Blog

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.

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.

Jesus did it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus conquered it all. We couldn’t live up to God’s standards, so Jesus lived perfectly for us. We couldn’t break free from sin, so He set us free. We couldn’t atone for our transgressions, so Jesus died in our place. We couldn’t defeat death, so He conquered the grave so we too will rise. We couldn’t earn an eternal retirement, so He paid for our inheritance. We have become rich in salvation, forgiveness, joy, peace, glory, kindness, favor, righteousness, love and hope because of what He accomplished on our behalf. Every good thing that is ours displays the good news of Jesus.

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… God doesn’t help those who help themselves. He helps those who cannot help themselves.

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, 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.

An ongoing battle that every Christian faces is the one between the person you were before you met Jesus and the one you are now that you have met Him. Old temptations beckon. Old habits resurface. Old desires rekindle. Old loyalties divide. Old beliefs hinder. Old memories haunt. When you feel this tension, remember that you have a new identity, a new life and a new you because you believe in and belong to Jesus! You have been changed, are being changed and will be changed by His transforming grace. So fight the good fight of faith against sin as you rejoice in this today: that’s not you anymore.

God is actively working behind-the-scenes for you right now to meet your needs in ways that you don’t see. You don’t have the answers; God does. You don’t know the next move; God does. You can’t see how it will work out; God does. Everything you really need will really be supplied. Not maybe. Not probably. Definitely. God will provide for every need. Not some of them. Not most of them. All of them, without exception. Right when you need it, not a second too late. Today, do the work that God has said is for you to do, and believe that He is doing the work that is not for you to do.

Is your prayer life more about getting God to do your will or you to do His? I’ll be the first to admit that it’s much easier for me to pray about my preferences, priorities and plans than it is to say to my Heavenly Father, “nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.” Yet, there is nothing so freeing and fulfilling than to be right where God means for me to be doing right what God means for me to do. Prayer involves many things, but the most important thing is to request what we need to live for His Kingdom, not to secure what we need to build our own. Today, ask God to give what you need, to do what He wants.

God is worthy to be praised for Who He is, what He has already done for us, and what we are trusting Him to do for us in Christ. Every good thing that we have in our lives past, present and future is a gift of His grace. Even the things we think we worked hard to gain for ourselves are made possible by Him, for every ability and opportunity are given to us from Him. Therefore, let us celebrate Him before others and commend Him to others for all that He does for us, and that He delights to do so. Today… Honor Him for His blessings. Honor Him by enjoying His blessings as He intends. Honor Him for being a Blesser.

Here’s a simple, but significant, lens through which life looks radically different than we often see it… will this matter 100 years from now? How we think, feel, speak, act, and react would be wonderfully different if we saw things in light of eternity, and remember that this short life is not all that there is. Our lives would create an everlasting ripple if we could look a century into our future to see the impact of our today. As we live by grace, in dependence upon the presence and power of Jesus, let us give less priority to the things that really don’t matter and more priority to the things that do.