“For the word of the LORD holds true, and we can trust everything he does.”
Psalm 33:4 (NLT) One of the great questions of life is, “Who are you going to trust?” The way you answer this question will determine whether you’re happy or miserable, whether you succeed or fail, whether you make something of your life or waste your life. To determine who you should trust, ask yourself questions like these: Who always has your best interest in mind? Who will help you make important decisions? Who wants to see you succeed? Should you trust popular opinion? That may not be a good idea since it constantly changes. Should you trust celebrities who set the latest trends? Trends change, and fads fade. Should you make critical life decisions based on what you read on social media? Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s truly trustworthy or reliable. What about trusting yourself? The truth is, your emotions can lie to you. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV). When you live by your emotions, you can be easily manipulated by other people and by your changing moods. If you’re going to entrust your life and your future to someone or something, you better choose someone who has your best interest at heart, knows everything, is perfect, and will never lie to you. That kind of limits your options—to God. No one else is ever going to always tell you the truth. They’re going to shade it. They’re going to filter it. They’re going to make it sound nice. They may not tell you what you need to hear. But what you need to hear is the truth—because it is the truth that sets you free. Lies about yourself, others, the world, and how life really is will only keep you in bondage. And even though the truth will set you free, it may make you miserable at first. That’s why people don’t like the truth and often avoid it. You don’t want to hear that most of your problems were brought on by poor decisions. You don’t want to hear that your own stubbornness, ego, and insecurity cause the stress in your life, but it’s true. Psalm 33:4 says, “For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does” (NLT). God said it, and that settles it—whether or not you believe it. God isn’t waiting on your opinion to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong. If God says it, it’s true. Each day voices all around you are trying to get you to trust them. But there’s only one voice you can trust that will always have your best in mind. Trust God for your present and your future. He will never let you down.
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“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 (NLT) God loves you so much that he sent Jesus on a mission of love with a message of love. The Bible doesn’t say God has love; it says God is love. Love is his nature; God is love. God created the entire universe. He created this planet, and he created the human race. Then he created you because he loves you. God made you so he could love you and so that you could love him. God’s love for you is the reason your heart’s beating right now; it’s the reason you’re breathing. God’s good news is that he loves you on your bad days just as much as he loves you on your good days. He loves you when you can feel his love, and he loves you when you can’t seem to feel his love. He loves you regardless of whether or not you think you deserve his love. There is nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you. You could try, but you simply can’t do it—because his love for you is based upon his character and not on anything you do, say, or feel. God loves you so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus, into this world, “so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT). When Jesus stretched his arms out as wide as the cross, he was saying, “I love you this much! I love you so much it hurts. I love you so much I’ll die for you so that I won’t have to live without you.” Ephesians 3 says God’s love is so wide, long, high, and deep that humans can’t fully understand it. As you go about your day today, know that God is loving you at every moment, no matter what. “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 (GNT) Let’s face it. You and I do foolish things from time to time. We make mistakes. But nothing you ever do is beyond the capacity for God to use. You may make mistakes, but God doesn’t. The Bible says this in Romans 8:28: “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose” (GNT). When you make a mistake, God says, “I can fit that in too. I can use it all for good.” Let's be clear, though. This isn’t a promise for everyone. The Bible doesn’t say God works everything for good for those living in rebellion against him or for those who aren’t living for God’s purposes. This promise is for people who come to God and say, “I want to live for your purpose. Even though I make mistakes, I want to do the right thing. I want to follow and trust you.” Do that, and God will take it all and use it for his good. That’s a reason for joy. When you put your life in God’s hands, it doesn’t mean you’ll never goof up again. You’ll still make bad decisions. You’ll still mess up. But God can fit it all into his plans. There is no plan B for your life. Before you were born, God knew all the mistakes you’d make. He also knew how he’d fit those mistakes into his plan. That means you can relax. You can stop being anxious. Do the best with what God has given you. You can live in confidence and joy, knowing God will work everything in your life into his plan. “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?”
Romans 8:31 (NLT) Psychologists have identified hundreds of different known fears that people can have. Fear is a universal problem—and it takes away your joy. But here’s the good news: You don’t have to be afraid. You have God on your side! “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (Romans 8:31 NLT). With God on your side, you don’t need anything else. God plus one equals a majority. What’s your greatest fear? Is it embarrassment? Failure? Rejection? Disappointing others? Not fitting in? Satan uses all of these fears to rob you of joy. He knows what will make you joyful, so he creates fears to oppose those things. For instance, Satan knows doing what’s right will always bring you joy. So he makes you afraid of what other people will think if you do the right thing. He makes you worry more about your popularity than pleasing God. Satan also knows one of the greatest sources of joy in life is when you share the love of Christ with an unbeliever. So he makes you afraid to tell people about Jesus. The truth is, to find joy, you need only one thing. You need to live for an audience of one: God. That’s Jesus’ path to complete and total joy. He said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11 NIV). You can have joy in life, knowing that God is for you. Fear not! “I love you with an everlasting love.”
Jeremiah 31:3 (GW) Nothing you’ve ever done or will ever do can stop God from loving you. God said in Jeremiah 31:3, “I love you with an everlasting love” (GW). Do you know how long everlasting is? It’s forever. You can’t make God stop loving you; he will love you forever. His love isn’t based on what you do. It’s based on who he is. The only reason you’re alive is because God made you to love you. That’s why God sent his Son: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT). God wants you to know his love. Even more, he wants you to feel his love. God’s love will transform you when you feel it. It turns somebody who is hateful, bigoted, or racist into a kind, gentle, and loving person. When God’s love hits your heart, it changes you. If your life hasn’t changed, then you don’t know God. You can’t have somebody as big as God come into your life and not be changed by it. When God’s love comes into your life, it changes how you react to everyone else. When you truly understand and experience the love of God, you can’t help but pass it on to others. In fact, Jesus described it like this: “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35 HCSB). But it starts with God’s love for us. The most amazing conversion in the Bible is of a guy named Saul, who was a religious extremist that killed Christians. One day, on his way to Damascus, he encountered the resurrected Jesus. Jesus said to Saul, “Why are you persecuting me?” Saul fell to his knees and said, “My Lord and my God.” The man who had once been a religious extremist became the apostle of love. Saul, now known as Paul, wrote most of the New Testament, including some of the most beautiful words on love ever written, 1 Corinthians 13. The everlasting, completely free love of God will do that. It changes lives. Has it changed yours? “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:31-32 (NIV) If you’re like most people, you might have some misconceptions about what it means to forgive. And, because you don’t understand forgiveness, you find it really difficult to forgive. As a follower of Jesus, you need to understand forgiveness. The Bible clearly calls Christians to forgive. Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently” (NIV). So, if God expects you to forgive others, what does healthy, biblical forgiveness look like? Here are four things you should do when you need to forgive someone. 1. Recognize no one is perfect. When you hate somebody, you tend to lose your perspective about that person. Resentment, bitterness, and hurt make you stop seeing that person as a fellow human being. You treat them like an animal. But the truth is everyone is in the same boat. The Bible says, “Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20 NLT). We’re all imperfect. 2. Relinquish your right to get even. This is the heart of forgiveness. The Bible says, “Never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it” (Romans 12:19 TLB). Even if you think you deserve to retaliate, don’t. If the hurt runs deep, you may have to commit over and over again to not getting even. But, no matter what, leave the repayment to God. 3. Respond to evil with good. Humanly speaking, it’s nearly impossible to respond to evil with good. You’ll need God’s help. You’ll need the love of Jesus to fill you up. Why? “[Love] keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV). When you can respond to evil with good, you’ll know you’ve fully released someone from the wrong they’ve done to you. 4. Refocus on God’s plan for your life. As long as you continue to focus on the person who has hurt you, that person controls you. In fact, it often goes a step further: If you don’t release your offender, you will begin to resemble your offender. So stop focusing on the hurt and the person who hurt you. Instead, refocus on God’s purpose for your life—his purpose is greater than any problem or pain you might be facing. Don’t sit another day in your resentment. If you’ve been holding on to pain caused by someone else, go through these four steps and move on to the life you were created to live! “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 (NIV) Few people are willing to suffer for someone else. But Jesus was. In fact, he didn’t suffer for just one person; he chose to suffer for all the people in the world! John 19 describes some of Jesus’ suffering: “After this, Jesus knew that everything had been done. So that the Scripture would come true, he said, ‘I am thirsty.’ There was a jar full of vinegar there, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a branch of a hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ mouth” (John 19:28-29 NCV). Jesus was in agony on the cross—and he was thirsty. He was suffering not just from pain but also from great thirst. Jesus didn’t deserve to suffer for everyone’s sin. We each deserve to suffer for our own sins. But Jesus was willing to suffer and thirst for you so that you can go to heaven. Jesus did nothing wrong. He committed no crimes. He didn’t hurt anyone. He lived a perfect life. So why did they kill him? Jesus died for the redemption of others. He was thirsty for your benefit. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV). Jesus’ love for you is so great, so deep, and so wide that he was willing to take your sin as his own and cover it with his righteousness. Your sin cost him his life. He considers you worth it! It’s hard to wrap our minds around that kind of love, but maybe this story will help: In 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 took off from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Twenty seconds later it crashed and killed 156 people. Only one person survived—a 4-year-old girl named Cecelia from Tempe, Arizona. How did she make it when everyone else died? Rescuers pieced together what likely happened. Evidently, when the passengers realized they were going to crash, Cecelia’s mother took off her seatbelt, turned around, and got in front of her child. She surrounded her with her body, covering her in her love, protecting her little girl. The mother gave her life for another. That’s what Jesus did for you! He suffered so that you don’t have to. He went through hell on the cross so you don’t have to go through hell for eternity. He covered you and protected you from the punishment, flames, and pain. Jesus willingly died so you could have eternal life. He chose to suffer to buy your redemption. You never have to wonder how much God loves you. He’s already shown you on the cross! “The Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.”
Hebrews 2:14-15 (NLT) Death is a universal fear. Nobody is exempt from it! But did you know Jesus saved you from that fear? That’s right—Jesus didn’t just save you from your sin. He also saved you from the power and fear of death. “The Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT). John 19:30 says, as Jesus died on the cross, he shouted, “Tetelestai!” It’s a Greek word, meaning, “It is finished,” and it was his battle cry. “Telestai” is the shout of a victorious conqueror who says, “I have defeated death. I have proven to you that you don’t have to be afraid of death—because I’m going to come back to life. I am the Resurrection, and you can be resurrected by believing in me. Death is not the end. You don’t have to fear it anymore!” Because Jesus died on the cross in my place, I am not afraid. Death does not have power over me. I know death is just a transfer, and I know where I’m going when I die. It can be the same for you, too—it should be the same for you when you trust Jesus as your Savior. Romans 5:17 says, “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ” (NLT). When you become a Christian, baptism gives you confidence that you have died to sin and have been raised to new life. The way you live your life, too, shows people you are confident in being resurrected one day to be with Jesus forever. You’ve been raised to live a new life, marked by a steady assurance of eternity. This is the best thing to ever happen to you! Now you can live your life helping other people have that same assurance. As you talk about death and life in Jesus, make sure you’re doing it in a way that makes other people want to trust Jesus as Savior too. “It is your evil that has separated you from your God. Your sins cause him to turn away from you, so he does not hear you.”
Isaiah 59:2 (NCV) Today, most cultures don’t think sin is ugly. In fact, many people think sin is fun! Think about media. TV shows, social media memes, and movies use sin for humor. This is Satan’s strategy: to get you to laugh at the same things that put Jesus on the cross. Satan disguises sin to make it look attractive, desirable, and fun. Rarely in media do you see the consequences of sin. If you want to know how ugly sin really is and the damage it does, look at Jesus bleeding on the cross. Jesus’ suffering shows you just how much it takes to pay for your sins. The cross shows the damage sin does. Sin has all sorts of consequences in your life! Here are just three of them. Sin alienates you from God. Why? Because God is holy, and you are not. Sin creates conflict and puts distance between you and God. Isaiah 59:2 says, “It is your evil that has separated you from your God. Your sins cause him to turn away from you, so he does not hear you” (NCV). Sin always leaves estrangement in its wake, even between you and God. Sin causes enormous amounts of stress in your life. One of the greatest sources of stress is unrecognized and unresolved guilt. King David said, “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear” (Psalm 38:4 NIV). Holding on to sin takes an emotional toll. When you break God’s laws, it leads to worry, fear, guilt, and insecurity. You wouldn’t experience this if you always did things God’s way. But you don’t, and you can’t. This is the reality of sin. Sin condemns you. When you violate God’s laws, there’s always a penalty—in both self-condemnation and judgment from a righteous God. Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge and always condemns the wicked” (GNT). You may think your biggest problem is a relationship conflict, health issue, or trouble finding a job. But the reality is, your biggest problem is that you’re at war with God. That’s why you’re so frustrated! That’s why you don’t sleep well. That’s why you’re stressed out. You weren’t made to live out of harmony with your Creator, who loves you. He made you, and he sent his Son to die for you. He wants you to be in harmony with him. Repent of your sin today—and every day—so that you can be at peace with God. “I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Acts 20:32 (NIV) Are you a follower of Jesus? Do you read the Bible? If both those things are true for you, then you have an inheritance coming. The Bible says in Acts 20:32, “I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (NIV). An inheritance is something that’s rightfully yours, just for being part of a family. But, to enjoy the benefits of that inheritance, you have to claim it. Imagine your parents were billionaires. You’d be foolish if you never took the time to read their will after they died. You wouldn’t get what was rightfully due to you. You wouldn’t benefit from what belongs to you as their child. When you become a follower of Jesus, you’re not just a believer—you’re a belonger. You become part of God’s family. And all the family privileges come along with that—including a spiritual inheritance. But it’s still possible for you to walk through your entire life and not know what benefits are available to you as a child of God. To choose to live that way is sad—and foolish. God wants you to know what’s available to you from him. He wants you to receive your spiritual inheritance. And, to do that, you need to read the Bible. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (NIV). The Bible helps you live out God’s purpose for your life. It thoroughly equips you for what God has made you to do. That’s your spiritual inheritance. Here are four things God does through Scripture to pass on that spiritual inheritance:
As God teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains you, you will become equipped for the life God has planned for you. You will be able to claim and enjoy your spiritual inheritance! |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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