Good morning:
It seemed like a good idea at the time. A man wanted to drain the gas tank of his lawn mower at the end of the season. Why not, he thought, grab the shop vac and use it to quickly empty the tank? It worked beautifully for the first few seconds. But just as he was congratulating himself on his ingenuity, suddenly FOOM! The motor of the shop vac ignited the gas and there was a mini explosion right there in the garage. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
It happens to all of us, doesn’t it? It seems like a good idea at the time to put off going to the dentist, but then five years later that neglect ends up costing thousands of dollars and hours in the dentist’s chair. It seems like a good idea to put the new wool sweater in the washer, until it comes out shrunken to doll-size. What a good idea to put off homework on a nice, sunny afternoon. There will be plenty of time later—when dinner is over or after hanging out with friends. But by the next morning when the research paper is due, it proves to be anything but “good.”
In spiritual matters it’s even more common and dangerous. Our sinful nature warps our perception of what is good. By nature it seems like a good idea to give in to every desire without thought to what God or anyone else might want or tell us. How many times have you heard someone say, “It’s my body! It’s my life! I should be able to do whatever I want with them”? Have you ever thought it yourself? But the day is coming when everyone will have to stand before God, their Creator and Judge.
It seems like a good idea to our Old Adam to decide for ourselves what’s right or wrong and find our own way to eternal life on whatever path “feels” right to us. But Jesus says nothing could be more wrong. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6). In matters of the soul, our relationship with God, and our eternal future, all our “good” plans blow up in our faces and prove to be utter foolishness.
That’s when God comes to us in His grace with just what we need. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). Through His Word God gives us the wisdom to see our own foolishness and to trust in Jesus as the “power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:24).
Let’s look forward to receiving real wisdom from the Lord tomorrow in the message of Christ crucified for sinners, that we might have full forgiveness for all our faulty thinking and missteps in life.
Service times tomorrow are the usual 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. Is there someone you could invite and bring along?
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
