I was just listening to a sermon by John Piper where he briefly spoke about miracles and specifically the feeding of the five thousand. He mentioned that maybe God withholds certain miracles because we would be so fixed on the miracles and not the one who provided the miracle. This struck a chord with me and I couldn’t agree more. I think far too often Christians are too focused on “blessings”. In church settings, with friends, in prayer we ALL thank God for providing this and that or doing this and that. I sincerely think that all of us 98% of the time are focused on gifts over giver. We had our fill and enjoyed it. That’s making our faith based on His usefulness to natural desires; desires for health, money, love, success, etc. We get our bellies full and do not follow the beams upward to which the miracles or “blessings” came from. If we see an imaginary beam that connects God and his blessings, I’d say we see the product and ignore the beams and where the beams lead. So I challenge myself, you and all Christians to redefine our “love for Christ” and seek to love Him and not how he fills our bellies. Let’s see signs, signs of God and all he encompasses and not just what he provides. Look past your blessings and suffering and know that Christ IS enough even if he had nothing on earth. I wrote these words but it will me a million times harder to live by them. But, I am here to live for Christ and I need to know why I do it: because He loves us and is enough.
So follow the beams and Love God!
Shalom,
Mickey
