Pressing On!

      Have you ever heard someone say that they just are not growing spiritually?  That they just feel like they are at a stand still with where they attend now.  I have.  Then I ask myself, “Why would they say that?”  This thought crosses my mind when I talk with or hear about someone that has decided to move on from our congregation.  If moving or changing congregations has really helped you then praise the Lord, so be it.  However, I have found that this is really not the truth and most of the time those involved are not really interested in discussing the truth.  They say it is because they are not being fed here and need to be somewhere that they can be fed (spiritually that is).  So then here’s my line of thinking, is it that they are not being fed or is it that they are choosing not to eat.  Big difference.   To say I am not growing or being fed, at least in their mind indicates that food is not being offered to them.  So I ask myself is this true?  It is always good to question yourself when others are questioning you.  This gives you the opportunity to perhaps fix a situation, if in fact there is a problem.  Also it allows you the chance to evaluate if what they are pointing out is true or not.  Just because someone says that “this” is not working doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work, it just might mean that they need instructed or trained to make it work.

     So I propose this question.  Is there really a spiritual famine going on today?  I have at least two answers to this, “yes” and “no”. 

     To the “yes”.  Yes there is a spiritual famine in the world today.  Amos talks about it in his book in Amos 8:11-13 it says, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. “People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it. “In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint from thirst.  I believe we are in a time of famine right now.  The Bible is not being declared as the whole counsel of God.  The scriptures that were once sacred and once memorized are now laid to the side.  I believe that this famine has occurred because the product that God has given to us is not the product that many are distributing.  It is a weak, watered down version of God’s Word and barely even resembles what God actually said.  So yes I believe there is a famine, I believe God says that we will have these famines and I believe that unless this famine ends it will lead to the demise of many. 

     To the “no”.  No there is not a spiritual famine in the world today.  Paul talks about this not being a famine but rather a choice in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.  This is not talking about a famine but rather a process of self-starvation from God’s Word (really a spiritual suicide).  Paul is just reminding us here that you can always find what you think you are looking for.  If you say I am not being fed then it takes the blame off of you.  You can move on and say it was their fault.  When in actuality the food was there, they just chose not to eat.  Not to eat on Sunday’s (Sunday school and morning assembly or even evening service), not to eat on Wednesday evenings (prayer meeting and Bible study), not to eat at any of the additional Bible studies with others from the congregation, not to eat at revivals, seminars, rallies, work days, men’s or ladies meetings, picnics or anything of the like, and then say we are not getting fed.  The truth is they have chose not to eat. 

     The food is available.  Feast on God’s Word and you will hunger and thirst for righteousness.

     Anytime I hear someone talk about the events that took place on September 11, 2001 this passage comes to mind.  Daniel 9:11 says, Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 

     As we approach the eighth anniversary of the tragic 9-11 incident, let’s look back and see if we have learned anything as a nation.  We have still spurned the word of God, by doing things contrary to His will.  We as a nation have not gotten any better on moral issues such as homosexuality, the murder of the young or even unborn, the murder of the aged.  Not to mention ideals of theology, we are gods and I have no one to answer to for my actions.  No, I would say that we in America have not changed very much since that day. 

     I can still remember the crying, the weeping and all the chaos from that day and this is coming from someone that lives in a small Midwestern town far from New York City.  Questions being asked what could we do to prevent something like this happening again?  Well, how about taking heed to God’s warnings.  God says that He is patient, but God never says that He is a push over.  If we as a nation do not want to be revisited by the painful events from that tragic day then we have better repent.  2 Chronicles 7:14 And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  Our land needs healed and we know what must happen for it to heal, but I am fearful that we have not learned and will be struck again and again until we do learn, if ever.  Solomon says that Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people, in Proverbs 14:34. 

     So the next time we think about 9-11 and the terribleness  and the tradegy of that day and days to follow perhaps we should look to the Lord and His word and see how we should live before He sends His rod of chastening. 

     Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.  I find myself referring to this passage of scripture more and more as I grow in the Christian graces.  The more we think we are like God and Christ in reality the farther we realize we are away from their character.  I guess what I am saying is that no Christian in their right mind would say that they were matched up exactly with the thoughts or the ways of God.  In ones own study you would come to the conclusion that the more you learn and understand about God the more you come to the understanding that you are failing to achieve the very thing you are striving to attain, a godly life.  However, through the prophet here God says in fact, that NO, our thoughts and our ways are not the same as His.  We may have good thoughts.  We may have good ways.  You see, there is a big difference in being good most of the time and being God all of the time.  We may think we have got this thing called life all figured out and that is about the time it kicks you in the backside.

     God is our god because of the character He has.  What good would it be for us to have a god that thinks like we do, lives like we do, rationalizes like we do?  We would have humanism, that’s what we would have.  It would do us no good whatsoever.  Really that is what we do when we try to fit God into our mold rather than letting Him mold us as He sees fit. 

     We have Christ as our God.  Scripture says in Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  This is just a reminder to us that there is a difference between the way we are and the way our God is.  It is not a slam to us that our ways are not the same as God’s.  It really is a wake-up call to us that without a change, a conversion, a definite turn in our life we cannot be even called children of God.  So when we find passages of scripture that make us feel inadequate or convict us in our life or attitude, don’t get upset, be thankful.  Be thankful that even though we mess up as much as we do He still wants for us to strive, to try, to put forth an effort to be like Him.  Remember while we do this be sure to Praise Him for His patience.