I thought I’d pass along some wise advice I recently received.
“In a way you’re wrestling with the Lord and with yourself. You know what He’s telling you to do; and yet, you’re struggling to do it. When you stop struggling with the Lord, you will stop struggling with yourself. Every relationship has struggles, even our relationship with the Lord.”
It would be nice if obedience were instantaneous and continuous. Sometimes, though, it’s a start and stop struggle. This is not an excuse to abuse grace. Know this, disobedience only hurts you!
When we stop choosing to do what Jesus says, we’re basically saying, “I’m going to live my way.” And thus, the struggle continues and peace is kept at a distance. Peace, which is the absence of struggle, comes through surrender to Him and living His way.
My friends, isn’t time you and I choose peace?

A famous poet once said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
The Lord had me take a small hike to the top of a mountain today to pray. When I got to the top, I was looking at endless tracts of houses, some recently built and some built years ago.
As I sat there looking at them, He said, “If you love Me, you will not see houses, but homes filled with broken people who need Me. Will you express your love for Me in mere words; or, as I wrote, with deeds and truth?”
We can say we love Jesus, but do our choices reflect that love? We can be so focused on our lives and challenges that we forget that our ultimate victory is already assured. We are children of the living God, who are living in His presence both now and forever.
Can I say that about those living in the homes around that mountain? Show your love for Jesus right now. Obey His command to pray for Him to send workers into those homes, into those lives, so He can heal the broken and give rest to the harassed.
Love Jesus both in words and truth based actions.

There’s a stretch of road by my house that has a huge pothole. The city has “repaired” it so many times it’s comical. They simply fill it in with asphalt and call it day. Yet before you know it, the pothole is back.
The only way to permanently get rid of that pothole is to pay a bigger price. This portion of the road needs to be torn up, regraded and then repaved. Patchwork is easier and looks nice, but the problem only returns.
Jesus didn’t come to add Himself or new behaviors to us, but to replace us with Him. Adding new behaviors is patchwork. It makes us look “good” in the short term, but the underlying cause, our sinful thinking, is still present. The sinful behavior only resurfaces just like the pothole.
You must pay the price if you truly want to change. New Christ-like behaviors only come through the hard work of renewing your mind through Spirit empowered faith steps.
Pay now or keep repaying the costs of failure. You and those around you need hope. This kind of hope only comes through Jesus shining through you, not a plastered on Jesus.

It’s been said, “True humility is seeing ourselves in others who lose their way, in others who seem unlovable from the outside, in those who continue to fall no matter how good their intentions were.”
Why is it humbling to look at broken people making broken type decisions? If we look carefully, we see ourselves in the unlovable, in those who lose their way and in those who keep falling. If we’re honest with ourselves, we know the saying, “But by the grace of God, there go I,” is true.
We feel unlovable at times. We make stupid choices that led to face-planting with the concrete. We make left turns when we should have made a right because we trusted in our own wisdom.
The sooner we all, the obviously broken and the less than obviously broken, realize that we need a Savior, the sooner victorious healing comes. Why? Because we’ll ask for it! Asking for help takes true humility, which leads to wholeness.

I was driving a mountain road when the car behind me pulled out and passed me and the car in front of me. Legal yes. Smart? Maybe. I could see an entire line of cars in front that was going to force them to slow down. I sure wouldn’t have done it.
Then it hit me. What they did was not only legal, but safe as well. And, what if they were responding to an emergency where every second, let alone minute, counted? What seemed illogical to me was perfectly logical to them.
I couldn’t see their heart or hear what Jesus was saying to them, only God could. There is one truth, but many applications to that truth. Who gives anyone the right to judge someone’s heart or motive, especially when their actions line up with Scripture?
Sure, they may not be doing it like you or I think they should. But who made either of us God? Only God is God, so allow Him to do His job; and then relax and do yours. Show your love for Jesus through listening to Him and then by Spirit empowered faith do it. Who knows. Next time, it might be you pulling out and passing two cars!