Not of the world

Not of the world
But of the Lord Jesus
Yet whose inner voice do we hear and follow
We live in the world
Jesus lived here too
It was no different
He faced the same struggles we too face
Yet He persevered,
looked to His Father in heaven
for all His answers

We are wayward
We may persevere
but we do not always look up or even in His general direction
We look to our neighbor, our friend, our spouse,
at what the world says or suggests or rules

The Lord says do not fear
Yet we do fear
Our fear escalates
anxiety builds ...
oh what will we do,
relationships estranged, jobs lost, hours shortened,
savings depleted, retirement accounts dwindled,
bills higher and higher, oh how to pay
The circle is endless
There is no end
Round and round she goes
and where she stops nobody knows
Where to get off
How to get off
The merry-go-round of life
The world
We live in the world
But ...
But what?!
We live here
We work here
We play here
We have babies here
We get married here
We take vacations here
We do everything here.

Yet,
didn't we give our hearts to Jesus?
didn't we say Yes, we will follow You?
didn't we say we will trust and obey?
didn't we?

We are not of the world
Not of this world
but we darn sure act like we are

The Lord promises us His kingdom
But do we strive to do, to be ALL He wills for us
Do we listen to Him at all
Are we mindful of His commands or disobedient

Have we forgotten?

We live in the world
We are not of the world

The Lord God created the heavens, the world, you and me

He
My God
My Shepherd
My Father
My King
and yours?

He is in control
He knows the beginning from the end and all that is in between
He is
The Alpha and The Omega

He.
Not the world.
has everything under control.

We must rely on Jesus
Not  anything anywhere else
Only Him.
He will take us places no one else can dare.

We must
Come to Him alone
Follow Him alone
Stay the course with Him alone
Be complete in Him
alone.

Cathy Orrick Luders

9.15.2011