God's purpose

God didn't create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close. Oh, and that obnoxious kid from high school.

I believe that God has a purpose for all of us. Some of us choose to ignore Him. It's sort of like the story the guy who falls into the river and asks God to save him. Suddenly, a log comes by to which he could hold on to, but he lets it pass because God was going to save him.

Suddenly, an inflatable raft appears, but he ignores that, too because God will save him. Then he hears the roar of a helicopter overhead and a rope ladder falls right in front of him. He ignores the ladder because, after all, God was going to save him.

The guy drowns. When he gets to heaven, he asks God, why didn't you save me like you said you would? God said, I sent you a log, a raft and even a helicopter, but you chose to ignore them because you were looking for something more majestic.

Don't we do the same thing? We ask God for something we need, but sometimes ignore the way He chooses to honor our request. We're looking for something supernatural to happen. Too many people ignore doctors and die because they think God doesn't work through doctors.

Too many people who are extremely confused about their life, purpose and existence, ignore counselors that God has placed in churches, clinics, etc. No, no, God said he will heal me so I'm going to wait for Him to perform a miracle.

Once, as a young associate pastor, I was asked by the senior pastor to get a group of guys together to help a woman in our congregation move. We got there at nine, as promised, only to find that not one item had been packed. The woman was sitting in a chair, praying with another woman. I asked them what they were doing, and the woman said, "We're praying for boxes". I know!

Praying about where you can get the boxes is great, but praying for them to magically appear is naive and ridiculous. But we've all prayed for our "boxes", haven't we? Waiting for God to drop something on our laps when we should be doing the work it takes to get what we're asking for.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm kind of hungry, and I'm going to pray for pancakes.

See you tomorrow.