Only As Good As.....

There's an expression in the movie business that goes, 'you're only as good as your last picture'. Some have adopted the phrase and applied it to their own experiences. Athletes have learned, you're only as good as your last game. Models know, you're only as good as your last hairstyle. Writers are only as good as their last piece, and friends are only as good as their last piece of advice.

It is a reality of life. Humans are "now" people. We live moment to moment and poll to poll. We care little about adventure and cling to whats comfortable and popular. We are a society of microwaves, drive-thru windows, and 10 items or less(even if we have 11). We want what we want, and we want it now. It makes no difference if we've been friends since the fourth grade. So what that you helped pay my rent, put gas in my car, and bailed me out of jail 3 times. It doesn't even matter that we have the same momma. How are you helping me now and what are you bringing to my table? If you don't agree, count the friends you have, that are poorer than you. Friends with jet skis, time-shares, swimming pools, and four wheelers are on back order.

I like a good chase movie. It is especially funny to watch the ones involving a boat or plane. Almost always, is there a scene where the bad guy isn't going fast enough. He immediately begins dumping cargo, and sometimes people, to lighten the load. He needs to get somewhere fast, and he doesn't care who or what gets tossed out. Everything but the gold, will be thrown into the ocean, or sky, and he won't feel bad that you left without a parachute.

Have you ever felt so heavy with life, that you "lost" a few folks along the way? Have you ever wanted something so bad, it didn't matter who you had to throw overboard to get it? We have all had times in our life where the pressure of "the moment" has made us do things we wouldn't have normally done. Some of us have relatives we haven't spoken to in YEARS because of something stupid they said at Thanksgiving dinner 12 years ago. To us, it doesn't matter that they are a good person. Maybe they apologized, maybe they didn't. We forgot about their history, or what's really true about them. We made a quick decision and it has affected the course of the relationship. We wanted us to be right, and them to be wrong so bad, that when the opportunity presented itself, it was man overboard! I've already thrown them from the boat. To circle back now, would waste too much time.

I have heard many Christians say, "I'm mad at God." When I first heard those words, I was surprised to see them in church the following Sunday. Not because I wasn't expecting them to show up, but because I wasn't expecting them to be breathing. I thought for sure, God was gonna show them who's boss. I was afraid that IF I saw them, they would be in a hospital gown eating through a straw. I quickly learned that God isn't provoked like I am, nor does he need to prove himself. God does what He does, and says what He says. And He's not gonna get embarrassed because His kids are pitching fits in the toy aisle of the Wal-Mart. God doesn't have to prove he exists. God says that all of creation know and are without excuse. Everyone believes in God, but not everyone acknowledges Him. Early on, I believed I could manipulate my father, just like Michael and Anna can manipulate their father. Much to my chagrin, God isn't co-dependent.

Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land. So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side! Exodus 14:21-22

When all the Israelites had reached the other side, the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the sea again. Then the waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians and their chariots and charioteers.” So as the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the water rushed back into its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but the Lord swept them into the sea. Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers—the entire army of Pharaoh. Of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived. Exodus 14:26-28

When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Exodus 14:31

After one month, the Israelites heard Janet Jackson on the radio, and cried out to God, What have you done for me lately?! For you Oh God, are only as good as our last steak dinner, and we can't remember when that was.

If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death. Exodus 16:3

How quickly do we forget the greatness of God. The Israelites had just finished walking across a dry sea bed. Before their very eyes, God creates the worlds first aquarium, and then collapses it, killing the entire Egyptian army. And when they entered the wilderness, they complained that God delivered them just to make them starve in the desert.

For most of us, God is only as good as his last miracle. We are so consumed with our lack and limitation that we forgot that we were as good as dead before he found us in the first place. We never give God the benefit of the doubt. We throw Him and His kids under the bus because of stupid stuff. People have left churches because they thought the music was too loud, their name was misspelled in the bulletin, or because the Pastor didn't visit their mother in the hospital. We assume the worst, and take offenses based solely on our emotions.

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3

Could it be that our deserts are where God chooses to humble us and purge our whacked-out thinking? The Jews were willing to go BACK to making bricks and being slaves because Pharaoh fed them well. They were willing to suffer the oppression of Egypt and ignore their cuts and callouses, just so they could have the free jumbo shrimp at the casino. God took them out of Egypt, but used the wilderness to take Egypt out of them. You can never go into your promise carrying around your hopelessness. God won't allow you to enter into your new house carrying the curtains from your old. They won't match, so don't bother. You can't go into the level of abundance until you shed the level of just enough. God miraculously provided them food, but what they gathered every morning, only lasted for that day. If they tried to store it for later, it would rot. Sound familiar?

Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. Psalms 37:25

Have you had extra money, just to see it fly away with a car or home repair? I have lived all my life in the promise of God providing for all of my needs. God has always been faithful and provided on time. But that gets old pretty quick, especially when your desire is to have extra to give or invest. Abundance is ONLY a product of the Kingdom. It was God alone that brought the Israelites out of Egypt. It was His fault they were in the desert, and they were His responsibility. God, recognizing that fact, decided to feed them everyday. They didn't have to pray and obey God to get 3 hots and a cot. God was faithful to His kids in spite of their unbelief. God made sure they were warm and fed. God made sure they had just enough to survive the day. There was nothing extra for movie tickets, barbecues, or mission trips. It was in the desert, that the "fundraiser" was born. In the desert, churches "raise" money. In the Kingdom, churches "lower" it.

For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. Deuteronomy 31:20

Where the desert was full service, the promised land was self service. It was a land of abundance, but it was also a land that had to be plundered. For a long time, I sat in church and sang along with Janet Jackson - "What has God done for me lately?" I was always looking for God's next trick, miracle, or rescue. But the fact is, I was in the desert. There's no such thing as leftover mana, only enough to make the bills and only enough to get by. How did I bust out of the desert? That answer is too long for this post, but here is the first step. I stopped complaining. I stopped doubting God. I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I stopped wishing I would have majored in business after high school. I stopped thinking about what could have been. I stopped making God smaller, because I felt I deserved better. I stopped telling God what I needed, as if He didn't already know. God isn't moved by need. If that were true, India would be the most blessed country in the world. Need doesn't move God, faith does.

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11:6