What if.........

     I am one who truly enjoys thinking deeply into a matter.  As a child I would sit for hours and just think, "Me......," as I looked at my hands and tried to discern what made me different from others.  Not that I was "different," yet we are all different.  I was inside this body and I could never be anything but .... me. 

     I would also think to myself about what I would do in various situations.  You know like a kidnapping, or an earthquake or well any number of things.  I can "chew" on the meaning of a single word for hours upon end.  Then I grew up and now I think, "what if?"  What if the church isn't the truth, or what if everything I think I know for truth really is not?  Sort of like the Matrix. 

     One of my all time favorite books is The Giver by Lois Lowry.  I was introduced to this magnificent work by my youngest son.  He was required to read it for his 7th grade English class.  We actually read it together.  If you have never read it, please do.  It is powerful.  It is not a religious book, but boy could I ever preach a sermon using it as an example!  The book takes one on a journey into a civilization where perceived realities just might not be quite so real. I will leave it at that so as not to spoil it for you.  Please read the book BEFORE you watch the movie.....it just isn't quite the same.....just sayin!

     When I finished that book I began to ponder my perceived realities.  What if all the things I think are true are not?  What if the things I believe are fallacies truly are reality?   I could spend hours here on this post about all the things I have actually mulled over in my lifetime, but I will not bore you with those. 

      I would like to continue this post into at least two or three parts.  For tonight I want to leave you with this thought to meditate upon:  What if, within Christianity, we have the cart before the horse?  Like, what if we are doing the right things, but at the wrong time in history?  We proclaim Jesus as The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we sing almost all of our songs about Him, praise Him, pray to Him and proclaim everything in Jesus Name.  But what if those things are not to be done until He returns? 

     Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6  Does this imply that as of now we are to have the Father as our goal?  Read on, "And whatever you ask in My Name, that I shall do, in order that the Father might be esteemed in the Son."  vs 13.  "If you did love Me, you would have rejoiced that I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I." vs 28  "...in order for the world to know that I love the Father, and that as the Father commanded Me, so I am doing."  vs 31.

     If we place Jesus as the end all at this point, are we actually delaying the return of the Messiah?  Could it be that if we put Jesus in the proper place, we could see Him sooner?  Have we inserted the Messianic Kingdom before the return of the Messiah?  John's revelation is about the return of the Messiah, His kingdom on earth, which is then followed by the New Heaven and New Earth.

    Are we so consumed with being in His presence that we are of no earthly good?  Have we become the living dead rather than living water to the world?........ Shalom!