April 13

“There is a subtle temptation that encourages Christians to be “practical”.  That is, they try to do God’s work in man’s way.  'Getting results' becomes the primary focus.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 4/13

This was illustrated in two other devotionals I read today.  Hannah W. Smith uses a seed to illustrate that the life force in it allows the plant to push through all sorts of obstacles to reach the surface:  “It is life, more life that we want, not more effort.”  This problem with effort, according to Richard K. Ullmann in 1963, often presents itself in the life of a Christian peacemaker.  We can become frustrated by a lack of result and resort to lobbying or mass demonstrations.  He said, “The reconciler’s interest should be directed not toward policies but towards people.”  To all these points I must add one brought out in a movie I watched last night that dealt with one man’s defection from Communist Cuba in 1991.  One of the characters, in talking about Castro’s revolution, said it was the “idea” that people believed in that enabled Castro to take control of Cuba with only a handful of soldiers.  No one bothered to look at the man behind the idea to see if he was good or not.  All these examples point to the fact that our belief in Jesus Christ must rest on the fact that He was God Himself.  If we point to what He did or what He preached we are dealing in ideas.  Ideas can be misinterpreted and misused. Ideas have no power in and of themselves.  They are catalyst. The life can only be found in the life giver--God.  We must always keep our focus there.  Jesus Christ IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9