Is God a Thermostat, or a Thermometer in Your Life??

Dear Fellow Children of God,

 

What do you think, “Is God a thermostat or a thermometer in your life?”  Does God set the temperature for you?  Does He move you to faith and love and obedience?  Is He a thermostat for you?  Or is God a thermometer in your life?  Does God change depending on your temperature?  Does God’s direction for your life change depending on what you think and feel at the moment?

 

Recently I have talked to a number of people about God, people who often aren’t members of St. John, who have responded to God’s Word and God’s direction with the phrase, “Well I think. . .”   People have thoughts on creation and our beginnings, and they have thoughts on Jesus’ second coming and the end of the world.  People have shared their thoughts with me on government and their thoughts on the Sabbath.  They have expressed their thoughts to me about sexual ethics and parenting.  They have shared their thoughts about who goes to heaven and their thoughts about the church.

 

In one way it is good to “have thoughts.”  God created us with brains and expects us to use our mind and our reason.  But, shouldn’t God’s people first ask, “What does God say?” before we say “I think.”?  Do we follow God’s direction in our lives and our beliefs?  Or do we simply do what we think apart from God’s Word and His direction?   “Is God a thermostat or a thermometer in our lives?” 

 

At the end of the book of Judges the writer says, “ 25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” (Judges 21:24).  People in those days were not asking, “What does God say, and where do His words direct our lives.?”  They knew what they thought and felt, and they “did as they saw fit.”  Does that sound familiar?

 

Yet, even more important than what God tells us to do is who God says Jesus is.  Near the end of the book of John we are told,  “But these are written that you may  believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  (John 20:31)  All of God’s word points us to Jesus as the Lord’s promised Messiah.  God’s Word points us to believing in Jesus as God’s plan for giving eternal life.  In other words, our opinions on Jesus should not just be what “I think,” but what “God says.” 

 

So, do you look to God to direct your faith, your life?  Does He point the direction?  Or, do you have your thoughts that are different from God’s direction?  “Is God a thermostat or a thermometer in your life?” 

 

A Child of God, Trusting God’s Wisdom More than My Own,

Pastor Jonathan

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.) 000 However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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