| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “You are loved” Our Bible verse for today: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you – a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant – and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Don’t get casual or indifferent” The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy is all about Moses preparing the nation of Israel to enter the Promised Land. In the passage from chapter six quoted above, He gave them words of caution to guard against becoming casual or indifferent in their relationship with God. He noted that as promised, God was going to bestow gifts upon them that they had not earned and which they did not deserve. He would do it simply because He is a good and loving Father who finds joy in blessing His children. But when that happened, the danger would be for the people to get casual and indifferent. They would settle into their comfortable lifestyles, forget where the blessings came from, and slowly drift away from the Lord. We see something similar happen in marriages. On their wedding day a man and a woman stand at the altar professing that their love for each other is limitless and that their marriage will be “until death do we part”. Then God blesses them with careers and incomes, with a house and with babies, and with a nice life for which they should be grateful. But over time life gets busy, they settle into routines, they take the marriage for granted, and they slowly drift apart. Then the man has a midlife crisis, complete with a red Corvette and a blond floozy, and the wife has an affair with a coworker. Soon they’re headed to divorce court. In both cases, with the nation of Israel in their relationship with God, and with the man and woman in marriage, they took their relationship for granted, got casual about it, and it slowly diminished and then died. We have to be intentional about preventing that from happening. Relationships have to be protected and cared for. That’s true for marriages and it’s true for our relationship with God. God loves you and He longs to bless you. But you have a responsibility to care for your relationship with Him and to nurture it. There are things you need to do in order to keep it vibrant and healthy. That includes daily prayer and reading your Bible, and it also includes regular participation in group worship services. Full participation in the life of a good church is one of the most helpful things we can do to keep our relationship with God healthy and vital. In encourage you to plan to attend worship services this Sunday. Don’t get in the habit of skipping. It’s an easy thing for your relationship with God to slip into casualness and indifference. Don’t let that happen to you. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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