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.
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.
