The paths will divide. The objectives will conflict. The plans will differ. The desires will compete. The advice will disagree. We will often find ourselves having to choose sides for who we will listen to, go with and live to the satisfaction of … God or people. We simply cannot be and do what will make Him happy and others happy at the same time, all the time. Rather than compromising to satisfy the crowd, let us show others the better path, the better objective, the better plan, the better desire and the better advice found in the good news of Jesus. Today, by grace, let us prioritize pleasing God over pleasing people.
It Is Painful, It Is Wonderful
It is painful to have our iniquities exposed, our imperfections pointed out and our inabilities made known to us. No one loves to be labeled a sinner. But we can’t get well until we are aware of and acknowledge our sickness, and then go to the Great Physician of Grace to heal us. It is humbling to do so, but God does not belittle us when we come to Him in confession and repentance. Instead… He lifts us up. He makes us whole. He spurs us on. It is wonderful to have Jesus forgive us for our sin, free us from our sin and favor us in spite of our sin. Oh, how we love to be labeled “Redeemed!” Go to Him now. There is grace for you.
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righte …
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” – Matthew 5:6
Humans are on a never-ending search to find real satisfaction in this world. But the satisfaction we are looking for and longing for cannot be found in this world for it comes only from God. Apart from Him we will continue snacking on and sipping from what we think will bring contentment, and we will never be filled. We will always find ourselves wanting something more or something else. But if we hunger and thirst to find our way to God and follow the ways of God, we will be satisfied. When we search for contentment in Him, He can be found. When we find Him, our search for contentment can be over.
Those Who…
“The… Those who…” – Matthew 5:3a-11a
What you do is defined by who you are. The lives of those who are blessed to be in the kingdom of God are marked by a set of countercultural characteristics. We have been transferred out of the domain of darkness into His marvelous light, and we are being transformed into who we were made to be so we can do what we were made to do. Namely, to… Live for God, not ourselves. Live for purpose, not in vain. Live for real joy, not a substitute. Live for heaven, not this world. We will not practice this perfectly, but we will trust in the Perfect One who gives us grace until He perfects His work in us. It’s who we are. It’s what we do.
An Ongoing Battle
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. The old temptations beckon. The old habits resurface. The old desires rekindle. The old loyalties divide. The old beliefs hinder. The 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! So fight the good fight of faith against sin as you rejoice in this today: that’s not you anymore.
Dressed For Battle
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.
Guiltiness and Gladness
Christians should know two feelings better than anyone else in the universe: guiltiness and gladness. We must never lose sight of this: our sin is great. We must never lose hope in this: our Savior is greater. A right response to our unfolding transformation as we follow Jesus in faith is the ongoing rhythm of repenting of our sin and rejoicing in our salvation. We are guilty, yet acquitted. We are undeserving, yet rewarded. We are trapped, yet freed. May we know the humbling, exalting experience of knowing both our sinfulness and our Savior. Be glad in this: Our sin may begin our story, but the grace of God will have the final word.
You Are Not Done Shining Yet
God will bring you through 100% of your dark days until He brings you home. He will not forget you a single moment. He will not forsake you a single time. He will not fail you a single day. Will it always be easy? No. Will it always be comfortable? No. Will it always be the way you want it? No. But it will always be under the careful, calculated and compassionate rule of a Father Who loves you and has a purpose for you. You are alive and breathing today because God made it so; God made it so because you were made to be a light in this dark world (Matthew 5:14-16), and you are not done shining yet.
Mindful And Merciful
We may be growing in the likeness of Jesus, but there are times we don’t look much like Jesus. It is easy to see these faults and flaws in other people while overlooking our own sinful shortcomings. Hypocritically ignoring the log in our eyes while harshly judging the speck in the eyes of those around us will only be remedied when we recognize our sin, repent of our sin, receive forgiveness for our sin, and resolve to help others be as forgiven and free as we are. We point ourselves to Jesus; we point others to Jesus. Today, let us be as mindful of our sin as we are of others, and as merciful to others as we are to ourselves.
He Will Keep You Going
One word that defines every genuine Christian is this: perseverance. That is, those who are heaven-bound keep going until they get there. Grace will make sure that they do! He who has called us is faithful to keep us! So… If you find that serving Jesus feels fruitless or pointless, keep serving. If you find yourself fighting back discouragement and fighting for joy, keep fighting. If you find yourself tempted to give in to the world and its ways, keep resisting. There will be many moments that you fail and fall, but don’t despair. Trust in Jesus and trust in this: He will pick you up and power you on… so you can keep going.
We All Drift
We all drift. We all move away at times from the beautiful design of how God intends for things to work and the wonderful harmony that God intends for us to experience. One of the reasons He wired us for community is to help each other make our way back to Him when we lose our way, focus, joy, purpose, peace, strength, or hope. When we see each other discouraged in our faith or distracted away from it, let us point each other to the God who sent Jesus to be the anchor for drifters like you and me. He always receives us back, refreshes our hearts and restores our course. He may let us drift, but He will not let us go.
What Jesus Did Is Enough For You
There is a word that can drain life out of us. It can make us walk around in shame and guilt. It can rob us of our peace. It can cause us to feel doubt, pressure and fear. This word often doesn’t make us want to try harder; it makes us want to give up. This word is “enough”. Have you prayed, read your Bible, served, loved, trusted, worked hard, shared your faith, worshipped, been kind, helped others, obeyed God, and lived for what matters … enough? No, never enough. But the pressure is off because what Jesus did is enough for those who trust in Him! Secure in this, strive to live in a God-honoring way today while resting in His grace for you.
God Speaks To Us Today
The Bible is referred to as the “Word of God” for a reason: God speaks through it. He says what He wants us to know about Himself and His creation, revealing how He designed the universe to work and what He has decided is best for us as we live in it. He expects us to respond in some way every time we read from its pages… By doing, saying, correcting, believing, feeling, thinking, or sharing something. We are to listen for the voice of Jesus and follow Him the best we know how in any given moment, and strive to know more so we can better follow Him in the moments to come. Doing so brings honor to God and happiness to us.
Benevolent King Jesus … He’s Way Bette …
Jesus is our Savior and our Lord. Jesus blesses us and commands us. Jesus wants us to be happy and holy. Jesus shows us compassion and correction. Jesus leads us to pleasant spaces and hard places. Jesus loves sinners and hates sin. Genuine, growing Christians take Jesus for Who He is and not Who others try to make Him out to be. Jesus is not a loving, gracious Friend and Enabler Who is there to help us live in whatever way we choose. He is the One Who gives us strength to do all the wonderful, beautiful, purposeful things He Himself has planned for us. Butler Jesus does not exist; Benevolent King Jesus does. And He’s way better.
Grace Always Wins In The End
God loves us, but He doesn’t approve of everything we think, say and do. God took our sin seriously enough to put His Son Jesus to death in our place; we should take our sin seriously by fighting against it instead of trivializing it, rationalizing it or fraternizing with it. Let us feel godly sorrow for our sin, but may that conviction give way to celebration of the forgiveness and freedom that is ours because of Jesus. Grace means there is pardon for our sin and power not to sin. We fight against it, we fail in the battle, we fall into mercy, we fight on, we finish. For those who are trusting in Jesus… Grace always wins in the end.
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.
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.
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.
He Leads, We Follow … That’s It
Many people see the commands of Christ as “restrictive rules” that are keeping the good stuff out of our lives instead of seeing them as “gracious guardrails” that are keeping our lives out of the gutter. He is our Good Shepherd Who protects us, provides for us, empowers us, refreshes us, delights us, guides us and delivers us safely to our eternal home in heaven. How? We hear His voice (the words of the Bible with all of its instructions, truths and promises made clear to us by the Holy Spirit) calling us into His care, and by faith we do as He says. He leads. We follow. That’s it. He takes care of us by taking care of all the rest.
