You have magically made it through a magical weekend of Halloween. Ghosts and goblins magically appeared at your door demanding treats or you would be tricked. And maybe your life right now is magical in various ways and you feel you are on a magic carpet ride. From Disney’s Aladdin to Steppenwolf in 1968, people have fantasized about a magical life.
Remember when something ‘disappeared’ and your parents demanded that you find it, and right now? All of a sudden you magically found it.
Magically Appearing Alligators
I remember when Carmen and I were coming back to Tampa/Safety Harbor from Miami via Alligator Alley (Everglades Parkway). I was upfront with Todd who was driving, and we were both pointing out the alligators, one after another. Carmen hadn’t seen one in the wild before and as hard as she looked, she could not see them. Finally, she spotted one. She expected them to be a basic green color and that’s what her eyes were focused on. When she realized that they were more of a deep brown color and that they blended with the dirt on the side of the waterway where they were sunning themselves, she began to see one after another.
Big Foot Family Magically Appears
Things seem to magically appear once we know what we are looking for. Remember Harry and the Henderson’s – Harry in the forest next to the trees? At the end of the movie, Harry and his family seemed to come out of nowhere among the trees. And there are some things that actually do just appear – seemingly out of nowhere. In my case, Carmen is the magician – things she makes appear:
- Clean dishes and folded laundry
- Clean/fresh bed sheets
- A clean and fresh house
- Toilet paper – haha
- The plants in our house magically grow.
- And her never ending love no matter what. 😊
Jesus Magically Appearing?
Let me ask some related questions. Do you expect Jesus to make things magically appear? Is Jesus someone who you expect to magically appear when needed? Do you feel like you are playing pretend and are hoping that somehow He will magically appear at the right time? Are you playing “good Christian” for appearance’s sake? And are hoping beyond hope that heaven is really real and not just some made-up magical place?
Guess what? Today playtime is over! There is no ‘magic’ show. It’s time to stop playing make-believe. I believe we are in a time where the rubber has to hit the road. Just think, what if Jesus was real and:
- not just some magical person.
- the same yesterday, today, and forever.
- that the fullness of God is manifest in you through Holy Spirit.
- you had the power of life and death in the words that you speak.
- did walk on this earth and then die for your sins.
- could give you eternal life.
- He was with you right now and throughout your every-day-walking-around-kind-of-life through the fullness of Holy Spirit in you.
Matthew 15:8 ESV
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
DO NOT let this verse be you. Yikes! If this whole thing was just make-believe, would your life be different right now? If not, it’s time for a life-check.
Begin to see Jesus as He really is, for who He really is. Then like Carmen and the Alligators, you will begin to see Him in all aspects of your life. You’ll be able to spot Him, to see Him operating on your behalf, through you in everything you do, everything you experience, everywhere you walk, even the valley of the shadow of death, as well as on the mountain tops.
Mark 9:23 AMP
Jesus said to him, “[You say to Me,] ‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes and trusts [in Me]!”
Challenge of the Week:
Get to know Jesus better than you ever have before. Time to take that relationship to a deeper level. Take it beyond just a magical dream of wishful thinking into reality. Time to trust Him to move in your life more than ever. There is no magic, but Jesus is pretty miraculous, all you have to do is believe! So be it.
