Can you believe it? The stores are advertising Back to School items already!
When I was a youngster, the seasons didn’t overlap as they do now. No, instead they flowed from one into the other like ice cream melting over warm pie. Mom would see the golden rod blooming in the fields and say, “See that? That means school will start soon,” and giggle while her four sons moaned. Soon we would climb into our bulbous Mercury and drive into Lancaster–specifically to J.C. Penney’s to be fitted for new blue-jeans. But we didn’t take them home with us…we would walk them to the rear of the store and placed them in Lay-A-Way. Lay-A-Way was the precursor to the credit card. All summer, Mom and Dad would scrimp out just enough each week to outfit their four boys with blue jeans and tennis shoes. Mom often said, “Thank the Lord for Lay-A-Way.”
As the days shortened and before the buses rumbled again, we’d make one more trip to town, this time for new tennis shoes! And not just any ole shoes…White high tops! Red Ball Jets or U.S. Keds—depending, of course, upon which were the lower priced. Back home, we’d tumble from the back seat, laced up and ready to fly. I recall rolling my pants cuffs up a few extra turns. It cut down on wind resistance but mostly it assured an unencumbered view of the dazzling white shoes as they churned up the dust! There was no question in this little boy’s mind that these shoes made me run faster and jump higher! I never doubted the advertisers’ promises. I believed! I even imagined they were watching me, nodding in approval as I shot like a missile past the chicken house and up the hill toward the barn. You’d have believed it too, if you could have been there. I was a blur: fists pumping, grinning like a goober, awkwardly trying to run while looking down at my amazing new shoes, white soles fighting for grip while the high tops strained to contain the torque produced by pre-pubescent calves. I believed I was faster than lightning…quick as a wink!
Because I believed what the manufacturer claimed, I became super-fast when I donned their product. When a youngster’s imagination collides with real life, the imagination and the youngster always wins. As adults we’ve all watched as a child played with invisible animals and invisible friends, talking aloud and gesturing freely, completely uninhibited. It soothes us to remember “a time” when our imaginations lifted us from the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Paul writes about the ordinary becoming extraordinary in Ephesians 3:16-21,
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
I believe what Paul is advertising… don’t you? I am “strengthened with power through his Spirit in my inner being.” I’m rooted and established in His love… the love of Christ! These extraordinary claims are available to everyone who believes “and right now, if you act quickly, you too can take advantage of this incredible offer!”
Read Ephesians 3:16-21 again please
- List the “features” available to the believer that Paul brags about.
- In these powerful verses, what most strikes you as extraordinary?
- List the benefits belief in Christ offers you.
- Find the three distinct persons of the Trinity in these verses.
Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
- Just as I had put on my new shoes to experience their benefits, what must we do to receive God’s benefits?
- According to verse 7, notice the proper motivation for giving.
- How does God feel about a “right-hearted” giver?
- In verse 8, what is the direct benefit promised to a cheerful giver?
Read 2 Corinthians 9:9-11
- Please consider (write down) what you might sow—other than money.
- If we sow for God what are His promises to us?
- In verse 11, God supplies us with extraordinary riches in order for us to do what?
- In verse 11, when God supplies as advertised, what should result?
Read Romans 11:33-36
- Consider the attributes of God based on these verses.
- According to verse 33, what limitations are there on God’s wisdom & knowledge?
- Verses 34 & 35 are rhetorical questions. What are the answers?
- Please stop and consider that there is nothing or anyone greater than God. Worship Him!
Wow! Lord, you not only deliver on your promises, your offer is greater than we could ever imagine. Thank you that you place within us the good that we do and nothing good happens aside from your gracious hand. I worship you for your grace and provision. I pray that you will equip me to be a greater instrument of good to others. Amen.