I know God is blessing me, but it hard to feel blessed
when your nose is running.
Funny how people say, "I think I am catching a cold?"
Seems to me anyway, the cold has a way of catching you! Usually unawares.
Just one of a number of funny idioms we have in our language.
It used to be a popular expression was "I found God."
To which many Christians responded, "I did not know he was lost."
Sometimes our own language gets between us saying what we say and saying what we mean to
say.
Last night I saw a lot of talking but heard little praising.
After a full day of blessed services, the concluding one seeing nearly a dozen young
people give their lives to Christ, I settled in to watch a little of the Academy Awards
Oscar Ceremony.
And I do put the emphasis on a little here. I came into the show late and fell
asleep on it before it was over.
But what little of it I saw, people were thanking everybody and anybody but I did not hear
many people thanking the Lord for their success.
Now during football season, when a team has won a big game, or better yet the Super Bowl,
player after player, will begin their remarks thanking God for their talents and for
seeing them and the other players safely through the game.
Boxers at the conclusion of a fight, also will put God first in their thanks.
Actors and actresses, well it seems they have makeup artists, and producers and directors
that are much higher on their personal pecking order. If God was mentioned, He was
buried so deep in their comments that my brain was on auto-pilot by the time it occurred.
And what a shame. This is one of the most watched shows on televison each year.
What a wonderful evangelistic opportunity. Millions of people fixed in front
of their television sets. A captive audience to hear a word for the Lord.
Instead, millions can get to see who can wear the least amount of clothes, show the
longest expanse of cleavage, the biggest amount of leg. In general, put on a show
that Sodom might be proud of.
There seems, at least on the surface, to be little God in the movie business.
But if God is not with the movie industry, who is?
Dare I sound like a line from "Saturday Night Live?" Could it be Satan?
What better way for Satan to gain a foothold than to celebrate flesh and excesses to the
absence of the Lord. If the Academy's do not represent the old eat, drink and
be merry Epicurian philosophy, I do not know what does.
Movies, in and of themselves, are not intrinsically bad, but when people suddenly become
popular and rich and then forget the souce of their blessings, then you have to question
the effect the medium is having on them.
Praise and thanks is such a simple thing. When someone does something good for you,
you say thank you. When someone has given you insights or skills that enable you to
achieve and suceed, you usually praise them for their help and inspiration.
Our relationship with God should be the same way. We need to take time in each and
every day to thank Him. First for just waking you up in the morning and starting you
along your way.
Then thank Him in and out of season for all that He has done to help you through each and
every day.
And praise Him, from the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, for all the
inspiration, guidance, foundation and help He has given you.
If you do not praise the Lord, the rocks are going to do it for you.
It almost seemed like the actors and actresses came to worship that little gold man, who
got stolen and retrieved.
Nobody can steal He who I worship. He is not given out just once a year. And I
can have Him regardless of the greatness of my performance.
You may not have awakened this morning with an Oscar on your mantle, but you have won an
award much more valuable. You have received God's grace and mercy, and this is the
everlasting life, and life more abundantly award.
That little golden man will tarnish and lose all meaning over time but God's award to you
will last an eternity.
You are the big winner in God's eyes. Accept your award. And the winner is ....You!
