|
Tuesday, December 3rd 2013
Some things we accept as having certitude may not have been all that certain in the beginning. Things we think are inevitable might not be. Case in point: take out your cell phone . Pull up the phone dialer and see at how the numbers are arranged. Now, who decided it would be done that way? You probably never thought about. I hadn’t, until I read an article about the 17 possible designs that Bell Telephone considered. (Remember Ma Bell, before there was a Verizon or T-Mobile?) Possible choices of dialers included:
  Of course we all know it ended up like this:
My point? What we think is so unavoidable may not be all that certain. Suppose that the one labeled II-A above had been selected. We’d all be dialing our phones in a very different mode. The one IV-A wasn’t inevitable, it was just what a handful of people at Bell Labs decided on in the 1950s, a choice that now affects billions of the world’s citizens. In the end, the design that was considered most efficient won out. There’s a spiritual lesson to be learned here. The faith that so many follow is something they inherited. If mom was a Baptist, it’s “inevitable” that little Johnny will be one. Or a Presbyterian, Methodist, and so on. Maybe an atheist, if dad didn’t believe. Perhaps a Buddhist if grandpa was one. But the pathway of serving God should be based on an informed choice and on a careful reading of the Bible and church history. Christianity should be a thoughtful resolution, not an inevitable pattern. When one wears the label “Christian” by default not decision, it may not be a real commitment of faith. I pose this dilemma to every reader of this blog. Is your spiritual path based on assumptions, like dialing numbers on a phone, without every asking, “Who put the numbers like that?” Just like those engineers at Bell Lab made conscious choices that have affected the future, each of you must make a conscious choice that will affect your spiritual future – for all eternity. Heaven or Hell should not be decided by default. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:30, “He who is not with me is against me.” When it comes to eternity, don’t dial your decision on the wrong keypad. An encouraging word: REJOICE WHEN GOD TESTS YOU
Psalm 11:5 says, “The Lord tests the righteous” (NKJV). What’s the point of that? Why not leave them alone. Why not test the ungodly? Why “try” (KJV) those who are doing their best to serve the Lord? Because God wants us to be better, therefore He tests our faith. For our own good, He lovingly pushes us onward and higher. Perhaps He has more wonderful things in store for us and doesn’t want us slacking off short of the greatness of our goal. So when the Lord tests you, rejoice. He’s putting his confidence in you that you’re capable of doing even more for him. The test is His way of showing that.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did� (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
|
