How Fickle We are So Often

How fickle we are so often; praising God, when it's the easy thing to do.  But doesn’t God deserve our praise all of the time?

For those who have made CHRIST their treasure, finding joy in suffering isn't such a tedious task.  It's still painful, but our whole world hasn't come crashing down on us, and we are not hopeless.  However, when family, health, wealth, and a life of pleasure are our true treasures...then when any one of them, or all of them, are stripped away from us...where do we find our joy?

When Christ becomes our very center, the very reason we live, love, serve, laugh, sing, and enjoy other things...then it doesn't matter what trials come our way, because Christ is our hope, our strength, our guarantee, and our refuge.  And he will never leave us, nor forsake us.  And that's a promise worth holding on to.

Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV [5] Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [6] So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear;  what can man do to me?”

The reality is that many Christians today have an “arms-length relationship with Jesus” and their completely happy with it.  Something to keep in their back pocket to use when needed or to fall on when things get tough.  But our relationship with God is not something that can simply be tacked on to the end of our life.  Our relationship with God is supposed to be the ‘blazing center’ of our lives.  We were created for one relationship; the relationship with God.  All other relationships are horizontal extensions from or pointers to our vertical and central relationship with God.  God is our foundation, he is our root system…and all other relationships are the branches which extend from this core relationship.

Jason