You have probably already heard about how today is supposed to be the luckiest day of the year because it is 7-7-07. The media has talked about how people have booked weddings, are launching businesses, and gamblers are sure that today will be the best day to lay down their cash at the multitude of casinos across the country. LUCK. How many times do you hear people exclaim that they were just "lucky" when something either good happened to them or some tragedy was averted? We wish people "good luck." We flippantly say to friends that some people "have all the luck." So, I guess today would be the day to buy those lottery tickets, make a bet at the race track or take some monumental personal step, because it is all about luck –right?
As a new Christian, it was certainly an eye opener to realize that "luck" was not a preferred thought in the Christian faith. As my mind and heart were changed by God I came to realize that all the things that at one time in my life I might have attributed to coincidence or even being "really lucky" had nothing to do with the imaginary thing called luck but had more to do with the very real thing called God. This was a transformation, more so, then I would have thought. It was not that I did not believe in God or Jesus before, it was that coming to Christ changes how you see everything. It was also about a church I used to attend that would have had no problem with people talking about luck. Their objections to this would have been more in line with how silly it would be to count on such stuff. But the element that Jesus is our only hope and God is our divine Father who is really there and that prayer and faith is what we need, would not be necessarily pointed out as the alternative to wishing for good luck. Believing in luck would have seemed harmless. It always strikes me how illogical all this was. So many of us claim to be a Christian and then wear our lucky socks to the game hoping this will make all the difference for our team.
Today is one of those days when we need to really proclaim Jesus Christ to all our friends and remind them that there is nothing sillier then betting on a date to guarantee a good marriage, and nothing more important then to recognize the truth in Gods love, and Christ's sacrifice for us. How many casino attendees and lottery users today will throw out an extra bundle of cash with the hope and faith in a date of 7-7-07? How many of them will come home empty devastated by more problems then they had before. Luck will let them down. Satan will have gathered another stronghold in their lives. For many of them Jesus has nothing to do with their lives, or their future. They believe in the universe, fate, lady luck or a chain letter they received on an email.
What has any of this to do with Acts 25: 1-27, you might be wondering? As we read about all that Paul struggles through, we see him devoutly adhering to faith in God and in Christ Jesus. The passages for today show a litany of circumstances that one could attribute to "luck" if you were a non-believer. But they are so miraculous and so much bigger then stupid "luck" that I would hope that the reader would give pause and think, "how could all of this happen in this way? It must have been more then luck!" Paul at every twist and turn in Acts appears to be doomed. Here again, after remaining in prison for two years, he gets a new leader after Felix, named Festus who appears to be as confused as to what to do with this 'Paul person' as Felix was. Then King Agrippa arrives and once again, not fate, but God's hand makes the impossible become possible so that Paul will go to Rome. His mission marches on when it could have been ended several times in the book of Acts. This is such an astonishingly and overwhelmingly powerful testimony about how God is working so clearly in the world as a whole and in our personal lives. There is no luck or fate here. There is not a special date on the calendar that will make all things happen. Here we see our incomprehensible and wonderful Lord of all the heavens, creator of all things, our Almighty Father, working his word into the world, moving mountains and men against all the odds, so that the world and our lives will be changed forever.
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1 comment:
Yes, the folly of the world looks ridiculous when you know Christ. As Paul was preserved for continuing the Lord's work, it makes me wonder how my life is being "set aside" for Him without my even realizing it. Is he just waiting to bust me out of "prison" so I can tell someone about Him? Or, have I missed the ones he put in my path?
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