{"id":41,"date":"2008-07-01T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2008-07-01T21:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbcbeacon.wordpress.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2009-12-25T18:55:41","modified_gmt":"2009-12-26T02:55:41","slug":"what-to-do-when-things-are-going-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2008\/07\/01\/what-to-do-when-things-are-going-well\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Do When Things Are Going Well"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Pastor JR Cuervas<\/em><\/p>\n

On an ever-so-relaxing morning in last June, I found myself on the porch of my uncle\u2019s house in Kuna, Idaho\u2014a rural farm town about 30 miles from Boise that I chose to visit for the purpose of rest.\u00a0 Having asked my younger cousins (12 and 11 years old respectively) to join me for a time of devotions and games (20 minutes of Bible reading per game of othello), it occurred to me that contrary to the few months previous when I had to persevere through one of the most trying times of my life, I was now in a season when I felt like life could not be better\u2014a season of absolute abundance and blessing.\u00a0 Perhaps it was why, before the first game of Othello, the Holy Spirit brought me to a passage that I had previously read but had never spent a significant amount of time dwelling on\u2014Joshua 23.<\/p>\n

Joshua\u2014now advanced in years\u2014had gathered Israel together for a farewell address.\u00a0 Having just conquered the promise land and having witnessed God\u2019s incredible power in fighting for them through the defeat of enemy after enemy, Israel could not have been in a more blessed season of confidence and abundance.\u00a0 What words would Joshua leave with his people?\u00a0 Would he tell them to expand their territory?\u00a0 To enjoy the milk and honey?\u00a0 To relax and take it easy?\u00a0 What would Joshua tell them?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God.\u201d (Joshua 23:11).\u00a0 Of all the things he could have said to encourage them with, Joshua instead chose to give Israel a warning \u2013 a warning to carefully guard their hearts and an exhortation to continue loving God.\u00a0 In a time where things could not have been better for Israel, Joshua told them to be careful lest they fall into spiritual idolatry (read the rest of the chapter to get the context).<\/p>\n

In the Christian walk, times of abundant blessings can also be the most dangerous of times.\u00a0 Many have become experts concerning what to do in times of trials; passages like James 1:2-4 and Romans 8:28-29 are engraved into our spiritual cerebrum.\u00a0 During times of trials, our spiritual lives become vibrant.\u00a0 Our Bible reading becomes more frequent; our prayer lives become more fervent.\u00a0 Not to mention, our conversations with people become more biblically flavored.\u00a0 Yet, have you considered what happens to your life during seasons of abundant blessings?\u00a0 It\u2019s the time when our hearts are most prone to both spiritual complacency and spiritual idolatry – finding comfort, security, and enjoyment in those blessings apart from God.\u00a0 When school is going well, it is easy to place security in our grades.\u00a0 When work is going well, it is easy to find worth in our income and social status.\u00a0 When God provides us with solid relationships, it is easy to value our spiritual brothers and sisters more than Christ.\u00a0 When God provides blessings that are intended to be enjoyed in the context of our devotion to God, our sinful hearts tend to try to find enjoyment in them in place of God.<\/p>\n

Here in San Diego, we don\u2019t have to hold underground church services.\u00a0 We can read our Bibles and pray in public.\u00a0 We are allowed to pursue college and post-graduate degrees, pursue careers in whatever field we choose, and live in nice homes.\u00a0 While it is no sin to enjoy these blessings, be alert to the warning and exhortation in Scriptures to diligently guard our hearts to love God\u2014both in devotion and affection\u2014with all that we have.\u00a0 Loving God does not simply happen spontaneously; it is not merely an emotional whim.\u00a0 While it is a supernatural gift of the Spirit characteristic of the regenerate heart, it is still a character quality that we are commanded to cultivate with watchful diligence and discipline.\u00a0 During seasons of abundance, the more frequently we should take the initiative in challenging ourselves as to whether or not we would love God without the external blessings.\u00a0 Bible reading and meditation must be more frequent; prayer must be more fervent.\u00a0 Time spent cultivating our relationship with God alone must be a priority.\u00a0 Refreshing our minds with the purity of the gospel message is a necessity.\u00a0 If not, we will indeed fall to spiritual idolatry.<\/p>\n

Are keeping watch over the affections of your heart?\u00a0 Are you absolutely sure that, as of right now (as John Piper likes to emphasize) you treasure Christ infinitely more than His gifts? Unfortunately for Israel, history shows that they did not heed Joshua\u2019s warning.\u00a0 They allowed themselves to slip and fall into idolatry.\u00a0 During your time of abundance, will you do the same?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Pastor JR Cuervas On an ever-so-relaxing morning in last June, I found myself on the porch of my uncle\u2019s house in Kuna, Idaho\u2014a rural farm town about 30 miles from Boise that I chose to visit for the purpose of rest.\u00a0 Having asked my younger cousins (12 and 11 years old respectively) to join […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors-corner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1015,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/1015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}