Canvas Rhapsody

A few months ago a good friend of mine found out her husband is not what he said he was. He came home one day and told her he was tired of lying and that he wasn't a Christian. After 10 years of marriage, 10 years of church going, mission supporting and Sunday School teaching he made this confession.

She knew that he had struggles with his faith. She knew he questioned and lived a lukewarm life. Did she expect that deep down he wasn't a believer? No.

Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don't have to trust God if something unexpected happens--they have their savings account. They don't need God to help them--they have their retirement plan in place. They don't genuinely seek out what life God would have them live--they have life figured and mapped out. They don't depend on God on a daily basis--their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God. (Crazy Love by Francis Chan, pg 78)

How do we recognize when our lives have become too comfortable? Do we recognize when the people we love have lost their faith? Do we know the difference between when they are just doing the "right" thing and when they are serving God?

Is it our responsibility as Christians to hold one another responsible for the lives we live?

If you stopped believing in God today would anyone notice?

I may never know what it means to be physically hungry. I am an American and even as a child, eating government cheese, I was never hungry. I am in the top 1% of the worlds wealthiest people. So are you, if you live in the United States.

If I had the cure for world hunger would I only give it to a select few? Would I pick and choose the most deserving based on my own judgements?

I have know what it means to be spiritually hungry. I know what it is like to live a life separated from God. There are approximately 224,457,000 Christians in the United States and only two stepped out and told me the name of Jesus.

We have the cure for the greatest famine of them all, living a life separated from God. Are we picking and choosing who gets fed and who doesn't?

John 4:7-14 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will
you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the

well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

“When one door closes, another opens...." ~Alexander Graham Bell
"When one door closes, God opens a window." ~Unknown

I am not a big subscriber to those two thoughts. I think doors are shut for a reason but we like to cut out our own doors and windows to escape the very place God wants us to be.

Why do we always need to escape the place we are in?

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

When I was a child we moved every time life got too tough for my mom to handle. She would get all excited, talk about her new plans, our new opportunities. The house would be new, the job would be different but nothing changed. All of the baggage from life was packed in our boxes and moved right along with us.

Maybe, doors close or never existed because we are suppose to be exactly where we are. There are things that need to be taken care of before we can move on. There are times we are called to be still and know our God. As it says in Hebrews 12 there are a few things that need to be done in order to run the race He has prepared for us.

Life is undoubtedly full of valleys and mountain tops. Being a Christian doesn't promise any less valleys. It doesn't promise that bad things won't happen to good people. Being a believer in the saving blood of Christ does promise that wherever we are in life's topography, God is with us.

I have never understood the roller coaster ride that some people choose to be on in their Christian lives. God never leaves us, regardless of the place we are in. The same joy that is shouted from the mountain tops of life should be the relied on in the valleys. The Father in our times of triumph is the same Father in our times of weakness.

Philippians 4:11-14 .....for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Next time life brings you to a valley, no matter how long or how deep, remember God is with you. It is up to you to trust that He is there.

There is a section of Romans 8 that I go to when the valleys of life overwhelm me. In verse 37 it says "...we are more than conquerors.". I find peace in those words, to me it is a promise that I am on the side of God and I will overcome this, whatever the "this" is.

Write His word on your heart. Know the promises made to you. Believe you are adopted into the family of God. He won't leave you in your time of need.

Romans 8:37-39 "...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.