Micah 2, 1 Timothy 5

Micah 2

“One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the LORD at their head."

700 years before the cross, God was once again sharing His promise of redemption to the Jews. In the middle of oracles of judgment, He closes a chapter with a reminder of the hope found in His mercy and grace. I’m reminded of God’s sovereignty and His ultimate plan for redemption.

700 years? Seems like an eternity. Seems like forever. But for us, all we have is a few short years.

This too shall pass away. All that we know and see will be changed in the blink of an eye. All our fleshly struggles, worries, and plans will be gone. This is such a short life. Whether Jesus returns in our lifetime or not, the short time remaining in our life seems shorter than ever. Do we celebrate? Absolutely yes! Our redemption is found at the foot of the cross. Knowing this, how then can we waste our short life? How then can we sit idly by when we’ve had a calling on our lives and a hope to share?

God, thank you for your grace. Thank you God that you have set eternity in our hearts. Call us to task, oh God. May we stay focused on you and your way.

1 Timothy 5

So many times we have ideas of what pure religion is. So many times we miss the mark. Chapter 5 is a great reminder of this. Paul clearly says that, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

So many times we get so consumed with the traditions of faith, that we can easily neglect the orphans, the poor, the neglected, Paul says even those in our own family. Heck, many times we can even neglect the spiritual and emotional needs of our own kids and wives.

I’m also reminded of swinging too far to the other side of faith. We are people of extremes. It seems today churches as well as Christians are either one or the other. If you’re one, there is no time for the other. Where is the line of moderation that honors God? I think each one of us is called to honor God with our opportunities. I feel that we can many times get bogged down in the “What ifs” so much that it steals our joy, purpose, and even focus.

Here’s my thought for the day: Just be a blessing. In whatever scenario, be a blessing.

My family debriefed yesterday when we got home from our community group meeting. The kids had a blast! I’m so thankful for that. They loved swimming, eating, and hanging out with all the other kids. They all said they loved The Austin Stone yesterday morning and talked all about the lesson they were taught.

But every one of them said the best part of their day was when we took the left over food downtown, set up our table, and served fajitas as a family to about 40 homeless people (I truly believe God multiplied our food).

We didn’t plan to go down there last night. In fact, I was tired and wanted to go home. We didn’t worry all day about how we could be a blessing and try to force something in to check the spiritual box of doing something good (as if there is a merit badge to earn). But when we had extra food, we just tried to do something that would be a blessing.

We were the ones that ended up being blessed. It’s almost as if God knows what He’s doing.