so this post comes late, which means i’m filling in…thing is, i only made it through the first 30 minutes of sabbath school this past sabbath so that’s going to be the focus of this very short delayed lesson review.

We’ll pick things up again with the memory text, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). I was at the Austin First Church this past weekend, and we kinda veered off and got stuck on the first part of the verse to get a better understanding of what it means to “overcome the world.” We eventually ended up talking about being “in and not of” and how anything we put before God is basically our “world.” It made for very interesting discussion, but now I’m here sitting at home and trying to put that simple notion to the test. The text makes a very direct link between who Jesus is and whether we overcome the world. There’s a Sabbath School Lesson Forum on Facebook and I like what they posted:

We may be tempted to consider these topics as mere academic and philosophical exercises. But who Jesus was and what He claimed about Himself impacts every human being. The way we think about Jesus influences dramatically how we relate to God, how we understand the plan of salvation, and how we can have assurance of salvation.

One more thing, I noted a box in the CQ lesson that says, “Even comfortable living has a way of eroding our dependence on God.”  I had to read it over a couple times.  After Kijana and I spent a week in the jungle,  we had no doubt about the presence of God.  All the clutter clouding our vision of His power was stripped away, and there was beauty even in the uncomfortable living conditions.  There’s much more time for Him when you only have to worry about washing one bowl and one spoon.  Lately, I’ve been wondering how uncomfortable life has to get before I notice God’s role and get out of His way.  It’s believing when it doesn’t seem like I have to that ought to keep me close to Him.

So if you are having a hard time putting God before your worries, maybe you just don’t know Him like you used to.  Consider believing in the Son of God, what He came to do, and why He did it – and then, you’ll see that it’s really He that is within you overcoming the challenges of life.