The disliked promises concerning Faith…Comfort & Caution! Part 1

When Job was tested; lost all his children, everything he owned, finally his health, his wife told him to curse God and die. Clearly, bitterness had grabbed her. {Be careful how merciless you are to her. She also was just human and had lost everything. This was her worst moment…did Jesus die for your worst moment? Let’s show her what she failed to show her husband. Remember, they went on to have 10 more children, 7 sons & 3 daughters.}

Job 2:10 “But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.”

Having grown up in Europe, without the distraction of TV, arriving in the USA, I fell in love with watching TV...too much!  That changed drastically during Vietnam...one of the most intense eras to live in. Young men were given numbers that would be used to draft them into service to go to war. I received a number but was only 16. However, my oldest brother was draft age. They televised the drawing of numbers (called it “The Lottery”) and we watched. They would show the date of birth on the screen and then draw a blue capsule out of a large glass container. An individual watching this fiasco would see their birth date and find out if they were in the “300th” group to be called up to go to war…or the “1st” group! Fortunately, my brother was assigned a higher number (Whew!) …but looking back, I remember how that changed forever my thoughts concerning TV. 

When I trusted in Christ, the Holy Spirit awakened in me a fierce hunger to know Him intimately. I read, listened to radio, and began looking for Biblical teaching on TV. The Scriptures are full of God’s promises and statements about life for those that enter into relationship with Him.
These should bring us comfort and caution. Embrace BOTH! The Comfort is obvious = Eternal life in the presence of God. The Caution is less obvious due to the nonsense taught by the HWP (Health, Wealth, Prosperity movement) This group has twisted the picture of Who God is, and the damage is immeasurable! The HWP doctrine on TV ignores many statements God made to prepare His children of the “full” picture of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
 
If we desire to make a mature decision to follow Christ, we should know the Benefits and the Costs! Jesus Never spoke in a vacuum! He made sure His disciples understood the privilege of their position - Matthew 13:17 and understood the cost - Luke 14:26–28. This was not a light decision or some fad of the moment! It means walking away from personal dreams and letting God create His dreams for us.
 
The So What: What is the final step in your process of making any decision in your life? Do you control your life, do circumstances or does He? When was the last time you had a heart-to-heart with God about what you want versus what He wants? If you say: “I don’t know what He wants?” what does that expose about your relationship with Him? What can you do about that?