Gift of Days
Do you remember Disneyland's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride? If so, you know you never knew what was around the next turn.
Kind of like this morning's Bible study. 🤭
Today started by putting one small fire out after another.
The worst one was giving the wrong dish of cat food to Mimiaow. Lenny accidentally got her store-bought canned food (high in fat) instead of his less-fat homemade option (he's a chunk and therefore needs dietary restriction.)
Here's where the real disaster came in: Auggie snuck a few bites of Lenny's high-fat fare.
Auggie can have zero fat because of his pancreatitis bouts (they have almost killed him several times before). He is prone to them because of his Addison's disease.
Anyway, I caught him at the dish and shooed him away before any major ingesting happened.
Did I catch him in time? I won't know until tonight.
I am deeply familiar with the signs now and if his bowels start grumbling, a pancreas revolt is imminent. Thankfully, his vet gave me a go-kit for home that usually stops things from getting worse. So time (and attention) will tell.
How does this lead to a Bible study, you're wondering?
I'm glad you asked.
We are human. We tend to often lean towards things we think we need or want in the moment and deal with the consequences later.
Sometimes we tap into our discipline and willpower and muster up the courage to say "No."
This, oddly enough, parallels our faith lives.
We live much of our lives according to our plans, desires, likes and dislikes.
Then one day, a life-threatening episode like a stroke, heart attack or cancer comes along and causes us to reevaluate everything.
Some make necessary changes to activities and diet.
Others make the bigger change towards deeper faith.
There is something about a life-threatening disease that makes you hyper-aware (and vigilant) of your own mortality...and narrowly avouding meeting your Maker sooner than you would like.
I am intimately aware of living with an awareness of "THIS could be my last day" both physically and spiritually since my stroke.
Pondering all of the above when my brain switches gears — as it often does now — either because of the stroke or my increasing ADHD brought on by a decade of reading 140-280 character paragraphs.
I started humming a song out of the blue and thinking about my recent life trajectory:
Life-threatening illness ---->
Morbid fascination with my own immortality ---->
Healing and survival ---->
Slowly returning to a sense of a normal life
And somewhere in that musing is the Lord, guiding me through this second-chance at life.
That's the thought that landed me onto humming "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift
"Lord! How did I get HERE?" I think to myself.
Suddenly it didn't seem so random:
What if the song lyrics were shifted a bit towards the holy?
For instance, a person's inner prodigal dialogue:
A selfish, hedonistic season that morphs into a season of thankfulness at surviving both the prodigal season and a life-threatening illness.
A spiritual "Shake It Off," of sorts:
🎶🎶 I stay up too late
Got myself on the brain
That's what people say, mmm-mmm
That's what people say, mmm-mmm
But I keep losing
Avoiding, can't stop moving
It's like I got this whisper
In my mind
Saying, "It's gonna be alright."
Cause the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Jesus, I'm just gonna pray, pray, pray, pray, pray
I'll pray it off, I pray it off 🎶🎶
A bit of a stretch? Maybe.
But the action of these new lyrics — of praying away the impending doom of the world and losing one's life — is a mental gymnastic that helped my own sense of immediate mortality fade into the background.
So you're still reading? Okay, good.
How does all of this fever-dreamy whimsy fall in line with Scripture?
I looked up some verses about getting with God's plan for our lives before it's too late:
Isaiah 55:6 NKJV
“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”
Don't put off until tomorrow what is readily found in God today. He really is standing at the door of your heart, waiting to be invited in.
2 Corinthians 6:2 NIV
“For He says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
Not to bring politics into it, but look around at the political mess the world is in. Does It not seem an important time to choose to be on the right side — God's side — of history?
Also, I can hear the naysayers say we are not a nation founded on Christianity. Watch this and share it with your favorite naysayer:
Acts 3:19 NLT
“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.”
Now IS the right time to join God's Army. It might be your last chance.
Proverbs 27:1 NLT
“Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.”
Carpe Diem, baby! (But not "carpe donut" as a long-lost friend used to say.)
Matthew 24:44 NKJV
"Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
Be well prepared at all times, like the Boy Scouts encouraged. Make sure God is in your go-bag and life's emergency kit.
All of these passages highlight the urgency of repentance ("Shaking it off") and trust ("Praying it in").
Find and take hold of God while you still can.
Do not delay spiritual alignment.
God could have taken me when the stroke happened.
But he didn't.
He gave me a second chance to embrace and share the truth of His Word and salvation.
I'm not wasting another of God's gift of days.
Mush
SHARING THE GOSPEL
By Calvary Chapel FTL
Our Commission
Includes . . .
By Pastor Dan Hickling
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”—Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
This passage is both an ending and a beginning. It’s a literal ending because it concludes the Gospel of Matthew. But it’s also a beginning in the spiritual sense, because the words Jesus gives to His disciples here launched the most influential movement the world has witnessed: the Christian Church.
Commonly referred to as The Great Commission, these verses unveil the Lord’s great and ongoing mission for His Church collectively and each Christian individually, a mission that continues to this day. For the believer in Christ, this is something that really needs to be understood or we won’t know, much less fulfill, our God-given mission. We gain an understanding of The Great Commission by seeing what it includes.
First and foremost, it includes a calling. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . ” This isn’t an optional suggestion but an imperative calling. It comes directly from Jesus to His followers. There’s a sense of authority, command, and order. There’s no negotiating or sidestepping that this is what our crucified Savior and risen Lord wants us to do.
It also includes an identification. Notice that we’re to baptize people “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . . . ” Why? Because this establishes a person’s identity as they identify with God in their baptism. Every soul longs to identify with something or someone. They want to belong and be part of something bigger than themselves. What greater identity could one have then to be identified with God?
The Great Commission also includes a responsibility, as we’re to instruct people in “all things I have commanded you.” We are responsible to spread the teachings of Christ to those who need to know them. People desperately need to know about Jesus, and we are the chosen means of meeting this need. There are many other responsibilities in the spiritual life, but nothing should distract us from this one!
Lastly, it includes a promise. “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Christ’s commission for us is accompanied by the promise of His presence with us. We never take a single step in His will apart from Him. In spirit, He is always with us, empowering, leading, encouraging, and simply being with us.
DIG: What is this passage known as and why is it so important to understand it?
DISCOVER: What does it specifically include?
DISPLAY: Consider the ways your own life is aligning with the Great Commission. How can this improve?
PRAYER:
Dear Lord,
Ease the spirit of procrastination in our lives. Let us seize the day for Your purposes. Thank you for life and the promise of life everlasting. In Jesus' name, Amen. ❤️