Dependance. In a country where we have become to self-sufficient for stuff, dependance is far from our minds. I come from a dad who is always prepared and always asserts his mind in being prepared. He always asks me if I have my flashlight in my purse before I leave the house just 'in case.' How many girls do you know who have a flashlight in their purse? Probably not many, but it is rather common in my household between my mom and I, and they always do come in handy. Even so, where I am going with this is not to tell you about how my dad is prepared for stuff, but to just give you an idea that I know what it's like to be prepared and to be self-sufficient. My dad of course had to become self-sufficient in way, in order to raise a healthy and well off family. However, I know that when we do live in a self-sufficient way, we forget, that God is in total control of our lives and how they turn out. Many of us do not even think to depend on God.
I realized recently how much is dependent on God in my own life by just experience. Think about driving for example; how many times a day when you drive are you totally and utterly focused and alert on the road? I mean, your mind is not distracted by anything else but the car next to you, in front of you, and behind you. You never look down to check the time, you never change the radio station or the song on your iPod, you are completely focused on your surroundings. Honestly, maybe it is just me, but I think that is totally impossible. I don't know how many times I've noticed just in the nick of time to break, to watch that I don't swerve off the road but I've always caught myself just in time. Always. I cannot call that pure luck, I call it God's providence in my life. Not only that, but think about all the times when someone almost has run into you, or could possibly run into you. We are humans. We were born with error, and some guy decides to invent this huge hunk of machinery for over tens of thousands of people to maneuver on a day to day basis. With that in mind, I cannot understand how someone can drive a car and not believe in God. I've learned that after I park my car or sometimes while I'm still driving, I have to thank God for His providence in my life at that moment, because I know half the time I drive it is not me who is maneuvering the car. What an amazing God.
People don't realize that even in the smallest things God will provide and take care of, that He actually does care for the things that may not matter or effect the universe as a whole, but just our lives, and the lives of people around us. Praying to find a lost pair of keys to praying for the healing of a close friend, God will listen to both.
It is sad to think of how I once thought God would "get me" someday for all the things I purposefully did wrong against Him. Even after I asked for forgiveness. I realized recently that the Cross is guilt free and liberating. As a Christian, as a Christ follower, I will never have to live in guilt. My slate has been washed clean, for all the things I have done. Sure there will and are things that I feel guilty about, but we do need to feel some sort of guilt in order to realize that we messed up, but after we ask for forgiveness the guilt that comes back is unhealthy and ungodly. It is definitely from Satan, and never from God. If it was from God it would contradict the whole purpose of the Cross, and Christ's whole life, death, and resurrection would mean absolutely nothing.
I just love how liberating Christianity is. It hurts and angers me how people look at Christianity and see it as the cause of guilt, because of the stupid and vile history that encompasses it, as well as how man has created it to be so authorizing over people's lives. It was never meant to be made into a man made institution but a God ordained agency. Of course, from looking at ancient history from the Bible and looking at history after the Bible when it comes to religion, there has always been this problem. History just repeats itself with religion. It goes from Israel wanting a king, God giving them a king, and then their religion becomes corrupted by the monarchy because it is power hungry and foolish. God destroys Israel as a nation through exile by Babylon, then when Jesus is born, you have the Pharisees who use religion as powerful and corrupted in more religious ways. After that, Christians start becoming persecuted, and then through Constantine he turns christianity around and creates it as a government religion. Sometime before or during that (I need to brush up on my history) The Church is created as a universal institution and history just repeats itself. Protestantism appears out of the corrupted institution and opens people's eyes to the Truth once again. Even so, Protestantism is corrupted and you have overly religious people within that institution as well. What is the moral of the story? Stick with God's Word, not your own. Ask God to tell you what the Truth is, not man. Open up your heart to the words of the Bible, to ideas that you may not want to hear, because through the offense you will find Truth.
It amazes me though, by looking at history, how God has still spoken through corrupt institutions. He still cares for us, even when in centuries people forget about Him, not just people, but those He has called His own. It may seem utterly impossible and fanciful to think this way about God, but in all honesty, I've realized what gives God this reason to look upon us with compassion. "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." Luke 6:34 God looks on us as beings without help. He looks at us, just like a mother would look upon a lost and hungry child in the middle of a city who cannot find its own mother. Why? because we cannot fend for ourselves, and until we realize that, and put dependence on God, we will never find true joy.
Well, my mind has run dry with thoughts so I will leave it alone. May you depend on God in every hour of every day, starting with of course thanksgiving for the protection and providence He has already given to you. :-)
God bless!
In Christ,
Amber
