It's hard to imagine, especially here in the United States in the 21st century, but you and I and every other person were born as slaves -- slaves to sin. The good news is this: we've been offered freedom from our bondage thanks to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. When we accept the forgiveness He offers us, we submit ourselves to His care and become His slave instead, knowing He'll provide for our every need.
"When I grow up"..."I'm almost an adult"..."You can't make me"...do any of these phrases sound like something you or your kids might have said growing up?! In the same way, we often act like rebellious teenagers and lack spiritual maturity in our relationship with God. But we can't live the Christian life alone. That's why God designed His Church -- to be a community of believers that will help each other grow and mature.
There's a saying that, "We are made for God, and nothing less will ever satisfy us." We all have a longing deep within our souls, and we try to fill that void with anything and everything this world has to offer. But we'll never be truly satisfied except through Jesus -- and when we drink from Him, He promises that we'll never thirst again.
Shame is just one of the many consequences of sin, but often it serves as the catalyst for us to repent from our wrongdoing. The one thing we should never be ashamed of is the goodness of God. May we have the courage to proclaim His love and mercy to a hurting world, and to speak of His forgiveness to all who we meet!
God never said we had to go bowling/skiing/on vacation/insert-your-choice-of-activity-here with people we don't like. But Hedidcommand us to love each other, and to do our part to live in peace with one another! It's impossible for us to do that without letting Him first live and work in our own lives. The sooner we let go of the idea that "it's all about me", the sooner we allow God to love other people through us.
When you think of God, you probably don't think of Him getting "in the ring" with His people! But Jacob's story in Scripture shows us that sometimes, we need to wrestle with the Lord about certain things -- and hold on for the count until He gives us His blessing to move forward.
If our 24-hour day is a pie, and each activity we spend time on is a slice, then why does God often seem to get one of the smallest pieces? We're easily tempted to spend too much time working to indulge a lifestyle that we never really needed in the first place. Money in and of itself isn't a bad thing, but if we chase it rather than investing in our relationships with God and other people, then we're wasting the life God gave us.
Have you ever heard the phrase, "can't see the forest for the trees"? Another way of putting it could be, "Can't see the flowers for the weeds"! All too often, we let our everyday worries and stress (the "weeds") distract us from the abundant life God desires for us (the "flowers"). But when we put our attention back on Him and His love for us, He holds us in His perfect peace, and we can live with the assurance that He will meet our every need.
Of all the places in the world, there's no better place to be thanexactly where God has called us to go.When Jesus said to go and make disciples of all nations, it was a command, not a suggestion. Our entire purpose for being is to follow Him and to bring glory to His name.
We can have the clearest picture of what God intends for us to do -- the what, when, why, where, and how -- but at the end of the day, sometimes, we still just wind up gettingstuck.There will always be obstacles that threaten to hold us back from accomplishing God's will. When we find ourselves spinning our wheels, we can waste time and effort trying to figure out a solution by ourselves, or we can ask God to make a way and to help us move forward.