Simple Things
By Johnny Angel
Psalms 139:
[1] Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. [2] You know
when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I
think them. [3] You know where I go and where I lie down. You know
throroughly everything I do. [4] Lord, even before I say a word, you
already know it. [5] You are all around me--in front and in back--and
have put your hand on me. [6] Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is
more than I can understand.
[7] Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from
you? [8] If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the
grave, you are there. [9] If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in
the west beyond the sea, [10] even there you would guide me. With
your right hand you would not hold me.
[11] I could say, "The darkness will hide me. Let the light aorund me
turn into night." [12] But even the darkness is not dark to you. The
night is as light as the day; darkness and light are the same to you.
[13] You made my whole bing; you formed me in my mother's body. [14]
I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. [15] You saw
my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother's body. When I
was put together in there, [16] you saw my body as it was formed. All
the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one
day old.
[17] God, your thoughts are so precious to me. They are so many! [18]
If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up, I am still with you. (NCV)
God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him. (1 Peter 5:7,
CEV)
Dear friends,
This past summer was an interesting time for me. I had to go through a
lot of tough trials that have helped me to grow. I don't really feel that I
need to go into detail about any of them because God has taken care
of them and most of you were getting these emails back in the summer
anyway. But looking back, I can now see why I was so upset about
stuff and having to deal with so much.
Clearly, God has helped me to grow up and to learn to trust Him at a
greater level that I could before. But another thing that has come
about is that God has made it clear to me how simple things really are.
He loves us. He did not come to condemn us or to judge us, but to
save us. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
(Romans 3:23). Our sin was leading us to death (Romans 6:23). But
God showed His love to us by sending Jesus to die for us (Romans
5:8). God loved the people of this world so much that He sent His only
Son so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life and never
really die (John 3:16). If we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that
He rose again on the third day, we will be saved (Romans 10:9, 13).
Those who call upon the name of the Lord obtain the right to be His
children (John 1:12). He is faithul and just to forgive us and to cleanse
us of anything that is wrong in His sight (1 John 1:9).
God created Adam to have a relationship with him. When Adam and
Eve sinned, they separated themselves from God. But God forgave
anyone who really asked Him to from the time Adam and Eve sinned up
to the present and on into the future. God never has intended for us to
do enough "good" living. Jesus made it clear that His Father in
Heaven is the only good thing there is (Mark 10:18). We can never do
enough to please God. When our sins were separating us from God, it
was like there was a big canyon between us and God. But Jesus
became the bridge to cross the great divide! And now we can come
before the throne of grace boldly and confidently and call upon His
name to help us whenver we need to! (Hebrews 4:16)
God restores our relationship to Him when we call upon Him for
forgiveness. He completes the gap between us and Him. He fills the
void that is shaped only for Him to fill. And after that, He means for us
to have life that is real life and not just some cheap imitation (John
10:10). Life as Christians should not be a matter of "do this" or "don't
do that". Rather, we should strive to let Jesus be everything that we
do and our whole purpose for being (Colossians 2:16-23). And
whatever we do, whether in word or deed, should all be done for the
glory of God the Father (Colossians 3:17). Each of us has gifts and
abilities that we can use for God and that we should use to help each
other out (Romans 12:3b-8, 1 Peter 4:10).
We should not try to go to church enough, to do enough work for God,
to do whatever, just to stay at peace with God. Rather, we should do
whatever we do because we love Him and we want to be involved for
Him. Every day, we should try to wake up and think to ourselves, what
can Jesus and I do together today! I know that waking up can be hard
to do. But one thing that I have found to be helpful is turning on some
uplifting Christian music as I eat breakfast and get ready. It is a way for
God to speak to me and for me to focus my thoughts on Him. Then, I
try to read a short devotion such as Campus Journal or Our Daily Bread
before I go out the door. I can remain in a prayerful attitude all day long
even when I am at school and work because Jesus is right there with
me, and prayer is simply talking to Him and focusing my thoughts on
Him. This is my informal prayer time as I have mental conversations
with God and talk to other believers about God. When I get back, I
can have my formal prayer time with God by going over my prayer list,
reading from the Bible, and reading other devotions.
God created us to have a relationship with us. He is not out to get us.
He is out to love us. He wants us to love Him, too. We can cast all
oru worries and cares on Him because He cares. The Psalm that I
included at the beginning of this message makes it clear that God
cares. He knew about us even before we were born. We can choose
to let Him bridge the gap in our lives and to be a major part of our lives.
Doing so results in true peace and happiness. Doing otherwise results
in fake happiness and real unhappiness in the long run.
Looking back, I also see that understanding how simple God means for
things to be is helping me to do what God wants me to do now. As I
work with children at church and work with nursing home patients, I
have to keep things simple. They simply need to hear that God loves
them. We all need to hear that God loves us. We need to quit
attaching strings and giving God only part of our lives. Walking with
Him in a daily relationship is what will really make life worth living!
N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><