What we think is important today, is more often than not, unimportant tomorrow.
I once saw a sign on a piece of property where a weed grew so high you couldn’t read what was on the sign. The owner needs to take out that giant weed if they ever want people to see whatever was on their sign.
This is a great illustration of the parable of the seed and the thorny soil. Jesus was planted in it, but the cares of everyday living, the lust for things other than Jesus and the pursuit of money beyond meeting needs choked the life out of the person. Weed thoughts choke out the fruit of peace, security, joy and love; all the while, blocking people from seeing Jesus.
It’s like the picture above where the weeds are overtaking the flowers! Let the Spirit pull out those weed thoughts by staying focused on the truths Jesus gives you each day in His Word. They will keep you in perfect peace and let the Prince of Peace shine brightly through you.

Don’t wonder why something didn’t happen, just go forward now.
There are times where it will appear that God is silent as to the why of what He’s told you to do. It’s a parent’s prerogative. He doesn’t have to tell us why as we may not understand it even if He did. The question is, “Will we trust Him to know what He’s doing even when we don’t?”
Know this, though. His ways, at times, are too magnificent for us to grasp. Thus, we may never know the why of something happening to us or what we’ve been asked to do. Without being crass, so what? We show our love for Jesus and the Father by going forward with what He’s told us to do, regardless of whether we ever know the why.
Our Father is perfect and is in total and complete love with us. Trust and go forward even if you don’t understand the whys.

It’s a military axiom: When you’re taking flak, you know you’re close to or over your target.
Planes would be sent to take out the enemy. When they started getting close to their intended target, the enemy would start shooting and the shells would explode around them, or flak. The enemy wanted to take them out before they could do damage.
Paul tells Timothy, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Not might be, will be. The enemy doesn’t want you to do any damage, like people seeing Jesus in you and wanting a relationship with Him.
Feeling defeated? You’re already victorious, so keep moving toward Jesus. Going through a rough patch in the road? Give thanks and keep walking. Yes, it’s unpleasant at the moment, but something and/or someone pleasant is just up ahead.

“Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.”
The context, Jesus was killed outside Jerusalem in order to make us holy, helps us understand this phrase. The writer refers to Leviticus 7 and the thank offering associated with the peace offering. Jesus was killed to give us peace with God, which should give us pause throughout our day to give thanks or praise to God for making this happen.
God is no longer angry with you because He sent Jesus to be slaughtered for you. God is no longer going to whack you because He whacked Jesus for you. You are forgiven because God put all your sins upon Jesus nailed to the cross.
Do we deserve peace with God? No. Can we do “good Christian things” to be released from punishment? Nope. Was anything we’ve done, are doing or will do outside the scope of His forgiveness? Absolutely not.
Therefore, instead of sweating the mistakes of life (ours and/or others), start acknowledging who God is and what He has done, is going and will do for you. Can’t think of anything? Go back to a road outside Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago.

It’s called the Tale of Two Flies. One day two flies nosedive into a bowl of cream. One of them believed in God and one didn’t. I know, God believing flies! Hold on, the story gets better. The cream made their wings sticky; thus, making it impossible to get out of the bowl.
The one who didn’t believe in God decided to drink the cream and die. While the one who believed in God kept flapping his wings until butter was made and flew out.
We live in a world that needs Jesus more than ever. And yet, statistics show that less than 10% those who call themselves “born again” are making butter or experiencing Jesus change their lives so that Jesus can be seen in and through their lives. The rest have given up.
It was Gandhi who said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Let’s pray for the world to see and hear Jesus in His Bride, the Church. It’s drinking the cream, but needs to see and taste the butter!