Praise the Lord for this fantastic
Friday. Once again it is sunny and brilliant. We are getting ready for the
weekend. Tom and Jessie are busy caring for their newborn "little princess'.
Sunita and Andy are eagerly and prayerfully waiting for the birth of their
little one in a few weeks. Janice and Jeremy will be busy with their energetic
trio in Boston as they spend the summer days in Boston. Laureen is having one
of her friends visiting this weekend in Washington, DC. We are getting ready
for worship in our new church this coming Sunday at 11:00 AM. It is all
celebratory and worshipful. One of the young couples that I married a few
summers ago were blessed with a new son, weighing 11 pounds 4 ounces. We praise
the Lord. This young couple loves the Lord and loves life. They are using some
my equipment that I gave them to keep bees and raise honey. The gift keeps on
giving. Praise the Lord for summer time and for the great outdoors, when we can
get together for parties, celebrations, and all forms
of get-togethers.
Our
Lord Jesus loved parties; He loved beaches and boats. He spent much of His
ministry time by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus talked about a man who
gave mega-party, which we read about in Luke 14. The man, whose name we do not
know, invited numerous people to the party, to the banquet, to the great
ballroom, and the people had numerous excuses why they couldn’t come. The first person said that he would love to
come, but "I just bought a new field" Today he might have been saying,"I just
got a new job; that new job of mine is just so time-consuming; my job is so
consuming, I just don’t have time for you."
The second person said, "I would
love to come to your party, but I just bought five new oxen." We hear the same
sentiment today when our friends and acquaintances say, "I just bought a new camper; I just bought a
new boat; I am so busy; I am a teenager - I have track and soccer and swimming
and baseball; I have all of these really wonderful things which are really
important to me and I just don’t have time for you." Then the third would-be
disciple said, "We would love to come to
your party, but we just go married" We hear this resounding theme every day.
Jesus persistently reminds us that for
those of us who love the good things of life, these "things" can get in
the way of keeping our eyes on Jesus and the love of His Kingdom and His
righteousness.
During my graduate School days I
studied some of the writngs by a British New Testament Scholar named Dr. George
Caird. He is my favorite author on the
book of Luke, and he gave me this wonderful quotation: “The most difficult choices in life are not
primarily between good and evil, but the most difficult choices in life are
between what is good and what is best.” Home, children, family, and jobs are all
good; they are absolutely wonderful; but they are not the best. The best is Jesus. The best is the love of God. The best is the kingdom of God. The best is the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit. The best is doing the work of
the Kingdom,in the world. The best is
taking care of all of God’s family on the globe. All the other things of life are good, but
they are not the best. Let us keep our
eyes on the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment