“Our Promised Land isn’t a physical territory; it is a spiritual reality. It’s not real estate but a real state of the heart and mind.”- Max Lucado
Max Lucado continues Chapter 1 of Glory Days by asserting that Canaan is not a metaphor for heaven. Rather, Canaan represents the life we can have right now. Pastor Lucado describes the Promised Land life:
“Canaan is a life defined by grace, refined by challenge, aligned with a heavenly call. In God’s plan, in God’s land . . . we may stumble, but we do not collapse. We may struggle, but we defy despair. We boast only in Christ, trust only in God, lean wholly on his power. We enjoy abundant fruit and increasing faith.”
In contrast, Max understands the wilderness as representing the defeated Christian life. For the children of Israel, complaint was their default response. Max quips that the children of Israel “inhaled anxiety like oxygen.” So God gave them a forty-year time out to think about their attitude. While they were saved from Pharaoh, they were stuck in the desert.
Beginning in 2007, the REVEAL Research Project surveyed members of over one thousand churches to determine the percentage of church goers actually propelled by their faith to love God and others with their whole hearts. Only eleven percent of Christians described their days as Glory Days.
Pastor Lucado asks if there’s a sense of disconnect between the Bible’s promises and the reality of your life. With God’s help, you can close that gap. Yes, Max states, there will be challenges, but you can expect great progress, and “breakthroughs will outnumber breakdowns.”
Today’s question (from the study guide): On a “grumbling to grateful” scale of one (grumbling) to ten (grateful), where do you fall right now? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: A raging pestilence- “I can’t”