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God is always working and when God works he always makes something good. We don’t see it because we get busy; we are distracted by human thoughts and actions; we are unable with feeble humans eyes and mind to comprehend Godly thoughts. Look carefully for his working through the eyes of his Holy Spirit. When you don’t see him trust he is there. He is not silent. What he is doing in the background is good.
Quite often, if not always, when we are brutally honest with ourselves, we lose hope when we focus on the finite rather than the infinite. I get discouraged when things don’t go my way. I get sad when life deals me a bad hand whether it be as a consequence for my own behavior or attacks from others. When I set my mind on God (sometimes forcefully?) and remember my only hope comes from him through his Son Jesus, then I can praise him. Praise is like a light in darkness. No amount of darkness can defeat the smallest amount of light.
I hear it every once in awhile. The attitude is definitely more and more common. When sin is called…well..sin, the response is often some version of “Don’t judge me!” The argument is pulled from an erroneous idea that we are told not to judge others. The reality is, judgement is appropriate, but only by the standards God ordains.
The world judges by interpreting external factors. God judges based on divine knowledge of your heart. Judgement of others can’t come without intimate knowledge of circumstances, environmental factors, their past and intention. Don’t judge as the world judges, judge as God judges. Get to know and love people before making a judgement regarding their actions. This is done over time, through prayer and based on Godly wisdom and grace.
God’s judgement is sure. God’s judgement is right and just. But God’s judgement is also done with divine knowledge, patience, unconditional love and grace. It is never done to destroy, but to try to bring those sheep he loves into the fold. The father of the prodigal didn’t spend his time judging, he spent it looking down the road.
When we think of meeting God do we do so in fear over what we have done and how we have failed him, ourselves and others? This should not be! Yes, as the psalmist says, we should examine ourselves to be sure there is no unconfessed sin, but meeting God as a believer in Jesus Christ should be a time of celebration for all he has done for us and what we have in store for us in the future! Your sin is washed in the blood! He has thrown them as far as the east is from the west! There. Is. No. Condemnation. NOTHING can separate you from his love. Rejoice in his presence. You are a new creation. The joy of the Lord is your strength!
The Israelites were well aware of what a sacrifice was. It was a dead animal! For example, they would take a lamb and slaughter it. Then they would lay it on the fire and roast it before God. It was dead! Other than the food value, dead animals are worthless. God calls us to be a living sacrifice. That means, that like the lamb, we are sacrificed before him.The obvious difference, is we are not dead. The bad news to that? Living sacrifices have a tendency to crawl off the altar when the heat gets to be too much. We are called to be sacrifices to give our lives to God and to be dead to the heat of the worlds temptations.
Daily give your allegiance to Christ. Don’t be a crawling sacrifice!
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 