I heard about a lady who had just moved from
an apartment to a house in the same small town. One day at the grocery
store, she used the last of her personalized checks bearing her old
address. The cashier examined the check and asked if all the information
on it was correct. The shopper assured her that it was correct, and the
cashier started to put the check in the cash drawer. But then she
inquired again if everything was accurate.
"Why do you ask?" The
shopper responded.
"Because," she
replied, "my husband and I moved to this apartment yesterday, and I
don't remember seeing you at breakfast."
Busted! This woman
could have gone to any other store in the town and told them that was
still her address and no one would have suspected a thing. But there was
no way to fool this cashier because she lived there herself.
It's much the same way
with our spiritual lives. It's easy to fool a lot of folks. "How's your
prayer life?" Couldn't be better! "How's your walk in Christ?" It's
fine. No problems at all!
But I wonder if there
are times when we've moved away from God without telling anyone. They
don't know we've moved. For all they know, everything's fine. But we
can't fool God. "Things are great? That's funny, because I don't
remember seeing you at breakfast."
One of the most
well-known of all scriptures is
Psalm 23. You've heard it recited
hundreds of times, as have I. But I wonder if all these years I've
misunderstood the very last phrase. You see, I've always understood
David to take assurance in the knowledge that there is an eternal home
waiting for him. But could it be instead that David was making a promise
of his commitment to stay close to God?
"I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23:6b)
Others may think we
still dwell there. But has God seen us around lately? May God strengthen
us in our resolve to dwell with Him all the days of our lives, so that
we may dwell with Him for all eternity.
Alan Smith
Innisfil, ON, Canada
