Today’s question comes the title of this morning’s reading from Obadiah titled “Your World Will Collapse“. If you don’t have a firm foundation, Jesus warns us:
24“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.27When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” – Matthew 7:24-27
If you don’t build your life based on truth, hope, and love, we read in God’s Word:
12Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. – 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
So what have you built your life upon? What are you building it with? This morning warning leads me to ask and reflect on these questions.
Don’t be walking around so proud that you think you are above everything. Don’t be walking around so proud that you miss the reality and the truth of the very situation you are going through. Pride comes before the fall. You aren’t above it all. You won’t get away with it for ever. If you keep walking away, eventually you will have to deal with the consequences of your decisions and actions. Is what you are building real? Real relationships? Real friends? Real buddies? Where are you putting your hope and trust? Is it dependable? Is it reliable? Is it real? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He is the one we can trust. He is the one who is good to His Word. If He said it, He’ll do it. If He promised it, He’ll accomplish it. He will closer than a brother. He will never leave me nor abandon me. Even when I mess up, He shows up. Jesus loves me just the way I am, and loves me too much to leave me stuck there. I thank God for His Word that builds me up every morning. I thank God for His Word that grants me wisdom and hope to start each day. He loves us so much that He sent His one and only son Jesus to come and do more than we could ever ask or imagine so that we can be reconciled back to God! It is through Jesus’ righteousness that we can be reconciled to God. It’s through Jesus’ sacrifice that we can be seen right by God. We have favor not because we are good enough, because even those who think they had a perfect day have missed the mark as we can’t do enough in our own power to make ourselves right with God. It is only by receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior and following after Him. Last night when I got home from work, my son kept quoting this verse to me and was so proud that He had it memorized.
Jesus said, “I am the truth, the way, and the life. No one can come to the Father, except through me.” – John 14:6
It was so cute to watch him repeat it over and over again. I am so grateful for a God who is tilling the soil, planting the seed of His Word, and watering it so that I can see it grow in my children. It brings me great joy to know that when that day comes I will get to see my family with me in Heaven. To know my children believe, trust, and are pursuing Jesus is an incredible blessing to me and reveals God’s favor over my life more than anything else.
So where are you at today? Are you letting life pass you by? Are you a bystander who sees what is taking place around them but not stepping up nor stepping in? Are you walking passed other or are you trying to give others a helping hand up? What are you focused on? Are you so focused on you that you are missing the opportunities and the favor that readily available for you to take in? Are you stuck gloating, laughing, and joking at the expense of others? Are you too big for that? Are you too important to bend over and give someone a hand? Are you to high and mighty to stop and help? Are you willing to let God work in you and through you to be an instrument of God in the lives of those around you? We all have a choice and then will have to deal with the consequences of our decisions.
God’s Word today warns us:
“God’s Judgment Day is near for all the godless nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. What you did will boomerang back and hit your own head. Just as you partied on my holy mountain, all the godless nations will drink God’s wrath. They’ll drink and drink and drink—they’ll drink themselves to death. – Obadiah 1:15-18
So how are your rules? Do they honor God?
What will it take for you to come into alignment with God’s purpose and plan for your life? Today’s reading continues into Jonah. Jonah called by God to go and speak God’s truth into the lives of others. To warn and to encourage others. But it isn’t always easy, especially if we let ourselves get in the way and try to do the opposite of God’s command/instruction. Jonah starts with a title of “Running Away from God“. What direction are you headed today? Are running to God or away from God? Are you like the lost son who decided to come home? Are you like Jonah or the lost son when they were at the point of trying to get away? You can’t outrun God! You can’t hide from God! He knows what you are doing and what you are thinking. But as always, we choose and then come to our own conclusions and depending on where that leads us have to deal with the consequences of those decisions. The problem is that your decision can actually hurt or threaten those around you. Consider your choices. Consider your path. Consider the implications of what you say and do on those around you. It’s not all about you. Don’t be self-centered. Don’t be selfish. Check your heart before you go to do things and align it with God. You can’t hide, the truth will be revealed. Will you admit to it? Will you confess? Will you do what it takes to save the others? Will you allow your actions to glorify God and allow others to be in awe because of Him? Put another way:
14-16“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:14-16
How long will you just sit there and contemplate doing what God has called you to do and God has called you to be? What would it take for you do it? Would you have to be swallowed up and spend 3 days at the bottom of the sea? What’s it going to take to get your attention and get it put back on God where it belongs? What’s it going to take for you to turn back to God and pursue after Him and His will and purpose for your life? How far down will you have to spiral before you look up and call out to Him for help? Do you need to hit rock bottom? Do you need to get to the bottom of the barrel? Do you need to get to the end of your rope? How far?
What if you were the instrument God wanted to use to save lives? What if you were the person who would be able to speak directly into the lives of others in a way that they could receive God as their Lord and Savior? What if you were their last hope? What would you do? What if they weren’t very nice to you in the past? What if they had been mean to you? What if they had mistreated you? Would any of that change your mind? Jonah delivered the message God had given him. The people of Nineveh received it and took immediate action:
6-9When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up off his throne, threw down his royal robes, dressed in burlap, and sat down in the dirt. Then he issued a public proclamation throughout Nineveh, authorized by him and his leaders: “Not one drop of water, not one bite of food for man, woman, or animal, including your herds and flocks! Dress them all, both people and animals, in burlap, and send up a cry for help to God. Everyone must turn around, turn back from an evil life and the violent ways that stain their hands. Who knows? Maybe God will turn around and change his mind about us, quit being angry with us and let us live!”
10God saw what they had done, that they had turned away from their evil lives. He did change his mind about them. What he said he would do to them he didn’t do. – Jonah 3:6-10
So what would you do if your message was well received? How would you celebrate? Or would you? Would you celebrate with them because they received what you said and were saved? Would you be upset and say “I Knew This Was Going to Happen!” God’s plans are good, not for evil, He doesn’t desire that anyone would perish but that everyone would turn back and find eternal life. But that isn’t always what we are thinking, and that is because our ways aren’t God’s ways, His ways are higher than our ways.
We see Jonah lose it because He knew God’s intention and God’s heart…
1-2Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, “God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness! – Jonah 4:1-2
Don’t sulk. Rejoice in the Lord! Don’t get upset about what God’s given or taken away! Sometimes we have to realize how our hearts work and how we respond to be able truly get a grip on how great God’s love is for us. Let’s share God’s love. Let’s help others realize there is a difference between right and wrong. Let’s live lives to glorify God in Jesus’ name.
God's story through my life from 2005 to eternity... 