Dips and Valleys

My financial adviser tells me not to despair over the dips in the stock market . . . dip? Yeah, right . . . more like death valley. Anyway, he says we're in it for the long haul and things will get better. He tells me that if I look at the progress of my holdings on any given day I could be sadly disappointed, but if I take the long view I can see progress. Can't I?

Well, this made me think of the Christian journey. In our Christian walk we are supposed to be getting better, moving forward toward perfection in fact (see Matt. 5:48 or Romans 8:29) . . . No less is asked of us by Christ. We cannot be half-hearted in serving God. I like what John Calvin has written somewhere in Book three, "But we must all go as far as we possibly can and complete the journey we have begun. No one can travel so badly that he or she does not make some progress each day."

Paul writes in Philippians 1 . . . "that God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion when Christ finally comes."

We are growing. If we trust and follow Christ as best we can, we are like the seed in the good soil. We are growing. God promises it. Even on our worst days we are the children of God in whom the will of God is at work.

So while I do not pull out what little money I have invested in the market or the bank (cause somewhere down the road I look to make a big withdrawal), in the same way I do not quit this journey we call the Christian life. In fact, knowing what God is up to only makes me more determined to serve him.

This Sunday we are going to look at some of Philippians chapter three where Paul writes that he is focused on the goal where we receive all that God has for us.

Yours in Christ,
George