There's Always A Catch

One of the things that men are always teased about is not reading directions or if we do read, we read just enough to get ourselves into trouble.  Let me give you an example.

Last year the pump on my swimming pool was leaking.  I found a video on Youtube that told how to fix it.  I watched the first half of the video, thought to myself, "Got it!", and headed out to make the repair.

When I turned the pump on after the repair it leaked as bad as it did before I fixed it.  I went back and watched the second half of the video.  Should have done that to begin with.  There was some very important info in the second half that I didn't have when I made my repair.  Too bad for me!

So where am I going with this?  I think we can sometimes let this affect our understanding of Scripture.  The are many sayings and conventional wisdoms in the church that are just accepted without much thought because we have heard them so often.  But if we took the time to look for the Scripture that backs those things up we find that we have only gotten part of the story.  Let me give you an example. 

As Christians we are taught that the Lord is always with us.

Really?  Did you know that isn't necessarily true?  Take a look.

2 Chronicles 15:1-2(NKJV)

1Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. 

2And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 

How about that.  There is a catch.  Just like salvation, there is a condition attached.  While salvation is free to every single person on earth the condition is that you have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was crucified for our sins, and that on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead.

Do you believe that?  Have you let Jesus know that?  If not why not let Jesus know right now.  Just have a simple conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

Once we have accepted Jesus, God will always be with us…...provided we are always with Him.  Provided we are always seeking Him.  So while having God always with us is conditional, the condition is totally within our control.

How do we make sure we are always seeking Him?  My suggestion is to set aside time each and every day to read your Bible and pray.  Doesn't have to be  long and drawn out.  Fifteen to thirty minutes may be all you need. 

Will you do it everyday?  Of course not.  Life happens.  What I mean by that is sometimes your day will just get away from you.  However if you at least make an effort more days than you don't you will have a much better chance of having God with you than if you don't.  Make sense?