I’ve known Quincy since grade school, and he has always insisted on doing things his own way. His father died his freshman year of college, and he took it really hard. He was going to drop out, but a group of us tried to be there for him, and along with his mom, we did our best to encourage him to finish because that what his dad would have wanted. The Lord has brought me through many trials and tribulations. He has been the best Father to me, and I always want to encourage others to lean on Him, because God cannot fail. I tried so many times to encourage my friend, Quincy, in the Lord, but it was very challenging. There was so many instances when Quincy desperately needed to seek the Lord for guidance, but he wouldn’t. He’d tell me, “I know you’re trying to help, but you need to let that go. I’ll turn to God in my own time.”
Ephesians 2:8(NLT) says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” Through the Lord Jesus Christ, God has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him. He wants every person to be a part of His family, and when we accept His love into our hearts through Christ and believe that He resurrected His Son from the dead, we become His children. This is God’s plan, and it pleases Him to offer us salvation through His amazing grace. We should be bursting with joy every day over all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ. We should view the reality of having an intimate relationship with God as the greatest opportunity in all eternity, but many of us are not there yet. Like Quincy, we see closeness with God as something that can wait.
The attitude and mentality that Quincy has is one that violates the commandment of Christ in Matthew 6:33(NLT), where he tells us to “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” God is the magnificent, brilliant Creator of all that is. He alone has all power in His hands. He can do anything, but He restricts Himself to do only those things that convey His unconditional and limitless love. Our Heavenly Father can’t accept crumbs from our tables. That’s not who He is and it’s not what He deserves. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that He created us in His own image. We are His masterpieces, and we were created for fellowship and relationship with Him.
An attempt to put God on stand-by or pencil Him in when our schedules allow is a denial of who we are and why we are placed on this earth. It’s a move that sabotages our efforts to succeed and causes us to walk around with blinders on, with no real hope for the future. This is a life beneath our privilege, and God has greater and bigger plans for us than that. Ephesians 1:4-6(NLT) tells us, “4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
The hustle and bustle of life, the goals, triumphs, luxuries, and treasures of life on planet earth; none of it can hold a candle to the Kingdom of God. The distance between the two cannot be fathomed, and this is one of many reasons that we should keep our minds and hearts focused on God. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:25-26, 30(NLT), “25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life–whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.” Our Heavenly Father is our Provider, Protector, and Partner. He will never leave or forsake those that are faithful to Him, and He desires to have a relationship with every person. He deserves our total attention and doesn’t want us to get caught up in all the cares of this world. He cares for us and tells us to place all our trust in Him.
Quincy was angry that God didn’t keep his father alive. It was a loss that he didn’t believe God could ever make up for, and he didn’t want to give the Lord a chance. Life is full of great loss and epic triumphs. It’s dynamic and ever-changing, and we don’t always understand why and how things happen, but we do know that God is real. He’s loving, wise, and always there for us. He holds our tomorrows, and He has a plan for our lives. 1John 4:8 tells us that God is love. He is faithful to keep His promises, and He will lavish His unfailing love on us if we love Him and submit to Him with all that we are. We must come to that realization that every situation, encounter, and experience will continually bring us to face to face with His love, grace, and power. If we choose to surrender, we’ll see with crystal clarity that every moment of life is worth living when it is lived through Him.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Don’t Try to Put God on Stand-by”, written for 4theChristianMan.com© 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.