The weather today was wet and dreary, so it was a great day to be indoors with a bunch of great people worshiping the Lord!
It was a good day here at The Journey as we tackled the topic of materialism and talked about how it can detour our Christian walk. In my opinion, it was one of my favorite messages of the year because materialism is a chronic problem in the American church, and yet we underestimate just how much it can cripple the effectiveness of the Body of Christ...amazing.
I am excited to see this topic explored in our small groups this week, and loose the vicious grip of materialism on this church. You see, the fact is that materialism can have you in its grip regardless of your wages or circumstances, and most Americans (myself included) need to be regularly reminded to let go and be like "teflon" when it comes to what God blesses us with. It was a good word.
We were missing our drummer today, so it was an unplugged, acoustic-driven worship set, with the congregation really deciding to Lay It Down and let God have everything. I was excited to see so many people come down to the altar and respond to the Lord about materialism, and to truly worship the Lord.
We had a good day today - 149 was our attendance, and although we were missing a number of people, The Journey was a great place to be today.
Thank you, God, for continuing to meet with your people here at The Journey. May Your dream for this area be realized as we respond to You and surrender all that we have to You. Lord, may our preoccupation be with You. May we truly understand that what we don't have in this life does not compare to what we DO have in You...
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I walked away from this message with some food for thought and considered it an opportunity to keep my perspective in check. But, God upped the ante on me later in the week...I was driving home from work and saw this two-person yard swing marked 'free' in someone's front yard.
Well, of course I would love to have one of these and do not have the money for one. So, I'm trying to find any friend with a pick-up that could pick it up for me and I couldn't find anyone available. And I was praying that God would provide the assistance because 'I know You want to bless me with this.' And just when Rod got ahold of someone and came up to that house, he watched someone else drive off with that swing.
So, I began lamenting the loss of this great item that He could have blessed me with if He had just coordinated the delivery (I know, sounds arrogant now).
That's when He hit me upside the head (figuratively speaking) and told me "it was someone else's turn to be blessed. It wasn't meant for you. So send out a 'Yeah, God' and enjoy the things I have blessed you with instead of lamenting the things I have not blessed you with."
He provided a teachable moment for me - I hadn't quite muttered ill will toward the one that took the swing but I certainly didn't think to send a blessing toward them either. But, that evening I came face to face with the truth that while God blesses those that live 'in the zone', a sense of entitlement can knock one out of the zone as fast as any 'inging'.
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