Vacations Are Great But We Take Our Heart With Us
Good Morning friends. I wanted to share what God is doing in my life again this month, from the back porch of Ford Farms to the beautiful beach of South Carolina. I would love to hear your own stories of Gods faithfulness. It gives me wings to share with you and see how God is so for us. Hopefully you might see His glory in the words written here.
We all have dealt with guilt and shame at one time or the other. It came from Adam and Eve. The law can condemn us. Our parents and friends fail us as we push others toward perfectionism. So the world imposes guilt as we hear and view its opinions daily.
Social media is a good place to feel judged. Others seem to be happy and have it all together. I am happy for them truly but I ask myself...will I ever be that perfect? I must not love Jesus enough or I would do better, I tell myself.
It was my own heart that condemned me.
Jesus says that He does not ever condemn us.
So why do we...
We compare.
The Pharisee said to Jesus. Thank you that I am not like the tax collector. The tax collector then said have mercy on me, oh God a sinner. Who do you think was forgiven?
Self righteousness runs so deep in us. We see others sin before we do our own. I just want to help them. I truly do. But another side of the truth can be I feel significant if I can help someone else. How prideful and insecure is that. Hard stuff. God will not share his praise. This has cured me as I know in my heart His glory is what my heart longs for.
My heart continues to wrestle at times. All of ours do if we are honest.
If I could only spend some money. Maybe go to the grocery. Buy a new pillow. Try something new today. Do a good deed. Do something difficult for me. Not be on this medicine. These and more are signs I need Jesus. If I could only write a devotional. I usually need to go to my journal and my bible. Spent time in prayer instead of self focused and feeling inadequate and seeing too much of my sin. Self centeredness can be deceiving as a good thing.
I just want to be more like Jesus I tell myself. We are never more like Jesus than when we are loving others with compassion and full of heart. Serving others out of an abundant joy over the love He has lavished and radically given us. You cannot force it if it is real. It is like grapes on a vine. They just burst forth.
The motives of our hearts matter to God.
I struggled recently with thinking I was angry. This scared me to death. How dare I be angry for the pain in my life. I had not gotten the pain free life I had always wanted. Somehow I thought if I did it right I would not have pain. But who can do it so right in a fallen world.
The cross of Christ grew bigger for me that day.
The newest thing I learned is God loves, loves, loves to give us MERCY!
I ask my Father will you please hold me and help me work through this. He was so willing and longed to help us with this sin I finally saw. The Spirit reveals things hidden in our thoughts at times. I prayed God, " Please help and forgive me". He graciously did. I pictured myself crawling up in His lap as we looked at the root causes of my anger. I had such freedom from the thoughts.
Have you struggled with a besetting sin? Something you just can't do or stop doing?
Do you find yourself defending, excusing or blaming what you cannot change?
Do you ever think God is angry with you when you sin?
He is NOT!
We are prone to wonder from the one we love. And we do over and over again. We all fluctuate from the prodigal son to the self righteous son. Going out. Coming home. Feeling self righteous and going out again. We all seek our own way daily.
God loves you with an everlasting love. If you are in Christ He sees the perfect life of Jesus when He looks at you. God requires perfection to come to Him. We are not in our own right. The only way God can come near to us, is us being perfect in Christ. We have His life and His heart and obedience. Even His mind. This is what Gods sees.
The other night I went to church. I was just trying to focus my thoughts on Jesus instead of my fears. There was a Jewish christian man who led the video said the words, "YOU ARE FORGIVEN". It washed over me in ways I cannot explain. It seemed so holy. So right. I was clean. I felt I was so loved. Just as I am. I am forgiven. Past, present and future of all that I had ever done and will do. I felt a load was lifted from my shoulders as I have beaten up myself thinking how I will never get it right.
It is not about getting better, but you will. It is about trusting God more. It is a rest no matter where you are. You will see there is a kindness, compassion, and love for God and others. It is His love, His heart, His mind that you are letting shine through the brokenness of your life. It is a joy and peace that only He can give.
So I am not what I use to be and neither are you. He promises, He who began a good work in you will complete it. I am not living fully who I really am either. But I am learning. The Father is training my mind to focus on things of beauty instead of things that drain life out of me. The loved child of God, who will never let us go. It is working out your salvation to remember who you are in Christ.
This morning I ask my good, good Father what are His plans for us today. Where is He working so that Jesus and I might join in by His Spirit. It is a life giving life that we have been given. Sin just distracts us from seeing the beauty of Jesus that is all. When you have come into the presence of our beautiful Savior relationships and life is a joy... not a challenge that you cannot bare. It is exciting and expectant at what God will do. It is a calm confidence not fear. But it does not come easy. It cost Jesus His life and ours. We have to die to thinking about trying to get better. And think about how beautiful our Savior is. It is a freedom to not worry about sin but to be so free in your heart that you cannot contain the love that is given to you in Christ. It just makes you want to live everyday to the fullest and do what you can to pass that freedom along to others.
