Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Seasons And Fixtures

There are seasonal things and then there are things that become lasting fixtures in our lives. I have been thinking about what is seasonal and what is not.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV

Love becomes a fixture. Lust is seasonal.

"By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." - Hebrews 11:24-26 ESV

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." - Proverbs 18:24 ESV

Siblings are a fixture. Some have close relationships and others don't but we are born in an order and that order affects us.

God is the one who sticks closest. He is the one who is closer than a brother. That relationship, once established, transcends death.

Seasons can be long can't they? Still they are just seasons. There is a time to have little or to be lonely or to seem limited. Then there is a time to have more and be surrounded by friends and have opportunities. These things as hard as they can be have seasons. We never want the wonderful things to end either but many times they do all to quickly.

But... There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

The decisions we make today may have seasonal impact or they may turn into fixtures that stay in our lives for the rest of our lives.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them." - Hebrews 13:8-9 ESV

I am speaking to myself here and I hope it never comes across in a chiding way. This is for me first. I want to decide things based on the One who stick close because He makes all things new. He Is the One who will be with me for the long haul. If I mess it all up He isn't leaving. If I get ahead in life I haven't gotten ahead of Him.

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ESV

I could have just quoted verse 17 here. It's a great verse but I think what comes before is vital to thrive in our seasons and live with our fixtures.

God must be the one to shift our thinking into newness. This newness has a funny way of moving whatever has been built on the sand and revealing the foundation that can never be moved.

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