-
A Pill isn’t a Miracle it’s a Pill!
The Pill
Leola Lurned is comfortably lounging on her have-to-have-it sofa gazing out the window into nothing but feeling fully aware nothing is where she is right now and nobody is who she is. A squirrel catches her eye jumping from branch to branch with an agility and freedom one only can wish for. A perfectly timed commotion is exploding on Television beckoning her attention. Loud chaotic music with a flashy background announces a dangerously handsome man onto the screen. He is lovingly unfolding a miracle happening in the lives of millions of women, he summons Leola to want it. A ‘miracle’ contained in a little white pill, taken three times a day, will give her energy like never before. She will climb to the mountain top and back down again without even breaking a sweat. Momentarily encouraged by this she looks down at the well-rounded stomach she has been developing for months and says, “Now that WOULD really be a miracle from God!” She places her order without another thought. Leola needs that pill to change her life!
She waits weeks expectantly for the miracle pills to arrive. She dreams about the mountain she will climb and how wonderful it will be to have the freedom she so desires. Finally, the miracles arrives. She is giddy at the prospect of beginning so she downs the first one as soon as the foil’s off the bottle. Days go by, following every direction to the letter, without improvement. She quotes in her mind the words of all the pill popping guru’s “It takes 30 days for them to work!” Those days are followed by weeks and then months with simply no change. She becomes withdrawn and anxious. Her resentment of being deceived again is leading her into a deeper depression than ever before. Her darkened bedroom is her comfort right now.
Have we become so complacent about miracles we would honestly believe a life changing miracle from God would come in pill form? The ‘Miracle Pill’ is designed by the devil to make you think it has the power to heal but in fact it is a placebo! There is NO shortcut to a mind well healed only the painful, long narrow road. We want to believe the miracle pill can take us down this road in a chauffeur driven Cadillac but it is the miracle of Scripture taking us down this road in a rusty old Pinto, low in gas and leaking oil (2 Timothy 3:16).
The ‘miracle pill’ is a pseudonym for “the easy way out!” Our life skills are NEVER developed easily yet we keep expecting they will. Life itself is not easy, let alone the skills to live a righteous life. We will have weight problems, muscle problems, people problems, illness, anxiety and a multitude of other issues. Life causes mind altering catastrophes resulting in mind altering consequences resulting in a mind altering experience. Pills cannot take this fact away. Our life skills will not improve until we do the work to improve them. There is no miracle pill just the power of Scripture!
Wide is the road leading to destruction but narrow is the road leading to life! (Matthew 7:13-14) If you consider all the books in the world today how many of them will lead you to a miraculous healing like the Scriptures contained in the Holy Bible! We can read all the self-help books and listen to all the guru’s but we will still not find healing as thorough as the healing from God through His Words. We can talk all day about the benefits of reading Scripture, but until you take the time to read them, the benefits will escape you. Stop asking humans questions and start asking God the questions! Stop guessing what God wants from you and start desiring the truth from God. The narrow road is narrow because it takes guts to walk it, day in and day out, but the reward is freedom. Isn’t freedom what we are truly looking for? Freedom from food, freedom from drugs, freedom from pain, freedom from emotional pain, freedom from anxiety or depression. Are we not willing to work for freedom? If you were kidnapped and locked in a small room would you not do everything you can to get free? You would think about it constantly and act on those thoughts every chance you had. Well, my lovely, you have been kidnapped by the devil and locked in that room, but you have given up trying to get out! You shake the door knob once a week without escape. You return to your comfortable seat in the corner with your knees curled up to your chest for another week brooding about the darkness until you can shake the doorknob again next week!
The Escape
In Leola’s deepest depressed state she hears a voice as clear as day, “Put your trust in Me!” Her mind went straight to the Bible on the table in her living room. She slowly extracts herself from her comfortable bed with legs weak from inactivity to reach for Him! Sermons have taught her how important Scripture is to a Christian but she had no evidence of it working in her life. Her Bible has become a piece of furniture to dust. Her walk with God had been relegated to a weekly sermon having little effect on her. She sat on her have-to-have-it sofa and let gravity open the Bible. Gravity reading the Bible has been her typical ten minutes of Bible reading in the past, why change now. Psalm 119 opened and she began reading the power given to people by the Words of God. The miracle of Scripture appeared to her on that very page. More than murdering the man with the pills she wanted to be free from the devils oppressive words to her. She wanted out of the locked room and she knew it was going to take more than a pill. Her hard won realization ‘a pill is not a miracle it’s a pill’ began her journey toward freedom. Shaking the doorknob once a week was not going to be enough, she needs to shake it every day no matter how hard it gets because freedom is at the end of the long narrow road! Her vow to herself to shake the knob every day for the rest of her life ultimately led her to encounter the miracle of those Words every single one of those days!
The miracles from God, to assure our freedom, cannot be found in a pill. Man makes pills, God makes miracles using His Words!
-
The Rewards for Study
I don’t know about you, I am an instant gratification person! Well, that might be a little strong but I like to see the reward from my work. I am a hard worker and I can see the reward sometimes but there are times when I work hard and see nothing, if you know what I mean. I don’t see the reward right away and it bothers me! I see that sometimes when I study the Bible! We have been talking about studying the Bible but do we know what we get out of studying the Bible? What is the reward and exactly when will we see this reward? Does each person get the same reward? Let’s see what the Bible says about that….
2 Timothy 2:15 says rightly dividing the Word of Truth, which is studying the Word and knowing it, means we can present ourselves approved to God an unashamed worker. If we diligently study the Word, God will approve us along with the rest of those who study the Word. Each of us will receive the same reward. This is an amazing thing all by itself because everyone will stand before Jesus one day but we will already be approved before we even stand before Him. That is a great thing to know while I live here on this earth but I must continue to study the Word to continue in that approval.
Joshua 1:8 Meditating in the Word, day and night, will surely help us do all that is written in it therefore we will be rewarded with a prosperous way and good success in what we do. If we meditate in the Word and do the Word, God will make our way prosper and give us good success along with the rest of those who do that same. Each of us will receive the same reward. Another great thing to know while here but I need to continue to meditate on His Word and observing to do all that is written in it to continue going in a prosperous way and having good success in that way!
John 8:31-32 A Disciple of Jesus who abides in His Word shall know the truth and that truth shall set him free. The reward for abiding in His Word is freedom. Abiding is more than just doing it is living. If we spend our days abiding in the things of Jesus we shall know the truth, which in turn shall set us free. Each of us will receive the same reward. Oh, freedom is the greatest thing to know but we must abide and continue to abide to know this freedom in the truth.
Proverbs 25:2 God takes glory in concealing a matter so that His kings can search it out to our glory. The reward for searching out a matter is glory from God. We should never be satisfied with our current knowledge but always searching out the matters of God. If we spend our days searching out matters from the Word we will obtain glory from God just like the rest of us kings who do the same. Each of us will receive the same reward. How wonderful it is to know that Jesus will see me as a king and bestow glory on me as long as I continue to search out the matters of God.
We know that all of these rewards are contingent on us continuing in mining for the treasures of God. He wants us to study so that our soul will be overtaken with doing the right thing, the will of God. Our soul will always want to do the ME thing but God wants us to do His thing and that is why we study the Word; to know God and to love Him so much that we do His will out of love.
Please don’t study the Word for your head or for the world, study for your heart and God will reward you mightily with approval, freedom, glory, a prosperous way, good success and so many more. Study the Bible to find other rewards and be further rewarded.