“God is not in the business of granting wishes. God is in the business of raising the dead, not all of whom are willing.” (Barbara Brown Taylor)
To experience the power that raised Christ from the dead is infinitely superior to gloating in our achievements and possessions. Anything that we let take God’s place in our hearts is a false god unable to satisfy our deepest desires (1 John 5:21).
Ambition to succeed by human standards puts us on a path that is invariably frustrating. About the time we think we’ve caught up with the Joneses, they’ve refinanced and started all over again. And even if we think we’re ahead of everybody else in the rat race, who wants to be a rat? No matter how much we acquire or achieve, this world, as Scripture reminds us, is fading away (1 John 2:17). What we hold in our hands is temporary; what we hold in our hearts is eternal.
The best ambition is to know Christ. But to know him requires that we walk the high road above the moral swamp. Voltaire once remarked that all people are creatures of the age in which they live, and very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time. The truth is none of us can raise ourselves above the prevailing norms of our day. A moral resurrection from corrupt society is only possible by supernatural power—the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Are we willing?
“That I may know him” (Philippians 3:10)
W
Johnny R. Almond
Author, Gentle Whispers from Eternity
Interim Pastor, Nomini Baptist Church; Montross, Virginia
Blog & book info http://GentleWhispersFromEternity-ScripturePersonalized.com/
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