FROM THE PASTOR
May 7, 2017
Have you ever responded to a situation that as time passed you would do anything within your power to be able to do it differently? If so, you can safely place yourself in the “I’m human” column. I believe I can confidently state that there is not one of us reading this column that has not reflected back and said, “I could have handled that differently”. Even if we were 100% correct, we still often reflect back and question if we had it to do all over again, “would I respond the same way”?
In fact, the reflection process occurs so frequently we have given it the title of “second guessing ourselves”. Yet is it really “second-guessing” or is it God using the situation is to help us grow on to spiritual maturity? When I was working in the engineering field, we would reflect back at the end of a project to determine if we could have done a better job by doing something differently. This process as called “lessons learned”.
I firmly believe that God desires us to learn from these opportunities. Remember, everything is “opportunity” even when the opportunity is hard and undesirable. God never promised our Christian growth would be easy… His promise was He would always be there with us.
Isaiah 43:2 (NASB)
2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.
Growing pains can hurt and sometimes… we even must bear the scars for the strengthening. Still, reflection is part of our growth. It helps us to be better stewards of those opportunities and represent God more fully.
Even when God’s Word is crystal clear concerning God’s position on a given situation how we respond, within that situation, can make all the difference between glorifying God and driving a wedge into the situation. That’s because not every “like” situation demands a “cookie cutter” response.
Understand… we always stand firm on the truth of Word of God… yet God has given us freedom concerning how we to respond based on that Word. This was Paul’s reasoning when he wrote…
1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (NASB)
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.
23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
Thank You for your faithfulness! Pastor Larry
