Vague to Personal
Listen to Sunday’s message by Pastor Phil Olsen
This morning Pastor spoke to the children for a few minutes asking what they received for Christmas and what their favorite gift was. Then he told them he wanted to give them another gift. He gave each child a dollar bill. Then he asked them if they had done anything to receive this dollar. They, of course, said no. One of the key points about Christmas is giving. He talked a little about Jesus coming, giving us the greatest Gift, Salvation, the taking of our sins. Then he told them what he wanted the kids to do with the dollar. He told them they didn’t have to; it was their dollar but…Give it away. Go to school and watch the kids to see who gets ice cream and who never gets ice cream because they cannot afford it. Then he suggested that they give their dollar away, just like they received it…to a kid who never gets ice cream. He stated that when you discover God, that’s exactly what He wants you to do…give away what He has given to you.
After the children left, Pastor read an article by Lisa McLeod in the Gwinnett Daily Post. He said he wanted to read Lisa’s article because she did a great job of describing not only her own journey toward God but the journey of many within our culture. He went on to say that in 2008, people are as spiritually curious and spiritually sensitive as they have ever been. But that curiosity has not led to clarity. There’s a vagueness that as a culture we have decided is preferable to certainty or clarity. It’s clear we need Someone greater than ourselves and greater than our problems, especially when terrorist’s hi-jack planes, the economy starts shaking, when your friends or you lose jobs, when you or a loved one’s health or life becomes at risk. But as culture we don’t like the God of the Bible because Jesus lets bad things happen, or this God we needed to control what we couldn’t is trying to control things we’d rather he didn’t, or the people who claim his name aren’t living anything like Him, and we are turned off.
What “god” do we end up choosing?
· Will you create what He is like?
· Will you choose Him from one of the other religions?
· Will you kind of create Him out of the hodge-podge of all religions – picking and choosing what seems best?
If you do this out of frustration with what appears to be a God who is too distant or disconnected… understand that you have just created a “god” who is even more distant and even less connected.
When we give up the clarity of the God of the Bible, we get a vagueness that we cannot be totally sure of, and we have to hedge our bets and live by superstition. When we throw off the control of a God who makes claims on our lives, we give up the control of a God who lovingly watches over our lives.
