Ancient Times

             Being rooted in Christ takes a lot of work. You always hear from either me or from those around you that in order to "be one with Christ" you have to know everything about him. Yes that is true to some extent. We don’t need to know what God ate when he lived on earth or what kind of sandals he wore but we do need to think back to those ancient times. As soon as you think back to biblical times you probably think Jonah and the Whale or David in the Lion's Den. Those are stories that stick out to you from childhood teachings. But we need to go deeper. Ask yourself, what did God do on earth? If you can't fully answer that question right away then flip through the Old Testament and you will find daily occurrences of God's did here on earth. You will encounter stories such as God feeding thousands by a couple loaves of bread and two fish. Or how he would heal the blind and cure the sick. There is no doubt about it that God perform some amazing miracles as one on earth. But my point of this week’s lesson is to go back in time. In order for us to understand God now and later we need to know who he was. Now you might be thinking, well I didn’t live back in Jerusalem with Jesus so how would I connect to that Jesus? God is always the same person and that never changes. And there is one fact about the ancient times that links us to him. Even though we weren’t alive back then, the things that God did and said made the reflection of who and what we are today. The truth is we were a part of God's life back then and the crucifixion on the cross itself stands as proof. I don’t have much to say this week because this is one thing that everyone discovers on their own and everyone comes out with their own view on what they find. We can all spend hours talking about the great stories there are about God working through glory but that doesn’t help us come deeper in our relationship with him ourselves. So I challenge you over the next couple of days or weeks to find old stories in the Old Testament about when God show any amount of his glory. Once you understand the story evaluate it and apply it to your life. Think about what God's motives were for taking such actions and ultimately how does it speak to you. Now I know not all of you are one for study history and going back in time. But I firmly believe that in order for us to go forward into the mystery of God we need to understand who we were before now. We need to dive right into the undiscovered territories of the prophets, the slaves, the prostitutes, the blind, the weak, the sinful...to see where God's glory shines no matter what. I think that it's amazing to look back into history to discover the story that went on in a time so familiar to ours. The people "back then" thought the same things that we struggle with daily. So going back in time to hear about God should be like fresh air to use because it is so unknown. Don’t be afraid to go back in time to discover not only what God did but also what his followers did and what those around him did. Look deeper into who he is because I can guarantee that he is no boring average Joe.


Words of wisdom: " For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
                                   ~Philippians 1:21