Ok so there I was: I'd just finished gym and I was super sweaty, super smelly, and looking super gross. There had been this guy I'd been checking out the past few days, but he wasn't there that day. Was I disappointed? Yes. Was I relieved? Yes! I thought if he saw me (or smelt me) that day, he would probably never speak to me.
So there I am, just walking out the door, listening to my music super loud and walking in that fast-paced-don't-mess-with-me gait that one normally does when walking out of gym, when suddenly, guess who was walking into gym?!
Out of all the days to choose to acknowledge me, it had to be that one. He looked at me in the eye (yup, I even got butterflies), then smiled and said hello. So what did I do? Obviously my awkwardness came into play: instead of saying hello like a normal person, I grunted. Yup, you read right. My cave woman tendencies chose to show up and I GRUNTED. And not even a cute feminine grunt (well if you can classify a grunt as feminine), it was a loud, throaty, gross man grunt. He even got a "Oh damn she's crazy look" in his eye, so I turned around and ran down the stairs. Ah, trust me to make matters worse.
So obviously I was feeling pretty embarrassed, and to be honest, I wasn't feeling very Christian either. I was all "God why weren't You there? Why didn't You send your Holy Spirit to suddenly make me irresistible so he'd fall in love with me and whisk me away on a white horse to live the rest of our days on a paradise island with our millions of beautiful kids and monkey friends who would bring us bananas as gifts?".
And then I had a fleeting thought (trust me, I'm not proud of it): I thought well maybe God wasn't with me with me because I wasn't at church, and that's where we feel God right? WRONG!
Here's where this is going:
How often in life do we have that mindset that says "I'm only going to feel God at church", or "Oh, I won't read my Bible tonight because you only really feel God at church anyway."
Well, prepare to get your mind blown.
Are you ready?
Here it comes:
Acts 7:48 says, "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men."
Such a simple statement, yet so powerful at the same time. God is huge and powerful and amazing, and frankly, four walls are unable to contain Him.
Acts 7:49 even says "Heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool." Now you may have thought earth was pretty big, right? Well actually, we are small. We are minuscule, tiny, puny (I'm hoping all these synonyms of small will get the message across about how small we are!)
All right, so we get the picture that God is pretty big right? Well in Psalm 33:13-15, it says, "From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth- He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do." And then Acts 17:27 says, "God did this so that man would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."
Now here's this big, powerful, all mighty God, who cannot even be contained in a building, yet He CHOOSES to sit on His throne and watch YOU. He is looking after you and He is near to you, He considers everything that you do. That brings me to my next verse: Acts 7:49 "What kind of house will you build for Me?' Says the Lord".
(I'm feeling like I'm pretty all over the place, but I promise this will make sense)
Basically, if you've been using that excuse that you don't want to read your Bible or pray or something because "God is only felt at church", you better hit that excuse right out of the ball park because it ISN'T TRUE (and we know how God is super keen on truth. In fact He says in John 8:44 that lies are the native language of the devil and that Jesus is the way, the TRUTH and the life in John14:6).
So stop lying to yourself, God is with you every single day and He is watching you, as we read in Psalms. God considers what you are doing, so the way you act is not a secret from Him. In fact, He considers it, He thinks about it and is interested in it.
Now if God is so big and powerful and is busy taking His time, when He could be jolling with the Angels, to watch and care over you, shouldn't we also be making time for Him outside of church that we attend once or twice a week?
I understand that life is busy, I'm in matric this year and right now I'm struggling to find time to breath, but the thing is, God understands that too. If you only have half an hour a day to spend with Him, that's better than spending no time at all. Christians often complain that they "don't feel God" or that they "aren't growing stronger in their relationship with God", but often, that's because they aren't spending time with Him.
The Bible often compares the church to a bride and groom, or a marriage (Ephesians 5:23, Revelations 19:7-9, 2 Corinthians 11:2, Isaiah 54:5 and so on) . Let's say you have this amazing spouse; if you never talk to your spouse or never take an interest in his/her life, how will you grow closer as a couple? In the same way, how will you grow closer to God or experience Him more if you aren't taking the time to learn more about Him or spend time with Him?
In Acts 7:49, as mentioned above, God poses the question, "What kind of house will you build for Me?"
Seeing as God "does not live in houses made by human hands" (Acts 7:48), obviously He is everywhere and around us always, so the house we are building for Him is a spiritual one. Are you going to build Him a spacious house with plenty of space to learn and grow, having rooms filled with encounters with Him, knowledge of Him and His Word, and closeness with Him? A house with a foundation made purely of the Word and His statutes? A foundation literally based on 'the Rock'?
Or are you building another kind of house, a house built on sand? A house made of a weak faith where God's Word isn't the pure foundation? A house that can falter or fall down at any moment?
Don't be a "stiff-necked people" who "always resist the Holy Spirit" (Act 7:51). Rather embrace the Holy Spirit by spending time with God. I can promise you that it will be life changing. When God works in you, the outcome can't be anything but amazing!
Don't confine God only to church, that's almost an insult. He is so powerful that He can do anything. Luke 1:37 says, "For nothing is impossible with God." NOTHING :/ Get ready to pass boundaries you never thought possible. With God, not even the sky is the limit!!
Spend time with God, indulge in His Word and prepare to see things you never thought possible <3
"Spending time with God puts everything else in perspective."
P.S. Don't forget that He is always with you, even if you're embarrassing yourself in front of cute boys! (Sometimes I wonder if He sits in heaven and has bit of a giggle... I definitely would :P )
P.P.S. Psalm 139 is really great to read about God being close to you and not being able to flee from His presence <3
No comments:
Post a Comment