Sue Sweeney - January 21, 2018
What if the Grass is Greener Over There?
What would you do if you learned the world was ending next week? Our answers to that question reveal our ‘happiness gap’ – how far we are from the life we really want. The Corinthian Christians asked Paul whether they should marry given the trials of their culture and the immanent return (they think!) of Jesus. Paul’s advice to them is to be content where they are. Rather than focusing on the greener grass over there, we should focus on what God is calling us to right where we are.
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Talk to someone with big faith, hear their story, and before too long, you’ll hear about a big change…
They met someone who went to this church…
Or they went on a mission trip.
Or they had a kid and suddenly those big questions seemed a lot more important.
Sometimes, really good things happen, and they can melt our cynical little hearts.
But let’s be honest. When we’re talking about Pivotal Circumstances that grow our faith, they’re not usually good. They’re usually hard… really hard.
A move took you away from everything you called home.
You lose a job.
Or someone close to you dies.
Or a really important relationship comes to an end.
Or they betrayed you deeply.
And even as they’re telling the story, they say, “I wouldn’t choose to go through that. I wouldn’t want to go through it again. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. But it was right in the midst of that, I found God. God became real to me in a way I had never experienced before. And looking back, I realize God did something right there, in the middle of it, that I don’t think God could’ve done any other way – that I don’t know I would have seen any other way.
So now I look back at that and see that it was right then I realized God is real, and God is personal and God loves me.
And I couldn’t have learned that any other way.
As we explore these pivotal circumstances, we’ll ask how we can learn to see God at work. Because it doesn’t come naturally to us. But God is not only at work, God is with us in those painful places.
