I Think It's Relief - 5/15/12

"My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore." Psalm 131:1-3

Week one of Feed Our Streets is over and I think that I am feeling relief. I'm fairly certain that I was stressed out, but it was really for no reason. I received texts throughout the day from people who were praying for the project; and, I still worried. When all of the volunteers showed up and things were falling into place, I still worried that something could go wrong. When the food was about ready and each of us was standing around to start, my fear was that no one would show up.

And yet, I've been raised to rely on God - the One who created the universe and everything in it. I've been brought up to believe that Jesus calmed the storm, raised people from the dead, and conquered even sin itself. So, shouldn't a step out in faith require a little more faith? As blessed as we are, as Christians, we sometimes forget that there are still others out there that do not know the love of Christ.

A man, from my church, was there to pass out Bibles. One of the little boys came up and asked for one. When he was given a Bible, his smile was beaming from ear-to-ear. He asked, "When do I have to return it? After I eat?" The answer is obvious to us, but not to someone who has never known the love of our dear and precious Savior. If this entire summer is about that young boy receiving a Bible, then the entire project is worth it.

I hope that your life is filled with opportunities to share the love of Christ this week. Don't forget that you have been bestowed an amazing opportunity. Use it wisely for the glory of God.

God's blessings on your life this week,

Bryan

http://thebtaylor.blogspot.com

http://feedourstreets.com

Be sure to share the love!

If you'd like to subscribe to this weekly devotional, please forward your email and name to thebtaylor@gmail.com.

God's Timeline

Have you ever wondered about how God views time? I know that we cannot actually speak on His behalf, except to use answers from the Bible. However, I've often wondered about how to interpret the Bible's use of time.

God is the Alpha and Omega. So He was here when the world was created (duh - He created it), but He will also be here through the end of the world. Or - is He already in the end of the world? If God knows everything that was, is, and will be, then doesn't it seem likely that He is able to live in the past, present, and future all at the same time?

I've often thought of God as an Editor of a film. He has the individual incidents that happen to people cataloged (and quite possibly playing) so that at any given moment, He will bring to view the actions of a person. Each action is one part of the film that is spliced together as a person lives his or her life. But, God also sees the film in its entirety. It's more like 3-D, or even 6-billion-D, because everything plays at the same time and He has the capacity to process everything at once. We thought that Pixar had an amazing set of supercomputers...

So while God can see all of time as it exists on a continuum, it seems that He is also living/reliving every bit of it with us. He knows what's going to happen, but He watches it unfold as if He had never seen it before. It's similar to me watching the Bourne Identity yet again. I know that movie so well that I can quote it, and yet I still sit down and watch it with the attention of child that was just given a piece of candy to chew.

Then comes the nature of God's forgiveness. If He knows all and sees all (past, present, and future), then what does it mean to cast our sins away from Him as far as the East is from the West? Does it mean that He throws the DVD into the other room of His house so that He won't see it? I don't know...I've pictured something like that happening. But I think that a more realistic idea is that He takes the sin out of His general recall memory. It will be recalled on the day of judgement, but for now, it has been tossed aside. He may remember it...but I'm just thinking out loud...