Hello everyone!

We are in Colorado and in the midst of unpacking. God has certainly blessed us with lots of material possessions! We are also in the midst of getting plugged into our new church.

This has been a rough road. There is a huge amount of stress and plenty of things that have gone “wrong” in our minds. Thankfully, we are remembering why we are here, and we are looking to God who has consistently provided for us. Maybe you have been dealing with undue pain, problems, or suffering in your life. Check this out:

The book of Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. It is a little book that has big ideas. Maybe you are dealing with pain or problems. This pain is probably from some sin of yours. Or it could be from a sin of someone else. But Malachi promises healing from this sin. Malachi 4:2 says, “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” This “Sun of Righteousness” refers to Jesus and the healing comes from the suffering of Jesus. Look at what our reaction will be: “You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” When calves are kept in feeding stalls for long amounts of time and then released, they literally leap for joy. Picture a little calf jumping for joy in the warm sunlight, as it runs around the bright, green clover. That will be us when Jesus returns for judgment. That will be us as we prepare for eternity with Him. So, accept the pain, the problems, the suffering in your life right now. Look to the future with hope. How can you make the best of today (and tomorrow)?

In case images of happy, jumping baby cows is not enough motivation for you, go back and read verse 1 of Malachi 4: “For behold the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” This verse would apply to everyone you know that does NOT know Jesus. Picture this friend of yours that does not know Jesus. Picture them jumping like a baby cow. Now picture them being burnt to stubble. Even their roots are burnt. (In a normal fire, the roots are protected by the earth, but Malachi uses the imagery of such a hot blaze that they will be burnt in their totality.)

What are you going to do? Complain about today? Or focus on eternity? Here’s my suggestion: let’s start jumping like baby cows right now. Let’s take this image of joy and apply it now. Let’s live life with the carefree (not careless!) attitude of a happy baby cow. Let’s jump with vim, vigor and vitality (look those words up).

I appreciate your prayers for my family and know that I am praying for you.

I love you all.

-z

Tags: colorado, complaining, malachi

This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 11:19 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.