Tag: God

God Isn’t Finished with You

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Not long ago, I received a valuable shock. I’d completed a novel manuscript and received enthusiastic reactions from beta readers (volunteer test readers). Excited, I considered this manuscript nearly ready for publication. However, as a final precaution, I hired experienced novelist and editor Sharon Hinck to read my story to look for mistakes and offer suggestions. I’m glad I did!

Although Sharon called my young adult story “terrific,” she also found mistakes and a great many passages that could benefit from fine-tuning and additional polish. So, although I had considered this tale ready for publication, the reality was that I needed to squelch my impatience, roll up my sleeves, and get back to work, revising and polishing my story. 

This experience caused me to reflect on the Christian life. After years of following Christ, we might consider ourselves pretty good. We might even be tempted to relax, to set aside our armor and be satisfied with the plateau we’ve reached in the Christian life. But that’s a mistake. 

Even though each of us can probably look back and receive encouragement by seeing how we’ve outgrown past foolish thinking, the truth is that the Christian life is a continual process of maturing spiritually. Of growing closer to God and allowing Him to continue shaping and molding us. Along the way, He might cut unnecessary and distracting things from our life (which can be painful). On the other hand, He sometimes gives us fresh subplots, new character qualities, and improvements we ourselves would never have managed without His editing hand. 

Whether you consider yourself “pretty good,” or whether you realize your flaws and feel discouraged, keep this in mind—God isn’t finished with you. Yield to His shaping hand!

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

The “Wrong” Place Can Be the Right Place

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Ever get perturbed when your carefully laid plans don’t go the way you wanted? In World War II, that happened to Captain Alvin Carlson in a dramatic way. Carlson served as chaplain to the 134th Infantry Regiment of the 35th Division in Europe. He wrote…

“One Sunday evening about sundown I had gathered with a large group of replacements (later called reinforcements) in our marshaling area, which was approximately six miles from the front lines. We had assembled in an orchard well protected by apple trees and other foliage. The service of worship was in progress when, without warning, ‘Bed-check Charlie’ started to strafe and hurl bombs at us. One of the men, detecting the first plane, shouted, ‘Enemy planes!’ and we ran for the foxholes. A short time before this I had dug a special foxhole which I could use when I remained in the area overnight, but I could not reach it. I jumped into another hole which was near. Suddenly someone shouted, ‘They got the chaplain.’ I rushed out of my foxhole and shouted, ‘No, here I am!’ A bomb had fallen in my hole – but no one was in it.” 

Friend, you may lay your plans, and God might allow those plans to work as you hope, and He might not. But for those who love the Lord, even the “wrong” place – the unplanned place – can be the right place to be when God is working behind the scenes.

Source: He Is Able, by Chaplain Alvin O. Carlson (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1945), pp. 35-36.

The Most Vital Kind of Love

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As an author, I find the topics of love and relationships fascinating. Countless writers have penned love stories. Movies constantly depict love in personal relationships. These never-ending topics are intertwined with human experience.

No wonder. The Bible declares that God created people in His own image. Because God is love (1 John 4:16), it’s only natural that—despite our flaws and shortcomings—each of us contains that inner flicker, a wish to love and to be loved.

But that valuable word love has become so commonplace. People declare their love for Oreo Blizzards, hairstyles, and stylish cars. It seems there are many varieties of love. Which is most important?

A lawyer once asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22) Jesus didn’t miss a beat: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”

Boom. Jesus stated pointblank that giving our Creator our highest measure of devotion and faithfulness is more vital than the 10 Commandments and every other rule in the Bible.

But do we live that way? Even for those who have read the Bible and believe it, there are constant temptations.
Temptations to embrace sins God hates. Temptations to elevate our personal desires over His (idolatry). Temptations to step outside of His will and to pursue goals of our own choosing. (Is there anyone among us who has never done this?)

God loves us. He invites us, His creation, to embrace Him in a mutual loving relationship. But I’m afraid God understands perfectly the heartbreak of a husband or wife with an adulterous mate. He continues to bless with sunshine, rain, and provisions, even while so many ignore Him and run around with the Devil.

Yet, God waits. Like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, He knows what we’re doing—but still loves and waits for our return. If your love for the Lord has faltered, He doesn’t want you to wallow in guilt. God lovingly waits for you. He’s only one prayer away!