Today's Devotional

May 12, 2005

Subject:  The Last Good Thing

Matthew 10:37 - "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

It's really interesting to see how God begins to work on a person.  To me it's kind of like watching a laboratory experiment.  You begin to see the changes and "chemical" reactions that He causes as you observe ever so closely.  That's what I've been doing with my roommate.  A couple of days ago, as he mulled my upcoming and permanent departure to Texas, he exclaimed in a half-jokingly fashion, "you're the last good thing in my life."

My roommate is going through what many of us and many others face in life as God tries to reach them.  It seems to be a part of the growth process where people first understand that they need help.  Then they see someone who they think can help them and so they cling to that person.  There is an initial infatuation and enthusiasm for what that person can do for them, but eventually it fades and then depending on where they are in that growth process, they either simply replace that person with another person or they finally realize that people aren't the answer.  God is.  People go through this in dating, where they meet someone and fall madly in love only to have a "change of heart" a few days or weeks later.  People do this in church-hopping where they join a church and rave about the pastor and other aspects for a couple of months and then suddenly they begin to talk about how the church has changed.  People even do this in jobs.  They get a new job and are excited about it and everything is simply great until a little time passes by and suddenly the boss is no longer any good and neither are the coworkers.  

In all of these cases the problem is that we often place people as the center and the focus.  Sometimes that is a part of the growth process but understand that we must grow out of it, because if you're still looking at someone or some church or some job as "the last good thing," you really haven't recognized that the first good thing is also your last good thing and He's everlasting.  

Carlen