"But God"...will show you His will.
He will not hide it under a log for you to dig up. He will not dangle it in front of you among five other options and have you grab at one like on a TV game show, hoping you get the right one.
God created you for a purpose He wants to fulfill in you. And that right there is a blessed thought. Because of this: Sin will not so much disqualify you from fulfilling that as it is you turning away from God's path and choosing your own way.
Yes. Sin is stupid. Yes there are consequences. It destroys so many things. But God is greater than your sin. He can overcome it and use your weakness to show Himself strong in you. He will take your flaws and turn them into beauty. He will bind up your wounds so you can in turn point those who have been injured like you to the Shepherd and the Healer.
Sin is stupid. And Life isn't a movie where you ought to pursue after flaws and look out for those plot twists like God using your flaws to expand His kingdom. We are going to screw up enough on our own without intentionally keeping it in our mind that the Grace of God upholds us.
Maybe I am the only one who does that. I find myself in such a constricted world. I enjoy writing and I enjoy pondering in the creative mind. That is how I come up with potential conversations in my head. If I am supposed to have a meeting with someone, then I will recite my lines and concoct all sorts of rivers that the conversation could flow--for better or worse.
And I've somehow become of a mind that says: if you're going to screw up, then screw up big time. That way you can minister to people better. They will see how flawed you are and realize that if the grace of God extends to me, then it will definitely extend to the as well. It's a movie of sorts. The drunkard of a street bum sobers up, starts ministering to street youth to keep them from the dangers of alcohol. Then he seeks out those already in the clutches of their addictions and points them to the Saviour who can break every chain. He will point to his old "home" stained with the spillage of his drunken stoops. He will point to the scars on his body where he barely escaped alive from a car collision that he caused by being drunk behind the wheel. He will then take them to the cemetery where the teenager he killed by his recklessness rested in peace. Then he will raise his arms and, with a tear in his eye, proclaim in a silent roar: "How great is our God! He has broken my chains of greed and lust and addiction. He can break yours, too."
That is what God can do, sure. But it is a thing that ought be far, far away from our mind to pursue in order to further the kingdom. We should never seek to drink the darkness of sin so we can minister to those drunk with the darkness. We should drink of life so we can boldly and with full assurance offer the water of life.
So you were made with a purpose. God created you to be a engineer or a doctor or a teacher or a pastor or a missionary or a mechanic. He gave you experiences and joys and hobbies and passions that has fashioned you for His will. God doesn't want you to have to guess. The faith He requires of you is not choosing the right bend in the fork in the road. But rather this: To take a step in his way even when it seems scary or hard or painful. It is to trust God to provide and to keep and to protect.
The disciples were told to follow Christ. To give up their lives and follow Him. They were placing faith in which road to take, they were placing faith in the fact that if they followed, they would have nothing.
When Zaccheus chose to follow God, he knew that he should stop swindling people out of their money. He had to trust God to provide when he repaid everyone fourfold. He had to trust God not to be murdered on the spot when he came to each house to repay.
Abram was given a direction to go with little else information. He had to trust that God would keep him safe during the journey. He had to trust God to provide him with the land He was leading him to. Abram had day by day instruction, but never the final destination until he reached it. He wasn't making a guess, he was following God strictly.
So we, too, ought to follow God. Not as if we have to hope we jump out onto the right invisible platform. But we should follow Him knowing this is where He wants us and trusting Him to keep His word. If we decide to turn away from Him and we get scraped up, we just need to turn back to Him. Then along the way share with those we meet the truth that turning from God produces pain and wounds that run deep.
So may we follow God. Maybe where we are at now is not the final destination, but the road to make it. We are here to learn, to impact others, and to continue on. Not impulsively, but by God's decree. Trust God. Follow God. Love God. And abide in Christ.
He will not hide it under a log for you to dig up. He will not dangle it in front of you among five other options and have you grab at one like on a TV game show, hoping you get the right one.
God created you for a purpose He wants to fulfill in you. And that right there is a blessed thought. Because of this: Sin will not so much disqualify you from fulfilling that as it is you turning away from God's path and choosing your own way.
Yes. Sin is stupid. Yes there are consequences. It destroys so many things. But God is greater than your sin. He can overcome it and use your weakness to show Himself strong in you. He will take your flaws and turn them into beauty. He will bind up your wounds so you can in turn point those who have been injured like you to the Shepherd and the Healer.
Sin is stupid. And Life isn't a movie where you ought to pursue after flaws and look out for those plot twists like God using your flaws to expand His kingdom. We are going to screw up enough on our own without intentionally keeping it in our mind that the Grace of God upholds us.
Maybe I am the only one who does that. I find myself in such a constricted world. I enjoy writing and I enjoy pondering in the creative mind. That is how I come up with potential conversations in my head. If I am supposed to have a meeting with someone, then I will recite my lines and concoct all sorts of rivers that the conversation could flow--for better or worse.
And I've somehow become of a mind that says: if you're going to screw up, then screw up big time. That way you can minister to people better. They will see how flawed you are and realize that if the grace of God extends to me, then it will definitely extend to the as well. It's a movie of sorts. The drunkard of a street bum sobers up, starts ministering to street youth to keep them from the dangers of alcohol. Then he seeks out those already in the clutches of their addictions and points them to the Saviour who can break every chain. He will point to his old "home" stained with the spillage of his drunken stoops. He will point to the scars on his body where he barely escaped alive from a car collision that he caused by being drunk behind the wheel. He will then take them to the cemetery where the teenager he killed by his recklessness rested in peace. Then he will raise his arms and, with a tear in his eye, proclaim in a silent roar: "How great is our God! He has broken my chains of greed and lust and addiction. He can break yours, too."
That is what God can do, sure. But it is a thing that ought be far, far away from our mind to pursue in order to further the kingdom. We should never seek to drink the darkness of sin so we can minister to those drunk with the darkness. We should drink of life so we can boldly and with full assurance offer the water of life.
So you were made with a purpose. God created you to be a engineer or a doctor or a teacher or a pastor or a missionary or a mechanic. He gave you experiences and joys and hobbies and passions that has fashioned you for His will. God doesn't want you to have to guess. The faith He requires of you is not choosing the right bend in the fork in the road. But rather this: To take a step in his way even when it seems scary or hard or painful. It is to trust God to provide and to keep and to protect.
The disciples were told to follow Christ. To give up their lives and follow Him. They were placing faith in which road to take, they were placing faith in the fact that if they followed, they would have nothing.
When Zaccheus chose to follow God, he knew that he should stop swindling people out of their money. He had to trust God to provide when he repaid everyone fourfold. He had to trust God not to be murdered on the spot when he came to each house to repay.
Abram was given a direction to go with little else information. He had to trust that God would keep him safe during the journey. He had to trust God to provide him with the land He was leading him to. Abram had day by day instruction, but never the final destination until he reached it. He wasn't making a guess, he was following God strictly.
So we, too, ought to follow God. Not as if we have to hope we jump out onto the right invisible platform. But we should follow Him knowing this is where He wants us and trusting Him to keep His word. If we decide to turn away from Him and we get scraped up, we just need to turn back to Him. Then along the way share with those we meet the truth that turning from God produces pain and wounds that run deep.
So may we follow God. Maybe where we are at now is not the final destination, but the road to make it. We are here to learn, to impact others, and to continue on. Not impulsively, but by God's decree. Trust God. Follow God. Love God. And abide in Christ.
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