He’s Happy With His Choice
God didn’t reluctantly choose you because there was an empty space in His family tree, and He was down to His last option in you. He readily chose you because that spot in His family was reserved especially for you. He doesn’t regret it for a moment, even in those moments when you feel like He does because you have fallen short and failed Him. Because of the moment you put your faith in Jesus… He delights in you. He rejoices over you. He is pleased with you. Whether you stand by His grace and get it right, or fall into His mercy when you get it wrong, you were chosen by God to be with God. And He’s happy with His choice.
A Desire To Be Different
An evidence that you are a genuine, growing Christian is that you want to be freed from your sin, not just forgiven of it. It’s not just escape from the penalty and consequences of sin that you desire, but escape from the power and control of sin as well. Those who love Jesus will inevitably and increasingly hate their sin. We are not perfect, but we want to be. We will fail, but we wish we wouldn’t. We like some wrong things, but we long for change. Jesus will soon fully deliver us from the brokenness, but until then, let us pray for Him to progressively replace our taste for sin with new appetites for the better things He has for us.
The Fountain Of Grace We Are Drinking From
When we remember and rejoice in Jesus’ removal of our own condemnation, we will stop condemning the people around us. For those of us who have received His priceless gift of salvation, there is no condemnation for our sins, though we were rightly deserving of that condemnation. By the lavish grace of God, we are pardoned. Guilty, yet set free. Flawed, yet forgiven. Outsiders, yet welcomed in. Enemies, yet made family. Deserving of hell, yet shown mercy. Wages of death earned, yet eternal life freely given. Instead of condemning others, let us point them to the fountain of grace that we ourselves are drinking from.
If We’re Going To Say Something About Someon …
Here’s the ironic truth about gossip: it says more about the one doing the talking than the one being talked about. Gossip reveals a heart that finds more pleasure in the transfer of information than in the transformation of an individual. It is the opposite of the gospel for it is indifferent to its harmful effect on others, or it is intent on that harmful effect. Rather than pointing out the bad news about others, we should use our words to point to the good news of our Savior. Today, let us fill our minds and our mouths with things that repeat His story. If we’re going to say something about someone else, may it be about Jesus.
Slow Down And Suit Up
God does not send us ill-equipped into battle against the enemy of our soul. Instead, He dresses us in His own armor. In order for us to fight the good fight of faith, we must put on that armor of God … ahead of time, in advance of the skirmish. We put ourselves and others at extreme risk if we wait until the battle begins to ready ourselves for war against sin and evil. The enemy does not allow us to call timeout or grant us a recess to gather our ammunition and put up our shield. This is why we should arm ourselves with a daily dose of God’s instructions, truths, and promises found in God’s Word. Slow down and suit up.
It’s Okay Not To Be Okay
It’s okay to not be okay. It’s not okay to stay that way. Especially when God has equipped the church to take care of one another as we depend upon Him to graciously provide what we need in our time of need. He calls, gifts, empowers, mobilizes, and sends the church of Jesus to be His hands, feet, and mouth to people inside and outside the family of God. Therefore, the smartest thing you can do when you find yourself feeling overpowered, overwhelmed or overloaded is to ask for help. If it’s more than you can handle alone, that’s God’s way of saying He doesn’t want you to handle it alone.
Christians Aren’t Exempt From Suffering
Christians aren’t exempt from hurt. No matter what precautions we take to safeguard our lives or how hard we work at being godly people, something will inevitably come uninvited, unannounced, and unwanted into our lives and cause us pain. Yet… Healing will come. Comfort will come. Justice will come. Restoration will come. Deliverance will come. Joy will come. Salvation will come. Eternal life will come. This is all true because Jesus has come. Take heart in this: He has come to join us in our suffering; indeed to suffer in our place on the cross so that one day we can enter into a place where there is no suffering at all.
Sin Does This… Jesus Does This…
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.
