Dearly beloved of God:
It's been a while so I can't say anything about welcome to a weekly anything. However, I pray that the following will be of benefit to you as you walk in the midst of a world becoming ever dark. It's in the dark that our light is most visible, so....
1 John 1:7 (TEV)
7 But if we live in the light—just as he is in the light—then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.
This past Monday Barb and I were able to attend the opening rounds of the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven, CT. This is a full-fledged professional tournament, and many of the world's top players were there. The top four seeded players in both the men's and the women's draw received a first round bye. That means that they automatically go into the second round. James Blake, a likeable young man from Fairfield, CT actually won the tournament last year and has played well enough to reach the rank of #5 in the world. Seeded #1, he had a bye so he was not even on the schedule for Monday.
We bemoaned this fact for all of 8 seconds, and got right back to enjoying the beautiful day, the great surroundings, and the fact that we were still going to see some of the most skilled players in the world (tennis being our favorite sport) demonstrate their craft. Then came the big surprise. Rafael Nadal, a 20 year old Spaniard who won the French Open each of the last two years, and has played so well that he is now ranked #2 in the world was going to be there. The reason this was a surprise is the fact that he was not entered in the tournament. He was only there to practice for the upcoming US Open. And guess who his practice partner was going to be. Yep! James Blake. The tournament officials posted their practice schedule and location on the marquees, so at noon we headed for practice court C. If we wanted a good view, we should have gone at 11 AM. The place was crowded. The people were 5-6 deep all along the fence. Next door was the stadium court, and the entire top tier of seats was occuped with people, not watching the match on stadium court, but turned around watching this practice.
We stayed for about 10 minutes and did get a peak at each of these two gifted tennis stars. On our way to lunch it struck me. There are idols everywhere. And just a few weeks ago in our Small Groups we were all studying Exodus 20:3 (NIV) 3 "You shall have no other gods before me."
I'm not making a rash judgment, calling any of these people idol worshippers, but from some of the behaviors I saw exhibited, some seemed to be perilously close. I then thought about how easy it is to to place anything or anyone above God. He gives us the command, but He doesn't expend much effort enforcing it. He just allows us to be dissatisfied with all our idols waiting for us to seek Him. As Barb and I sat down to our modest lunch (with a very immodest price tag) we joined hearts and hands to give thanks to God for His provision. It's good to have developed disciplines over the years that remind us that God is God. But we still have to ask ourselves regularly, "Are their any idols in our life?"
Is there anything in your life that receives more devotion, more attention, more worship than God? It's a good question. It's certainly one worth asking as we gear up for our Fall Campaign, "40 Days of Community." We are asking everyone in our church family to commit to attending all 7 weekend services, to participate in the 6 weeks of small group, and to read the daily devotional by Rick Warren, Better Together. I know some won't be able to do everything for the entire 6 weeks, just make sure that no idol is getting the attention that God deserves.
Yours for His Purposes,
Pastor Les
