even before He laid the foundations of the earth on nothing. We sometimes get our needs and our wants confused. I know I did a few years ago. Our wants can be material things; but they can also be people. I couldn't understand why God was not seeing my needs and meeting them. Then I realized He was meeting my needs! It was my wants that were standing in the way of a closer relationship with Him. He humbled me in the way only God can, and I am eternally grateful to Him for it. The moment I began to get my needs and my wants straightened out, life became a lot simpler and easier. He showed me I didn't have to have a lot of stuff. Indeed, He showed me the more stuff I have, the bigger the obstruction all that stuff can be to giving Him 1 st Place in my life. Once I learned how to apply this to my life, I stopped worrying about accumulating all that stuff on earth, and started building up for myself treasures in heaven. Do not misunderstand, I still want to live comfortably, and be able to save for the future, but now I understand God expects me to follow His direction for my life, and he will take care of the rest. My reliance on God to provide for my needs is a part of my faith-walk. Just as he provided a brook for the prophet Elijah to drink from, and instructed Ravens to provide for him there as well, God has provided for my needs in so many ways, I cannot begin to list them all here. But I will say that when God came through to provide for a specific need on my life, it was abundantly obvious it was Him at work providing the need, because it was specific to prayer and right on time. In Matthew 6:33 the Lord tells what we need to focus on at all times. He has the rest of it in hand.

Another thing we as Christians sometimes forget can be found on the first page of chapter one of Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life. Rick wrote, “It's not about you.” DUH!!! But it's true. We are here on this earth to glorify God with our lives in all that we say, think, and do. Let me put it another way; our lives need to be a continuous act of worship. Worship should not end when we leave church on Sunday. Our acts of worship are what we should be taking to church, not leaving there. It's not only in what we do when people are looking, but especially when they are not. It matters to God how those of us that are called by His name treat others, and reflect His love to them. Ephesians 1:11 tells us that it is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Once we take the focus off of ourselves, and put it on others, ministering (serving) them, then we begin to realize how important others are to God also. Serving others can help us to take our minds off the things that are troubling us for the moment. And aren't all our troubles momentary? Oh, I know our troubles seem at times insurmountable, but Jesus reminds us that in this life we will have tribulation, but to fear not because He has overcome the world. Trust in Him, walk by faith, not by sight.

The last thing I want to point out is that just as the men of Issachar understood the times they lived in and knew what to do (1 Chr. 12:32) , so too should we. The time in which you live is not by a random act. God preordained the exact time you would live, and the place where you should live, long ago (Acts 17:26) . If you continue to read on in Acts, you will see that God did this so that we would seek Him and reach out for Him and find Him, finding and understanding our reason for existence in Him. God wants us to seek Him, and in so doing, seek His will for our lives. As we intentionally do this, we will have trials and tribulations. This is what helps to build our faith. Today, in these times, God wants His people to seek after Him in prayer and supplication for the times in which we live. He does not want us to be silent, but to pray boldly for those things He places on our hearts to pray about. He is expecting it from us. He has given us the means to do this in Jesus Christ. We should not disappoint Him.

On that Passover Friday so many years ago when Jesus hung naked on the cross, taking our sins on Himself so that we may be spared, He understood the times in which He was living, and dying. His followers did not. He had tried to tell them on several occasions, but they just could not get their finite minds around the plans of an infinite messiah; not fully. We need to pay attention to the times we live in and compare it to scripture. By doing this, we will understand better the times in which we live, and what we need to be doing.

Jesus hung on that cross in unspeakable pain, agony, and humiliation, knowing that in a very short time, He would rise from the grave, victorious over death. Yet, He could not say anything about this to His followers gathered around Him at the foot of that cross. He had already, repeatedly done so. But in their eyes, it was over. All their dreams and hopes were nailed to that cross. Jesus knew exactly what the future was for Him. He knew he had to go through those things in order to fulfill all that the prophets of old had written about Him. Most importantly, as He hung on that cross that Friday, he knew that Sunday's coming!!! Can I get an Amen??!!

For us, it is Friday. Dogs have encompassed all around us. They conspire to destroy us. They delight in how they will plunder us after we are dead. The faith we cling to in this hour seems to them foolishness. “Where is the promise of His coming?” they ask, not understanding. But soon the sky will grow dark, the wind will blow and the unrighteous will quake. Yes, Sunday is coming, just as surely as the day follows the night. All we have to do is wait on the Lord.

Be encouraged then in this time God has so graciously placed us in. He has allowed us to live in one of the most exciting times in history (His-story). We need to count ourselves as blessed that He has chosen us be His witnesses to the world, despite what the world may attack us with. The temporary trials of this life are trivial when compared to the riches that await us in heaven. Sunday is indeed coming.