Ditching the umbrella.

You want to read some of the scariest verses in the Bible?

"For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness." 

We can be "on fire" for God, but if we ignore what the Word says and use our own acts of obedience as a benchmark for God's righteousness, then we're creating our own kingdom, friends.

Another way to put it?

Good works ≠ God's favor.

God's favor is His peace. It's His presence. What our hearts should be yearning for is true communion with Him, not "blessings" to prove that we're "living rightly" and on the correct path.

Because what happens when your child dies? When you get sick? When you find yourself suddenly in financial ruin?

What do you think about God then?

Someone once likened it to an umbrella. If we stay obedient, then we stay under the umbrella of God's good graces.

But what happens during a torrential downpour of a fallen world?

To take a line from C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, when describing Aslan the lion (who signifies God in the book):

"Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

There are never A+B=C guarantees in this life, and God isn't in the business of negotiating a life of safety for us (just ask the early disciples).

He's in the business of inviting us to sit with Him and kneel at His feet, even when life crushes us from all sides.

He's in the business of mending our hearts.