The Temptation to Impress  
October 10, 2012

     The temptation to win over people by impressing them wears off quickly.  Why?  Every parent
     knows that the more you impress your children with thrills, experiences, flash gifts, the less
     impressed they are with each new things.  Same with adults.  We get dulled by the "more." This
     year's sensation is next year's commonplace.  Jesus knew all this which is why he wouldn't
     major in miracles to convince people to follow him.

     He also knew that the way to "prove God" is not to test Him.  God never suggests using his power
     to put ourselves into a threatening situation expecting his miraculous rescue.  Missionaries did
     not risk their lives expecting to be saved, rather they expected those they reached to be saved. 
     In that way we do take risks for God, not for our own prestige but for the sake of God.  But a faith
     that depends on signs and wonders is not faith.  A faith that cannot believe without them is not
     faith.  It is doubt looking for proof in the wrong places.

     Do you seek the signs of God or God himself?  Do you seek to serve others in power of the spirit
     or do you petition God to serve you?  do you look for signs to prove to you that God is in this or
     in that, or do you trust, and discern and believe and walk in faith?

 

     "Lord, I will choose this day to simply trust your being at work in my world today.  I will act on
     this trust but refusing to blame, manipulate through words, bending of the truth, shortcuts or
     anything else that would come from my attempts to get what I want in some other way other
     than trusting you. Amen”