God is Still a “Sure Bet”
Background first: Residents in my county overwhelmingly passed a proposal yesterday to build a $90 million casino and resort. The months leading up to the vote have created ugly division among friends, relatives and even churches. Many folks, me included, have been praying for unity following the Tuesday vote – no matter how it turned out.
So here’s the really cool God part: There’s a schedule of official Scripture readings, called a lectionary, that thousands of mainline denominations use for Sunday worship. This schedule of Scripture readings is drawn up years in advance. Pastors aren’t required to use the lectionary, but many often do – which is kind of cool, because when that happens, Christians hear the same message in churches around the globe on any given Sunday. That, in itself, is very unifying.
So, a good friend of mine pointed out that one of the readings for this coming Sunday is from Philippians 2. It starts like this:
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Philippians 2:1-2 (My emphasis added.)
Holy potatoes!
In the midst of our division, God will be speaking a message in our churches about unity among Christ followers. This passage in Philippians is about spiritual unity. In a democracy, we aren’t always going to agree on political issues. But God still asks us to be like-minded on the deeper things. Amen?
Because no matter which side of the issue we fell on, here’s the deal: God is deeper than the pockets of a gambler. He’s louder than the ding-ding-ding-ding of a slot machine. And He’s bigger than any casino – even the whole blinkin’, whirlin’, buzzin’, flashin’ Vegas strip.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
“God is deeper than the pockets of a gambler….”
I love it! It’s so true and I’m so very thankful for that! That in itself is such a unifying thing. We’re instantly brothers and sisters in Christ!
Thanks for sharing!