Sinful indifference to, disregard for, and rebellion against God always disappoints and destroys when it has run its course. God never commands us to stop doing something that is good for us in the end, and He never commands us to start doing something that is bad for us in the end. Faith-birthed repentance and love-driven obedience are always an invitation into something that is better; not only because sin leads us to death, but because Jesus leads us to life. Sin separates us from God; Jesus unites us to Him. Sin condemns us to hell; Jesus brings us to heaven. Sin robs us of real happiness; Jesus gives us full and lasting joy.
We Will Make It
Our journey with Jesus will be full of mountains and valleys, victories and failures, eases and hardships. Yet through it all, we will be empowered by His presence and encouraged by His promises as we rely on Him in faith to keep moving on to our eternal home. He will not lose us on the way. He will not let us lose our way. Through every sinful setback, every stagnant season and every stormy squall, Jesus remains faithful to get to heaven all those who believe in Him. We will keep going. We will endure. We will make it. Not because of anything we can do apart from Jesus, but because Jesus is a part of us, enabling us by God’s grace to persevere to the end.
Because He Remains Faithful To Us
There are days when our faith falters, but Jesus does not abandon us. There are days when we feel like giving up, but Jesus does not let us. There are days when we are too overwhelmed to carry on, but Jesus does not move on without us. Jesus came from heaven to earth to make a way for sinners like you and me to go from earth to heaven. And every step we take together is assured because of His willingness and faithfulness to do the Father’s will: namely, to keep us until the end of this life and raise us up at the beginning of the next. We will remain faithful to Him because He remains faithful to us.
When God Reroutes Our Lives
God sees what we cannot. While delays, detours and dead-ends can bring about disappointment and frustration, they may be God’s way of blocking us from something He doesn’t mean for us to do or have because it is not good for us or others in the end. Let us rejoice when this happens, for when God says “No” to our plans, He is saying “Yes” to something He has planned that is far better. Costly mistakes are avoided, and wonderful blessings are gained when He steps in to order our steps. Remember: when God graciously reroutes the lives of those who are trusting in Jesus, it is always to put us on the right path.
There Is Never Panic In Heaven
God never freaks out. There is never panic in heaven. Things never start to unravel in such a way that even a single situation in all of the universe is beyond His sovereign rule. Even the evil things done by His enemies to His people will be turned around to serve His purposes. No matter what we face today, let us remember that what happens in our lives is not ultimately decided by chance or luck, humans or demons, Satan or self, but rather there is a good, wise, powerful, loving King who reigns over all for the good of all those who trust Him. Things are often out of our control, but they are never out of His.
What You Do With What You Have Been Given
You are not someone else; someone else is not you. God has ordained that each of His children be equipped with gifts, abilities, opportunities and resources to fulfil a specific purpose in a specific place to a specific people. Some are more visible and more vast than others, but all are important. To avoid falling into the trap of comparison as we seek to live out the plans Jesus has for us in His kingdom, it is important for us to remember that the measurement of godly stewardship is not fruitfulness, but faithfulness. It is not the size of your platform that is most important; it is what you do with what you have been given.
God Is Tirelessly At Work
What is going on? Why is this happening? When will it be over? Where is God in all of this? Life may not be working out the way we hoped it would or wanted it to, but God is doing a thousand things for us today even if we don’t have our spiritual eyes locked in on any of them. Our experience may seem pointless and be painful, but we can be confident that He is walking with us and working for us. We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through; but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows.
What You Do Matters
The enemy wants to convince you that God isn’t using your life to make much of a difference in this world, but nothing good you do for others in the name of Jesus is ever wasted. What you do matters! Even the small stuff counts, for a tiny spark can start a wildfire and a tiny seed can birth a mighty tree. In your home, at your workplace, throughout your neighborhood, across your community, around the world… Keep doing what you were made to do even when it is hard, unpopular, tiring, inconvenient, thankless, lonely or unnoticed, trusting that God will work through you to fulfill His purposes.
To Those Who Deserve It The Least
When others wrong us, repaying evil for evil is never the right answer, solution or response. We are commanded to release our instinct for revenge and let God judge, punish and make all things right in His timing and in His way. God will repay, either by accepting the payment made by Jesus on the cross should the evildoers repent and receive His grace, or by making them pay in hell if they do not. Therefore, let us overcome evil with good and leave it to God to do the work He means to do in their lives. We best model the grace of Jesus when we show it most to those who deserve it the least.
If He Is For You
Because of Jesus, we can have courage; the kind of courage that does not shrink back from saying and doing the right things no matter what people might think of us, what might happen to us, and what it might cost us if we remain faithful to Him. We press on, knowing that He will graciously keep us and empower us and provide for us and go with us and deliver us and save us because He has promised to do so. Therefore… Be bold to speak the truth in His love. Be brave to face enemies with His love. Be encouraged in opposition by His love. If He is for you, it really doesn’t matter who is against you.
He Didn’t Get You This Far…
In this world, we will have tribulation. It’s inevitable. It’s imminent. Trouble has either already made its way into your life, or it is on its way. But… Jesus has overcome the world. His power is greater than our enemies, His sovereignty rules over our battles, His promises reside in our hearts, His forgiveness ensures our futures, His presence empowers our lives, and His grace provides for our needs. That means, though He doesn’t always remove the threats from our lives, He does render them powerless to do anything that would prevent us from joyfully enduring and prevailing in the end. He didn’t get you this far just to get you this far.
Jesus Has Set Us Free
We have been set free! Yes, our past may include terrible things we have done. Yes, our present may be filled with setbacks. Yes, our future may find our lives not going the way we hope they will. But Jesus has made amends for our past, makes provision for our present and will make a way for our future until we have been fully delivered from every foe, fault and fear. We have been set free… from shame, regret, joylessness, emptiness, addictions, vanity, futility, fear, pride, lust, idols, sin, and death. We are freed by Jesus and in Jesus … free to say no to what sin offers and yes to something far better that He offers!
Jesus Doesn’t Make Us Pay
People. Will. Sin. Against. Us. It’s never a matter of will it happen, but when it will happen. It’s never a matter of will it hurt, but how much it will hurt. The question is: what will we do about it? The normal response is to burn with vengeance inside. The natural reaction is to bring on vengeance outside. We want to make people pay. But Jesus modeled a different way of handling the wrongs of others. The way of love. The way of forgiveness. The way of kindness. The way of good. The way of grace. Jesus doesn’t make us pay for our sins; He made the payment Himself. We who have received grace should be the quickest to extend it.
The Best Is Always Yet To Come
For all who trust in Jesus, there is a glorious eternity ahead in which bad things will be eliminated, good things will be perfected, and the best things will be unveiled. We have an eternity with Him that… Never gets stale. Never gets boring. Never gets routine. Never gets unappealing. Never gets finished. There will always be more to discover and enjoy from the immeasurable riches of God’s grace towards us in Christ Jesus. Don’t live for this day; live for that day. Don’t be discouraged by this day; be encouraged by that day. Take hope in this every day: for those who are trusting in Jesus, the best is always yet to come.
Today Will Be No Different
What Jesus has done, is doing and will do out of His love for us is what makes us safe and secure. He atones. He rules. He provides. He sustains. He delivers. There is nothing that can stop Him from loving us like that. And there is nothing that can separate us from a love like that. Because Jesus loves you… He gave His life for you in the past, He’s walking with you in the present, and He’s coming back for you in the future. Christian, take heart today, for though your life is not without threats and troubles, your life is safe and secure in the love of Jesus. He has loved you every day of your life. Today will not be any different.
Jesus Is Our Security
Jesus is our security… He laid down His life for us on the cross so we can be forgiven and freed from the only thing that can truly threaten us, our sin. He rose from the dead to defeat the final enemy that we could never safeguard against, our mortality. He sits in the position of power and authority to rule for good the one thing that we struggle to control, our lives. He prepares for us a place and an inheritance to be enjoyed forever by ensuring the one thing that we cannot, our eternity. He promises to provide all that we need until He brings us safely to the one good thing in our future that we long for most, our home with Him.
Real Security Is…
People go to great lengths to safeguard their money, health, jobs, computers, phones, homes, families, and minds against dangers that threaten their well-being. They look for security in a variety of places like their bank account balances, home alarm systems and workplace seniority. But all of the security measures people take have one thing in common: they can fail at any time, which means they don’t really offer security at all. Real security is having something which guarantees a good future for you that can never be lost by you or taken from you. That’s the kind of security that is only found in the love of Jesus.
Fully Known, Fully Loved Part 3
God loves us just as we are, but He loves us enough not to leave us as we are. Instead, He stays with us to transform us from the inside out into people who both hide less and less and have less and less to hide. The One who matters the most, knows us most, and loves us most. Secure in His love for us, we are moved to love Him back and extend His love to others, knowing that when the all-seeing God of the universe looks upon us in Christ, though He sees everything about us, what He sees most is a beloved son or daughter.
Fully Known, Fully Loved Part 2
It’s a good thing that Jesus knows every micro-detail about you because you don’t ever have to wonder if He loves the real you or just the sanitized-for-public version of you that others see. He doesn’t love you more on “good” days when you do all the things He wants you to do, and love you less on the “bad” days when you stray and disobey; He loves you all days and always because you are treasured by Him. To be sure, He doesn’t love our sins. In fact, He hates them. But that didn’t drive Jesus away from us; that drove Him to the cross for us, so we might be forgiven for, and freed from, our sins and welcomed into the family of God.
Fully Known, Fully Loved Part 1
There is not a human being on the face of the earth who fully discloses every thought, feeling, motive, desire, and attitude to others. We hide many of those things within ourselves, hoping that no one ever finds us out, because we fear that the ugliness we keep tucked away would drive others away. So, we put on a mask, and we put on a show, make-believing we are something that we are not. But there is Someone who knows the real you and loves you with a costly, undeserved, willing, lasting, transforming, blessing love. You are fully known by Jesus and fully loved by Jesus, even with all of your sins and shortcomings.
