What God has done --1

God has done some amazing things in my life. Some big and huge, some small and intimate. All undeniably more than can be explained by coincidence.

I really started to see God work in my life when I began attending college. I know some people think God exists to serve them, but it's pretty clear to anyone who has studied the Bible for more than 5 minutes that we are actually here to serve Him. Your life is not about you. It is about Him. Nothing is about you, and you have no worth, apart from who you are in God and how you live for Him.

I knew that, and so the first thing I wanted to do when I realized that God undeniably existed was learn who He was and what He wanted from us. I mean REALLY learn who He was, and what He REALLY wanted from us.

So I attended a Bible Institute.

Now, I come from a poor family. What Oprah calls po'. Food stamps, food pantries, Medicaid, social security. You name it, we received it.

So at school, I was also poor. I had a roof over my head and food to eat, but I had no money. The school I attended did not provide much opportunity for employment, so I basically gave all my summer savings to the school and then scrounged for change to take care of everything else. Even getting laundry done was an adventure. I don't think you've really lived until you know the thrill of finding that last quarter on the sidewalk that finally allows you to wash your clothes!

In the midst of this time, God did some amazing things to grow my faith and teach me that He would always take care of me if I trusted Him.

I remember one time I was walking back from church services; my arms were loaded down with my huge Bible, a notebook, pens and those metallic gels that were so hot in the late 90's. Of course I kept dropping things. It got frustrating because every time I bent down to pick up one thing, another thing would fall. I told God that it would be really nice to have a Bible case to carry all this in.

But I had no money for even a small thing like a Bible case. So I put it out of my mind.

The next day (re-read that---THE NEXT DAY), I received a note in my mailbox saying I had a package.

       ***Side note: college students love packages. If you know one, send a package today***

I went to the window and got my package--a plain, unmarked, wrinkled up brown paper bag. No identification whatsoever. And what was inside?

A maroon Bible case. Not fancy, but just what I needed to keep all my things together. I was floored. I asked all my roommates and everyone I knew if they had sent it. They all denied it. To this day I don't know where it came from, but I do know who it was that prompted someone to send it.

God is real you guys. We have a serious problem. Let's go beyond your kindergarten Sunday School, shall we? Sin is NOT doing bad things. Sin is the nature inside of us that prompts us to act in our own self interest instead of pursuing God's interests. Sin is WHY we do bad things, not the actions themselves. Sin is the CAUSE of wrong action, not the wrong action itself.

And everyone is guided by sin unless we make a conscious and permanent decision to stop being guided by our selfish sin nature, and start doing things God's way. We can never do enough good actions to tip the balance against our sin nature. Ephesians 2:8-10 makes that clear. It is a core part of who we are, and we can never pay the debt it puts between us and God. But God made a way, for those who wanted one. It's your choice. No one can force you to convert, because no one can force belief. You either do believe or you don't.