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.
