Pastor Bart in Sunday’s message said, “If our experiences are more important than our walk with Jesus, we are in big trouble” and a bit later “If we put our faith in our experiences we are in big trouble.” A bit later he said something like, spiritual experiences mean we have spiritual responsibilities. That sounds like big trouble too! Just look at Peter, James and John who experienced the transfiguration; Peter became the leader of the church only to be crucified upside down, James became the first martyr of the church, and John outlived them all but was exiled for being a Christian. Maybe I don’t want to have any “experiences”, sounds like “big trouble”.
Our experiences are given to us to prepare us for something God would have us do, to make us something we are not yet. They are given to us to help us in our walk with Christ. If we truly want to walk with Jesus, we will have to experience everything he will take us through. Sometimes they will be mountain top experiences like in Mark 9 but other times they may be darkest valley experiences. It will not matter. When we follow Jesus, our Good Shepherd, no matter what the experience, we will never be in big trouble.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Read Psalm 23.
