The Celestial Bellhop Experience [2024 Repost]

[00:00:35] And welcome to MoMo634, Motivational Moments, just for today.

[00:00:42] Over the recent holidays, our family gathered together to watch a number of movies. One of

[00:00:48] them was one of my favorites, Miracle on 34th Street with a young Natalie Wood. Her character,

[00:00:56] Susie Walker, is a precocious little girl. She's raised by a very practical single mother whose

[00:01:02] neighbor is a lawyer representing a man claiming to be Kris Kringle. The plot of the movie, without any

[00:01:10] spoilers, is giving this little girl a sense of whimsy in her life as she's far too mature for her age.

[00:01:17] Kris tries to get her to believe, so he asks her to ask him to get something only he knows about,

[00:01:25] and she delivers a very tall order. She tells him either he gets it for her or else he's just a very

[00:01:34] nice man, like her mother says. Many today pull the Susie Walker card when it comes to faith in God.

[00:01:42] If you don't give me what I want, then you aren't really real. God is treated like a celestial bellhop,

[00:01:50] providing excellent customer service, ensuring the guest has a stellar experience. Or a vending

[00:01:57] machine, little g god. We pop in currency, in this case prayers, and out pops the answer we want,

[00:02:06] like goods dropped into the dispensing tray. Or some sort of genie granting wishes. God is the creator

[00:02:15] of the universe. Our preacher back in California used to say that the word worship comes from the word

[00:02:22] worth-ship. He is worthy of praise. We want services to entertain us, so we murmur about the music,

[00:02:33] or complain about the need for more families, more activities, and are completely oblivious to the fact

[00:02:40] that he is the audience, not us. We're like little Susie Walker, listlessly intoning,

[00:02:48] I believe, I believe, over and over, as if those are the coins that get us the goods in that celestial

[00:02:57] vending machine. It says in Isaiah 55, 8 through 11, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are

[00:03:05] your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways

[00:03:12] higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down

[00:03:19] from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed

[00:03:26] to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return

[00:03:34] to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which

[00:03:41] I sent it. You do not have the aerial view. Though Jeremiah 29 11 tells us that God has plans for us,

[00:03:51] not for harm, but for hope, he must be allowed to accomplish it his way. Sometimes our suffering and

[00:03:58] pain may be a consequence may be a consequence of someone else's careless choices and sin in their

[00:04:04] lives. We tend to blame God, never Satan, the father of lies and a murderer. Could God just zap it all away?

[00:04:14] But where would be the learning of the lesson so it's not repeated time and again? The true repentance,

[00:04:21] the knowledge of our condition, and the utter reliance upon God and no one else. Do we just want what we

[00:04:30] want? We win the battle, but lose the war, which is a victory over Satan and this world and gaining an

[00:04:39] eternal home with him. He tells us in Romans 8 28 that he will work out everything for our good,

[00:04:47] for those who truly love him and diligently seek him. Though I've never seen it, I'm familiar with the

[00:04:54] plot of the movie Misery, based on a Stephen King novel. A woman forces an author to finish writing a

[00:05:01] book, stripping him of his dignity, liberty, and free will. Is that what we want God to do to us?

[00:05:09] Not only is it cruel and certainly goes against those plans for hope and not harm, but does it mean

[00:05:17] anything if it was forced? Where do we get to show our devotion to God and let him know we choose him?

[00:05:28] Our meme for today says, trust and obey, even when it's hard, scary, and stormy.

[00:05:36] Our expert guide knows the way.

[00:06:06] Momo634 is also on major podcast platforms and on social media. See the tab at momo634.substack.com.

[00:06:17] Thank you for listening to Momo634. Motivational moments just for today.