Sometime in the 90's, '96 I think, I was at a music festival in Atlanta at the end of June. Needless to say, it was HOT; miserably so. But we were teenagers and didn't care. We were there on the first day of the four-day festival, excited to see our favorite bands play. It was Wednesday afternoon. We were in an amphitheater that was poured concrete with metal seats, kinda like bleachers, and it was uncovered. No shade. No trees. Blazing sun.

Of course the stage was covered, but if you play music, you know that playing outside is hot even if you're in the shade because you're basically doing an aerobic workout for at least a solid hour while you play your set.

So, Big Tent Revival was the first band to kick off the event. The crowd was sparse, because it always is at the beginning. The band was playing their hearts out though, because that's just what you do; you play every show like there are 20,000 people there.

The small crowd was less than responsive though, mostly due to the heat of the blazing sun, beating down on top of us, shining up into our eyes off the metal seats and the bright white concrete. But despite these rather unpleasant circumstances, Steve Wiggins, the lead singer/guitar player said something that I have never forgotten, and have lived my life by since. He said, "Hey guys, I know it's hot and you're all miserable, but we're hot too! We're giving everything we've got up here for you, and I just want you to know: It's only as fun as you make it."

It's so true; it's only as fun as you make it.

How fun are you making it?

Progressively Better

"And so I was provoked (displeased and sorely grieved) with that generation, and said, They always err and are led astray in their hearts, and they have not perceived or recognized My ways and become progressively better and more experimentally and intimately acquainted with them..." (Hebrews 3:10, AMP)

I don't think anyone likes to be wrong. And no one likes to be told they are in error either. This passage in Hebrews 3 reminds us to look at the Israelites as our example... of what not to do. Verse 10 particularly struck me, especially the last half of it:

        "...they have not perceived or recognized My ways and become progressively better and more experimentally and intimately acquainted with them..."

I do not want to walk through my life on this earth without truly perceiving and recognizing Yahweh's ways. I want to "become progressively better" and "more experimentally and intimately acquainted" with who He really is - not who "religion" says He is. There is a difference. In other words, I do not wish to know who man thinks God is; I want to truly know Him.

It seems to me that the way to keep ourselves from being in error and led astray in our hearts is to seek His ways, to know them, thereby knowing Him, and see Him for who He truly is.

How is this accomplished? What are you doing to "become progressively better" and become more "experimentally and intimately acquainted" with Yahweh and His ways?