Good Morning Friends,
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the
fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all
passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in
the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual
drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that
rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their
bodies were scattered over the desert. These things occurred as examples to
keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” (1 Corinthians
10:1-6)
Consider the blessings that the people of
Israel received from God. They witnessed amazing miracles: the plagues by which
they were released from slavery; the splitting of the Red Sea; the pillar of
cloud and the pillar of fire that guided them out of Egypt and toward the
Promised Land; the miraculous provision of water, manna, and quail. These are
just a few of the spectacular things God did for them to demonstrate His love
for them and His power in their lives.
Despite the miraculous provision of God, they
wandered away from Him, giving themselves to idolatry, immorality, and
unfaithfulness to the Lord. As marvelous as those miracles were, they did not
guarantee their spiritual growth and faithfulness.
God has also provided us with spectacular
miracles: the amazing love of the cross; the marvelous examples of grace in the
lives of people we know, including the grace to save a wretch like you; and the
personalized work in your life in miraculous ways. These are God’s blessings of
love for us. They demonstrate how much He cares for us and they are
illustrations of His power in our lives.
They are not guarantees of our spiritual growth
and faithfulness. The challenge to us is to look at the example of the Jews and
recognize the danger, even when God has blessed us so marvelously. Then, to
make a choice to keep setting our hearts on God and not on evil.
His, by Grace, Steve
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