pastorrudytlc

                                                                               Kind words and the applause from those around us are nice and definitely feel good, but neither goes very deep or lasts very long.   We need to make sure that we have an audience of the right one in mind when it comes down to us personally answering the question in our hearts of “Why do we do what we do when we choose to do what we do where we just happen to be doing it?”

Who are we aiming to please? And could it be we are attempting to do the impossible by trying to make everybody happy all of the time by trying so dang hard to get everybody to like us all of the time?  It will never happen!  Even Jesus, who just happened to be the most perfect individual who ever walked this planet, had enemies.  If he did, what makes us think that there won’t people who will not only disdain us but dare I say even hate us? 

So we need to run our race at a pace that leads us to a place where we will end up collapsing with a positive face into the arms of a God who already loves us with an amazing grace.  As a matter of fact, the Lord already loves us as much as he ever can or ever will right now, no matter what we have done, or where we have been, or who we might have known or done those things with.

It is imperative that we learn how to run right now not to attempt to be loved but to go at it daily with an energy source that fuels us because we know that we are already loved!  We are already on God’s team.  We don’t have to play to not lose!  We are winners in the mind of the one who matters most anyhow.

There is a big difference between the two driving forces that could have the freedom to determine our destinies!  If we decide to look into the direction of the maddening surrounding crowd to be the definitive answer to the satisfying longing and yearning in our soul to be validated- we are in for quite the bumpy ride on a road that will unfortunately take us to nowhere.

We all know what it is like to be lonely and feel empty and not worth a dime and actually shunned for giving the very best we have to offer.  There is nothing worse than being booed for being good.  There is nothing more dangerous than us taking our diamonds to the wrong evaluator to summarize their true value.  Especially if the one doing the dealing is cheating with aces up the sleeve to trump our trick when what we really need is a heavenly treat. We need to stop in the name of love before we lose it all.

It is at my lowest that I have discovered God at his highest. The Lord has a knack of picking me up after I have nearly knocked myself out from exhaustion because I have tried doing a never ending dance of good deeds for an on looking community of disinterested patrons.  Jesus dusts me off and wipes away the tears and lovingly reminds me with an eternal truth that he promised would set me free not just for an hour, or only just a day but for always.

He will never leave me.  He won’t ever forsake me or stop believing in me.  Isn’t it quite ironic that God believes in us more than we have faith in him?  Why are we grasping at straws in the wrong stratosphere?  I need to bring my empty cup to the well of living water that God has assured me will never run dry or be limited to a frustrating falsely advertised earthly happy hour.

When I was growing up, the number 41 was the one that I picked to always wear on every uniform of all the sports teams that I ever played on because it belonged to my all-time favorite baseball player, Tom Seaver of the New York Mets.  But as I got older, I started to realize that I still wanted to wear the number 41- but no longer because of a human athlete.  I wanted to adorn 41 because it beautifully expressed that everything I do I want to do “for One.” 

I want my life, my being, my thoughts, my words, my actions, my deeds, my behavior, my victories and my gains to be done for the honor and glory of God. He is my audience that matters most.  He is my coach. He is the voice that I want to listen to and obey and please and make glad.  People are fickle and the group that loves you today will forget you tomorrow.

Humans are too into the adage of “What have you done for me lately- like in the last five minutes.”  To attempt to please that pressuring critical crowd will do us all in.  It will make many a good mind and precious heart get tossed into the blender of biased politics and shredded like wheat in the sheaf of prejudice. 

So no more looking around for my accolades and affirmation.  Today I honor and I thank my God for his endless encouragement and his majestic mercy and his fabulous favor and his longsuffering love towards me even though I have never ever deserved it.  I want to do all that I do 4-1!  How about you?  What number are you playing today?  Can I suggest you grab uniform 41 for One?  It will change not only the way you play but the outcome of the contest. If you like what you are hearing, I would love for you to come and visit us at The Lighthouse Church. Maybe it has been too long since you discovered that God is for you and not against you.

Write Pastor Rudy pastorrudytlc@comcast.net