Monday, March 12, 2007
Seattle - Earthquake! As I watched those words appearing on CNN's Breaking News, it really caught my attention in that airport. I expected to see the word "earthquake" associated with a place like California or other parts of the world, but that day it was Seattle - 6.8 on the Richter scale. Now, thankfully, the damage was not nearly as great as it could have been, but the experience was a sobering reminder of how unstable the ground beneath them really is. During the quake, a camera was rolling during a meeting in a conference room, and the video showed the reactions as the realization dawned on each person that his world was suddenly shaking. One moment, it was business as usual. The next moment, everything was moving.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Everything Is Shaking."
That's the unsettling thing about living in a quake-prone area; suddenly you're reminded that your world can start shaking around you at anytime, sometimes it makes dramatic changes - sometimes it leaves major damage. Actually, no matter where you live, there's a sense in which you and I live in a "quake zone."
Look, all of us know the feeling. Your life is cruising along and it's "business as usual," then one of life's emotional "quakes" hits: an injury, an unsettling report from the doctor, the loss of someone you love, a breakup, sudden changes at work, or sudden changes at home. Quakes like these are part of life, and it's very hard to prepare for them. Maybe you've recently felt the ground around you shaking violently, and things around you seem to be collapsing. It's an unmistakable reminder of something we usually tend to forget until there's a "quake." The most important things, the most important people in our lives are, at best uncertain, and that you need some life-anchor that is unmovable and unshakable.
It's in moments like these that the promise of our word for today from the Word of God becomes very personal and very powerful. In Hebrews 13:8, the Bible says, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever." There is simply nothing earth can offer that is "the same yesterday, today, and forever."" No relationship, no position, no financial security, not even your own physical or mental health, but Jesus is the same "yesterday, today, and forever."
This promise of Jesus to be your life "unshakable" is no idle promise. It's backed up with the death that He died on a cross for you. And with His resurrection from the dead that proved beyond all doubt, that He can conquer death; that He can conquer anything. Your "quakes" may be a message from God, reminding you that you were never meant to go it alone.
"You are created by Him and for Him," according to the Bible ( Colossians 1:16). But the Bible tells us we've all lived for ourselves instead, which puts you in that orbit called "sin" where you're away from the One you were created for. The loneliness, the pointlessness, the insecurity have basically been because the One who gave you your life is on the other side of a wall.
But that all can change this very day, because of what Jesus did when He died to pay for the sins that are keeping you from God's love. Today, in the middle of so much that's shaking and collapsing, Jesus is offering you an anchor relationship with Him. If you'd like to begin that relationship with Him, would you tell Him that right now? He will enter your life when you open the door and put your total trust in Him to be your rescuer from your sin. A lot of people at the point of wanting to begin this relationship with Christ have found some help and encouragement at our website, and I want to invite you to go there yourself today. It's yoursforlife.net. Or I'd be happy to send you my little booklet about all this called Yours For Life if you'll just call and ask for it at 877-741-1200.
With so much shaking, you desperately need the only One who is "the same yesterday, today, and forever." Once you are in the arms of Jesus, you are, for the first time in your life, finally safe. And His arms are open, and they're waiting for you.