How often do we praise God, and do we offer Him thanks only when we feel He has done something extraordinary for us? It is easy to become complacent in our praise, and expectant of God’s goodness to the point of numbness. If nothing more, then praise Him, and thank Him, morning and night.
Who do we look to for our sustenance? Who feeds us body, and soul? We are inclined to think that we are fed by the sweat of our brow, or by the application of our wits, but these are just the ways in which we gather up what God has provided for us... this is our part in the gift and the gathering that the Word of God describes.
Are we happy in our service of God? Does His Son Jesus give us delight as we go about our days? The world can bring us sorrow and unhappiness, but when we turn, or return, to the Lord, and concentrate on His righteousness, we are immediately filled with His peace and joy. God gives reason for all the earth to rejoice in Him.
Do you love God with no less intensity, or walk with Jesus with the same vigor as in days gone by, and yet the sense of joy, and satisfaction seems to have waned from your relationship? Do you feel like you are losing the intimacy you once experienced in your faith? Well, do not lose heart because you are no further away from God than you we’re at the height of your zeal... in the days when you first believed.
Death, is it something we fear? As Christians we do not fear death because we know that our lives, which have been well spent in Christ, mean that we will find eternity following our final exhale on this earth. What most Christians fear is not death at all, but the dying; the sudden separation from earthly loved ones, the pain involved in dying, and leaving behind all that we have known. We fear that final step forward by faith into what we have not yet experienced.
Having spoken to some who claim to be Christian, and yet struggle with Jesus having risen from the grave, I am now careful to ask... Do you stand watching at the cross, and do you carry Jesus to the tomb? Then, do you return to the tomb after the Sabbath to find the grave empty, and believe He has risen? In this way I know their faith., because who are we, and who is Jesus without the resurrection? Where is our hope? Where is our victory? Where is our promise of eternity? Without the resurrection we are doomed to return to the grave day after day to tend to a body, and mourn the dead.
Do you say that you are a child of God, and yet you remain fully engaged in the world? Do you find yourself afraid, and so actively engrossed in politics, or social issues that bitterness and even hatred bubble up in you? Who is leading you? If this doesn’t describe you then most certainly you must be leading God’s Children away from the world and it’s frothing.
How great is your love for Jesus Christ? What would it take to separate you from Him, and His love for you. Poets have long sought to capture the intensity of their love, but try as they might it always falls short of describing that pool of emotion bubbling up within them. Our love, and faith in Jesus is similar in that we who love Him can’t satisfactorily express the fullness of our love either. So, how do we praise Him?
Do you get all twisted into knots trying to reconcile, and exercise your faith with today’s world, and political/religious atmosphere? If so I have a suggestion for you; quit trying to live in two worlds, stop trying to serve two masters, and don’t tie your faith to the world’s social, and political expectations. To better understand how we should behave, all we need to do is look to Jesus as our model.
How do you perceive your life to be going? Are you in a sailboat sitting on a calm sea, are you in rough water being battered by the wind, or sailing in a fair wind and following sea? Whatever your situation, it is the will of God that you be there at that moment, and you are experiencing something of Him in the process. We might think it good or bad, but God is there at our side, and has led us to be in that place with Him.
Are you easily swayed towards the world, and away from righteousness, and the spirit? Do the things of the flesh entice you, and cause you to desire them day and night? Then these are the things which you have set your mind on, and their rewards have become your gods.
Do we feel confident enough in the healing power of Jesus to touch the fringe of His garment and be healed? Have we been praying for healing but are now growing weary waiting for Him to come to us? Well maybe it is time in our desperation to try a new tactic... to ask His will, and touch whatever part of Him is close with the full expectation of being healed in that instant.
Doing the will of God means work for us; sometimes suffering, but it always requires work, or action on our part. However, we are impatient by nature, and if we had it our way most of us would prefer to have our reward without the work, action, or any effort on our part. As you faithfully seek to do the will of God in your life are you guilty of this? Do you waste time wishing without asking “What next Father?”
We are Christians, and we are told to feed the hungry, but do we leave anything in our fields for them to glean? Do we give a little food, but leave nothing for those who are hungry to gather behind us in honest labor as we harvest our fields? How do we help the less fortunate while maintaining their dignity?
Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord we are no longer of this world. This realization can, at once, be joyous, and at the same time... terrifying. Leaving the world behind, this place which is all we have known, is not an easy thing to do, but if we lean on the Word of God we will find His joy in our sanctification, and His truth. So how is it that we can become this new person, and find joy in our separation from all we have known?