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"SEIZE THE DAY: MUD PIES OR MIRACLES?"

By John Paul Jackson

Mud Pie Mediocrity

We live in an exciting and profound season, for God is calling us into our destiny. He is calling us to boldly bear His name by walking out His character in the daily routine and the often mundane reality of our lives.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”

In your life, are you settling for making mud pies instead of embracing the glorious adventures God has for you? In the face of such an invitation from God, many of us may still say things like: “But I’m so weak.” We may even whine a little, and devise any number of other excuses to avoid submitting to God, and thus, fully carry the blessing and authority of God’s names. Unfortunately, many of us settle for mediocrity.

A People Marked by His Name

God longs to place His names on us—every one of them, on every one of us! God delights in seeing us carry His name in a way that helps to make Him known for who He really is. How do we rightly carry His name? By holding it in the highest regard in our hearts, by hallowing it. We must esteem, admire, honor, respect, praise, and cherish the unspeakable treasure of His glory. This is how we are to carry God’s name; this is how we hallow it in our hearts.

God wants to reveal His greatness through us. Scripture says, “For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake: because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people” (1 Samuel 12:22). God does not want to withhold from us the privilege of serving Him. God is pleased to make us His people, and this means being a people that are marked by His name.

Despite our inferiorities, God says to all of us: “You are the perfect candidate, because in your weakness I will be shown strong.”

God is NOT Afraid of Our Weaknesses

Over the years, I have noticed something peculiar in Scripture; anytime God wants to do something truly remarkable, He looks for the weakest person He can find to do it. A perfect example of this principle is Gideon. When God called him to lead the Israelites to victory, Gideon received a powerful angelic visitation (Judges 6). Nevertheless, Gideon was unmoved by God’s faith in him, and he answered: “God, do you have any clue who I am? Don’t You know I’m from the tribe of Manasseh—the weakest tribe in all of Israel? And not only that, my family is the weakest clan in Manasseh. And, I’m the weakest in all my family! So You’ve got to be kidding!”

But God is not afraid of our weaknesses. He is eager for us to agree with Him and let go of our spiritual excuses. He is waiting for us to seize the day and boldly respond to His invitation by saying, “Here I am, Lord! Send me!”

Will you take that leap of faith?