Sunday, May 1, 2011 - The Thrill of Living

     "because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine 

on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

to guide our feet into the path of peace." 

Luke 1:79

    On long drives my radio stations of choice range from Christian to Classical to Country to Classic Rock. I heard John Mellancamp's classic rock song, "Jack and Diane"  about three times on the drive to Atlanta and, as catchy as the music is, the lyrics depress me. The line, "Oh, life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone," doesn't have to be true, and Mellancamp's advice to "Hold on to 16 as long as you can" relegates most of our lives to the "less-than-thrilling" category. Our culture brainwashes us into worshiping youth and freedom from responsibility while teaching us to view maturity as boring and work as the thief of joy and adventure. We think we're being short-changed if life doesn't thrill us as it did when we were experiencing all our "firsts" as young people. Most of us have made fools of ourselves at some point by trying to relive the past instead of seizing the day presented to us. I know people who can't be satisfied in the present because of the glory of the past or the dreams of what could've, should've been. They worry they missed something.

     We can be guilty of mis-applying this same idea to our spiritual lives as we live most of our lives between the rare spiritual highs. We want to "see" miracles and sing around the campfire when God calls us to live connected to Him by faith each day in the less-than- thrilling realm of our lives. Then, as we walk in "new life" in Christ He provides the thrills and we find we're all 16 in light of eternity.

"We live by faith, not by sight," 2 Corinthians 5:7

"Every moment is alive with My glorious Presence, to those whose hearts are intimately connected with Mine." (Jesus Calling, Sarah Young)   

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?"

Luke 12:25-26

Father, knowing You thrills our hearts because You know us and You know what thrills us. Open our eyes to appreciate the gift of each day - even if the package doesn't arrive, the money didn't stretch quite far enough, the light didn't change when we were in a hurry,  or we didn't lose another pound. Forgive us for letting such little setbacks steal our joy in You and get us down when people across the South have lost so much and still show amazing faith in You. Teach us to lift up our heads to You in every circumstance and trust You know what You're doing. Guard our hearts from equating "good days" with 'blessed days" since every day You sustain us is a blessed, good day. 

In the Name of Jesus Who gave the world the thrill of a glimpse of kingdom of God!

Inspired by Jesus Calling and My Utmost for His Highest