Heart Tracks - Pet Rock Or Eternal One?

    Back in the 70's, pet rocks were all the rage.  The man who marketed and made a fortune from them used as a selling point that they were pets who required absolutely no care or attention whatsoever.  They were cheaply bought and cost nothing to keep.  The response was huge.  Everyone wanted a pet rock, something that they could keep around, but take notice of only when they wanted to, which of course, was rarely indeed.  It was the perfect "pet" for much of the western culture.  Throughout scripture, we are told again and again of the wondrous power of the Rock who is our God.  We sing choruses and hymns that proclaim our standing upon the solid Rock of Christ.  There are fellowships with names like "Solid Rock," and so on.  We willingly recognize that He is our Rock, yet, in our day to day lives, does that recognition translate into reality?  In the end, are we treating Him more like a "pet rock," Someone who requires little of us, asks little, expects little, and invites us into a low maintenance relationship with Himself.  Little investment required, and even less cost.  He makes all the investment and pays all the cost.  He's the Rock who's there, but rarely do we stand upon Him, build our lives upon Him.  The consequences of this are terrible, and the wreckage of lives that have lived this way are all around us.  Indeed, our life may be lost in such wreckage right now.  Deuteronomy 32:15, 18 reads, "They made light of the Rock of their salvation....neglected the Rock who had fathered (them), forgot the God who had given them birth."  Might you or I have done the same?

    There's another aspect of Christ the Rock that I want to look at as well.  Larry Crabb once said that "Nobody finds the Rock until they hit bottom."  I quoted this recently to someone who was dealing with the chaotic life of a loved one.  They believed that this had happened to that person, but yet, somehow, the deeprooted issues of their life remain unchanged.  Why?  I think the answer lies in that we may well have hit bottom, and met Him there, come to Him there, but now make our home there, turn that place into our personal tabernacle, and that's where we stay.  Moses came face to face with God at the burning bush, and he may have been tempted to stay there, and establish what one man called "The Church Of The Burning Bush."  God didn't permit it.  He had more for him than that, other face to face encounters.  Moses hit bottom on the backside of the wilderness, but the Lord had other "bottom places" for him ahead.  He has the same for you and I.  As Crabb puts it, we'll hit "Lower bottoms still, and will rise up with even more life."  This is the story of Moses, and it is the story the Lord wants to write about you and I.  There will be more bottom places to hit, but at each, we will find the Solid Rock of Christ that we may stand on, grow on, build on. 
    Where are you and I in relation to this Rock?  Have we, in 70's fashion, sought to make Him our "pet?"  Be warned!  The untamed Christ will be no one's pet.  The roar of the Lion will pierce our hearts every time, but if we will trust Him, He will lead us ever deeper with the gentleness of the Lamb.  Have we hit bottom yet?  If so, have we met Christ there?  Are you thinking that that's the end of it all?  It's not.  In fact, it's only the beginning.  There are more pits that we'll fall into, places where we come face to face not only with Him, but ourselves.  In them, we will find that beneath the miry clay, is the solid Rock of the Father.  And we will rise, stronger, more vital, more filled with His life.  All the while, standing on the Rock that is our God.  There is no other rock like our Rock.

Blessings,
Pastor O