Wishful thinking
It seems these are the days of wishful thinking … maybe people are still living through the looking glass (see last week!). “The stock price will go up” they cry, “McCain/Obama will win”, “Lekota will make a new political party and split the ANC”, “Zimbabwe is coming right”, “It’s all going to be ok, just be patient.” I’ve heard this many times this week!
I’ve also heard “This is so terrible, I wish it would / I could …”; for every one of the overly optimistic wishes I’ve probably heard 10 of these hopeless sounding wishes from the depths of pessimism.
Sad, isn’t it! How many times do people (do you?) say “I wish …” and then carry on life just as before. Even in the church I hear “I wish people would be more committed / pray more / give more / worship more”.
Well, let me put it to you that the number of wish statements would tumble if instead people got on and did something about it.
It’s almost as if by expressing the sentiment in a woeful voice with a puppy dog soulful expression, we hope God might be passing and just catch our sighs and say “Oh, poor chap, let me grant his wish”
God is not the Genie in the lamp!!!
Really! I’m serious. He’s not. No matter how much you rub the lamp, do the Christian “thing” – He’s not going to pop up and grant you three wishes!
Who is He then: God of the universe, all powerful, glorious! He’s already out the proverbial lamp, He was never in the lamp, and in fact even if there was a lamp He would have made it!
So if in these troubled times we can’t rub a magic lamp, what do we do?
Well, it’s simple; love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself. And that’s “love” spelt with a capital “C” for “Choose”! It begins with a choice, not a mystical emotive experience of rubbing a dingy old lamp in a smoke filled church.