A New Bumper Sticker?
I was waiting in line at an ATM to check my account balance when a car passed me. I saw that bumper sticker, “God Bless America”, and as I have thought many times before, what if the bumper sticker said, “America Bless God.”
As I sat and thought I was reminded of that popular passage in Jeremiah 29, verse 11, which reads, “For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.” But you don’t often hear the rest of that passage. What follows is more encouraging to me than 1,000 verse 11s, but so much more challenging.
Verse 12 starts, “When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. (verse 13) When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you.
Now here’s the hard part: “If you seek me with all your heart and soul, I will make myself available to you,’ says the Lord.”
And then the Lord follows it with a promise:
‘Then I will reverse your fortunes and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’
This is a promise to Israel, God’s chosen people, and those who have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ are in this heritage of faith, so how do we miss this? We as Bible-Believing Patriotic Christians complain about how bad things have gotten in our nation, and we pray for revival but we are often not willing to pay the price of our whole heart…our whole being; we are not willing to BE the revival.
And my mind wanders to a verse that I base my faith and even my life on, and continues to be a hard word to take: Matthew 6:33. As Jesus addresses people’s worries about clothes and food, he tells them, “But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Often we want the clothes and the car, and the two cars with the two car garage, and all our worries taken care of, and then we are free to pursue the Father’s Kingdom. But that is not what Jesus said; he said seek His kingdom first, and the worries will be taken care, you will have clothes, and the things you need.
It all goes back to “ME-centered” religion. We often hear in our public prayers, “Lord, bless us.” What if we prayed, “Lord, let us be a blessing to You”? Wouldn’t that make a difference? Wouldn’t that make all the difference?
4 Comments:
I've always thought that it should say "God Forgive America"
that would be a good one too. It also recognizes the authority of God and accountability, but I think Blessing God is such an active pursuit. How do you act forgiven? How do you bless God?
Hey thanks for visiting my site, funny thing is I knew it was you by the ID, even though I don't know you per se. I saw LarryBoy and thought, that must be that Phil guy who gave me that Veggie Tales DVD. So I appreciate your thoughts.
There was this minister at my church in Houston who always use to say "Bless You" in his prayers and He always talked about Blessing God and it sorta wigged me out. I do'nt get it either.
Yes, LarryboyPT has been an identity of mine since college..but don't tell anyone...
When would you tell someone that you have been a blessing to you? Probably when you enjoyed your company or they praised you or gave you something. If you look up the word in the dictionary, bless has among its meanings; to honor and exalt, glorify; to bestow happiness or prosperity upon, make happy; to endow as with a gift. You could say that "Let us be a blessing to You" is the same as saying, "Let us be pleasing to You."
We so often look for and ask for what God can give us, that we miss the opportunities to serve...and I don't mean going out on the streets and evangelizing. I mean doing things that touch the heart of God, reaching out to those who are hurting, listening to someone who needs to be heard, spending time with God in prayer and study of His word...times where He is the priority, and loving those whom he has put in your life.
The truly heroic deeds we do are not always those crises in our lives the require so much of us. More often the heroic is just getting out of bed and going at life, each day, loving, and serving as you go, and then doing the same thing the next day.
Lord, Let us be a blessing, let us do something that shows You that I love You.
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