She wanted to know what it was, so we told her, "It is a big hole in the ground
in America with a lot of big, pretty rocks."
We stopped long enough in the gravel parking lot to point to the colorful walls
of the canyon in the distance and say excitedly, "Look at the rocks, baby!" Then
we began to walk to the overlook site. She kept saying, "Look at the rocks!" So
we assumed she was following us in wide-eyed wonder. When we looked back, we
noticed that she wasn't looking at the Grand Canyon at all. She had picked up a
handful of gravel from the parking lot. She carefully cradled those rocks and
carried them with great reverence as she said, "Look-American rocks!"
That is a picture of the church. The Holy Spirit is pointing to the coming of
the Father in all His glory, and we are still scrabbling in the parking lot,
digging for religious paving stones to say, "Look . . ." Religion causes us to
gather together for all the wrong reasons.
We gather to throw stones at people who are different or people who don't
measure up to our own individual brand of religious righteousness (man's works).
In some cases, we even pick up some rocks to pelt people who dare to be "more
spiritual" than we are. Sinners hear countless stories on the news and in the
local barber and beauty shops about Christian people who gather to debate the
commands of God and come to verbal blows over meaningless jots and tittles while
shoving aside the most important things.
We also gather together to proudly display our accomplishments and works to God,
not realizing that we are asking Him to bless and honor our personal pile of
filthy rags. We lift up our tithes and offerings of gold to Him as if He needed
them. Like my little daughter cradling those worthless rocks in the parking lot
of the Grand Canyon, we carefully cradle our gold and reluctantly place it at
His feet as if it were of inestimable value. Yet we are merely offering God
"paving rocks" from His golden streets instead of placing our focus on His
face-the true source of all wonder and wealth in the kingdom.
Excerpt from The God Catchers, p. 47,48 Author, Tommy Tenney GodChasers.network
PO Box 3355 Pineville, LA 71360 318-442-4273
www.GodChasers.net
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
messages. HTML and plain text versions available.
The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.