Category: General

I was reading through Genesis when I came across an interesting verse. In Genesis 17, God is giving Abraham the rundown on the covenant that would lead to the birth of Isaac and the eventual birth of Christ. In disbelief, Abraham says, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” In other words, Abraham couldn’t believe that Sarah, at 90 years old, could bear him an heir, so He thought God should consider Ishmael, the son already born, to be the heir of God’s promise.

I wonder how many times I have doubted God, trusting only in what He has already done and limiting what He wanted to do.

Fortunately, he often blesses beyond our beliefs.

I love it when my wife sings. Jamy has a beautiful voice, and our home is filled with song. I’m thankful that God blessed me with a wife that GETS music, because we speak the same language in that regard.

A few weeks ago, she had me download a song for her to sing at church. It was Mandisa’s Voice of a Savior (off her True Beauty album). Beautiful song. She did an awesome job.

As she was rehearsing it with me, one of the lines jumped out at me. If you are not familiar with the song (I wasn’t until she had me download it for her), the first verse talks about filling the void in our lives with drink, drugs, money, or relationships. The second verse cites ambition, success, and risk as means to find fulfillment. Then, the chorus tells us that what we are all searching for is the voice of the Savior (thus, the title)

We can relate with those. We’ve all tried to focus on the wrong things to find contentment only to find that Christ alone fills the void in our lives.

The last verse is what I found most interesting. Specifically, the first half of the last verse:

Some people try to find it

In the shadow of a steeple

Some people try to find it

In the back row pew

This verse speaks to one of those concepts that we know is an issue in our churches. There are those that believe they are saved because they come to church. Or because their family belongs to a church. Or because they show up Christmas and Easter. Those folks are out there, in every congregation.

But what about believers? Do we sometimes come to church for a fix? Do we come to church wondering what we are going to get out of it? Do we show up out of obligation or the expectation of others? Or do we show up to serve the God from whom all blessings flow and to praise our Savior for giving His all for us?

I know that I have to be very careful to focus on God while I get my “job” done (I wrote about it here). And I know I’m not alone.

My daughter is at an age (3) where she says very funny things that really make me think.

The other day, I was getting her dressed to take her brother to school. As I went to get her something out of her drawer, she said, “Let me do it. I can do it!” She tried to reach into the top drawer, couldn’t, then asked me to lift her up. When she got what she needed, she said, “I did it all by myself!” (more…)