God, The Only Choice!

Have you considered lately the available choices for gods? Idolized humans? Athletes, rock stars, tycoons, politicians, prophets, humanitarians. They all soon decay. Fallen angels? Lucifer, the most successful, is only a super creature. No, when it comes to gods, there is just not much to choose from.

On the other hand, when it comes to God, there is a wonderful choice. Really, the only choice. God, oh God! You alone are God!

A Prayer begins . . .

Father in heaven we praise your holy name. We place our future in your hands. Even when we are desperate, we are confident of your mercy. We recognize your glory everywhere. We know that you alone are God!

Calling all surfers! Imagine your pointer is a surf board! Paddle over to a Bible verse in the left column and give it a Clickle. When you reach the crashing waves, duck and dive under, kick hard. When you're clear of the cresting waves you can paddle about until you get in position to catch the wave. As the wave builds, stand up, get your balance and be sure to flex your knees. Catch the cyberwave and barrel down the wave to another of our pages. Bail out before the wave closes out. Then head back out, Clickle another of our links, duck and dive, and pick your next wave. You can do this all day, every day, all night, every night, page after page, without charge!

You can buy a book to read as you hang around the beach or wait for the waves to pick up! You are in control. Clickle the book cover or the links at the bottom of each quotation.

Two selected book quotations begin . . .

An Inheritance That Can Never Be Stolen

Anne Graham Lotz, God's Story: Finding Meaning for Your Life in Genesis, Word Publishing, 1997, pp. 23, 24.    SoAmazing.com

Category: Christian Living
ISBN: 0849915317
Keywords: blessings, God, celebrate, restaurant, value, house, antique furniture, clock, silver chest, cameras, jewelry, silverware, silver baby cups and spoons, police, fingerprints, thieves, health, education, husband, youth, reputation, counting my blessings, joy, Word Publishing, Lotz, Anne Graham Lotz

"The blessings of God became even more precious to me on an early June day in 1983. It was the first day my children were out of school for the summer, and I took all three of them to celebrate at a special downtown restaurant in our city. Two hours later, in the middle of the day, we returned home to find the front door broken down and everything of value gone! I will never forget the sick feeling of walking through my house and seeing the empty places where antique furniture had been, the space where my grandmother's clock had been, the blank wall where the mirror had hung, the drawers of my silver chest partially open to reveal their emptiness. Cameras, jewelry, silverware, and even the little silver baby cups and spoons my children had used as infants that had been displayed on a cabinet--gone!

The police who came and dusted the house for fingerprints said there was nothing that could, or would, prevent thieves from entering when they had set their minds to it. Apparently they had 'staked out' our house for some time, and once the thieves had decided to rob our home, it was just a question of when.

That night I crawled into my bed--the same bed that the thieves had so neatly turned back so they could take the pillowcases off the pillows to use as sacks in which they carted off my things! As I lay there in the darkness, thinking of what the police had said, I felt myself growing icy cold with the realization that there was nothing I had that could not be taken from me:

My health could be robbed by illness.

My education could be outdated by more advanced
            knowledge.

My house could burn to the ground.

My children could leave home.

My husband could drop dead from a heart attack.

My youth could be robbed by old age.

My reputation could be robbed by gossip.

I could not think of one thing I had that was permanently secure! And then it was as though the light came on in my mind's eye. I knew I had 'an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven' for me. I had the blessings of God that could never be robbed from me! As I lay in bed, surrounded by a home that had been violated, I began to count my blessings. I fell asleep counting my blessings, and when I awoke in the morning they were still on my mind. And my joy was back!"

SoAmazing Review: In God's Story: Finding Meaning for Your Life in Genesis, Anne Graham Lotz digs into Genesis and discovers special meaning in God's story, for your story and her story.

Buy God's Story: Finding Meaning for Your Life in Genesis Now!   Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Christianbook.

A Virtue Becomes A Vice

David A. Seamands, Healing Grace: Finding Freedom from the Performance Trap, Light and Life Communications, 1999, pp. 66, 67.
SoAmazing.com

Category: Christian Living
ISBN: 0893672386
Keywords: God, perfect, longing, basic hungers, food, security, belongingness, affirmation, affection, love, be loved, perfection, drive, sin, performance-based Christianity, Christianity, Romans 3:20, virtue, ideal, reality, gift, excellence, relationship, open hand, Light and Life Communications, Seamands, David A. Seamands

"God left the longing for the perfect within us. This longing is one of the basic hungers which characterize humans--like the hunger for food, security, belongingness, affirmation, affection, sex, and, above all, the need to love and be loved. The drive for perfection and the perfect is a vital part of our need for God. This gnawing nostalgia for perfection is an integral part of the God-shaped blank within us which only God (the truly perfect) can fulfill.

There's nothing wrong with this desire for perfection. Sin enters when we, as fallen creatures, insist on defining perfection on our own terms and seeking it in our own way. The drive to do this is at the very core of our fallen sinfulness. This twisted self-centered pride which is the basis of performance-based Christianity is indicted in Scripture as a 'works' salvation, or, as Paul puts it, an attempt to be 'justified by the law' (Romans 3:20 [NIV]). Let us summarize our desire for perfection with these opposites:

A virtue becomes a vice.

An ideal is turned into an idol.

A reality becomes a counterfeit.

A gift to be received we try to achieve.

The search for excellence twists into a
            struggle for supremacy.

An undeserved relationship distorts into
            deserved one-upmanship.

The empty, open hand becomes a grasping,
            clenched fist."

SoAmazing Review: When David A. Seamands makes a point, the reader nods, "Ah, yes, that makes sense." Healing Grace: Finding Freedom from the Performance Trap provides a blueprint for the healing process.

Buy Healing Grace: Finding Freedom from the Performance Trap Now!   Amazon, Barnes&Noble

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