August 1, 2022
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If you're not a "Trekkie" you might know someone who is. A Trekkie, of course, is a rabid fan of Star Trek. I guess there's seldom been a TV series in American television history that so captured people's imaginations like Star Trek did and has, and in new form still is. Then there were the movies: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, the Starship Enterprise. Really part of America's sort of fantasy memory bank.
There's one part of Star Trek I wish wasn't fantasy. Scotty, who's the Enterprise's chief engineer, mans a device called The Transporter. And if you ever saw Star Trek, you know that The Transporter does this molecular magic that allows the transportee to stand under this beam and to be beamed down to a planet, or beamed up to the ship in just a matter of seconds. Now, that maneuver has given birth to a very familiar refrain, "Scotty, beam me up." Don't you wish you could be immediately transported to your destination sometimes? (Are we there, yet?) Well, Scotty can't do it because he's not real, and the only One who could do it, well...
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Step-By-Step - The Road to God's Will."
Our word for today from the Word of God - Psalm 84. It's a blueprint for how God gets us to our destination. Listen to what He says, "Blessed are those whose strength is in You (referring to the Lord) who have set their hearts on pilgrimage." Verse 7 says, "They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion."
I was caught by these words, "Blessed are those who have set their hearts on pilgrimage, who go from strength to strength." These are people who realize that there's a regular, day-by-day, strength-to-strength journey involved in getting us to our destination in God's will. It's referring to people who realize that following the Lord is a step at a time process, not some spiritual transporter that takes you instantly to spiritual maturity. It's more like, "Take a step, see a step. Take a step, see another step." It's not, "Lord, beam me up to spiritual maturity."
He says, "No, I bless those who are committed to that step-by-step process." You say, "Well, I know that! I know it's a process; it's not just a zap you get." But the problem is we don't live like we really believe it's a day-by-day process. We tend to live from spiritual high to spiritual high, "Lord, I'm going to make this great spiritual commitment. Now, beam me up to where I ought to be." So we make our annual, or semi-annual, or whatever decision it is to dedicate our life or re-dedicate or re-re-dedicate our life.
We want some experience to be a spiritual transporter; to give us instant arrival in Christ. But God says, "I bless pilgrimage." He talks about our walk. It's a daily choice to let Christ be the Lord of your life that day. You wake up in the morning to discover "today's journey," "today's turnover to Him." What am I going to turn over to the Lord today? What am I going to give Him today to consciously let Him be Lord of that part of me today? You make Christ the Lord of this 24-hour chunk of time, 24-hour strength for a 24-hour commitment. "Your strength will equal your days," the Bible says. "Take up your cross daily" Jesus said. That's pilgrimage.
It's pretty liberating to know that we're not failing if we haven't suddenly been transported to spiritual perfection. The question is, are you committed to the journey? Are you crowning Christ Lord each 24 hours?
Really knowing Christ is a million little victories. Then you're exactly where you should be if that's where your mindset is. No, God won't beam you up, but He will walk with you every day until you see Him.