“God’s word is alive and powerful! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts.” (Contemporary English Version)
Picture a basketball player who takes the last shot as time is expiring in a critical game. See this player being fouled hard as she/he takes the shot, fouled so hard that this player is knocked to the ground. You can imagine the pain. Stay with the picture. Looking up from the hardwood floor, the player sees the ball go through the basket before time expires and her/his team wins the game. You can feel the joy as you visualize the player smiling and lifting hands in the air with clinched fists.
Let’s back up our imagination highlight reel a little bit. Monday through Friday, this player’s coach did not let up on the team. They practiced hard, and practice sessions were hardly short. One’s stamina and strength were tested. At the end of each practice, in the case of most team members, there was noticeable pain. Players sat in the whirlpool, others grabbed ice packs for more than one part of the body, and some rubbed muscles relaxers on their legs and lower back. Practice was strenuous. Can you feel the pain?
There was indeed pain. But it was a different story at the end of the game mentioned in the first paragraph. The players were so conditioned by the last practice that they never showed signs of physical weakness or persistent fatigue. The players not only competed, but as I indicated above, the team won. Can you imagine the celebration! Now that’s how joy feels.
Here’s the Saturday wisdom that will prepare you for Sunday’s worship. During the teaching moments and the preaching from the word of God, you might hear some truth that, face the facts now, hurts. But if you respond to the teaching and preaching, you will experience joy. Yes, you will hear some challenges at time, challenger that will be painful for you, but when the Christ in you enables you to meet the challenge successfully, that initial pain will be followed by increased joy.
Like those large pills that are hard to swallow, pills that you call “horse pills,” cause pain in your throat their will be some truths brought to your attention; truths sent from God, and those truths will hit you hard and cause some type of pain may be experienced. But listen! Once you adapt your life, embracing the truths sent specifically to you by God, and you willing live out these truths, you will see the rewards of walking in the truth. The result? You will feel great joy knowing you pleased God.
This Saturday wisdom benefits every soul that will attend Sunday worship. That’s how it works! By God’s word, we are edified, educated, stimulated, and separated from our fleshly desires and the devil’s temptations, and the seducing invitations of the secular world. If you feel the pain momentarily, don’t worry! Joy is next on your agenda! You will have the same type of joy as the disciples when Jesus walked with them on the Emmaus Road. Check it out in the closing verse and see what happened after you are in the special presence of the Lord and hear His words. See the excitement! See the joy! Be blessed!
“Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?” They didn’t waste a minute. They were up and on their way back to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and their friends gathered together, talking away: “It’s really happened! The Master has been raised up—Simon saw him!” (Luke 24:32-34 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King