Good morning church and welcome to summer. This crazy year continues to fly by at a rapid pace. Do you best to enjoy each and every day. I am sure looking forward to when we regather as a church once again. Right now, we are on track to meet together the last Sunday of June. Until then, we continue the incredible ministry that God has been allowing us to do in the community. It has been pretty amazing.
Last night, Michelle and I were shopping for a few items at the Stuf-Mart near where we are staying. As we made our way around the store, we noticed the various signage for social distancing. At the end of each aisle were markings to control the direction of the traffic. There were arrows in the main aisles to indicate which side you were to be on. There were markings on the floor spaced 6 feet apart to help you maintain your recommended distance. It was all fairly straight-forward and simple to follow. The colors that were chosen and the phrases used were quite basic. It was a well thought out plan. But there was one main problem. Almost nobody was paying any attention to it. People were wandering around willy-nilly with no regard to the instructions. Like most plans, it was failing in the execution stage. In this case, there wasn’t any immediate consequences for disregarding the rules. Upon touching the forbidden fruit, you did not surely die, at least not immediately. Besides, what if no one was coming the other direction? Wouldn’t that be ok? What if you only needed to go 10 feet down the aisle to grab one item? Seriously, in a matter of expediency, does it hurt to bend or break the rules? Shouldn’t the rules only apply to other people, especially those that are actually sick? Oh wait, if they would have read the signs at the doors they wouldn’t have been in the store in the first place.
Anyway, enough about Stuf-Mart. In a much greater way, I wonder if God has ever looked down upon His glorious creation and wondered what is wrong with these people? I gave them some basic instructions that seem rather straight-forward and yet, they can’t seem to follow them. I know some of them have read them. I saw them do that a few times. Some more than others. But when it comes to putting them into practice, well, that’s another story. Sometimes it seems to inconvenient to follow all of the rules. Some appear to think that the rules are meant for other people and not for them. In the busyness of modern life, there seems to be a tradeoff for the sake of expediency. And, since there is often not an immediate recognizable consequence, the tendency is to drift a little more each time.
Our God, the Creator God of all the universe, has come up with a really good plan for His people. We call it the Bible. In it our the instructions we need in order to live our life in a manner pleasing to Him. Granted, some of the nuances can be difficult to understand the first time you read it. That is why it is to be a life-long pursuit of growing in your understanding of His Word. However, the vast majority of it is fairly easy to understand. Again, it is the application part that can be more challenging. Allow me to encourage you this morning to continue in your quest to learn and apply God’s Word to your life. He really does have the best plan for our lives.
4Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
(Psalm 24:4-5)
Love God. Love others. Impact our community. Change the world.
Pastor Larry
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