I Know The Tentmaker

Please pray for our pulpit minister, Lloyd Mansfield, who is ill and in the hospital.

“This Old Tent” by Steve Coyle: “When I looked upon the days gone past, I’d thought this tent was built to last. For I’d stood it on some rocky ground, Where stormy winds couldn’t beat it down. And with my pride and my own hand, I put my tent on shifting sand; Where pegs pulled loose and my tent did shake, But I was young and I could take, The unstable world that I was in; I’d just  up and move again. So for many years I went this route, Shifting this old tent about.  Till one cold day when my mind grew clear, This tent had an end and it might draw near. So with much fear (such a heavy load) I looked for the One who had made this abode. Yes, the Tentmaker, He’d surely know, Where one such rotting tent should go; To have this canvas revitalized, To have these poles and pegs re-sized. I went to Him on bended knees, Begging Him, “Oh tentmaker please! Restore this tent I thought would last, This canvas house that went so fast.” He looked at me through loving eyes, And merely pointed to the skies.  “Please do not grieve over some old tent, Old canvas walls that have been spent.  For this mansion that’s been built by Me, Will last you for eternity.” Paul taught of our tent (2 Corinthians 5:1-4).

[Ephesians 3:20] It might come as a welcome shock to realize that what most people think of as Christianity is only religion. Christ didn’t die so we could be religious. He died so we could become Christians. We forget who Jesus is. He’s not just a nice guy who smiles and pats us on the back. He’s the one who pulled off the un-pull-off-able. He went up against the whole world and beat it. Jesus took on the whole realm and came out on top. “...I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus is the one and only true winner. “...all things were created by Him and for Him ...and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). He proved this by cheating death. Being a Christian is being part of the most powerful event of existence. It isn’t a movement among many; it is The Movement. It isn’t a way among many; it is The Way. So why do so many Christians shuffle through life like a kid who got a pair of socks for his birthday? Many of us are not making the most of our relationship with God. For a people who have direct connection with the Creator of the universe, we seem to be making very little use of the arrangement. We may have very well made the clear choice of following Jesus, but then we often settle down on the road and forget that there’s a journey to be made. We become either complacent or satisfied with what we’ve become in comparison with our life without God, but we stop growing. It is very easy to crawl over the brink of salvation and then simply lie there until Judgment Day. Our “Christianity” can become simply a source of frustration as we strive by our power rather than God’s. Starving from daily Bible reading and prayer, we arrive at the assembly spiritually gasping for breath. Having allowed God to rescue us from sin, we then attempt to survive from that point on without Him, only carrying the name of His Son, rather than the cross itself and all the power that it gives. There is life after death, but there is also life before death. Heaven is going to be much better than you hope. But life on earth can also be much better than you hope. Jesus died to make us more than just pleasant people. According to Scripture, “...we are more than conquers through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37). All of us need to remember that we know the Creator of heaven and earth (In part: Bulletin Digest, April 2006).