I think its about time that I give everyone an update on how little Sebastian is doing. Wow is that boy a fighter! He is 7 and a half months now, and he has only spent 2 of those months at home. The poor boy has really been very sick, showing little progress for quite some time last week, especially after a setback last Friday. The doctors at one stage were not sure why they can't seem to wean him off the oscillator. You know you have trouble when doctors start not knowing what to do anymore. But just the next day things started improving again and by Friday (i.e. 2 days ago) he was taken off the oscillator, and put on the ventilator. And today they were able to take off all the ugly machines and put him on the nasal cannulas (i.e. just some oxygen!)! Isn't that just wonderful! God is doing a great work in that boy's life. We trusted Him throughout this time for His will to be done in Sebastian's life. And it seems that He does indeed have some special plan with Sebastian here on earth! We are all delighted and so very thankful! Thank you for all your prayers and interest in his progress.
We have learned how to thank God in the midst of adversity, because adversity reminds us that life is short, it teaches us to live wisely, and refines our character! Sometimes God has to bring us to a place of brokenness in order to refine us to be fit for His Kingdom. It might seem cruel to the outsider, but let me tell you, that is love! He loves us too much to just let us continue to pursue a foolish and vain existence. Its only February and already time is flying by and we are busy busy busy pursuing _______. What are you pursuing? Have you written down your goals? What is it that you want from God? What are you focussing on?
The wise king Solomon asked many similar questions in the book of Ecclesiastes. Chasing your dreams and setting goals or praying for that one thing that you so badly want all sound very honorable, maybe even spiritual. Your goals might even be selfless, although in reality most goals are very self-focussed. No matter what the goals are that you are pursuing, make sure that it does not become your point of focus or the object of your faith. For example, if you believe that you will become the best _____, or that God will give you _______, and you believe it with all your heart because you want it so bad, your faith is really not in God but in yourself or in that THING. Your are idolising yourself or that thing. If we take our focus off Jesus in favour of something or someone else, it becomes idolatry. We can ask God for anything, but ultimately we should trust Him and find our purpose and value and fulfillment in Him and not in any person, thing or achievement. Unfulfilled expectations in reality, is just another form of vanity.
We live in an idolatrous society, I'm sure we all know that. But for the Christian, idolatry should have no place in our lives. Shockingly however, idolatry is practised and promoted in many churches today, camouflaged as 'purpose' and 'faith'. Good and virtuous goals can become idols if we sacrifice our marriages or children on its altar, or if we pursue it more than what we pursue God. Don't say God wants me to be this or that, because the truth is you probably don't know what God wants. Its probably more about your fleshly desires and your vanity than having anything to do with God. God purposes some to be rich and 'great', and others to be average. Some to be leaders and some to be followers. Some to be famous and others to do their thing quietly behind the scenes. The one is not better than the other. If God wanted all of us to be number 1, we'd have to kill each other because practically it is impossible. We should pursue God and just live the Christian life with our priorities in order, (i.e. God first, then our spouse, then our children, and then our jobs) and God will shape us and mould us to become who we are supposed to be. Which, by the way, might be something different to who we, in our vanity, want to be.
To bring this closer to home, I know that I can easily make a big thing of becoming pregnant again. If I'm not careful, I can become so focussed on this THING that it will dominate my thoughts and prayers and if I end up wanting it more than wanting God, it has become an idol in my life. How disgraceful that would be! I must trust God and seek Him more than seeking another baby. Its not believing for a baby, or making deals with God or walking up and down in the baby room confessing a magic phrase. Its seeking God and trusting His timing! Even if the worse possible thing happens, i.e. if I don't fall pregnant again, I should still be willing to accept it as God's will and keep seeking Him first without becoming bitter. Who said this Christian life was easy?
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do
not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will
drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than
food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and
tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Note from this passage that seeking (pursuing) God's kingdom (e.g. things with eternal value) and God's righteousness should be our first priority. Not making money, and not trying to become great, not trying to get pregnant, married or whatever our goals are. The kingdom of God is more important than our personal agenda. Also note that God promises to give us what we need when we do this, not what we want. He promises to give us the necessities of life if we learn to put Him first in everything. Not the luxuries most of us count as necessities these days. God doesn't promise riches, because that's not important to him, although it is important to WAY too many of us!!! He does give some the ability to make more money than others, but that doesn't mean they are more blessed. They might just have a different purpose. Money can be a curse if it leads you astray or keeps you too occupied with things, everything except pursuing God. Money can be an idol to both those that have it and those that don't. And all of us fall into one of those two categories! Mmm, something to ponder.
Solomon observed everything that happens under the sun, and concluded that it is all vanity, a chase after the wind! I tell you, a life without Jesus is purposeless, empty and hopeless. My prayer is that everyone reading this, who have not found God through the door, Jesus yet, will find Him while there is still time. (1 John 1:8-9 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' 2 Corinthians 5:21 'For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.')
And my prayer for those that have already found Him, is that we will seek Him first and trust Him with our lives (submit to His plan for us, not our own), and repent from our idol worship. Only then can we become children that please Him!
