Heart Tracks - What If?

"But He answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.' " Matthew 4:4....."Someday someone will pick up the Bible and believe it and amaze the world." John Stott

There are those who say playing the "what if?" game is an exercise in futility. We must live in what is they say. I disagree. Living in the "what is" is a recipe for disaster in my thinking, particularly as concerns the church in the west.

I'm not talking about living in a state of denial, though for many, that is their resident state of choice. The circumstances, obstacles, wounds, and heartbreak we face and experience are real and present. I'm talking of how we respond to all of these and to what degree His Word and words impact how we respond and how we live in the midst of them. Where we don't live in the captivity of what is, but in the power of what could be. This is where our asking "what if?" becomes all important. What if, in the midst of all the "tribulation" that Jesus said would be in our lives, we truly believed we could live as "more than conquerors" in the midst of it all. What if, instead of our focusing on what is, we set our eyes and hearts upon He who is greater than the sum of all that is against us, knowing that He truly is for us? Not passively for us, but as our Advocate? An aggressive Advocate working tirelessly on our behalf....in everything.

What if, in the midst of the darkness, we truly lived and believed that He is the Light that puts to flight all darkness? What if, in our spiritual blindness, we really believed that He gives us sight? What if, in our lameness, we believed He could and does make us whole? What if, in our confusion and disorientation, we trusted Him to lead us and make known to us the paths of life....in all places? What if, in every financial, material, physical, and spiritual crisis, we believed He really was our Source, our Healer, and our Sustainer? What if, when next we picked up our Bibles, we really did believe what He speaks? What if we believed He speaks to us even now? What if?

I think we are far more accomplished, even comfortable, with living in the realm of what is. We get a certain sense of control and familiarity. These will be lost when we enter into His realm of what could be, indeed the realm of what really is. This world, no matter how we cling to it, and no matter how at home we feel, is passing away. His Word abides, lives forever. What we think is, is passing. What He says is, is forever. Where do we wish to live? Where are we living right now?

May the Lord in this day raise up in this generation, a people who look to Him, who listen to Him, who really do live not by the bread of this world, but by and in the One who is the Bread of Life. May we not just carry Bibles filled with words, but may the Words within them carry us. They are Living Words, but only to those who believe. Are you and I among them? What can our lives be...if we are?

Blessings,
Pastor O