All things being equal...

All things being equal—wait!  Let’s not go any further.

We use the expression casually without ever thinking, that all things are never really equal.  God is above all things.  People trying to make sense out of this world try to do so from an “all things being equal” standpoint.  They are not.

God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  To make sense of the creation without regard for the Creator brings us to confusion not clarity.  Before science fiction and fantasy authors can tell their story, they must first get their audience to suspend their disbelief.  Whether the story is about zombies or aliens or zombie aliens, the author must first get his or her readers to “buy in” to whatever universe must exist for the story to continue.

This can happen with words scrolling across the screen Star Wars style or with a simple, once upon a time; but it must happen or the story never gets off the ground.  That’s the life of the fiction writer.

Unfortunately, it is also the life of many people living in what they believe is the real world.  They think that all things being equal, this thing or that way is the solution.  All things are not equal.  God reigns.  His law and his love prevail.  Those who go against it are not going to prosper.

We take the walk and profess our faith as Christians and then we break out the world’s rule book and wonder why being a Christian doesn’t seem to change much.  We have a different walk to walk than does the world.  We have become strangers in this world.

To believe that all things being equal, this is how things should work is to suspend our disbelief and live by the rules of the world when we know better.

God wove his wisdom into the fabric of the universe.  Reality for the Christian is God’s wisdom.  Why do we spend so much time trying to make the world’s wisdom work when it is based upon a false reality?

Jesus didn’t come to turn the world upside down.  He came to put us right side up again.

As we continue in this Advent season, let’s get ready to have our world placed right side up again.  Let’s stop suspending our disbelief and believing the story that the world wants to tell.   It’s fiction.  It is time to believe the truth.

God is love.

Real life is in Jesus.

We are to love one another.

Let’s get ready to celebrate the birth of our King into this world and ready to embrace his return and live in the truth in this time in between--a time when the world would have us believe everything but the truth.

All things are not equal.  Let's follow the One who is above all things.

Is the end coming quickly or a thousand years away?

Is the end coming quickly or a thousand years away?

The sky is dark

The sky is light

The Day of the Lord comes

Like a thief in the night.

So much to understand

So much to learn

Is prophecy fulfilled in our time

Can these events we discern?

For disturbances in the sky

And events upon the ground

Seem to say the end is near

Where is there refuge to be found?

Will you take me before the trial that is to come upon the earth

While we sing of a Savior and the humble estate of his birth

So we can eternally proclaim his glory

And sing to the Lamb of God of his immeasurable worth?

Or will we endure the days ahead as witnesses to the end

Surely that is not too much to ask from One who called us friend

To see with our own eyes and even suffer now and then

Until the day the world proclaims him Lord and every knee does bend?

But this day I am troubled

Wrapped in the things of worldly struggle

Praying, Lord reveal to me this day

My part in this cosmic puzzle.

And so my Bible reveals words that seem to stand alone

Yet my fingers scrolls without my guide to the same words on my phone

And then the wisdom of the ancients

Is now clearly seen and fully known.

That we are to trust him

Not just in our mind but with our hearts

Even when his direction

Conflicts with what our knowledge does impart.

And we show this trust in earnest

When all we do we do for him

And give him praise and thanksgiving, so that

He sets our sails and rudder on the wisest course time and time again.

For it matters not the hour

Or the weather, day, or time

Such transient things do pass away

But his words are forever mine.

No storm or human calamity

Can snatch away my life

For I have all my trust in him

I trust fully in God and in his Christ.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6