Your Wake-up Call From God Is Not A Tap On The Shoulder. When personal tragedy hits, we can be sure a good God doesnt cause it, but he does allow it to happen. We wonder, Why did God allow this? Thats exactly the question God wants us to ask. After our salvation, Gods second goal for our life is to conform us to the character of his son, Jesus Christ. We all stray off that path sometimes. As a human rationalization, that seems to make sense, but it doesnt satisfy God. God has higher standards for us as Christians. He wants us to be like Jesus. These are hard questions to ask because we thought we were doing fine. We thought we were obeying God to the best of our ability. Wouldnt a simple tap on the shoulder have been sufficient, instead of the pain were going through? Except we tend to shrug off taps on the shoulder. Its likely we received several and ignored them. Most of the time it takes something truly miserable to get our attention and wake us up. Im awake! Im awake! Nothing makes us ask questions like suffering. When were finally humble enough for honest introspection, the answers come. To get those answers, we pray. We read the Bible. We meditate on our wake-up call. We have long, thoughtful conversations with our godly friends. God rewards our sincerity by giving us wisdom and understanding. Gradually we discover how we need to clean up our act. We realize where we were deficient or even dangerous and are shocked we didnt see it before. As bad as our wake-up call was, it still rescued us in time. With relief and thanksgiving, we sense that things could have turned out much worse if God had not allowed this event to bring us to a complete halt. Then we ask God to help us put our life back together and learn the lesson he intended from the experience. Confessing our anger and hurt, we resolve to be more vigilant from now on so no more wake-up calls are needed. The Christian life isnt always pleasant, and anyone who has been at it for several decades can tell you that we learn the most about God and ourselves during our valley experiences, not on the mountaintops. Thats why its important to recognize your wake-up call as a learning experience and not as punishment. That becomes clear when you remember that God is motivated by love and has tremendous concern for you. Correction is needed when you get off course. A wake-up call forces you to rethink your priorities. It reminds you what really matters in life. God loves you so much he takes a constant, personal interest in your life. He wants to keep you close to him, so close that you talk with him and depend on him all through your day, every day. And isnt that the kind of heavenly father you long for? Can you say Im awake! Im awake! Keep Moving In Christ Always, Orlando
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:49:40 +0000
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