Normally, I do not write politically motivated blogs, but I felt led to write this one because it reflected a religious entitlement that did not sit well with me. Many people who profess Christianity appear to be short-sighted when it comes to earthly political matters. There seems to be little understanding of sin, hypocrisy and what the blood of Jesus really does in allowing us the blessing of going to Heaven.
I’ve been reading a number of FaceBook posts and news articles about Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration and what that means for “Americans”. I’m truly disappointed by posts from people who profess to be Christians, but appear to be content with the history of the ‘illegal European immigrants’ (Pilgrims) – who eventually stripped Americans (Native Americans) of their homes, rights and land. Furthermore, European illegal immigrants also saw fit to travel to other countries and displace entire races of people and bring them to the US as slaves – apparently motivated by their Christian duty to ‘civilize’ people of color.
I just don’t understand how, given the history of the US, today’s Americans and Christians at that, can be comfortable criticizing so called ‘illegal immigrants’ who, like the first Pilgrims came to the US fleeing persecution and seeking a better life. Why these Christians cannot see the hypocrisy of this is truly beyond me – but Jesus struggled with the same problem with the Pharisees (Matt 23: 24, 27). After all, Ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun. (Eccl. 1:9). It amazes me how todays Americans are worried about so called illegal immigrants being placed ahead of them. But back then, no one was too concerned about illegal European immigrants getting ahead of Native Americans, chasing people out of their homes and off their land. What will heaven really be like if there is going to start bickering about how Pedro, Chun-Mao or Muhammad got into heaven before all the worthy Americans who feel entitled to be there?
I believe there is a feeling of entitlement by many people living developed countries, not just the US. There is a feeling that “we own the resources” and can somehow decide who is worthy enough to get a piece of the pie. The reality is – not one ounce of the earth’s resources belongs to any of us and neither are we deserving of any of it. The earth and all that is in it belongs to God (Psalm 24:1) – He’s just allowing us to manage it for now and honestly, I think we’re making a bit of a mess. I truly believe there are more than enough resources to go around. God created the earth and told us to populate it (Gen 1:28). There is no way that God would have given an earth that did not have enough resources to sustain a growing population. The problem isn’t with illegal immigrants using up ‘our’ resources or taking ‘our’ jobs. The problem is that we do not properly manage the resources that God gave to us.
The amount of food that is squandered while people die of hunger is outrageous. The number of people who push a ball around court, sing a song, or even act the fool on reality television while earning crazy fat salaries is an abomination. Yet, we don’t seem to question that. Somehow, our apparently developed society is able to justify ridiculous pay checks for the people who entertain us. But for those people who are hungry and seeking a better life, we heap scorn on them and keep our gates/borders tightly locked fearing they will enter the US and take from a dismal welfare system that they cannot even register with. It just doesn’t seem to make sense, surely there should be more balance.
In heaven, everyone is going to have enough according to their need. I dare anyone to speak up to God in heaven and challenge Him as to why Pedro has a bigger house than Jack. I leave you with this thought… there will be illegal immigrants in Heaven… lots of them, including YOU… and I! Everyone in Heaven will be illegal, simply because not one of us has any right to be in Heaven because of ourselves or anything we have done, but simply because Heaven’s gates are open to every one. I am truly thankful that God does not turn anyone away, but has offered us grace, mercy and Jesus. Jesus built a bridge for each of us to get legal status to Heaven as we flee persecution here on Earth and seek the hope of eternal life. As we reflect on that, we need to learn to better manage our own resources as well as offer the same grace, mercy and legal status to people who are in the US today who have come in hope of what they perceive to be a “better way of life”. Be warned, if you don’t like illegal immigrants here on Earth, then Heaven is not the place for you. Heaven will be full of illegal immigrants – so you may need to start planning now, for another eternal home.
“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” John 9: 1 – 3
OBSERVATION
For a long time, dare I say up until very recently, I used to think that God rewarded me for obedience and punished me for my disobedience. After all, it’s a common model perpetuated by my parents to which I became conditioned. It was the same model that the Jews believed in too, that if something bad had happened to someone, whether it be an illness or accident, it was because they or their parents had sinned – God had punished them.
Jesus saw the blind man as He walked by. His disciples wanted to know why this man was blind, was it because of his sin or his parents. Jesus’ answer was that it was neither, but that this was an opportunity for God to be glorified. Moreover, it was an opportunity for God’s love for man to be truly exposed.
You see, this man was a sinner, he was not even a believer in God. He didn’t even ask Jesus to heal Him and in many ways we could define him as undeserving of God’s help. But Jesus was willing to heal Him not because this man was obedient, but because He wanted to show people what His love is really about.
APPLICATION
God had to send Jesus in order for us to really get to know God. We had already perpetuated untruths about God in relation to punishing people with sicknesses because of their sins. By Jesus’ example, we were able to really know who God is and dispel some of those myths.
So, how are my children going to know God if I perpetuate the same myths by punishing my child when they make mistakes. After all, am I not God’s representative on Earth for my child? Surely they will relate to God in the same way that they relate to me. If I’m an angry tyrant, who shouts and punishes them for the slightest mistake, surely they will view God the same way. They will also be afraid to try, fearing that they will fail and may be punished for it.
Even when our children make mistakes, sometimes we just need to give them another chance, even if they are undeserving, after all this is what God does for us, every day.
PRAYER
Dear God
Thank You for showing us Your unconditional love. Please help us to teach our children about Your love through our own example. Help us to teach our children that there are consequences that happen to us because this is a sinful world but God does not wait around for us to make mistakes in order to punish us. Please help us to how grace, mercy to our children when they make mistakes. Help us to clearly explain the guidelines we have set for them so that when they make mistakes we can lovingly steer them back onto the right path and to give them the opportunity to correct their mistakes. We really want our children to know You and to be able to turn to You when they make mistakes.
Thank You Lord for being a safe place for us to succeed and to fail, please help us to be that safe place for our children too.
“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” (the devil)
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” (John 8: 37 – 41)
OBSERVATION
Once again Jesus was defending Himself, and again it was His birthright as the Son of God. The Jews told Jesus that they were the descendants of Abraham to which Jesus agreed. But Jesus said, if you are seeking to kill me then your father is not Abraham, because Abraham would not seek to kill Him. Jesus told them that He does the works of His Father (God), and they do the works of their father (Satan), though they did not fully understand Jesus’ reference. Nevertheless, they wanted to totally discredit Jesus and His claim to Heavenly Paternity. The Jews decided to take a cheap shot at Jesus by saying to Him “we were not born of fornication” or in other words “at least I am not a child of illicit sex” referencing the spiritual conception of Jesus by His mother Mary. Thankfully, Jesus ignored them and continued to testify of His Father.
APPLICATION
Some things never change. Jesus was trying to educate the Jews about their actions, after all they were the ones asking Him questions. The Jews did not like Jesus’ answer, and in their bid to discredit and hurt Him, they decided to drag us His apparent ‘unsavory’ past. How could you be a child of God and the Son of God at that – you are a child of immorality?
It reminds me of some of the churches I have read about that refuse to baptize or bless innocent babies/children, because their parents were not married. I remember on one occasion, a group of brothers and sisters leading the youth in my church, refused to choose a particular young man to preach, because neither of His parents attended church. I was absolutely horrified that we could even begin to exclude or punish innocent youth on the basis of their parents actions, but if the Jews did it to Jesus, it can happen to anyone.
We need to be mindful that we seek to love people because they are God’s children, regardless of who their parents are or what they have done. Our respect for people should not include creating a hierarchy of sin such that my parents sins are more respectable than yours, “for we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23).
PRAYER
Dear Father in Heaven
We are thankful that You sent Jesus to teach us about who You are. We are thankful for Your sacrifice and moreover for the humiliation and suffering that Jesus went through because of Your immense love for us. I cannot imagine how much Jesus had to fight daily to stay strong and to stay connected to You. Although I know that there are a lot of beautiful people here on this earth, it just seems that as a human race, sometimes we must be incredibly difficult to love, especially when we can be so insensitive and cruel. Knowing this, it makes me realize that what Jesus went through to save us, He could only have done it because of Love, a love that in my immaturity, I cannot even begin to comprehend.
When we look at others, help us not to see them based on their sins or the apparent sins of their fathers, help us to see Your face Jesus and love them as You have loved us.
Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” John 7: 19
“Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7: 22 – 23
Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” John 7: 51
OBSERVATION
I could not help but notice that Jesus had to defend Himself against unfair judgments. He was accused time and time again of breaking the law. Yet, the same people who judged Him, were the ones who were breaking the law and failed to notice it. Jesus asks them why are you trying to kill me when you are the ones breaking the law? He asks them again why are you so mad at me for apparently breaking the Sabbath by healing a man, when you also perform circumcisions on the Sabbath to keep the law of Moses? If I am breaking the Sabbath, then you are too. Jesus challenges their hypocritical legalistic attitudes towards the law.
Clearly the people have little insight into their own actions and can only see what they perceive Jesus is doing wrong. On that basis, as Nicodemus points out they have judged Him without even asking Him what He is doing. It is classic speck versus plank eye syndrome. (Matthew 7: 3-5). They do not realize that they have failed to judge Jesus’ actions in the context of His testimony and their own failings and if they had, they may have judged a little less harshly. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matthew 7:2)
APPLICATION
It’s easy for me to stand back, judge someone and then feel better about myself because I did not break God’s law. It’s satisfying that I can go away and exalt myself for not doing what they did. I cannot count how many times I have judged someone from a distance without getting to know or ask them what they were doing or why and trying to put myself in their shoes. Furthermore, how many times have I criticized someone, only to find myself committing the same act a few days later? It all happens far too often.
It’s important to challenge ourselves daily about the snap judgments we make. It is equally important to be careful about the accusatory remarks or thoughts we have, without having enquired directly or tried to understand another person. We should try to listen to people with an understanding of our own failings as humans. When Jesus pointed out the people’s hypocrisy He said “do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). He was referring to the fact that they had failed to look at the full picture, which included their ‘law breaking actions’ too. Legalistic hypocritical judgments have no place in God’s law. Just as Jesus said that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2;27), “the Law was made for man, not man for the Law”.
I am realizing that I am continually seeing planks in my own eyes. The more planks I see and remove from my own eyes, the more spiritual insight I have. The more spiritual insight I have into my own failings, the more grace and love I can extend towards others.
PRAYER
Almighty God
You are worthy to be praised and we thank You for Your Grace, Love and Mercy. My prayer today is that we all look deeply into ourselves before we even begin to look at others. The process of removing planks from our eyes is endless but necessary. Help us not to judge others by appearance. We do not know what others are going through and even if we do, help us to be supportive. Even if we try to step into their shoes, we can never fully experience their pain or understand their decisions, so help us not to judge hypocritically or legalistically. Help us to judge righteously by seeing others through our own failings and in doing so, to extend love, grace and care towards them.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
OBSERVATION
I have always wondered about the purpose of the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman. I notice that following Jesus’ request to call the Samaritan’s woman’s husband, she responds by saying that she has no husband. Jesus agrees and says that she has spoken the truth. He then goes on to say that she has had five husbands and the one she is with is not hers.
But how can she have married five husbands, yet according to Jesus, have no husband? Surely, according to traditional views, Jesus would say that she has at least one husband, with the first marriage (where there is no death) being the only spiritually acceptable one? Furthermore, how could she have gotten to her fifth husband without being stoned for adultery because she remarried four times?
Or did all of her husbands die? It seems unlikely, even so, what Jesus said would then be correct, she has no husband for they are all dead. But why mention her dead husbands? All He could have said is, that the man she is with now is not her husband. Why would it be relevant to raise her past? After all, Jesus says everything for a reason.
Another explanation is that she ‘had’ – meaning had sexual intercourse with five men who are another woman’s husband. However, the term generally used in the Bible for sexual intercourse is ‘to lay’ or ‘to know’.
Lastly, could she have had five husbands and was legally and spiritually divorced from them, hence she really had no husband. As a consequence of her five failed relationships, she decided to live with the last man so that she would not have to go through the humiliation of another divorce? If so, was Jesus accepting the validity of a legal and spiritual divorce by stating she has no husband?
While I believe and fully support the ideal for a marriage partnership to be life-long, we know that Moses allowed divorce due to the hardness of man’s heart. However, according to some studies, the word divorce has been wrongly translated. The original Hebrew word used for ‘divorce’ actually refers to an old practice of men who ‘put away’ their wives (separated or left them with no legal divorce). For her survival and that of her children, the ‘put away’ wife would remarry rather than prostitute herself. But because she was not legally divorced, she committed adultery and this is why God hates ‘divorce’ that is the practice of ‘putting away’. Moses requested that a legal document be produced to protect women who were often oppressed, impoverished and unjustly stoned, (Deuteronomy 24:1-3). A legal document allowed the woman the freedom to remarry without condemnation of adultery. It has been suggested that the word ‘divorce’ in the Bible should be read using the words ‘to put away’. (For a general read on Divorce and Remarriage – http://www.bethelministries.com/divorce.htm). Let us not forget that God legally divorced Himself from Israel, also issuing them a certificate of divorce (Jeremiah 3:8).
APPLICATION
What was the purpose of this conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman such that He raised her past and present? I think that Jesus gently brought her into the awareness of her failed relationships and her current actions living with another man, but I think it was the reason behind her failed relationships that Jesus was asking her to explore. Before He mentioned her husbands, Jesus told her that He has living water, and if she drinks His water, she will never thirst again. I believe Jesus was saying to the Samaritan woman – whatever you are seeking in these men, can be found in Me. He was stipulating that He (Jesus) is the love that she has been searching for and once she accepts God’s love, she will never search for this love in another man or earthly relationship again. I know this is a lesson I need to hear and accept.
PRAYER
Father God
Thank You for another day enjoying this miracle called life. I thank You for the institution of marriage which ideally should be a life-long commitment. I thank You for the opportunity to look at divorce from a different perspective. Help us in this day and age to learn to treat people who are divorced with more compassion and care, rather than with judgment and failing. I know that You understand because You Lord were also divorced from Israel and You bear no shame. I thank You for the example of love and empathy that You showed to the Samaritan woman while explaining to her that we need to find love in You first. Without the knowledge of Your love it will be difficult for any of us to truly know what love looks like and this may eventually lead to failed relationships.
Help us all to be grounded in Your wonderful gift of true unconditional love.
In Jesus’ Name
Amen
Note: Your comments are welcome, but please note that this a controversial and sensitive topic. I ask that all words are written respectfully and with love.
Today I’ve been thinking about how unforgiving the world can be when we make mistakes. Some days it is hard to be ‘human’, to be imperfect in a world that expects you to be perfect and get things right… All. The. Time.
I remember my child coming home, feeling they had been unjustly dealt with at school. It was the first time they had forgotten their homework, and they had been ‘disciplined’ as if they were a repeat offender. I felt their pain. Everyone forgets something from time to time – it’s human. I had to remind them that it was okay to forget, it was okay to be imperfect, it is okay to be human.
This world does not always offer you a second chance. One seemingly small mistake or error in judgment can be disastrous to your life or the lives of others, and in some cases you can be judged by that mistake for rest of your life – the label sticks. Sometimes we judge others harshly, until we find ourselves in a similar situation. It is my prayer that I can grow with God in offering forgiveness to my brothers and sisters who make mistakes, as I know I need that same forgiveness.
I am thankful that God knew me well enough to know I would make mistakes despite my efforts. He lovingly set up a plan to forgive and redeem me. With Jesus – there are no worldly labels regardless of what we have done. Jesus gives us new chances every day. We may sin one day, and be washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, through the confession and repentance of our sins, the following day.
With Jesus, I have a Friend, a Brother, and an Advocate. With the Holy Spirit, I have the comfort and strength to walk with God in this unforgiving world with my head held high. With God, I have the unconditional love of my Creator, my Father. Amen.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”-Mark 10:45
The “Servior” might look like a typo, Jesus makes it clear in this verse what His entire mission on earth would be, and that is to be our Loving Server and our Lord and Savior. One of the many ways that Jesus served the people was through the miracles he performed.
Jesus performed miracles – around three dozen, depending on how you count them-but the Gospels actually downplay them. Though He never denied someone who asked for physical healing, He always turned down requests for a demonstration to amaze the crowds and impress important people such as King Herod & Pontius Pilate even when His life depended on it. Jesus recognized early on that the excitement generated by miracles did not readily convert into life-changing faith. Rarely did people find it easy to believe in miracles; they seemed as peculiar in the first century as they would seem if performed today. Just imagine your own reaction of seeing a televangelist on one of the Christian networks that “heals” members of his audience. Then, as now, miracles aroused suspicion, contempt, and only occasionally faith.
Now even though we cannot perform miracles as He did and still does, we can still learn lessons from Him in how we serve others in our community.
Lesson #1. When you do community service, or any volunteer activity to benefit others, you must expect suspicion and skepticism.
We live in such a cynical world, that even random acts of kindness to strangers will have them thinking there is a catch. Also when we go out to serve the community, like Jesus, we cannot do it just so we can get attention, give ourselves a pat on the back, or just make our church look good. Read Matthew 6:2. Imagine if you will, the mentality of the arrogant modern day apostle, “Look at me; I just gave away a free water bottle and two bags of Cheetos and Skittles! I’m such an awesome volunteer”. Service should be who we are and not just what we do. Christian writer E.G. White says in the book “Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing” that “Those who desire words of praise and flattery and feed on them as sweet morsel, are Christians in name only.”
Jesus’ first miracle in John chapter 2 (turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana) was perhaps the strangest of all. He never repeated anything quite like it, and the miracle seemed to take Jesus by surprise as much as anyone else.
As emergencies go, this one falls well down the list. It caused embarrassment, to be sure, but should a Messiah who had come to heal the sick and liberate the captives concern Himself with a social mishap? “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied when His mother mentioned the problem. “My time has not yet come.”
Can you imagine what crossed Jesus’ mind? If He acted now that would mean His time HAD come and from that moment on, life would change. If word of His powers leaked, He would soon hear pleas from needy people from Galilee to Jerusalem. Crowds would flock: the blind, the lame, the deaf-mutes, and the demon-possessed, not to mention any street beggar who wanted a free glass of wine. So finally He reached a decision, for the first but surely not the last time in His public life, He changed HIS plans to accommodate someone else.
Lesson #2-When we serve others in any capacity, like Jesus, it would require us to change plans to accommodate someone else.
Serving others is not about us. It requires sacrifice of our time, money, our energy, and some of our material possessions. Also serving others requires us to step outside of our comfort zone. Like Jesus, we have to meet people where they are. We actually have to step out of the ivory towers of the church building and go into some of the most undesirable neighborhoods to serve those in need. We can’t expect those in the community to come in here, if they feel we are too good to go meet them out there.
The people back then blamed the victims of blindness, deafness, and paralysis on their sinful conditions. So the sicker you were, the more sinful you were. But Jesus overturned common notions about how God views sick and disabled people. He denied that the men’s blindness came from sin, just as he dismissed the common opinion that tragedies happen to those that deserve them. Job refuted that theory right? Job was the most upright man in the land and still got hit with more tragedy than anyone else. Praise be to God that Jesus, the only perfect Man who ever lived, served the most imperfect of people.
Lesson #3-When we serve others, like Jesus, we must not look down on them or stand in judgment of their circumstances as if we’re superior and they’re inferior to us. We must dismiss the ideology that bad circumstances mean they’re bad people. But if you read the Holier Than Thou version of Romans 3:23, it says “Most have sinned..some have fallen short”, no ALL have sinned and not only have ALL sinned but no matter how high and mighty you think you are, or how big a deal you think you are, you STILL come short of the glory of God. We are all just nobodies telling somebody that anybody can be saved by the Man who died for everybody. So let’s serve with humble hearts of compassion like Christ.
Let us talk about the only miracle in all four Gospels, the feeding of the 5,000. The daunted disciples were vexed and perplexed on how to feed the multitude, but the Savior was the solution. When we focus on the problems, we lose sight of the promises. When we focus on great obstacles, we miss out on golden opportunities. So I can imagine Jesus telling the disciples “I healed the sick, made the blind see, made the lame walk, raised the dead, and calmed a storm with My voice alone … so do you honestly think hunger is something I can’t handle?”
Lesson #4-When we serve others, we need to remember that little becomes much when we place it in the Masters hands. Just like the 2 fish and 5 loaves fed everyone AND created an overflow and spillover, God will take whatever gifts and talents you have to serve others and will multiply it so that it would exceed even YOUR expectations so that it will spillover and overflow to have a huge impact on so many that would greatly benefit from it.
The author Philip Yancey once said, “Jesus never met a disease He could not cure, a birth defect He could not reverse, a demon He could not exorcise. But He did meet skeptics He could not convince and sinners He could not convert. Forgiveness of sins requires an act of will on the receiver’s part, and some who heard Jesus’ strongest words about grace and forgiveness turned away unrepentant.” In the context of service, we can help so many people when we give of our time and energy, and they can still end up being ungrateful and unappreciative, but serve anyhow. And why should we serve others? What’s the point of it all anyway? Let’s look no further than Matthew 25:37-40. It wasn’t the wicked, the unbelievers, or even the Gentiles that asked those questions, it was the righteous that asked these questions. It was His followers, the believers, the Christians. He wants us to serve others we SEE just like we serve Him that we DON’T see. Matthew 20:28- the Son of Man did not come to be served, but TO SERVE, and give His life a ransom for so many.” Besides dying on the cross for our sins, out of His own mouth, serving was His only other purpose on earth. We are saved to serve. God saved us so we can serve others…God saved us, so we can serve others. So let us serve with compassionate hearts and sincerity. Francis of Assisi once said, “It is not fitting, when one is in God’s service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look”. I believe that God not only loves a cheerful giver, but a cheerful servant.
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” -Muhammad Ali
We all need to ask ourselves, are we current with our “rent” payments with our LandLord? Or are we delinquent?
Suggested listening music to reflect on.
Keith Pringle-Saved to Serve
Baking a cake requires a combination of specific ingredients in a particular way to ensure success. If the cake fails, I usually assume I did something wrong and I will need to make a change next time. When seeking an answer to my prayers, there is also a formula or recipe for success, such as prayer, fasting, Bible study, and faith. If the prayers go unanswered, once again I assume that I did something wrong and will need to do something different next time.
I confess that I have manipulated areas of my life to create a desired outcome, such as baking a simple cake – who hasn’t? Change your actions means you change the outcome – right? But is it possible that I unknowingly did the same with God? Was I trying to manipulate God to provide me with what I wanted, based on what I was doing?
As a Christian it is a message I have heard many times. If you want a breakthrough with the challenges in your life, whether it is good health, a restored marriage, job security, financial blessings, then you should seek to pray, recite scriptures, serve in church, submit, forgive, sacrifice, wear the right clothes, send our children to Christian school, the list goes on. The reverse of this message is, if your prayers go unanswered, it is because of something you failed to do, and if you are like me, you will try harder and do more to break through these walls.
Despite trying to complete my endless ‘to do’ list there was no breakthrough, until one day, I broke down. I was burned out. My heart ached, and in tears, I looked to God and said “What now?”God said:-
Image courtesy of Evgeni Dinev at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28.
So I sat in God’s presence and rested. Things fell apart around me. I rested. My world and everything in it came crashing down. Still, I rested. During this time, I learned more about myself and the people around me. Relationships cracked, some people stayed, others left, some I chose to break, others were restored. Most importantly, God revealed to me that the area of my life I had been working so earnestly to fix, was not mine to fix – it was His. I had been trying to do God’s job.
I had to stop trying to influence Him, albeit subconsciously, and let Him do whatever He had to do in my life, even if it meant failing and losing the very things I valued. As He puts my broken life back together, I now see the breakthrough that I had been praying for. I literally had to ‘break’ – for these walls in my life to come tumbling down. I’m still walking ‘through’ to the other side – but to a different life that God has in store for me. God had to ‘break me to make me’.
Though I am perplexed by His way, and the unexpected dynamics, I am trusting Him and feeling truly blessed. I begin this journey with a renewed heart and desire to really know God and accept His Grace and Mercy. I finally believe that He does not bless me or answer my prayers because of what I do, but quite simply because He loves me – unconditionally. This is my testimony of Jesus Christ.
How did God bring you through a difficult time in your life? Share your experiences or comments below…
Spiritual Sandwich 