"I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together." (Psalm 34:1-3 NIV)
We have come yet again to another Thanksgiving season. At this time of year there is a special emphasis on being grateful or giving thanks. How many of us have grown up with the tradition of going around the family table and declaring the reason we are thankful? While it is important to acknowledge our gratitude for many things, let us not forget that giving thanks is not reserved for one special time of the year. As the psalmist declares in Psalm 34, we are to extol the Lord at all times, for it is the Lord who is the giver of all good and gracious gifts (James 1:17) My prayer this Thanksgiving is that we will awaken everyday with gratitude in our hearts and will forever praise the One who has given us the greatest reason to be thankful--Jesus.
A blessed Thanksgiving to you all!
Pastor Sheree
As I grow older, it seems that my body reminds me that I am aging with aches and pains not previously experienced in my younger years. Sometimes, these physical reminders can send me to a place in my thinking where I am feeling my life is coming to an end. Moreover, I feel my ability to serve the Lord is waning because of my age. In Isaiah 46, God speaks to the Israelites regarding false gods and their inability to supply what Yahweh has provided for them. I was drawn to verses 3-4, "Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." (NIV)
GOD IS OUR SUSTAINER
These verses resonated with me as I recognize the Lord calling me to listen to Him as He has been with me from the very beginning, even before I came into this world. ("I have upheld you since your birth and have carried you since you were born") Once I was conceived, God was immediately there and intimately involved. God has also promised that He will remain with me throughout my life. ("Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am He who will sustain you.") Since the Lord has carried me into this world, the Great I Am will keep me here as long as He desires and give me what I need to keep going. Furthermore, regardless of my physical limitations, God is ultimately my strength. ("I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.") Since I am God's creation, He will not abandon me but will deliver me. I don't have to worry about how my physical body is aging. I can and will walk through the days of my life depending solely upon God to walk with me, in life and in death. The Psalmist declares, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley; I will fear no evil, for you are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4 NIV)
A CROWN OF SPLENDOR
Despite my angst, the Lord celebrates my aging, "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness." (Proverbs 16:31 NIV) My prayer as I move through the seasons of my life is echoed by the Psalmist, "Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, Your mighty acts to all who are to come." (Psalm 71:18 NIV) italics mine.
To God be the glory,
Pastor Sheree
At times when I am invited to preach in a colleague's church, I can experience anxiety. My mind becomes preoccupied with myself and what I perceive as my limitations. I engage in a conversation with myself wherein I am convinced I have nothing to offer, there are better preachers than me, and the people are going to dislike the sermon. When I buy into this type of thinking I am not only diminishing the gifts that God has given to me but in some ways disqualifying God Himself! God has uniquely gifted and called His people to serve in various capacities within the body of Christ according to 1 Corinthians 12. Paul does not mention in 1 Corinthians 12 certain qualifications to receive God's gifts such as what the culture often points to like intelligence, good looks, a certain economic status, or a particular ethnicity. The gifts are given by the Holy Spirit and received by those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. Thus, this is the only qualification necessary for God to use us in serving Him.
Testimonies Of The Unqualified
The Bible is filled with countless narratives of God using individuals whom others may have labeled as unqualified to serve God. Some of those who served the Lord came from backgrounds that were at times questionable and in some cases frightening. In the Old Testament, Abraham, "the father of many nations" with whom God established a covenant (Genesis 15) lied not once but twice about his relationship with his wife Sarah, telling the Egyptians (Genesis 12:10-20) and King Abimelech (Genesis 20:1-17) that she was his sister. David was considered an unlikely choice to be anointed king of Israel according to his family but as the Lord told Samuel, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7) In the New Testament, Mary most likely would not have been chosen to receive the "most popular girl in the class" award. She was not rich or famous but in God's eyes she didn't have to be head and shoulders above all others. God made his choice to anoint her to bear the Messiah. (Luke 1:26-38) Finally, Saul of Tarsus was one of the most feared men in all of Jerusalem for his zeal in persecuting the early church. (Act 8:1-3; 9:1-2) Saul of all people certainly wouldn't qualify to be a servant of Christ. Yet after his conversion (Acts 9:3-17), Saul, who later became referred to as Paul, (Acts 13:13) used the same zeal to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
It's very easy to compare ourselves to some standard that the world or others set as to who is deemed "qualified" to carry out whatever the requirements of a particular task may entail. Sadly, the "comparison game" can and has crept into the church. Whenever a believer wishes they were as "godly" or gifted as another brother or sister they are forgetting about the One who created them and gifted them uniquely to serve Him. Whenever a small body of believers laments the fact that their numbers don't match up to the "mega" church down the street, they are forgetting that Christ is the Head of the church and He dwells in the midst of every congregation no matter what its size. When we come to understand that there is only One in whose eyes we are qualified, we can move forward in confidence knowing that as Paul states in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." In the words of the familiar hymn written in 1922 by Helen H. Lemmel, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace."
Shalom,
Pastor Sheree
