The good & the difficult
The good: Philippians study
This summer, Stonebrook Church has been teaching through one of my favorite books. In fact, my favorite chapter in the whole Bible is Philippians chapter 3... and I got to teach on part of it! I have gone deeper in my walk with Christ because of this study.
The biggest lesson I have learned is where to get my joy from. I have found that over the course of time my joy came from favorable circumstances. In Philippians, Paul makes an indelibly strong case that lasting joy comes from having Jesus Christ as your greatest and truest treasure!!
Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord... I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Phil. 3:1, 7, 8a
"Knowing" in verse 8 means an experiential knowledge of. It means to know Christ as a personal friend, a personal savior. Not just in an academic sense, but in a real life day to day sense. Having such a personal value in and experience of the God of the universe brings about a joy that overflows the highs and lows of life's circumstances.
The difficult: All Ames eats together
Well, Ames doesn't really eat together, as I found out. The purpose and plan for this event was to raise awareness and financial backing for Ames' Good Neighbor assistance program. The idea and purpose was rock solid. It's just that no one showed... other than myself and a few of my kids... at least at the park next to the Stonebrook Church location.
I was shocked that more people in Ames didn't take the need to help the hungry more seriously. After this event, my wife and I watched Beyond Borders dealing with aid relief to war torn nations. The first people they tried to help were the starving in Ethiopia. While the hunger situation in Ames is nowhere near this level, it heightened my concern for and responsibility to help the hurting. It's just too bad that the rest of Ames was too busy to care.
Now let me think... what was the good again. Oh yes. My value is in Christ and not in circumstances. So even though we may desire better things in our world than this, we can rejoice if Christ is our greatest treasure and no one can take that away from you.
Here's a great video that brings this truth home!