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On The Fringe
March 7, 2013

When butterflies hatch at Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan, they do so in an indoor tropical paradise perfectly suited to meet their every need. The temperature is perfect. The humidity is perfect. The food is a perfect balance of calories and nutrition to keep them healthy. No need to go elsewhere. Yet some butterflies see the bright blue sky outside the conservatory and spend their days fluttering near the glass ceiling far away from the plentiful food supply.

I want to say to those butterflies, “Don’t you know everything you need is inside? The outside is cold and harsh, and you will die within minutes if you get what you are longing to have.”

I wonder if that is the message God has for me. So I ask myself, Do I look longingly at things that would harm me? Do I use my energy to gain what I don’t need and shouldn’t have? Do I ignore God’s plentiful provision because I imagine that something just beyond my reach is better? Do I spend my time on the fringes of faith?

God supplies all our needs from His riches (Phil. 4:19). So instead of striving for what we don’t have, may we open our hearts to gratefully receive everything we’ve already been given by Him.

All that I want is in Jesus;
He satisfies, joy He supplies;
Life would be worthless without Him,
All things in Jesus I find. —Loes

Our needs will never exhaust God’s supply.

Read: Philippians 4:10-20

God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:19

Bible in a Year:
Deuteronomy 3-4; Mark 10:32-52

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Jesus’ Team
March 8, 2013

In 2002 the Oakland Athletics built a winning baseball team in an unorthodox way. They had lost three top players after 2001, and the team didn’t have money to sign any stars. So Oakland’s general manager, Billy Beane, used some often-neglected statistics to assemble a group of lesser-known players either “past their prime” or seen by other teams as not skilled enough. That ragtag team ran off a 20-game winning streak on the way to winning their division and 103 games.

This reminds me a little of the way Jesus put together His “team” of disciples. He included rough Galilean fishermen, a zealot, and even a despised tax collector named Levi (Matthew). This reminds me that “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:27). God used those dedicated men (minus Judas) to ignite a movement that affected the world so dramatically it has never been the same.

There’s a lesson here for us. Sometimes we seek out the familiar, the influential, and the rich. And we tend to ignore people with less status or those with physical limitations.

Jesus put some of society’s less desirable people on His team—treating everyone the same. With the Spirit’s power and guidance, we too can honor all people equally.

In Jesus Christ we all are equal,
For God’s Spirit makes us one;
As we give each other honor,
We give glory to His Son. —Fitzhugh

There are no unimportant people in the body of Christ.

Read: Luke 5:27-35

He . . . saw a tax collector named Levi . . . . And He said to him, “Follow Me.” —Luke 5:27

Bible in a Year:
Deuteronomy 5-7; Mark 11:1-18

There is a desire in people to be where they are not. Mostly we are looking to be somewhere else, doing something new and different. It is as if somewhere else is better, or fulfilling, or holding some wonderful secrets we want to chase.

God created the butterfly with instincts. Naturally they migrate to warmer climates in the fall. We may close them inside and interfere with their natural instincts to migrate.

We trust God and are to be content where ever we find our self. Change what in our circumstances will be good to change and tell our brethren about God. Be true to God.

There is a work or lesson in all things. Even suffering. Repent and turn to God and away from evil, in Jesus name. Amen.