21 Jul I’m going to repeat myself…
21 July 2026
Some of you will get to enjoy this thought twice today…but I’m reading through the Psalms as part of my daily Bible reading, & today one of them was Psalm 34. Verse 10 might sound familiar…I think it gets used in some of the liturgies of the church: “Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.” It struck me that I’d prefer to never meet a strong young hungry lion, but every day I meet people who enjoy abundant provision from God, some of them even acknowledge that fact & give appropriate thanks. However, others seem to have no understanding at all from where their bounty of blessings come. That lack of understanding doesn’t make them bad people, but over time they often begin to take those blessings as “entitlements,” or as if the blessings are “deserved,” maybe from hard work or significant skill or intelligence…or just because those blessings have always been there, they should always be there.
But I don’t read the Bible to say our blessings (even our ability to do hard work, develop various skills, or learn deeply & widely) are anything other than gifts from the Father for our wellbeing to be used to make our world flourish. Far from deserving or being entitled, every good gift is ours because our Heavenly Father seeks to bless his creation in myriad ways. Rather than wear myself out in furious perpetual hunting or ferocious claiming more & more as my entitlement, taking it all in as if I’m somehow “owed” these good things, I’d rather daily come before God in pursuit of his presence & what his grace determines is needed for today. True satisfaction, genuine joy, & a deeper connection to the people around me flow from that promise of God to generously provide leaving no real need unmet. That also opens me up to sharing generously in ways that lions don’t…and therefore becoming a blessing in imitation of the God who blesses me first.
How can we bless & be blessed this week?
- Wednesday July 22nd – 10:30 a.m. – Caloola Court Devotions. This has become a true joy & almost a small satellite church community. If you can come join us, we’d love it!
- Sunday July 26th – we kick-off a new worship & teaching series on Joshua – Learning to be Different. Under Joshua’s leadership, God’s people stand on the border of their Promised homeland. They’re no longer slaves; they’re a people becoming a nation. They’re no longer wanderers; they’re about to become warriors. Soon they’ll be home builders, landholders, shepherds, bankers, city dwellers…But they are still called to be faithful to Yahweh; devoted to the Covenant they received on their Exodus journey. Becoming the people God calls us to be is always a process of learning to be His in the varied & shifting circumstances of life. But God is always faithful to his promises even when we fail. God is always ready to reclaim & restore. God is always the architect of our days no matter the challenges & changes within them. Join us as we learn to be different under the joyous shaping of God’s hand on our lives.
- Sunday August 2nd – Giving Beyond Ourselves for The Lodge – Wagga’s very own faith-based transitional housing & support community. We’ll get to hear from Danny Russell about how God is working in people’s lives & how the difficult journey into flourishing in life always calls Christ’s church to serve harder & give more generously & pray more fervently.
- Saturday August 22nd – Albury Men’s Convention with Guest Speaker Malcolm Gill – We’ll have a car driving down…talk to Phil or me if you’re interested in going. It’s a great day of learning & fellowship with men from around the Riverina.
- And a few in the “Claim the Date” file:
- Tuesday 8th September – feeding the CSU UniChurch students! Details will come closer to the date.
- Sunday 27th September – Annual InterSport Lake-to-Lake Run-n-Ride – Worship begins at 12:00 noon with lunch in the Guide Hall
- Sunday 1st November – Living Water AGM immediately following worship.
Thank you again for being such a rich blessing to our community in so many ways!
See you in worship Sunday,
John
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