Their 32 full length albums featured over 45 charting singles. 18 of which would be top 20 hits and 2 that would go all the way to #1 ("Reach Out (I'll Be There)" from 1966 and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" from 1965). Their tenure in popular music would come with accolades from Billboard magazine (#77 - top 100 artists of all time) and Rolling Stone (#79 - top 100 artists of all time) and induction into the Rock and Roll, Vocal Group, and Grammy Halls of Fame.
The
above passages can provide great comfort as we go about our lives, or
they can be a source of great confusion. How one views the world is
the determining factor between the two. You see, if the foundation of
your view of life is formulated in a context of what you have learned by
what you hear or experience in JUST your life, then these passages
could be a source of confusion. However, if the bedrock of your view of
life is founded in the ancient texts of the Bible, the inerrant word of
God, who is the creator of everything in our world, then they are a
source of great comfort.
From the time we are born, we begin to view the world from a perspective. That perspective typically is formed by stimuli that surround us and educate us as to how objects in our world interact. At some point in our lives, good and evil become ideas that are used to describe such stimuli. How we determine whether a stimulus is good or evil is based on what we use as a standard of comparison. The standard is either God's views or "the world's" view. As we read in the passages above, only 1 of those standards make the promise of being with us forever. That promise comes only from God.
If
you reflect or ponder on your life, you soon discover that there have
been many things/people that have made promises to you. How did that go
for you? Some promises were probably fulfilled to completion while
others may have left you with a sense of disappointment. Not to be
Debby downer, but people will always disappoint you, even
unintentionally sometimes. However, God assures us that His promise's
are true and will never disappoint.
Regardless of your world view, chances are you have heard the story of the prodigal son. (You can read the full story here: Luke 15:11-32 NIV/The Message parallel)
The way the story goes, is that the younger of two sons asked his
father for his inheritance early. The father obliged and the son went
on his merry way like there would be no end of his resources. He soon
found himself at the end of those resources as well as at the of a hog
trough just about the same time as a famine occurred in the land to
which he had traveled. Reality finally kicked in and he remembered
home. He remembered the fair way his father treated the servants and
thought maybe he could be a servant of his father, they certainly have
it better than he did. Note something here in the story, while the son
had left the family, the father was still at home waiting, in fact, the
way Jesus tells the story, the father was watching for him. He was
anticipating a return of his son and he was waiting for the son to reach
out.
Just
like when Jesus originally told this story, there are those who will
understand its precepts and others who don't. The symbolism is rich for
any who will take a moment and understand that the father represents a
Creator God who is waiting in the same place He has always been for
anyone whose reality kicks in. He is reassuring us in Isaiah that there
is no cause to fear him because of our our past. He is there waiting
for us to reach out to Him. His promise from Isaiah is true. His
promise from Matthew is true. He is reassuring us in Luke that He will
always be with us, waiting for us to reach out. His promise? A
resounding "I'll Be There"...
I became a follower of Jesus at the age of 10. In retrospect, I remember a difference occurring in my thought processes and how I viewed the world even at that age, my world view changed. That vantage point prepared me for those times in my life when I disappointed people and my Jesus/Randy relationship was fractured. I wasn't present in the relationship during that time, but Jesus was there...waiting for me to reach out and ask for restoration and renewal of our relationship.
What is your world view today? What standards do you use to determine what is good and what is evil in your sphere of life? Are
you ready to change that viewpoint? Are you ready to trust in One
whose promises will always be kept? Are you willing to reach out to One
who is waiting? His response will be something similar to this... "Now
if you feel that you can't go on because all your hope is gone and your
life is filled with much confusion and happiness is just an illusion
and your world around is tumblin' down, reach out reach out, for me. I'll be there to love and comfort you... I'll be there with the love I'll see you through"
"Oceans" - Hillsong United 2013 (Passion 2014)
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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