“Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us . . . His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us.”
Ephesians 1:4-5 (TLB) To get ready to be used by God, the first thing you need to do is understand the purpose of your life. The Bible makes God’s purpose for you very clear: “Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us . . . His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us” (Ephesians 1:4-5 TLB). God made you to be part of his family. He made you so he could have a relationship with you—to love you and to be loved in return. But there’s only one way to become part of God’s family: through faith in Jesus Christ. Not only does God want you to be part of his family but he also wants you to spend eternity with him. Ephesians 1:10 says, “This was his purpose: that when the time is ripe he will gather us all together . . . to be with him in Christ forever” (TLB). God’s purpose is, first, that you become part of his family and, next, that you get to know him. Then he wants you to spend all of eternity with him. History is moving toward a climax. One day God will gather everyone who’s put their faith in him, and they will live together with him in heaven. Life here on Earth is preparation for eternity. The Bible says that God has “set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV). That means you were made to last forever. You were made for eternity. Every human being is going to live forever in one of two places: with God in heaven or apart from God in hell. God didn’t create you just for the 80 or 90 or however many years you have on this planet. God has long-range plans for your life. So, what is life on Earth about? It is preparation for eternity. In other words, God is more interested in preparing you for eternity than he is in simply making you happy here and now. Of course, he loves you and wants you to be happy—but not at the expense of your preparation for eternity. Life is a dress rehearsal; it’s the warm-up act for the big event. You need to get prepared for eternity by getting to know God, becoming more like Jesus, and letting God use you to fulfill his purpose on Earth.
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“It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else.”
Ecclesiastes 6:9 (GNT)\ Instead of being regretful, you need to be grateful. Instead of complaining, you need to remember that everything is a gift from God. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4:7-8, “Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need” (The Message). Envy always asks, “Why them? Why does he have better health? Why does she have a job and a husband, and I have neither?” Gratitude says, “Why me? Why do I get to drink clean water when so much of the world doesn’t? Why am I not under persecution? Why am I not thrown into prison for my faith?” Envy is based on the myth that you must have more in order to be happier. But it’s just not true. Happiness is a choice. If you’re not happy now, you’re not going to be happy with more. I could give many testimonies of people who have a lot more than you, and it doesn’t make them happier. You are as happy as you choose to be. Ecclesiastes 6:9 says, “It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else” (GNT). This is called contentment—and all of us need to learn it. Why? Because by nature no one is contented! It is not natural to be contented. But it is mature to be contented. Babies are discontented. Unless everything is going their way, they’re not satisfied. Maturity is learning to be content when things are not going your way. It’s better to be satisfied with what you have than to always want something more. Let's clarify. Envy is not desire; desire is good. Envy is not ambition; ambition is good. You ought to be ambitious and work for good things in your life. Envy is not a dream; you ought to have a dream in your life. Envy is not setting goals; dreams, ambitions, goals, and desires are all things that God puts in you. Envy is resenting other people who have something already and believing the lie that you can’t be happy until you get it too. Instead, learn to be grateful for who you are and what you have. It’s all a gift from God! “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
Romans 12:15 (ESV) The Bible tells you to “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15 ESV). Have you noticed that the second part of that sentence is easy, but the first part can be really tough? When somebody’s having a hard time, it’s easy to be sympathetic. It’s easy to encourage people when they’re down. But what about when someone in your circle gets a promotion? That can be hard to handle! Rather than rejoicing in someone else’s success, you may resent it. You may even wish bad things would happen to people, because somehow you think that if you can blow out their candle, yours will shine brighter. But here’s the truth: There’s plenty of God’s grace to go around. Jesus once told the story of a landowner who hired workers at the beginning of the day to work in his vineyard. And the landowner continued to hire workers throughout the morning and afternoon, so that some of them only worked an hour or two. Yet, when it came time to pay the workers, the landowner paid everyone the exact same amount. The workers who were hired at the beginning of the day complained that this was unfair, but the landowner replied, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what is mine? Are you jealous because I’m generous?” (Matthew 20:15 CSB). Sometimes you may feel the same way when God blesses someone else. You work hard and do all the things God asks you to do. But then you see him generously bless someone else. And perhaps you think that person doesn’t deserve to be blessed because they don’t appear to have worked as hard as you or to have served God as faithfully as you. The thing is, if God wants to bless others the same amount as you, does it really matter? You shouldn’t even worry about what he wants to give other people. You should only be concerned about what you’re doing with what you’ve been given.4 Here's something to consider about envy: it happens close to you. It happens in your relationship with your peers. You don’t typically envy people who aren’t your peers. You might occasionally think of a favorite singer or actor and think, “I wish I were like that superstar.” But, it’s the people closest to you who tend to provoke the greatest envy. It’s hardest to see your family and friends experiencing success. Envy is insidious. It devalues others, it destroys relationships, and it makes you miserable. It’s hidden, but it’s destructive. And it causes you to miss out on so much joy. Perhaps you’ve wanted to be married, but you’re not married. Or you were married, and it fell apart. Now you dislike weddings. When you get a wedding invitation, you start resenting. You think that when someone else’s candle is shining, it will put yours out. You’re wrong. You’ll enjoy life a whole lot more if you learn to be happy over the successes of other people. If you’re only happy when things go well for you, you’re going to be miserable most of your life. But if you learn to applaud other people’s successes and celebrations, you can be happy all the time. Envy is the most unloving thing you can do to somebody else. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:4, “Love does not envy” (ESV). Love is not envious. Instead, love celebrates God’s goodness to others. “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
1 John 4:9-10 (NLT) Everything in life changes—relationships, jobs, health, finances. But there’s one thing in the universe that will never change: God’s love. God loves you, no matter what. Your failures, your brokenness, and your sin can never diminish his love. Knowing you can count on God’s love provides a rock-solid foundation for your life. The Bible’s most famous verse, John 3:16, says, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (NIV). Consider the small word “so” that goes before “loved” in that verse. “So” suggests the extravagance of God’s love. God loves you with a generous, extravagant love that can never be taken away. It’s beyond comprehension. He loves you on your good days and your bad days. He loves you when you sin and when you are faithful to him. It’s important that you don’t just recognize this lavish love intellectually. You need to recognize it emotionally, to really understand it deep down in your spirit. Love is God’s nature. God created the universe and everything in it just so that he could love it. And God created you so he could love you. In fact, in Jesus, God shows what real love, his love, looks like. The Bible says, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:9-10 NLT). Many people say they love you. But God showed you how much he loves you. He loves you so much that it hurt. He sacrificed his Son. When Jesus died for you, he was saying he loved you so much he’d rather die than live without you. The Bible says that’s what real love—the kind of love that you can build your life on—looks like. Real love makes sacrifices. Real love gives all. Real love endures for all eternity. That’s the kind of love only God has for you. He’s waiting with open arms to show you his goodness, mercy, and love. “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.”
Psalm 23:6 (NLT) Even in the middle of your hurts, habits, and hang-ups, God is watching over you. King David says to God in Psalm 23:6, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life” (NLT). When David says, “Surely your goodness will pursue me,” he’s not saying, “Surely only good things are going to happen to me.” David knew as well as anyone that bad things happen to good people. He had been abused and treated unfairly and was still a man who followed God’s heart. But he had also sinned terribly against people who had done no wrong to him. David’s point is that, no matter how bad, evil, or difficult something seems—and no matter how much we mess things up—God will work it out for good. His goodness is pursuing us, no matter which way we turn. It’s one of God’s great promises that he’s given to believers: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV). In everything that happens to us, God is working for our good—if we love God and are following his plans. This verse does not say that all things are good. But if you’re a believer, all things are working together for God’s plan and purposes, which are always good. That means there is no difficulty, dilemma, defeat, or disaster in the life of a believer that God can’t ultimately turn toward his purpose. When you believe that, it changes how you view everything in your life—your relationships with God and other people, your past, your future, and whatever you are facing today. As you trust in God’s good work in your life, you will be able to face even your toughest challenges with confidence. “The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy.”
James 3:17 (NLT) Mercy is like a diamond; it is multifaceted. Today we’re going to look at seven facets of mercy. And I guarantee that learning how to be an agent of mercy will transform your relationships. 1. Mercy means being patient with people’s quirks. The Bible says in James 3:17, “The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy” (NLT). The wiser you become, the more patient and merciful you become. 2. Mercy means helping anyone around you who is hurting. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself without being merciful. Proverbs 3:27 says, “Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it” (GNT). 3. Mercy means giving people a second chance. When somebody hurts you, you normally want to get even or write that person off. But the Bible says, “Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others . . . Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ” (Ephesians 4:31-32 CEV). 4. Mercy means doing good to those who hurt you. Mercy is giving people what they need, not what they deserve. Why should you do that? Because that’s what God does with you: “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back . . . Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36 NIV). 5. Mercy means being kind to those who offend you. You need to be more interested in winning people to Christ than in winning an argument. Jude 1:23 says, “Show mercy to others, even though you are afraid that you might be stained by their sinful lives” (GW). 6. Mercy means building bridges of love to the unpopular. This is what might be called premeditated mercy, because you intentionally build friendships with people who don’t have friends or who are not accepted at work or in society. When the Pharisees questioned why Jesus ate with tax collectors and other unpopular people, Jesus said, “‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners” (Matthew 9:13 NLT). 7. Mercy means valuing relationships over rules. Romans 13:10 says, “Love fulfills the requirements of God’s law” (NLT). If you want to show mercy, put people before policies. Put their needs before procedures. Put relationships before regulations. Choose love over law. “The Lord watches over all who love him.”
Psalm 145:20 (NIV) When you put your trust in Jesus, you never need to fear the future. His goodness and mercy are with you every day. You’re following the Good Shepherd, and he is out in front of you with his rod and staff. And at the back of the flock are a couple of sheepdogs—goodness and mercy—nipping at your heels, making sure you don’t run off into a ravine. These two sheepdogs keep you on track as you follow the Good Shepherd. God’s goodness is watching over you. Did you know that a second has never passed in your life when God was not watching you? God is always paying attention to you, because he created you to love you. He knows every detail of your life. Psalm 145:20 says, “The Lord watches over all who love him” (NIV). Not only does he watch over you, but he also protects you. The Bible says, “God will command his angels to protect you wherever you go” (Psalm 91:11 CEV). God’s protection doesn’t mean that only good things will happen to you. Suffering and disappointment will still come your way. But God will ensure that good will come out of everything that happens to you—whether or not you’re able to see in this lifetime how he has been working. God’s mercy and grace is working in you. The Bible says in Isaiah 60:10, “I will have mercy on you through my grace” (TLB). Grace is when God gives you what you don’t deserve. Mercy is when God doesn’t give you what you do deserve. For all the ways you’ve sinned, failed, and made mistakes, you deserve punishment, yet God pardons and forgives you through Christ. That’s mercy. It is God’s nature to be merciful. He loves to show his mercy! He doesn’t get bored with it. He doesn’t get tired of it. He doesn’t get frustrated that you keep coming back for more. God doesn’t say, “Okay, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I’ll give goodness, and on Tuesday and Thursday, I’ll give mercy, and on Saturday and Sunday, you’re on your own.” That’s simply not true! The truth is, God is with you every moment of every day, always offering his goodness and mercy. Nobody knows what’s going to happen next week, much less next year or in the next 10 years. But when you face the future, you can know this: God will fill your life to overflowing, and his goodness and mercy will be with you. There is no need to fear. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 (NIV) The moment you start doubting the goodness of God and deciding for yourself what will make you happy, all kinds of problems begin in your life. You wind up overworked, overanxious, and overloaded—and just generally overwhelmed! But God promises you an overflowing life, not an overwhelmed life. Jesus said, “I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness” (John 10:10 GNT). How do you experience an abundant, overflowing life? There is one habit that, if you do it every day, will fill you with an endless supply of God’s goodness: Stay connected to Jesus. In John 15:5, Jesus compared staying connected to him with a grapevine: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NIV). What happens when a cluster of grapes is cut off from the vine? It dies. The same is true with you. God is your true source of energy and power. If you try to go through life on your own power, you’re going to be overwhelmed. But if you’re connected to him, you’ll have all the power you need. Or, as the Bible says, “Your joy will overflow!” (John 15:11 NLT) One way to stay connected to Jesus is through a daily quiet time. In a quiet time, you set aside time to be alone with God and get to know him through reading his Word and talking to him in prayer. Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (NIV). Even Jesus knew his personal need for connection with God—and he was the Son of God! How much more do you need the strength that comes from daily time with the Lord? Some days you may not feel like having a quiet time—but do it anyway. If you wait to have a quiet time until you feel like it, Satan will make sure you never feel like it. Do you find yourself needing more time, energy, knowledge, or opportunity? I want to challenge you to develop the habit of spending daily time with Jesus. When you stay connected to him, you’ll find your life overflowing with God’s goodness and power—and you’ll realize that’s all you really need. “I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them.”
Zechariah 13:9 (NLT) Some prayers are answered immediately, but others take weeks, months, or even years. You probably know this all too well! But there’s good news: While you’re praying for God’s answer, you’re going to learn some things that you can’t learn any other way. In the waiting, there is blessing. One of the blessings is that you learn more about yourself when you don’t instantly get everything you want. When you’re going through fire, do you ever wonder why you have to go through it? It’s for testing and purification. As you pray about something over and over again, you face tests that reveal more about you. God says in Zechariah 13:9, “I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold” (NLT). You test gold by putting it in a big vat and heating it until it gets so hot that all the impurities are burned off. How do metalsmiths know when gold and silver are pure? When they can see their reflection in them. God can see his reflection in you when the impurities have burned out of your life—after you’ve been through the fire. He says that, after he’s done the testing and purification, “They will call on my name, and I will answer them” (Zechariah 13:9 NLT). Answered prayer comes after the test. Before every blessing, there is a testing. God tests you with stress before he trusts you with success. These are the principles of persistent prayer. God is going to test you before he blesses you. And in that test, you’re going to learn a lot about yourself. If you give up praying, you’re never going to learn the lessons that help you become more like Jesus. Keep praying with persistence each day. And remember that after the testing, the blessing will come. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand.”
John 10:27-28 (NCV) You can’t save yourself—but you don’t have to! All you need to do is put your hand in God’s hand and say, “God, I surrender it all to you—all the good and bad parts of my life. I’m not perfect, but you are, and so I’m accepting your gift of salvation.” When you do that, you can relax in your salvation. But some days, you’ll want to let go of God’s hand. You’ll want to pull back and say, “I don’t even know what I believe.” But God is never going to let go of your hand, because he loves you too much. Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand. My Father gave my sheep to me. He is greater than all, and no person can steal my sheep out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29 NCV). The “eternal life” God gives you begins the moment you put your hand in his, and you can’t lose it once you’ve got it. Why? Because your salvation is not based on having more good works to outweigh your bad works. It’s based on the merits of Jesus Christ. If you could get to heaven simply by being a nice person, then Jesus dying on the cross was a total waste of suffering, sorrow, sadness, and pain. If there was any other way for you to get into heaven except by Jesus Christ, God would have chosen it. But there was no other way. Jesus “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 NIV), which means the world is lost. Everyone is not going to heaven. If everyone was automatically going to heaven, Jesus did not need to come to Earth, live a perfect life, and then carry “our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 GNT). When you put your life in God’s hand, he promises he will hold on to you forever. This is why you can relax in your salvation. If you truly trust in Christ and know that you’re not getting to heaven on your own efforts, then nothing can steal your salvation from you—not Satan, sorrow, sickness, or society. You’re in the hand of the Good Shepherd. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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