Do you know a Christian who claims to follow all the tenets of the Christian faith but is mad all the time, mean spirited, or unfaithful to their friends or spouse? How about a person who says they are Christian, and behaves in a morally sound manner, but doesn’t believe that the Word of God is truth? Well, these people are living a lie in one manner or the other. They are attempting to call darkness light, or light darkness.
Where do you turn for help with your children when you are out of answers yourself? When you are at the end of your rope, and hanging in the air, unable to save them, what do you do? Who do you call on? Whether we are talking about faith, physical sickness, addiction, or mental health, where do we go for assistance when every effort of our own has failed? Well, there is only one answer, and Jesus provides it!
Our transformation through faith is splendid indeed, but we must grasp hold of it, and claim it for our own. When we first accept Jesus Christ as our savior, are baptized, and the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we find that something miraculous has begun within us... in that moment we realize that we are walking miracles, and consumers of the divine nature; our longing ends for the world’s offering, and begins to be for heavenly fruit.
Do you have a project at work that isn’t going very smoothly? Is there some task you are working on at home, or elsewhere, that is causing you trouble? There are so many sources of bad news and difficulty in our day to day lives, but as Christians how are we to approach them? What sets us apart from the unbelievers, and what are the consequences when we approach trouble as the worldly do?
Where do you go when trouble arises? Where do you seek refuge from the storm? When the world around us is being consumed by wind and flood, where is our high ground, or safe harbor? There is none like our God, and no beacon to guide us like Jesus. In Christ we are ushered to safety, in God we are safe, and made restful... even in the storms.
Have either we, our households, or our communities strayed from the will and service of God? Well, just as God warned Moses that there would be punishment for such behavior, so it is for us today. However, before we begin crying, and tearing at our clothes in distress, know that God promises us that if we return to Him He will not only forgive, and accept us back, but give His name to dwell here among us.
Are we sick, or dying? Are we growing old, and feeling the pains of a body that is winding down? Is our mind failing us, taking with it the things we once knew, and were so precious to us? If our bodies and minds are wasting away take heart, because our souls are forever young, and are renewed in the Lord every day. Don’t allow what is happening to a body, that is designed to last for a short while, to cause you to lose sight of what is eternally important and constructed within you.
What do we do when we are happy, and filled with joy? What bubbles Forth from within us almost uncontrollably, and with such amazing creativity, and diverse scale and measure? Music, and song spring from us in praise, and when we are solemn, and worshipful the music and sound of our souls raises up in honor, adoration, and respect. No matter the occasion there is a song. Melodic is the language of our soul, and of God. We are created in His image, and music is the outpouring of our spiritual feeling, emotion, and of love.
Do those around you understand your faith? Has Jesus called you to believe in Him, but your family thought that you were not thinking straight? Sometimes our faith is challenged most by those who are closest to us, but don’t feel alone in this... it happened to Jesus as well when he first began performing miracles, and drawing crowds.
In our faith we are like children who while babies were fed their mother’s milk, but as they grew were allowed to eat soft cereal, then crushed vegetables, and finally meat. God feeds us the food of our faith as we are able to handle it, but once we are eating the common foods that all believers eat, do we pursue the special and mysterious foods of righteousness, and Jesus Christ, that are fed from God’s hidden kitchen, and shared only with those who ask; only with the few who call out for more?
When we are yet sinners God loves, and calls us. Before we first turn to Him, many say that not only do they have no use for Him, but that He has no use for them... what folly it is to think in this way. Just as we can’t determine to be born, we likewise can’t determine for God to accept us. The children of Israel didn’t leave Egypt on their own accord... they were called out by a loving God.
To what ends will your faith take you as you seek the presence of Jesus? Are you so confident in Him that there is nothing more pressing than to be at His feet? Does His love for you drive you to a great, and possibly heroic faith?
Have you ever run across someone who can’t wait to point out another’s faults? Does this person go to your church? Correction is good, but must be done with the right heart, and with a sense of humility. Nothing drives souls from Jesus faster than someone who uses their knowledge of the Word as a snare... a clever trap that is waiting to be sprung on someone as a means of belittling them, while raising themselves up.
We live in the world, and we are surrounded by immorality, and sin, yet this is exactly where we belong. We are not being punished by being placed in this position, but offered the opportunity to make a great impact on the souls, and circumstances, of those that we come in contact with. Do you find yourself praying that you be removed from such influences, but wake up every morning in the same place? Well, don’t ask God Why He doesn’t hear you... ask Him why He has you there.
Sometimes there is more to an illness than meets the eye. We ask to be healed because we are suffering, but do we consider the greater purpose of the Lord as we pray? The will of God, which is the same will that Jesus conforms too, is paramount to everything in our lives. We come to know God when He reveals Himself to us... or in other words... by His will, and we are healed when it is His will as well. A leper approached Jesus with that understanding, and was healed.