This is what I want today.
This seems good right now.
Who cares where this road leads. I'll deal with it later.
This frame of mind can lead to a wasted life.
Ecclesiastes 2:11 (ESV) " Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."
For those of us who follow Christ, I don't think we're so Heavenly minded we're of no earthly good.
I think the problem is we're so earthly minded we're of no Heavenly good.
There's an appointment with death on the schedule for all of us.
Realizing that isn't being morbid.
It's wisdom.
Psalms 90:12 (ESV) "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."
Are we living out what we say we believe?
What's the general pattern of our life?
Need a new life lens?
The Bible is both a short term AND a long term lens.
A true two-for-one deal.
Good for now and eternity.
Want to live carelessly?
That means you won't enjoy experiencing God along the way.
And think about that appointment you'll have to show up for at the end of your life.
Proverbs 5:11-12 (ESV) " and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!"
There's no comfort in regret.
How much better to walk with God daily, moment by moment.
Peace in the midst of the struggle to be obedient.
Caring about where this road leads.
Okay.
Sounds great.
But I've blown it too many times to count!
Think mercy.
Micah 7:19 (ESV) "He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
Change begins with mercy shown and mercy embraced.
Psalm 51:1-17 (ESV) "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise...."
That sounds to me like a step-by-step plan to readjust the focus of our lives.
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