God has committed Himself to the long-term transformation of making us more like Jesus. He is acting as both demolition crew and construction crew in us, tearing down those things that don’t belong and building us up in ways that better mirror His image. He will not stop until the good work in us is done, loving us just as we are, but never content to leave us that way. We are His beloved unfinished masterpieces, treasured works-in-progress that are always under the skilled brush of God Who graciously and patiently adds His loving strokes to who we are so we can become who we were made to be.
God Is Doing A Thousand Things For You
First glances can be deceiving. Initial observations can be short-sighted. The opening paragraph doesn’t tell the whole story. While it is easy to see the obvious things happening in, around and through our lives, without a careful look through a gospel lens, there is a lot that we can miss. God is doing a thousand things for us today, and we may not have our spiritual eyes locked in on any of them. Our lives are under the careful rule of a wise, powerful and loving God Who is moving us along toward the glorious return of Jesus when all will make sense, and all will be made right, and all will be made new.
Disobedience By Delay
One thing most of us struggle with is disobedience by delay. That is, we are tempted to wait to do what God has called us to do. Wait until a more convenient time, thinking we have plenty of time, but more often than not, we will run out of time. For most of us, God doesn’t mean for us to wait until some future day to serve Him by going out in a million-dollar blaze of glory, but rather He wants us to give ourselves to Him in daily nickels and dimes of service to those around us. Lay up treasures in heaven with how you use your time today, because it’s not what you leave behind that matters most. It’s what you forward ahead.
You Are Not Who You Used To Be
Jesus lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, and rose victoriously from the grave. He did not live, die and rise so we could remain stuck in our sin and struggles as if He did nothing at all. He came to forgive us and free us from: bitterness, selfishness, laziness, unkindness, purposelessness, sadness, fearfulness and all ungodliness so we might walk in newness of life. You can do all things through Him. You are more than a conqueror by Him. You are a new creation in Him. As you live today, do so with a mindful awareness of, confidence in and dependance on the power and presence of Jesus. You aren’t who you used to be, and you don’t have to live like you are.
Look Past Distractions
Every single day we are forced to choose sides. We will either serve Jesus or something else. We will either prefer Jesus or something else. We will either trust Jesus or something else. The enemy of our souls wants us to look away from Jesus, look at substitutes for Jesus, and look for life apart from Jesus. So, he calls out to us over and over again… Look. Over. Here. He offers distractions to divide our attention and divide our loyalty so he can divide and conquer us. Therefore, let us pray every day that God would get our focus where it needs to be so we look past the distractions to Jesus for help on how best to live.
Trials Are Not Pointless
Trials are not pointless; in the end they mean something because God uses them as a means to an end. God uses trials in our lives to confirm, grow, mature, enrich, solidify, purify, multiply and consummate our faith as we trust in, and rely on, the steadfast presence of Jesus to preserve us until the end. In order for us to count our present hardships as joy, we must think about our future. Our faith muscle becoming stronger. Our deliverance becoming sooner. Our witness becoming louder. Our homecoming becoming sweeter. Look ahead to see that there is always something better ahead for those who hope in Jesus.
God Helps Those Who Can’t Help Themselves
I wish I could say that my batteries are always charged, my tank is always full, and my engine is always revved up so I can handle well anything that comes my way. But I cannot. I often find myself depleted and run down on the inside. And so do you. When we wonder how we can continue, we don’t need to look to our own inner strength, or our own resources, or our own usual escape. Instead, we need to look to Jesus and lean on Jesus, because He will recharge our batteries, refill our tanks, and rev up our engines. Remember this: God doesn’t help those who help themselves. He helps those who cannot help themselves.
You Don’t Have To Prove Your Worth
This is the jaw-dropping reality of just how much you are worth: Jesus loves you, gave Himself for you and lives in you. Don’t you see? Your worth is not based on who you are; it is based on Whose you are. Your worth is not based on your performance; it is based on His. Your worth is not based on your making a name for yourself; it is based on the Name of the One who lives inside you. If you belong to Jesus, the old you is dead, and the life you now live carries a value that is not found in any personal achievement, accolade or attribute. You don’t have to prove your worth. Jesus already did that.
Ordinary Moments Of Life
Do you know how God works through your life to change someone else’s life? The everyday moments of life. Don’t think there is no value in the chaos of your life. Don’t believe that your normal life isn’t anything special. Don’t accept the lie that what you do and how you do it doesn’t matter. Don’t give up when your efforts seem fruitless and unappreciated. Don’t be silent about communicating the love of God in both your words and actions. Moment by moment you can bear the Father’s heart, bear witness to Jesus, and bear the fruit of the Spirit. Every moment counts when you live it to point people to God.
God Is Good (All The Time)
It’s easy, common and right to feel and say how good God is when the trouble was avoided, the trial has ended or the treasure is received. Oh, how good He is to us! But when we don’t get what we want, or when we get what we don’t want, God is still good, and God is still good to us. His goodness doesn’t disappear when hard things appear; it shines ever so brightly as He works for us to provide all the help we need to endure life’s disappointments, detours and disasters until we get to the other side to something better. Truly… God is good all the time. And all the time God is good.
Surround Yourself With People Who Love Jesus
You are greatly influenced by the people you invite into your life. You start to act like them, speak like them, think like them, live like them, and become like them. The question is: are you becoming more like Jesus by becoming more like them? It is important that we carefully choose who we allow to get close enough to us to begin to change us. While we should love and serve people who are far from God, we should not take our cues for how to live from them. Instead, we imitate those who are imitating Jesus. As much as possible, surround yourself with people who exemplify Him and encourage you to become more like Him.
God Wants Us To Be Happy
God wants us to be happy. When He tells us in the Bible to do, say, correct, believe, feel, think or share something, it is not to take away our happiness, but rather it is to take away the things that are in the way of our full and lasting happiness. We must trust that God is after our happiness, that He knows best how to bring about our happiness, and that what He tells us in the Bible is designed to lead us into happiness. Doing what God tells us is not always easy, popular or instantly gratifying. But it is always for good, always better in the end than sin, and always the best option for making us truly, ultimately, and eternally happy.
The First Step
Taking the four basic steps of the Christian lifestyle (pray, read the Bible, do what God tells you, help others do the same) will produce countless other specific steps of faith. We are to put into practice what we profess to believe as we walk with Jesus through the everyday details and decisions of real life. What step do we take? The next right one in front of us as God leads us in the way He has designed things to work for every part of our private and public lives. He will graciously provide the instruction, desire and power for us to do, say, correct, believe, feel, think or share something that fits with what we are facing. The first step in finding out your next step is to read the Bible.
Never Give Up On People
It’s so easy to give up on people who don’t seem to get it or don’t seem to care. It’s so easy to distance yourself from people who are negative. It’s so easy to walk away from people who don’t agree with us. It’s so easy to check out of relationships when we give more than we receive. But don’t stop showing people the love of Jesus, because it is the love of Jesus that can soften a heart, transform a life, rewrite a story, and impact an eternity. Though it is sometimes hard to do good to others, let us never give up on people by remembering that Jesus never gives up on us. As He does for us, may we do for others.
Life-Giving Assurances
Today, when that temptation is offered, that relationship blows up, that meeting goes wrong, that diagnosis is grim, that pleasure is available, that problem shows up, that plan falls through, and that thing happens … you will believe something to be true. Instead of believing sin’s promises that you have been abandoned by God, or you should accept a substitute for God, believe the promises of God. Place your full weight on God’s Word, for this is the only solid ground in a world full of cleverly-disguised sinking sand. If He says it, you can believe it. And if you can believe it, you can experience its life-giving assurances.
We Are Believers
There is something you and I need to understand: we are believers. There is no one who is not a believer. We all believe in something. Even to disbelieve in one thing is to believe in another. All of life’s desires, decisions, and deeds flow from one of two basic beliefs: we believe that we need God, or we believe that we do not need Him. Want to know what you believe in? Look at your life. You will pin your hopes upon your beliefs, devote your time and resources to your beliefs, look for happiness in your beliefs, find your sense of well-being in your beliefs, and stake your life on your beliefs. You. Are. A. Believer. The question is: do you believe in Jesus and the promises of God made to you in, through and because of Him?
Steps On The Way Home
Followers of Jesus take steps of faith in our day-by-day “walk” with Him. Wherever He leads, we follow in the same direction, one step at a time. In loving obedience. With humble dependance. For a blessed experience. While there are many places we will go and things we will do, there are four basic steps that every Christian takes from the beginning, and they never stop taking until they follow Jesus all the way home: Pray. Read the Bible. Do what God tells you. Help others do the same. This is how we know, follow, enjoy and share God! Certainly we will take mis-steps along the way; but Jesus will never let us lose our way.
The Secret To Contentment
Our happiness does not depend upon us getting something we want or getting rid of something we don’t want. The secret to contentment, regardless of what we have and don’t have, what we get to do and don’t get to do, who we are and who we are not, is to expect Jesus to fulfil the longings of our hearts. When we look to Him for hope, peace, rest, comfort, courage, security, companionship, strength, and provision, and trust that He will sustain us and satisfy us in all circumstances, God is honored in us, and we are happy in Him. We can be joyfully content whether we have little or much because we have it all in Jesus.
You Are Loved Today
How much God loves you does not rise with every new entry on your resume’ and does not fall with every new entry on your rap sheet. God’s love is not based on your performance as if He only cares about you when you get it right. You are loved; not because you are perfect, but because you are His. You are valued; not because of what you have made of your life, but because you were made by Him. You are treasured; not because you cross off items on a checklist, but because Jesus died on a cross for you. God will continue to shape you into the person He made you to be. But He deeply loves the person you are today.
Walk Out Of That Cage
Too many of us live as if we are still imprisoned by our sin, sorrow and struggles with no way out of the cell that confines us. Too often we let regrets from the past, imperfections in the present and fears of the future enslave us as if we are helpless and hopeless to do anything about them. Too soon we give up and give in when victory has already been secured and is almost ready to be seen. 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 all fears, foes and faults. Walk out of that cell today, and in faith follow Him. You have been set free.
