What did the diamond say to the coal?
I’ve been under a bit of pressure lately.
To put it another way:
Two houses were talking to each other, and they each said to the each other: “I’ve been under a pressure lately ... Storms, wind, floods.
Work is just too much ... inflation is getting to me; my wages just don’t go as far as they used to and now there’s talk of an increase in interest rates ... I used to feel safe travelling on the tube and crossing London’s bridges ... my family life, my marriage ... I went to the doctor the other day, she had the results of my biopsy ... my grandchild was sitting on my lap the other day while I was watching the news and he asked: “Grampa, what’s a nuclear bomb?”
PRESSURE ... what’s yours at the moment?
Both those houses come under the same pressure ... the same rain, the same floods, the same wind ... but how they survive that pressure, how they come through it, depends on what their life is based on and what their life is full of.
Jesus recommends that we build our life on Him ... that He be the basis, the foundation ... the secure rock that we can cling to. And I would encourage each of us to do that ... but it’s not enough!
There’s more ... many Christians see Jesus as their foundation, their rock ... but then we fill our lives up with so many other things ... sometimes “good” things ... like work, sport, family, church, hobbies (and of course the many bad things that we like so much even though we know we shouldn’t and that we prefer not to talk about) ... and these things have a way of filling up our lives and taking over to an extent that there’s no longer room for the things that really count.
What fills your life ... what occupies your mind ... what consumes your time and energy?
Jesus says that if we seek first God and His Kingdom and His ways ... there’ll be room for everything else, in fact everything else will be added. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t always live as if I really believe that promise ... and then I worry and then I make plans and I worry more because the worrying doesn’t seem to help much, so what more can I do ... and I fill my life and crowd out the one thing that really does matter.
And I know that I’m not alone in this ... and if I am ... well, then today’s sermon was just for me.
God has laid it on my heart as I’ve planned for this service for a few months now ... He’s laid it on my heart to say to you: Seek Him first (He’s assured me that you’ll know just what that means in your life right now) ... Just tell them to seek me first and build their lives on my Son.
We close with a song that describes just what this means, Cornerstone by Hillsong Worship.
