'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
24/10/07 17:07
How Sweet It Is
How much faith should we have? How much should we rely on God, and how much should we rely on our own God-given abilities? Is there a difference? Should we have so much faith that we fail to put forth an effort, claiming "whatever God wills to happen will happen", only then to address failures as "well, it must not have been in God's will"? There is a fine line between worrying about things we can do nothing about and being proactive about things we can do something about. As Paul said, "Faith without works is dead".
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!
And yet, perhaps there is also a fine line between planning for the future and not relying on God for the future. It seems as though we plan for the future saying "I know it's great that God is here for me now, but it is certainly not something I want to count on forever!"
Consider one of the great lessons of faith as relayed in the Old Testament: Manna from heaven. God provided food to his people on a daily basis with only a couple of rules: 1) everyone had to go out and gather their food, and 2) they could only gather what they needed for the day. If anyone gathered more than they needed, the extra food would spoil overnight. So, those who would find sustenance from this food had to gather the manna on a daily basis. There were no manna 401k programs or manna retirement and pension funds. Putting away for the future was not something God wanted these individuals to do. (Keep in mind that this is the same group of people that took their gold and jewels and treasures and created a golden calf to worship instead of God). Perhaps he knew that if manna was stockpiled for the foreseeable future, then his people would learn to trust in themselves and their desires to get ahead in the world, and not on God providing for them in the future.
What does this mean? It means we can be generous today with full confidence that God will work with us to provide for us in the future.
Does it mean we should give everything away and not save for the future. No, not at all. But it does mean that we should not stockpile our wealth as a means of becoming self-sufficient and therefore not having to rely on God, especially at the expense of being generous today. However, we can be generous today, and still save and invest and grow our resources as a means of serving God even more in the future.
Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.
You know, Jesus does not fail. There is no record of Jesus setting his mind to something, giving it his best shot, and coming up short. History does not reflect Jesus as the silver-medal winner, the honorable mention recipient, the also-ran candidate of a forgotten, losing campaign.
He is the blue-ribbon, gold medal, crown-wearing, A-1, premium award-winning Savior of the World. He is the Man of the Year for 2000 years running.
'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, "Thus saith the Lord."
But what saith the Lord? "Come to me all who are weak and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Inconveniently, he did not say "I will make all your troubles go away". Just rest. The ability to be at peace, even in the midst of storms and chaos. This is not a trivial gift.
"Take up your cross, and follow me." The way is not easy. The way is not straight-forward. But the way is clear, and sure, and unchanging. And the journey is just as important as the destination. It's really the only way to get there. And besides, the journey gives you the chance to invite others to come along for the ride.
Dear Lord,
I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.
And since you will be with me to the end, let me learn to trust you more and more and more. Help me to take my abilities, my resources, my time, my hands and my faith in you to create a beautiful service for you and a witness to others.
I ask these things in your Son's name, and sing my request
"O for grace to trust Him more!"
because I know 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.
Amen.
How much faith should we have? How much should we rely on God, and how much should we rely on our own God-given abilities? Is there a difference? Should we have so much faith that we fail to put forth an effort, claiming "whatever God wills to happen will happen", only then to address failures as "well, it must not have been in God's will"? There is a fine line between worrying about things we can do nothing about and being proactive about things we can do something about. As Paul said, "Faith without works is dead".
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!
And yet, perhaps there is also a fine line between planning for the future and not relying on God for the future. It seems as though we plan for the future saying "I know it's great that God is here for me now, but it is certainly not something I want to count on forever!"
Consider one of the great lessons of faith as relayed in the Old Testament: Manna from heaven. God provided food to his people on a daily basis with only a couple of rules: 1) everyone had to go out and gather their food, and 2) they could only gather what they needed for the day. If anyone gathered more than they needed, the extra food would spoil overnight. So, those who would find sustenance from this food had to gather the manna on a daily basis. There were no manna 401k programs or manna retirement and pension funds. Putting away for the future was not something God wanted these individuals to do. (Keep in mind that this is the same group of people that took their gold and jewels and treasures and created a golden calf to worship instead of God). Perhaps he knew that if manna was stockpiled for the foreseeable future, then his people would learn to trust in themselves and their desires to get ahead in the world, and not on God providing for them in the future.
What does this mean? It means we can be generous today with full confidence that God will work with us to provide for us in the future.
Does it mean we should give everything away and not save for the future. No, not at all. But it does mean that we should not stockpile our wealth as a means of becoming self-sufficient and therefore not having to rely on God, especially at the expense of being generous today. However, we can be generous today, and still save and invest and grow our resources as a means of serving God even more in the future.
Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.
You know, Jesus does not fail. There is no record of Jesus setting his mind to something, giving it his best shot, and coming up short. History does not reflect Jesus as the silver-medal winner, the honorable mention recipient, the also-ran candidate of a forgotten, losing campaign.
He is the blue-ribbon, gold medal, crown-wearing, A-1, premium award-winning Savior of the World. He is the Man of the Year for 2000 years running.
'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, "Thus saith the Lord."
But what saith the Lord? "Come to me all who are weak and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Inconveniently, he did not say "I will make all your troubles go away". Just rest. The ability to be at peace, even in the midst of storms and chaos. This is not a trivial gift.
"Take up your cross, and follow me." The way is not easy. The way is not straight-forward. But the way is clear, and sure, and unchanging. And the journey is just as important as the destination. It's really the only way to get there. And besides, the journey gives you the chance to invite others to come along for the ride.
Dear Lord,
I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.
And since you will be with me to the end, let me learn to trust you more and more and more. Help me to take my abilities, my resources, my time, my hands and my faith in you to create a beautiful service for you and a witness to others.
I ask these things in your Son's name, and sing my request
"O for grace to trust Him more!"
because I know 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.
Amen.