That's what I didn't see when I opened my email from Amazon today. As an indie book author, it can be disconcerting to receive mail from Amazon and Barnes & Noble telling you about their great book deals when it has nothing to do with you or your books.
It's so impersonal to get those emails too. It's as if this huge, mega company does not even acknowledge or recognize that I help to make money for them (very little, admittedly.) There's not one line in any of the emails they send me that says they appreciate my books or the fact that I am one of their authors.
If my name were J.K. Rowling, I would receive a little respect from my distributor but alas, I'm only one of thousands and thousands of indie authors out there. Ms. Rowling has earned her respect. I have not.
But I'm sure I'm not the only one who opens their email and sees they have something from Amazon and is disappointed to find out that it has nothing to do with the books they've published.
So, what does that mean for us? It means that God is not waiting for me or you to exceed some hourly quota of Bible reading or praying time before extending the hand of a loving Father towards us. It means that He recognizes us as His children no matter how intelligent we are, how rich we are, how successful we are or yes, my friends…He recognizes us as His children even if we're not the most hard working or worshipful people in the church.
That's something people who call Christians "hypocrites" don't understand. Christians don't have to live up to any idea of what someone else thinks is "good" to be accepted by God. There's no scale measuring out how "good" someone is. I believe that's one reason Jesus said not to call Him "good." That's just a measurement of man. But He did say, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." And He told us to call no one good but the Father.
God is the definition of good and if You have Him abiding in you, then you have what it takes, whether you've lived up to anyone else's definition of good or not.*
You see, all He requires of us to become one of His, is that we repent of our sin and believe that Jesus is His Son who died for our sins on the cross and rose from the grave.
The blood of Jesus takes care of everything for us; it's not by any works we have done. (Ephesians 2: 8-9.)
So, yes, it can be pretty sad that Amazon does not single me out and advertise my books in its promotional emails. It can be tough not to even be recognized by the company who takes a little cut for everything I put out there.
But if I could choose only one place in all of the places possible to have my name recognized, it is in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now, that's a promotion I don't want to miss out on. And God won't leave me out for not meeting any quotas. I don't have to sell a million of anything or live up to anyone else's expectations of what "good" is. I don't even have to be the wealthiest or best or most talented at anything to be His.
And that's a great thing to know.
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* For a great article that goes into a little more depth about what "good" is: http://www.precepts.com/StudyMaterials/Articles/BibleTopics/Good_Versus_Good.pdf
And that's the view from this catbird seat...