"But God......"

Luke 1:5-7 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. BUT they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

I put the word "but" in all caps for a reason, it isn't written that way in my Bible.  I had a good friend tell me once that whenever you add the word but to a sentence it is as if everything said before the "but" is gone or has no value.  I think about that often when I use that word. Look at those few verses again, if the word but was not there it would just be a continuance of facts. What we focus on is not what fine upstanding people Z & E were, the important thing in the eyes of the world was the fact that she had no children.

Look at these sentences:  Tamar is mentioned in the line of Jesus BUT she pretended to be a prostitute in order to get what she wanted.   Rahab was a woman of great courage, vision and hope and did what was necessary to improve her future BUT she was a prostitute. Naomi and Ruth were in a hard situation and traveling as refugees BUT because of the provision of Boaz they secured a future. I have repeatedly made mistakes and chosen paths that probably didn't please God BUT because Jesus is who he is I keep going another day. The "but" can cancel out the bad stuff too!

One little word that can make a world of difference. The beauty of God is He can see beyond that but.  It is not so easy for us.  One thing I work on avoiding, and still fail miserably at, is letting that word creep negatively into my vocabulary.  I try really hard to compliment others then this happens "you did so well, I'm proud of you but........ "I really like how that turned out but......."      "Thank you for the compliment but I still.................".  The last example is one I used to tell people often when leading Weight Watchers meetings for over 5 years.  When members would start to lose weight and they would receive a compliment , the response was usually "thank you, but I have so far to go".  That but just lessens the value of all that had been accomplished.     Why do we respond to a compliment with a BUT!?  

I often live in the "but".  I dwell in not what is, or what blessings I have -but  dwell in all that is wrong.  I challenge you today to watch for the but when speaking with others and in how you respond to things.  I have kind of pushed this down the last few years, I used to think of it often after my friend made that statement to me.  Try it today!  Every time you are about to say BUT, just leave it out or think of another word to put in its place, then see how the feel changes.  Then go a step further, when you are talking to others listen for the 'but' and consciously listen for what was said before the but.  

The world was a in a bad way (sound familiar?) BUT God sent Jesus.  Are you getting closer to your answer for "why Jesus?"

For an added encouragement spend some time today in this passage: Ephesians 2:1-9