Inspiration & Worship

from Smart Living Fort Wayne - December 1, 2022

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Inspiration & Worship Firmly Fixed

We humans get into a lot of trouble by forgetting God’s God and we’re not.

Hubris often rules our lives until we find ourselves helpless in an impossible situation. Only then do we remember we’re made of dust. If we’re wise, we run like children back into God’s open arms. We resolve to keep the Greatest Commandment: to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, both in good times and bad. (Matthew 22:37-39)

The Bible, especially the Old Testament, is full of the following story: God puts person/people in a good situation. Person forgets God. Person stumbles. (Pride goes before a fall, Proverbs 16:18). Person returns to God and begs for help. God looks at person’s heart and responds accordingly.

It’s worth repeating that God looks on our hearts, not our credentials. “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Sam. 16:7)

The Old Testament reveals a parade of flawed and disadvantaged persons who succeed against grave odds only when they humble themselves before God. Deborah leads armies in a man’s world; Gideon faces down his anxiety disorder; Moses overcomes a speech impediment; Jacob is a liar; Rahab is a prostitute; Noah drinks too much; Jephthah is illegitimate; Oncehumble King David lets power go to his head and commits murder and adultery.

No human will ever be “good.” (Mark 10:18) But each of us has an open invitation to cling to the One who is – to love Him with our heart, soul and mind.

Apostle Paul, the top brass of the early church, asks God three times to remove a painful hardship from his life. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10 ESV). But God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul responds: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Through our loving obedience, God unleashes his power of good. Our task is not to be good, but to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the One who is. ❚ – Janine Pumilia