Before You Die, See Something…
September 25, 2013 Leave a comment
“I have enemies, Lord, so teach me your ways. Show me the right way to live. My enemies have attacked me. They have told lies about me and have tried to hurt me. But I really believe that I will see the Lord’s goodness before I die.” Psalms 27:11-13 ERV
I woke up sluggish today. I had to swim indoors now since the water in the outdoor pool is now cooler. Even though the temperature peaks at 90’F, swimming outdoor is not pleasant anymore. Yesterday, was my first day back at the indoor pool at Clay Madsen Recreation Center and I did not realize the contrast between the two pools until yesterday. The outdoor pool has a lot of variables in it. Weather is unpredictable, pool temperature, bugs and insects floating, bacteria level, maintenance, ph of the water and the most significant is people. My outdoor swimming is very lonely and boring because most of the time, I swam at noon where no one is around. At the indoor pool, there is always at least one person – the lifeguard. In short, the indoor pool is much safer to swim because it is a controlled environment and has the benefit of a lifeguard and emergency equipment.
The only downside of swimming indoors are :
1. I have to swim harder since people here tries to beat each other every lap.
2. I will not get my tan anymore. Right now my skin is so dark like the color of a mild roast coffee bean.
3. No more thrill of danger, it feels like I’m in a protective cocoon, if I’ll have another heart attack, the lifeguard can help me in seconds and call 911. The ER is just 10 minutes away. At the outdoor pool, I always have this thought that I might die floating waiting for help until someone sees my lifeless body.
The reason why I brought up the contrast between the outdoor pool and the indoor pool today is because I saw some similarities to the Kingdom of God. The indoor pool is like the Kingdom of God. A safer place, lots of people overseeing the entire operation and well maintained and the presence of a lifeguard – the lifeguard is symbolic to the presence of God, he is always watching.
Ok, I am not really a good writer so please excuse my poor analogy and explanation.
What I want you to see is there is a Lifeguard in our life. He is always watching us 24/7 and He does not go home or go to sleep or take a break. All He does is make sure that good things will happen to us at any given moment.
I’ve known a person who is so angry to the world that even at the counter at the grocery store, he is mad at the lady who is very slow to put his groceries to the grocery bag. To him, this lady is his enemy. Try cutting him off in the line and you will know how really mad he is. (This is one method to test yourself if you are really angry to the world or not. What would you do or feel when someone cuts the line in front of you?)
Those are just symptoms of a disarray life. If you look under the hood of his angry life, you can find a sick and suffering body, an unstable mind, a depleted bank account, a poor job performance, a failed relationship, a high cost of living that he cannot afford, an unreliable vehicle which breaks down very often and a lonely heart.
How can I offer help to this type of person?
The problem with humanity is we don’t normally follow people’s advice. We seek out our own solution more than anything else. When we see that a strategy of one person works for him, we quickly discredit – “it will only work for him and not on others”. See for example faith, if I tell you that my life is filled with goodness because of my beliefs, will you believe me and mimic my ways? Most of you will say “well, you got lucky”. Not for me, “I will try to invent another type of wheel that is not round”. “I don’t want to copy you”. Yes, that is what we do all the time. We are very skeptics on how we view Christian men and women whose lives are filled/gifted with goodness from God and in return they do good things to others.
The main point here is — I want you to see the goodness of God. You don’t have to do anything but believe in your heart that He is real.
Can you at least try that?
5 reasons why believing God works:
1. You will have a different heart. A different heart = a different mind = a different views in life = different actions = different outcome
2. You will have access to the Wisdom of God. Imagine that when you think of a solution of a difficult problem, God will be whispering in your ears or in your dreams ideas and thoughts and plans that you’ve never heard before. Sometimes He’ll guide you or led you to read an article or a book or a blog to give you foresight.
3. He can cause things to happen. You will be amazed how these things will unfold in your life. Extraordinary things will surface in an extraordinary way.
4. 24/7 protection. God promised that.
5. Inner peace. I know that people want ‘hope’ more than ‘peace’ (when we are in the storm) but I think the greatest need of man is “peace” because once you have the hope, there is still one more thing that you want – peace of mind. (You hope to win the lottery but when you do, you want to have peace to enjoy the luxuries you just miraculously received.)
If there is no peace, the good things that just happened to you is worthless.
Before you leave this earth, see God’s goodness and then experience peace through the process.
See it at YouVersion.com: