By Joe Widick
As I mentioned last week, our family went to Disney World one summer. When we finally got there, it proved to be a wonderful trip. I love Disney World! I look at all that is there and it causes me to appreciate the deep imagination that has gone into making this such a successful park. As a kid, long before there was ever a Disney World, I would let my imagination run wild at times. Thinking of different worlds dreaming about what it would be like to walk where there were no problems, where all was just perfect bliss. As I grew older that fantasy world that I dreamed of faded into oblivion. Work came, college, marriage, family followed in rapid order and reality set in. Our world is not like that of which I once dreamed of.
God’s love for us is so deep that we have a hard time comprehending it. It reaches down to us through the darkness of this old sinful world, even though we are hopelessly undeserving. The Bible says that before God created our planet, He had decided to display the depth of His love for us through His Son’s death on the cross ( I Peter 1:20 and Revelation 13:8). I am no longer a child, but I still use my imagination from time to time. I imagine a world without sin, families in perfect bliss, people treating people the way they should be treated. In my imagination I look back over time and see the Lord raising mountains to majestic heights, cutting valleys for flowing rivers and stretching out vast plains. I imagine him creating the might oceans and the beautiful lakes and all the creatures that inhabit them. Then my imagination sees Him pause and reflect on the goodness of His creation. He gazes at that part of the world where His Son will be born. He knows that Jesus will be rejected and crucified. He knows of the pain and agony that he is going to experience at Calvary. With a sweep of His might hand He could obliterate the world and spare His Son from the agony of the cross. But He doesn’t!!
Because of God’s love, the Son came to earth and was slain. On Calvary He died to pay the penalty for our sins. In John 3:16 we read; “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” How great is God’s love for us!? Paul prayed “that you…may be able to comprehend…the love of Christ which passes knowledge.” Oh, how great is God’s love for us!
Prayer Thought: Thank you Lord for your love, help me to understand better each day how much you love me.
–Discovering God’s Greatness—
By Joe Widick
Years ago, we were headed on vacation to Disney World for a week of fun. We loaded the church van that we had purchased, put the kids on three separate seats to cut down on the fusing. We were pulling an old pop-up camper. What an adventure! It was one thing after another as we made our way through Georgia. Somewhere after crossing over into Georgia, we almost lost one of the wheels on the camper. My lug wrench for the van did not fit the lug nuts on the camper. We limped along and finally got the tire tightened. Being summer time, we ran through many summer thunderstorms, you the type, where it rains for 5 minutes and then gets twice as hot as it was before the rain. As we saw the approaching rain, I tried to roll-up the van window (no air conditioning on this van), only to find that it wouldn’t go up. That night in southern Georgia, we stopped for the night, worn and weary. The winds began to pick-up and the sky darkened. We were listening to the radio and there was a warning for those in mobile homes to take shelter (we were in a pop-up camper). We road the storm out that night in the camper. I remember listening to the storm and as it passed the camp area, you could continue to hear the thunder as it rumbled on an on throughout the night. Exhausted from the activities of the day the thunder became a peaceful reminder of the power of God.
I ran across an interesting passage in Psalm 81. The Psalmist said that says; “In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud…” I find it interesting to think of God answering out of a thundercloud. Remember when Israel cried out from the straw pits and the brick kilns of Egypt. In time, God’s salvation rolled over the land in peals of thunder (Exodus 9:13-34). One of the Psalms speaks of the storm that overshadowed Israel as they passed through the Red Sea (Psalm 77:16-20). It is interesting in this story to note that the thunder spelled doom for the Egyptians but deliverance to God’s people. Each of the resounding claps was the comforting voice of a Father speaking to His children. When Jesus foretold his death in John 12:28-29, He called on His Father to glorify His name. A voice answered from heaven saying, “ I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Then the text adds, to the crowd it sounded like thunder.
Are you in trouble? Cry out to God in your sorrow and distress. You may not hear the thunder roll, but it will reverberate through the heavens once again as He answers you “in the secret place of thunder.” God will speak comfort to your heart and deliver you from your fears. Remember always that those who trust in God find comfort in His power.
Prayer Thought: Listen to me in my hours of distress as well as in my times of thanksgiving
By Joe Widick
I thought the older I grew, that there would be a point in time where things would begin to slow down just a little. It seems that that is not the case. The more things I take care of on my “to do list” the more things seem to be added. I find myself needing more waking hours in the day, but not the energy to find more waking hours. With the coming of spring I know that there will be another opportunity added to an already full schedule, grass cutting. I enjoy cutting the grass, but it still takes time. What does your busy schedule require of you? Perhaps there is spring cleaning in the future, how about finishing up your taxes, or paying your monthly bills. All of us deal with busy schedules filled with good things.
Albert Einstein stated once that there might be a more important list to create than the “to do list.” You and I would say it is a “to be list.” Albert Einstein said “Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.” What a worthy and noble thought that becomes. Each of us realizes that we are important in God’s eyes, not because with have become successful in life, making our “fortune” but because we have a soul that is valuable.
The question comes then, how to we become someone of value as opposed to a man of success. When questions like that occur, we begin to look to God for guidance and direction as to what will be best. The apostle Paul encouraged the Galatian believers as well as you and I that we need to be concerned with our character. He said that if we’re controlled by the Holy Spirit, God will produce in us the characteristics that are most important to God. You know them as well as I, they are; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Take a moment and really look at your life. Spend sometime in prayer about your life. When finished ask yourself which of the characteristics that Paul named are you needing most in your live? More patience with a co-worker or a child? A little more gentleness and kindness toward a neighbor. Could it be more love for your family? What about a joy in your life that shows your relationship to the Lord. As you draw near to God, He will enable you to be the person He wants you to be.
Perhaps at the top of your “to do list” today you could put: Spend more time praying and reading God’s Word. That would be a good start in helping with your “to be list.” Always remember, it’s not what you do but who you are that’s most important.
Prayer Thought: Help me to evaluate my life and begin a “to be list!” today.
