When disaster comes, or times grow hard to bear, how do you perceive these events in relation to your walk with God? Do you question Him and wonder why He would allow such things to happen to you? Maybe you even think they are of His doing, and that He is mad at you, or in some way displeased. Well friends, we read in the Bible that the Lord has indeed punished some, but for the most part times like these are just the everyday storms of life that bring rain upon us all.
Do you lean on God’s promises for your hope? Does His Word not only give you hope, but does it allow you to live abundantly again? Sometimes our hopelessness becomes a millstone around our neck, and it is so burdensome that to go on living seems futile, but even in such drastic times we can find hope and relief in the Word of God, and certain joy in His promises.
We are inclined to reach out to God when we are in need, and rightly so, but is that the only time we do so? God is our provider, protector, Lord who establishes laws, and many other such things, but He wants more than these official responsibilities; He wants to be our friend, and our companion. Do you walk with the Lord? Do you seek to know not only what He is, and what He will do for you, but who He is? Have you allowed God to be your friend and companion?
Does our memory dull to the wonders of God, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Do we find ourselves being drawn back into the world; not by decision, but because we have simply wandered there out of forgetfulness? It is natural for our memories to fade with time, so how do we keep Jesus in the forefront of our consciousness?
You have undoubtedly heard the voice and the knocking of Jesus Christ at the door of your heart, and I hope you have let Him in at some point, but are you making Him knock again and again each time He desires to dine with you? Do you constantly treat Jesus as a visitor? Well, He doesn’t want to be a visitor at our door, but a family member in our home.
Do you remember the moment when you made your commitment to God, and to follow Jesus Christ? How long ago was that, and have you done so since then? Perhaps you have never made that pledge... maybe you just started worshiping Him without a promise, or you have recently decided that this is something you should do. Establishing an agreement with Jesus is important because it commits us to Him, and a relationship... just as the wedding covenant commits us to marriage... this promise too is a Covenant we establish.
Do you worry about earning your salvation? Do you look at your life and try to find ways to defeat the sin you see there? If you are doing that I have to ask “How is that going for you?” If mankind, from the time of Adam, has not been able to perfect themselves then what makes you feel that you can do it now? If we were capable of doing this on our own do you think God would have sent His Son to die for us? No, it is only through Jesus, and God’s grace that we can be victorious over sin.
Do you live in dread, and the fear of evil or bad things that can suddenly happen, or are you calm and at peace within yourself? What rules your life; is it a constant waiting on the next terrible thing to befall you, or the rest and peace of God who shields you? Anxiety and stress are today’s buzzwords, but they needn’t be. Fear, and even startling fear, are not what God wants you to feel, or to anticipate in your life.
It is Easter morning, and the tomb is empty, but do you believe that our redeemer lives? This sounds like a ridiculous question to be asking a believer, but it might surprise you to know how many men and women proclaim faith by saying the right things regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but don’t live as if they believe them. They say He lives, but live as if He were dead. Job truly believed, and lived his life as if he did, but the apostles had to be convinced that Jesus had risen... which are you?
Today is Holy Saturday, and on this day Jesus’ body lay in the tomb, even as He was defeating death. What better time to confront our own bondage to death. Does the fear of death and dying cause you to quiver in fright, and to dread what lies ahead? Do you say you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, and yet still harbor a terror of what awaits us in the grave? Friends, this is not a day of mourning, or fear, but one of rising celebration as the resurrection hovers near.
Why is it that we call today Good Friday? Why on this day of the flogging, suffering, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ do we choose to place the name Good Friday? Well, the term’s origin isn’t clear, so the original intent isn’t known, but we can surmise its meaning. Let’s discuss what, besides the horror of Jesus’ mistreatment and execution, occurred on this day.
Do we obey God to the letter, or do we take His commandments and rationalize them, or apply our own judgement to them? Do we use our own logic in determining that we should obey Him in one circumstance but not in another? If so then, although we try to convince ourselves to the contrary, we are placing ourselves above God. The little things, or uncomfortable ones, can be our undoing. Obey God in all things and always.
When you awoke this morning was your first thought to thank God for this day, followed swiftly by a look through the eyes of Jesus Christ? Does your day begin with a stretch, a cup of coffee, and reading the newspaper, as you determine the status of your physical life, or does it begin with a quick prayer, and a renewed following of Jesus? Every day should begin in thanksgiving, and with an invigorated spiritual accounting of our faithfulness.
Don’t use scripture to build walls for your faith, use it to build a ladder on which you can surmount all obstacles, and reach the crowning glory of salvation and joy. How do you read God’s Holy Word? Do you read it looking at every verse for conviction, a roadblock to a happy life, or as if it were a bit in your mouth? Scripture is for instruction, but that instruction is to bring us love, joy, and into the presence of God; not to be an overbearing misery. How do you chose to approach scripture, and God?
Do you open yourself up to God? Do you allow Him free access to not only your actions and superficial thinking, but to those thoughts that you believe to be personal and secret? Do you interact with God by revealing every intimate confidence to Him? When we lift ourselves up to Him we are changing the relationship we experience together; not on His part, but on ours. At the moment we lift ourselves up to Him we are acknowledging our trust in Him, and giving everything we are to Him freely.