Relationship with God

The best way to start a day

4 Comments / Growth & Development, Life Balance, Relationship with God / Tom Stuart

“Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening.” Ecclesiastes 11:6 (NAS) The mother of all time management principles is summed up in this verse. It was penned nearly 3000 years ago by King Solomon, one of the wisest and most accomplished men who ever lived. History has confirmed the wisdom of these words and many similar sayings have worked their way into our everyday vocabulary since that time. “Make hay while the sun shines.” – John Heywood 1546. “The early bird gets the worm.” – John Ray 1670. “He who hesitates is lost.” – Joseph Addison 1713. And last but not least “Big rocks first!” popularized most recently by Steven Covey’s “first things first” principle.

What all these sayings have in common is this. Each new day dawns streaming with bright potential through windows of opportunity, but we must use it or we’ll lose it.

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Do you know what Immanuel really means?

Relationship with God / Tom Stuart

There is a Christmas sentimentality about the Immanuel – “God with us” promise that often belies or misrepresents its true meaning. The concept of God’s presence in our lives is both a complex and expansive topic. Doctrinal differences about God’s presence have spawned all the world’s religions and hundreds of different Christian denominations.

As we celebrate the birth of Immanuel it is imperative for us to understand what this promise of His presence really means. For clarity’s sake let us first consider two types of God’s presence that the Immanuel presence is NOT.

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It’s a Wonderful Life

3 Comments / Overcoming, Relationship with God / Tom Stuart

Several years ago I started my sermon with a poll using our interactive audience responses system. I asked the question “All things considered, would you describe your life as ‘Wonderful?’” As I suspected I discovered that less than two thirds of the Bible believing Christians in attendance actually felt like they had a wonderful life. It was not a surprise to me because in preparing my message I found a similar poll of the general populace that indicated even less considered their life “wonderful.” That survey showed 94% of Americans admitting they needed something in particular to happen in their lives before they could be happy.
The mistake people make in determining they do not have a wonderful life is in thinking it depends upon outward circumstances. The fact of the matter is that everyone can have a wonderful life. That is because having a wonderful life is actually a matter of attitude and not accident, choice and not chance. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us the “time and chance” catches up with everyone. (Ecclesiastes 9:11) If having a happy and fulfilled life depended only on favorable conditions, a wonderful life would at best, remain an illusive dream for everyone.

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Why God plays Hide and Seek

3 Comments / Relationship with God / Tom Stuart

Why are children so easily entertained playing peekaboo and hide and seek? Developmental psychologists tell us that it has to do with the concept of object permanence. Wikipedia defines object permanence as “the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard or touched.” Children gradually develop this understanding up through about age 2.
As spiritual children, it is critical in our spiritual development that we understand His object permanence in our lives as well. There is a very important parallel here between the way in which children relate to the ones they love and the way in which we relate to our heavenly Father. It does not take much reading of the Scriptures to notice that at times God also plays hide and seek with us.

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Shut in to faith

1 Comment / Prayer, Relationship with God / Tom Stuart

“Then the Lord shut him in.” Genesis 7:16

Imagine what is must have been like for Noah and his family to finally board the ark. It was like moving into a barn chocked full of animals. There was nothing exotic about it at all. It was a three story, windowless monstrosity. It’s only source of natural light and fresh air was an eighteen inch gap at the very top just under the eaves of the roof that extended all around the perimeter of the ark.

And the ark had not been constructed to sit placidly on a plain. It was built to weather a natural catastrophe and the storm of the ages. Within hours of God’s all-aboard call, the underground waters would erupt from the depths of the earth and mighty torrents of rain would be loosed from the heavens. The Bible tells us that God himself closed the door in the side of the ark after everyone was on board. And with that He literally shut Noah and his family in to faith.

Do you know what being shut in to faith is like? Remember the last time you went on a scary ride at the amusement park? How did you feel when the attendant closed the door and cinched the safety bar across your lap? That was the point of no return and like it or not, you were shut in to faith. Within seconds you were about to be whisked away on the ride of your life. And there was nothing you could do but trust God that those maintaining the mechanics and operation of everything were doing their jobs.

Being shut in to faith is both exhilarating and terrifying. When God shut the door of the ark and all hell broke loose outside, what must have been going through the minds of Noah and company.

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