Controversial Quote

You will disagree with this statement, but I want you to think about it before you judge it. It is a quote I heard on the radio spoken by an author that was being interviewed by Char Binkley from WBCL. Here is the quote.

“The hour on Sunday can be the most dishonest hour of our week.”

What do you think of when you hear that?
How does it make you feel?
What thoughts come into your mind to discredit this statement?

Think back with if you will, to a hard or tough time you have experienced in your life. Health issues, financial issues, belief issues; what did you do during those times? Did you worry, cry in fear, get all knotted up in your stomach. Did you get mad a God?, Did you take it out on Him by not talking to him, or turning away for awhile?
Health issues threaten our existence, so it is a common reaction to take some sort of defensive stand against it.

Now think about what we sing about on any given Sunday morning, we sing songs like:

Forever – Forever God is faithful

In Christ Alone - No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the pow'r of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No pow'r of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand

I’m trading my sorrow - I'm trading my sorrows
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord

Better is one day - How lovely is your dwelling place
O Lord Almighty
For my soul longs and even faints for you
For here my heart is satisfied
Within Your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of your wings
Better is one day better is one day
Better is one day than thousands elsewhere

Faith – Everything’s gonna be alright I have faith I believe it.

And many others: Here’s my question –

Do we believe the words that we sing on Sunday?
I would contend that we do not as much as we would like to believe we do. This is why I think the quote above, that sounds so strong at first, starts to become clearer to me. If we truly believed the words we proclaim, that God is faithful, that it is better to spend one day in his courts than thousands elsewhere, that we actually release all our worries and sickness to him, then I think we would act much differently outside of the hour on Sunday.

I think we WANT to believe them, but I submit reality is that the words we sing on Sunday are aspirations of our heart, and not something we have actually accomplished; yet something we should always strive for.

So why did I bring this up? Through out the bible, God moves his people. Most often times, the initial call is met with resistance and complaints. But God says, “come here for a minute” so we go to him, and he says, “trust me” so we go and try to do things in our own way, and we mess it up. God says “come here for a minute, Trust me” so we go and do it again, and mess it up. It’s a good thing God isn’t a man, he would be like “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times.” But He is God, he keeps calling us and perseveres and says, “Trust me”.

God has a much bigger picture in view than we do. We can only see what is right in front of our face, and what has already happened, we can’t see what God sees. So when we come up against hard times, instead of asking “why God?” we should be asking ourselves and saying “what is God up to?” there may be something happening that we don’t understand. Something God knows yet we do not. A Long-term treatment for fear or unbelief is to ask the question: “How can I trust in Christ more than I trust in these issues or fears?”

Take Job for example. The author of Job gives us a movie overview of Jobs life. We are privy to information Job isn’t. We know that God and the devil are talking about him and deciding just how far Satan can push him; meanwhile Job is sitting down on earth enjoying life and eating with his family. I wonder if God and Satan ever have discussions about us like this. Scary huh? Sometimes we look at the news from the Middle East and we look at it superficially, thinking “man can’t these people ever get along?” We don’t even consider what is going on in the spiritual realm. There is an interesting scripture in Daniel 10:1-14

Prince of Persia =some contend that this is a demonic being, how can a man on the ground in Persia withhold an angel from coming to Daniel. And it never mentions the Persian kingdom. Insight into this line of thought is given in Ephesians 6:12…Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus…If this is true, it is reasonable to believe that there is a prince of Hollywood and the movie industry, and a prince of Miami where there is a large drug problem. The prince of Las Vegas, and many others. How powerful are these princes?

So all that to say, when we come up against things in this world we don’t understand, we would be wise to know that God knows what is going on behind the scenes. There may be a bigger picture unfolding. Trust God

I think it is important for us to realize as Christians, what we sing about has power. What we sing about has truth. What we sing about is the power of God, the forgiveness, love, and hope of Jesus Christ, and the help and leading of the Holy Spirit. If we merely sing the words, we miss out on a beautiful life. One that others will look at and say, “I want that”

But if we believe with ALL our heart, these words that we sing on Sunday and throughout the week, and the words we read in the bible, we will live life and live it abundantly. Now I do not mean that we will never experience trials or struggles in life, rather; when we do, we will be able to lay our fears at the feet of Jesus, When Satan comes a knocking, we can let Jesus answer the door. When our health is getting poor, instead of fearing death, we can look forward to an early meeting with Jesus.
Saying and believing are two different things. However; confessing with our heart what we know to be true in our lives is another. I want us to confess with our hearts to God and to others, that we believe him to be an Everlasting God, one that will never leave us nor forsake us. I want us to confess with our heart in all truth, that we have faith in God to guide and protect us.

I want this to be true to us.

I heard this said the other day, “What we believe about God when times are tough and life is hitting us from all sides, is what we believe about God”

What do you believe about God today?

Amen!