No Other Life

Hi everyone. Rob here.

I’ve been reading in Isaiah recently and I love these verses from chapter 55:

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
² Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.

This is the week when the pace of life starts to heat up. School starts back, churches get their programmes running, traffic increases and workplaces get real busy as they try and keep running in this cut-throat world. Advertisers will compete hard for our attention and our dollars. There will be an increasing number of decisions we have to make and we will feel an urgency about them. It will be easy to make an agreement that there’s no time – for quiet times, for prayer, for sitting and listening to someone, for appreciating a sunset, for good music or anything else that helps your heart connect with the God who is your life.

I use that last phrase deliberately because if we forget that God is our life then it becomes easy to try and live life without God. That would be a tragedy because our hearts aren’t made for any other kind of life. Nothing can substitute for knowing God as your life. Nothing else can be your life and nothing else can bring you life. God is the source of life, the river of life and the fullness of life. Through Jesus that life is available to us. We know this but in the busyness of life our choices don’t often reflect that knowledge.

Often we choose noise over silence, checking out over checking in, relief over restoration, movement over stillness, entertainment over joy and striving over surrender. We choose our way over God’s way. We are told that God will provide for our needs. This includes our need for fun, for laughter, for relationships, for food, for connection and for meaning. If we look to other sources to provide those needs we will find that our needs are never quite met. That’s because they are needs of the heart and it’s God who knows our hearts.

Of course this is a sermon to self, a message for me. Lat night I thought a cold beer would bring me peace and joy. Um no! But praying for and blessing my son who starts High School today did. I’ve been craving chocolate but a healthier diet is really helping me. Beer and chocolate can be good gifts for the heart but they are not the source of life for my heart. That is God – The Father who embraces; the Son who rescues and the Spirit who fills. God has my yes and my life. May he fill my life and yours with his.

Grace and peace everyone