Day 24: Wake up and recover your life!
Scripture focus: If we give up and turn our backs on all we've learned, all we've been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ's sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment—and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God's Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us that he'll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: "Vengeance is mine, and I won't overlook a thing" and "God will judge his people." Nobody's getting by with anything, believe me. Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn't touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It's still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan so you'll be there for the promised completion. Hebrews 10:26-38 (The Message)
I wonder if our context (addicted, impoverished, unemployed, wrong gender, wrong color, wrong education, etc.) has become an excuse for failing to dream big.
I wonder if our misguided view of suffering (it shouldn't happen, suffering is a bad thing and someone's fault, suffering is a sign God is punishing us, etc.) has caused us to lose our way.
We may have little control over the context we're born into, but we have total responsibility for the content of the life we live. It's a blessing to know that God makes us both willing and able, that we can have the mind of Christ, that God pours blessings and good gifts upon us whether we're naughty or nice.
But those blessings and God's care don't negate the reality that suffering happens.
It's my prayer that neither our context nor our suffering will limit our big believing.
Recommended reading: Romans 13 - 16 (click here to read the scriptures online)
- click on the word comments and join our conversation
Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community
No comments:
Post a Comment