Month: May 2015

When I was thinking up a title for today’s post the one above popped into my head almost immediately. It’s actually a popular Jamaican saying that sums up today’s topic quite well. 🙂

Have you ever had big plans for your day, an event or even your life and then had these plans not go quite the way you hoped, or even fall apart entirely? This has most likely happened to all of us and it can be quite frustrating to say the least.

You had already envisioned how things would turn out and how much better life would be as a result, but it seemed no matter what you did or how hard you worked things just didn’t quite come together the way you imagined they would. “Why is God punishing me!” you ask yourself.

And therein lies the problem.

It’s very easy to forget that since God is in control of everything, He knows which plans to facilitate and which ones to thwart.

Because we lack that pesky little thing called omniscience (knowing all things), we can’t possibly know all of the effects our plans will have and so it’s quite possible that there is some negative consequence of our actions that He is sparing us from. This could be a minor mishap, some devastating accident or (just as dangerous) an inflated pride which can not only destroy your life but the lives of others around you too.

In other words when God prevents your plans from working out it probably because He’s showing you mercy.

In an article on DesiringGod.org, Jon Bloom talks about why God destroyed the Tower of Babel to save the Mesopotamians from their biggest threat at the time – their own pride.

You see like these ancient people, our plans are often rooted in the glorification of self, not God. And this may just be what He’s protecting us from when He thwarts our plans. Here’s an excerpt of the article…

We often do not know what we are really building when we embark on our achievements. We often aren’t aware of how deep, pervasive and motivating our pride is. We often are blind to how much we cherish the glory of our name. But God knows. And in mercy he confounds us, impedes us, and humbles us. And it is all mercy.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

So the next time things don’t go “according to plan” ask yourself which plan ? Then pause for a moment to be thankful to God because as He says in His Word…

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

If someone were to ask you if you were a Christian. How would you answer?

If you answer in the affirmative then this now calls for clarity. What do you mean when you say you’re a Christian? If you’re like many people in the world today you may simply mean that you believe in God and you try to live a life adhering to Christian principles:

• You don’t steal (unless you really need to)
• You don’t cuss (on Sundays)
• You only drink for “medicinal purpose”

Of course I’m being cheeky here but this is a concept a lot of well-meaning people misunderstand and the scary thing is that they’re essentially gambling with their eternity. Here’s the thing “belief” is not enough.

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

James 2:19 NIV

The takeaway of course is that demons will still be condemned to an eternity of unimaginable suffering.

In a recent article on the Christianity Today website the author addressed the over-inflated claim that Christianity is losing ground by simply framing the issue in terms of what really is happening. Instead of a bunch of church attendees claiming to be Christians, the lines are actually being drawn in the sand. Folks are leaving the church because they realise that since they don’t subscribe to the teachings of the Bible in their entirety, this means they are in fact NOT Christians.

As a quote I once heard put it “Sitting in a church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car”.

As I read through some of the comments below the above mentioned article it was encouraging to see Christian commenters who had a clear understanding of the root of this shift.

One quoted a verse that sums it up nicely:

“3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

2 Timothy 4:3-4

You see a true Christian will believe that:

• The Bible is the divinely inspired word of the one true living God
• Jesus Christ was and is fully God and fully man
• His death and subsequent resurrection paid the price of sin for all who believe in Him
• Living a “good” life doesn’t get you into Heaven. Faith in Christ is THE only way.

So now we come back to the original question – are you a Christian?

Have you ever felt that way?

Have you ever been faced with some problem that you thought no-one could ever possibly understand because it was so unique?

It’s probably pretty safe to assume that all of us have thought this at one time or another and this is especially true when we compare ourselves to others in:

• a better financial situation
• a more rewarding job
• a happier marriage
• a better family
• and so on and so forth.

You may even have been tempted to think that God Himself couldn’t understand because, let’s face it, He is God.

“He can change anything He wants at the snap of a finger. He literally has the power to do whatever He wants whenever He wants. So how could He possibly even relate to what I’m going through?”

The interesting thing is just how much He actually can relate and does completely understand because, no matter what you’re struggling with right now, He walked the Earth as a man specifically to experience our humanity and ultimately to pay the price for all or our sins. So guess what?… He’s been there.

Here’s how Nancy Leigh DeMoss explains it:

There are two errors in relation to Christ and both extremes are dangerous.

One is that we elevate His humanity and diminish His deity.
The other is that we focus on His deity to the exclusion of His humanity. We see that mistake made in in many cultural portrayals of Christ.
For example, at Christmastime we’ll sing that carol “Away in a Manger.”

The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.

I have a newborn in my home as I told you in a recent session. Last night as I was preparing for this session, that newborn was squalling downstairs. I thought, I know better! The baby Jesus cried. He was human.

Click here for the full article

Kinda changes things doesn’t it?

God never promised a life without problems but for those that trust Him He does make a promise in Deuteronomy 31:6

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

So no matter what you’re going through right now be encouraged by these words knowing that you were created by a God who stands right by your side even now.