Do You Want to Please God or Trust God?

Two Paths.... Which One Will You Choose?

     I have been reading The Cure, by John Lynch, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall.  They talk about two paths in the Christian life, the path of pleasing God and the path of trusting God. They suggest that most Christians choose the path of pleasing God in their life. It certainly sounds good. We all want to please our heavenly Father. But pleasing God rests on the premise that I must do the right things to make God happy with me, my life, my work, my family, etc.

     The other path, trusting God, is much more difficult to comprehend and, because of that, is the less chosen path. What am I supposed to do to trust God? What does trusting God even mean? How will I know when I am trusting Him? Trusting God means knowing that we can't please God, but that God has made us pleasing to Him. It is knowing that I can't do anything to change the circumstances in my life, but He can. It means getting to the point where we say, I know I can't do anything about this Lord, but I know that you can.

     I have come to this point many times in my life. I have hit a roadblock in life where I have tried and tried to resolve things and it just isn't getting better. Then I just have to sit back and say, OK God this one is for you... I tried. I can't make do it on my own. You take over. But wait.... Is that trusting God? Do I only trust God when my own efforts fail?

     I hope that one day I can trust God BEFORE I run out of my own options. I have some big ideas for future ministry. I have a great passion for telling others about who Jesus is. But my greatest desire right now is that I can trust God to take my ideas and desires, and mold and shape them into what He wants them to be. That's a tough thing, because if things are not going the way that I have them envisioned in my head, then I feel like a failure. Why? Because I am trying to please God?

     So.... Are you pleasing God or trusting God in your life?

Doug

It's Not About the Techonology

A World of Technology

     "It's not about the technology." That was one of my favorite mantras while I was the Media Director for HCJB Global in Latin America and I drilled it into our staff as often as I could. And it sounds pretty strange coming out of my mouth, being that I am an engineer and worked on state of the art radar technology in the defense industry before going to the mission field 20 some years ago. Even now, as I do research on how to use the new technologies of internet, cell phones, and mobile devices to communicate with people, I have to remind myself that its not about the technology.

     So what is it about? It's about having a message, a saving message, that we need to communicate to a world that hasn't yet heard the news. In days gone by, that communication had to happen face to face, or maybe by writing a letter. But the messages traveled slowly and two way, long distance conversations were laborious. Radio and television changed all of that. Suddenly, we were able to communicate around the world, into remote areas, behind political and geographic borders. Today we are seeing a new revolution in communication technology... rapid two-way communication using the internet, cell phones, and mobile devices.

      But it is still about the message.... We can sometimes get wrapped up in the latest and greatest technology, but what good is the technology if we have nothing to say? Knowing how to communicate the saving message of Jesus Christ effectively is still the most important thing. If you can't do that, the technology won't do it for you.

     So how are you doing? When was the last time you articulated the Gospel to a friend or neighbor? Can you respond with love when someone ridicules your faith or argues with you about the authority of the Bible? Remember... it's about not about the technology... it's about the message.

Doug