Monday, August 16, 2010

Sweet Fellowship

I really enjoy fellowship with other Christian churches. I find it thrilling to sing God's praises with brothers and sisters from different denominations, ethnic groups, nationalities, and socio-economic levels. The varieties of music, preaching, and worship styles remind me of a garden filled with hundreds of kinds of flowers. Look around at this beautiful Earth and you can tell God loves variety in colors, textures, fragrances, tastes, and sounds. And yet we insist that others must be cookie-cutter Christians made just like us. How boring! Let's not shun other believers in Christ just because they are different. Let's embrace our family members, expecting that the only similarity between us is the love of Christ. Several years ago, I had the privilege of singing with a community choir at a Billy Graham Crusade in the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. When I heard the voices of 20,000 people singing together, I was overcome with emotion. This is just a small taste of what it will be like in Heaven, I thought. What a blessing! Let's practice here for the great choir concert in Heaven. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."--Revelation 5:12

Monday, August 2, 2010

In (Blank) We Trust

How would you complete this phrase: In (Blank) We Trust? Many of us are accustomed to seeing "In God We Trust" as a national motto. However, some folks feel any reference to God in our government should be abolished. I would agree that in many respects America has turned her back on God. Perhaps removing the motto is the only logical step for a group of people who think they have outgrown a childish notion. Should our national motto read, "In Man We Trust" or "In the President We Trust" or "In Government We Trust"? Perhaps these are more accurate statements of our national sentiment. The Bible has much to say about whom we should trust. There are too many references to quote here. But a few come to mind. "He who trusts in his riches will fall." (Proverbs 11:28a) "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool." (Proverbs 28:26a) The prophet Jeremiah contrasts two types of people--those who trust God and those who do not. "Thus says the Lord: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.'" (Jeremiah 17:5-6) "'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.'" (Jeremiah 17:7-8) God is the only one who deserves my trust. All others, no matter their intentions or gallant efforts, have proven unworthy.