Consider this

            Joseph’s father said, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me… [when his brothers] saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him” (Genesis 37:14 and 18).             That seems strange, doesn’t it?   They see their youngest brother coming and say, “Let’s kill him!”   This, however, was not a spur of the moment thing.   In fact, his brothers were mad at and jealous of Joseph for a long time, because he was their father’s favorite.   Genesis 37:4 states that, “They [his brothers] hated him and could not speak a kind word to him”.               On top of that, Joseph had some dreams that suggested that he was going to rule over his brothers one day.   As you can imagine, telling his brothers about those dreams did not help his popularity.   Joseph’s brothers thought about getting rid of him long before they took any action.             So why am I telling you this story?   Simply be

            When the apostle John was looking for a way to describe the relationship between Christ and his church, the comparison he most often used was that of a bride and a groom.   That makes sense to me, because it speaks of things like love, faithfulness and trust.   However, in Revelation 19, he points out a few other details which are worth noticing.             “For the wedding of the Lamb [Jesus] has come, and his bride has made herself ready.   Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)” (verses 7-8).             The line that caught my attention in that passage was the one that said, “His bride has made herself ready”.   That sounds a little odd, doesn’t it?   I mean, I am used to hearing that there is not much for me to do.   God has done the work of salvation through his son’s death on the cross and all I have to do is accept that gift.             Now, all of that is true, but so is

            “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’   Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’   As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:13-17).            When we make our plans and simply ask God to “rubber stamp” them, we are wrong!   When we say, “I am going to work two more years and then retire and then spend my winters in Mexico” and then pray to God and ask him to make that all work out for us, we are wrong!               We are not supposed to be here for what we want.   We are supposed to be here for what God wants.   We are supposed to be asking, “What does God