love & truth
Love. God has already delivered you from your plight. The hardest thing we face in our lives is faith in that very idea – that all our problems were already taken care of before we even knew we had the problems. Assurance like that is a very real gift, yet only a few have ever experienced it because of an uncommon – and remarkable! – abundance of faith and complete lack of self that most of us do not possess. We want to give it all to God, we want Jesus to come into our lives, shake out the cobwebs and form us into a new person – but we can’t seem to let go of worldly baggage and years of false doctrine. Society has messed us up. You can thank the devil for kickstarting that plan into motion, and then continuing to perpetuate it on a daily basis. Jesus overcame death so we can live life. The devil is a defeated foe. Give him no power. His team already lost, he just apparently hasn’t gotten home to watch the game on the DVR yet. We’re on Jesus’ team. We won! Go celebrate (responsibly.)
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Truth. The Bible is many things. One of those things being the best way to get to know God and how He operates. What He likes. What He doesn’t like. And since He is God, His ways are final. We can choose to obey Him and live and prosper, or disobey Him and suffer the multitude of potential consequences. But He doesn’t institute His ways to keep a thumb on His believers, rather He does this because He loves us. To help raise us. To keep us from being spoiled children who presume to know and expect everything. A healthy relationship, be it with God, your spouse or your friend, takes work. Don’t just expect your wants delivered to you on a silver platter without any due diligence. (Okay, you get one freebie. It’s called Salvation. But, even there you have to believe in Christ and what He did for you.) God likes an inquisitive truth hunter. He delights in us seeking His face. He probably isn’t too fond of someone who lives it up like a filthy heathen all week, then turns and prays for a better job come Sunday morning. Do you like it when your kids disobey and generally run amok, then ask for candy at the checkout counter? Lemme answer that for ya. NOPE. Without order, there is chaos. Without God, there is nothing.