Do You Not Understand The Way To Sustainability On A Global Scale?
Good Morning Friends,
Early on in my spiritual formation I learned to view God in the role of our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. And also to view our role in life as to emulate these characteristics. But we have a problem for the reality is that we are living on borrowed time. The Bible is filled with examples of people who just ran out of time…rich men…farmers. And then there is the story of the fig tree that did not produce. Friends, if we heed those examples we will be about using our time for the purposes God intended for us… we will learn that we are called to live our lives believing and trusting in Christ… in prayer and communion with God focused on the changes He seeks in us, evaluated against God’s standards and goals and yes even those Trinitarian Characteristics that call us to create and to redeem and to sustain. So let’s stop being complacent cowards, always seeking the comfort of the world. Let’s get serious and understand what is really important…It is not just about sins of commission, but also about sins of omission and the disposition. It is about the future of our souls and those of others. Our time here is limited and we don’t know how long we have. So let’s be about His work. God is calling us to change the world. So let’s be prepared. Let’s plan with God for we cannot hide behind a Christian mask. Friends, we are only a mist. Do You Not Understand The Way To Sustainability On A Global Scale?
Scripture: Top of Form
Bottom of Form
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
Genesis 2:4-15 (NRSV)
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
James 4:13-16 (NRSV)
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;
Psalm 24:1 (NRSV)
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21 (NRSV)
Message: What good is our faith if we do not live it? What good is our intention if we cannot sustain it? Friends, most plans in life and business are pretty much rubbish but the planning behind them is invaluable if we include God in them. That is why we must seek His grace to work His will in us. We do not know the future but He does. He knows what is lasting and what is fleeting. So we are to plan with God. Recognize the uncertainty of life. Acknowledge Him in all things. We cannot do this on our own. So, the next time you start a long term plan, ask yourself if you are seeking God’s will or your own. Then remember the humbling words of James….. We are only a mist. So too, sometimes our faith seems to need a miracle to sustain it. And it is in those moments that we learn that the legacy and happiness of our lives is somehow intertwined with ongoing relationships and sustained involvement integrated into a purposeful lifestyle that becomes more like Jesus each day. This is the strategic blueprint for discipleship. This is where we become aware that God owns everything as today’s Psalm teaches. So know that God is the creator and gives us enough food, shelter and clothing to live but we often want more. Know that God is the redeemer but sometimes gives us more material things than we need. Know that God is the only way for heaven and earth to be sustained and that even that must go through a birth, life, death and resurrection. Friends, we have more than our fair share. It would take five earths to sustain my lifestyle if everyone on the planet lived as I do. And sure it is ok to be diverse but when I calculated the lifestyle of Jesus only one world is needed to sustain us. And no maybe it is not that simple but then maybe it is. Friends, the Bible talks about the heart some 779 times as the physical organ that sustains our bodies and also, in a spiritual sense, sustains us as well. Until we have a heart to be like Jesus the world is doomed. That is why we must take every situational challenge and pray it into an opportunity for sustainable growth in the Spirit of love.
Pray we take all our business, marketing, development and sustainability plans to God. Pray we listen to God’s counsel regarding the life plan God has for each of us. Pray we realize that we can do nothing without God. Pray that we join God in what God is doing and have enough patience that we do not act on our own messing up what God has planned so perfectly. Pray we seek to be in God’s will, to glorify God. Pray that our claiming of power and things material…in our use of resources even the 86,400 seconds of each day…that we remember that the only way to global sustainability is to remember that everything belongs to God. Pray that we redeem the time we have by following the role model God has provided for us. Pray that we first seek the Kingdom of God and God’s spiritual gifts before we fill our houses to overflowing with material stuff. Pray that God lighten our burdens so we might gain entrance into His presence. Pray that God bless us when we seek His will. Pray that when blessed we bless others. Pray that we become stewards of the common good and learn to live more simply so others may simply live. Pray we realize that God is our only sustainable source of strength. Pray that our prayers contain ideas that are sustainable. Pray we realize that power over people is not sustainable, but that power through people in Christ is infinite. Pray we see Christ as the sustainer of all things. Pray the meditations of our hearts delight in the Lord. Pray we see God as the sustainer in us, even our willing spirit.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 