DOES GOD HAVE OUR BACK?
Among those choices is whether we will serve God or ourselves. When we became followers of Christ we found the great benefit of having that weight lifted off of our shoulders. It was the freedom from the bondage of sin that allowed us to praise God and love Him, but when God began to ask us to sacrifice parts of ourselves to Him the outlook became somewhat grim for our relationship with God because He started asking us to follow His example of what love and loyalty to Him meant. When He began to ask us to be examples as He was an example of how the Holy Spirit should work through our lives things seemed to change. While it had always been free to accept God's love now He was asking us to give love to others...even our enemies without any concern of receiving in return any repayment. God began to ask us to deny our natural tendencies to collect as much as we could of the possessions of this world and fortify ourselves against the dangers that surrounded us. We were being asked to die to self-desires and anything that would situate itself between us and the complete will of God in our lives. Perhaps at first those pieces of life that we knew were not in God's will were able to be sacrificed fairly quickly because we knew even before we came to Christ that they were not good for us, but now God started to ask us to lay down parts of our lives that we had always thought we could not live without.
It is literally these challenges that have held us back from complete trust in God yet if we make these commitments in many cases, we don't know if we can go through with them. When God asks us to worry about today and let tomorrow take care of itself it goes against anything that we have ever leaned about surviving in this world. When we are asked to no longer hold a white knuckle grip on the things of this world, but instead begin to build up treasures in Heaven by exchanging our loyalty and desires to live this life for that of allowing God's Spirit to guide and live through us rather than to try to live for our desires it becomes impossible. That is why we must follow Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. Death is scary enough when we do not have a clear picture of what is beyond death. For me being buried while still alive scares me as much as anything I can think of, and yet it does then it also means that I have not died to self. We cannot see past that part of who we are, but that is where our faith in Christ kicks in. How much are we willing to actually believe that what God is telling us is true about life beyond life? The challenge is obvious, and it is eternal. I don't know about you but more than anything I want to know that there is something better than this life waiting for me if I choose wisely. I want to know that there is a life that beyond anything that I can think or imagine if I can be brave and smart enough to see past all of the obvious lies and deceit that this world has told me. I want to be able to claim a final victory over the pain and defeat I have felt in this life, and I want to believe that God has my back.
Every one of us should expect more out of life than what we now have, and when it comes right down to it the only way that we can prepare for life if we expect more from it than to have what we now have is to do as Jesus has instructed us to do; to lay up treasures for ourselves where moth and rust do not decay and thieves do not break in and steel from us. My dear ones there is an evidence that shows us that life does go on beyond this place we now have. It takes our faith in God to bring it about, and an understanding of what is truth from what is lie, but God has promised to lead us through the process..I pray that yoou will.. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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