“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5 NLT).
No matter what you’re going through, you can live with hope. That’s the consistent, overriding message of the Bible. God will always treat you with grace and mercy. Peter writes to those who are already believers, “All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again” (1 Peter 1:3 TLB). The more we understand grace, the more we’ll be amazed by it. It’s completely undeserved. It’s totally unmerited. It is not something that you could earn or work for. It’s just a free gift of God’s mercy. You can’t make God love you any more than he loves you right now. You can’t make him love you any less. His love is based on his mercy for you. God’s Word tells us, “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5 NLT). This is extremely important to understand. When you make mistakes as a believer, God doesn’t get mad at you. God doesn’t want to get even with you. God doesn’t start planning to mess up your life. God always acts in mercy toward you. Why? Because you’re covered in the blood of Jesus Christ when you’ve been baptized into his death. That’s why God responds in mercy every time you mess up. And that can give you hope.
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“It was by faith that Moses left Egypt and was not afraid of the king’s anger. Moses continued strong as if he could see the God that no one can see” (Hebrews 11:27 NCV).
You can’t be an Olympic athlete unless you spend the extra hours to exercise. You can’t be a master musician unless you spend the extra hours to practice. If you want to become a godly person, you must practice the habits of spending time alone with God, reading the Bible, giving, and sharing your faith. Faith and persistence are the same. Faith means you don’t give up even when you’re tired. Faith means you don’t know how to quit. Moses gives us a great example of this. Hebrews 11:27 says, “It was by faith that Moses left Egypt and was not afraid of the king’s anger. Moses continued strong as if he could see the God that no one can see” (NCV). Moses realized this important truth: You can only accomplish the impossible when you see the invisible. The key to faith is to be persistent. Keep your eyes on God, not on your problem. God will give you strength to persevere. He’ll give you the power to keep working on the marriage that seems hopeless. He will give you the power to pick yourself up when you’ve fallen. He can give you the power to keep going when you’re on the edge of bankruptcy. He’ll give you the power to keep your convictions when all the pressure around you says to give in. God’s power to keep going is there for you. You just need to ask him for it. “All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing” (1 Corinthians 9:25-26 NLT).
Spiritual growth must be purposeful. We don’t know how many days we have left. Our next breath may be our last. So every step in our journey with Jesus should be taken on purpose. We must be disciplined. To become the person God wants you to be, you must deny yourself. To be honest, you won’t get to do everything that other people do. You can’t follow everyone else’s plan and follow God’s plan at the same time. Being a disciplined disciple of Jesus means sometimes taking the more difficult path. Olympic runners must give up all kinds of stuff that other people do in order to go for the gold. They must go to bed at a certain time. They must eat a certain way. They must train in a certain setting. They must deny themselves. They must count the cost. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:25-26, “All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing” (NLT). Every step, Paul says, must be purposeful. That’s how you finish the race God has marked out for you. Don’t be tempted by shortcuts. Stay on the straight and narrow path, and keep pressing forward toward your goal. Remember the purpose God has called you to. Remember the example of Jesus, who used his time on earth for God’s glory and was not distracted by the things of this world. Make every step count. “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT).
You’ll never find happiness in pleasure, power, possessions, positions, or prestige. You also won’t find it in success, sex, salary, or status. Those are all temporary. Permanent, ongoing happiness only comes when you give your life away in service. God wired you to give your life away. Why? Because God wants you to be like him. Most people don’t know this, but there are secrets to joy. And you can find both of these secret pathways to joy through service. Here’s the way to find joy: First, get your mind off of yourself. The more you focus on yourself, the more miserable you will become. To find real joy, you must shift from an inward focus—“It’s all about me”—to an outward focus—“It’s all about God and serving others.” Of course, this is countercultural. Our society screams that it’s all about you. But the Bible says, “I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy” (Philippians 2:17 NLT). The truth is, the most helpful people are the happiest people. Second, use your gifts to help others. It feels good to use your gifts to help others. The Bible says, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT). God blesses you so you can bless others. When you bless others, God will bless you. If you’re struggling through a lack of joy in your life, try serving people in your community and in your church. Then watch God change your perspective. “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 NLT).
You’ve likely heard this old cliché: “You can’t soar with the eagles if you’re running with the turkeys.” That’s a great lesson for your kids to remember, but it has ramifications for our spiritual lives as well. You should invest less time in certain relationships because they’ll drag you down. If you hang out with people who have no ambition, you’ll have no ambition. If you hang out with critical people, you’ll become critical. The people you spend the most time around will influence what you’re like on a day-to-day basis. The Bible tells us this about our spiritual growth: “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 NLT). That’s why it’s so important to spend time with Jesus every day. Your spiritual growth depends upon it. You become more like Jesus when you spend time with him. It's highly recommended that you find a special spot where you can spend time with God each day. Start with five, 10, or 15 minutes a day. It doesn’t matter when you do it—just do it! Grab your Bible, find your favorite chair, read for a few minutes, and then talk to God about what’s going on in your life. Even Jesus made a habit of going to a place where he could talk with his heavenly Father. Luke 22:39 describes him going to the Mount of Olives to pray “as usual” (NIV). If Jesus made it a point to spend time with his Father, won’t that habit benefit you, too? It’s the only way you’ll really start to become more like him. “Let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 TLB).
It’s no accident that the Bible routinely refers to the Christian life as a race. Just like in a long-distance race, you must be patient to grow as a Christian. The Bible says, “Let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 TLB). You won’t finish this race in a week, a month, or even a year—it will take your whole life. God’s plan for making you into the person he wants you to be requires a lifetime commitment. You can’t short-circuit that kind of growth. When you become a Christian, you start growing quickly. It’s like babies in the early months—they grow enormously fast during that first year. But you don’t continue growing as quickly the rest of your life. Growth—both physical and spiritual—slows down. It’s stable and secure over a period of time. God isn’t in a hurry for you to grow. You might be, but he isn’t. This is why you need to start with simple steps toward growth. If you take one or two baby steps every week, you’ll be much further down the road of growth at the end of the year than you would be otherwise. Christian living isn’t one big leap across the Grand Canyon. It’s a journey of baby steps—one step at a time. “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 TLB).
Do you want to know the key to better relationships in life? You must learn to serve. The root of most relational problems is self-centeredness. You must deal with other issues, but the root is almost always self-centeredness. We want what we want, when we want it. Neither person will budge—and that causes conflict. That’s why you need to step out of your own perspective and learn to serve others. Serving other people changes you, and it changes your relationships along the way. One of God’s greatest lessons he wants you to learn while you’re on this planet is how to be unselfish. It’s a lifelong course of study. Unfortunately, so many people go a whole lifetime without learning it. You can choose to live differently, though. You can learn to be unselfish. How? It’s simple, really: You copy Jesus. Jesus says it like this: “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 TLB). Next time you read about the life of Jesus in the Bible, notice how he dealt with others. Watch how he always put others before himself. When you imitate his attitude, you live your life not for your benefit but for the benefit of others. Jesus consistently showed this throughout the Gospels. Learn to do that and you’ll improve your relationships. You’ll not only become more like Jesus, but you’ll also become more respected and loved by your friends. People want to be around those who are constantly trying to serve others and not just furthering their own agenda. Don’t try to be interesting; be interested. Be interested in others. If you do that, people will think you’re the greatest person in the world. Most people are only interested in themselves. When you’re interested in them, they will value you—and maybe even consider you the greatest conversationalist who ever lived. The Bible says of serving unselfishly, “If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too” (Romans 14:18 NLT). Unselfishness will transform your relationships. “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it” (1 Timothy 6:6-7 NRSV).
God is more interested in your character than your comfort. He’s not going to give you things if you haven’t learned the principle of contentment first. Contentment is not a lack of ambition. It’s not a lack of goals. Contentment means your happiness doesn’t depend on your circumstances. How do you eliminate discontent? You eliminate the cause: comparing. We compare everything in this country—lawns, cars, husbands and wives, clothes, the education of our kids (we even put “My Kid Was Student of the Month” on car bumpers). Whenever you compare, you’re going to become discontent. You’ve got to learn to stop comparing yourself to others. Paul says in Philippians 4:12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” (NIV). Contentment does not come naturally; it is something we have to learn. If we do this, God promises to meet all our financial needs. The Bible says, “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it” (1 Timothy 6:6-7 NRSV). One of the greatest secrets in learning to be content is to realize that you don’t really own anything. It’s all on loan to you for a few decades! You didn’t bring a single thing into this world, and you’re not going to carry anything out of it, either. You just get to use it while you’re here on earth. The Bible calls that stewardship. You are the manager or steward of what God allows you to have while you’re here, but it’s not really yours. When you understand that you’re just a manager of the blessings God allows in your life and you hold them with an open hand, you won’t be uptight about losing them. So what if you lose things? God can turn off one faucet and turn on another just as easily. Learn to be content because things don’t last. God is more interested in your character than your comfort. “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV).
The only thing in all of creation that worries is a human being. Plants don’t worry. Animals don’t worry. Only human beings act as if we don’t have a heavenly Father. When you worry about your finances, you’re basically saying, “I think God is a liar. I don’t really think he will meet my needs.” But God will, if you meet the conditions. When growing up, you my have said to your Dad, “Dad, I need some money.” Did you ever wonder, “Where is he going to get it?” It’s kind of an unwritten rule about money: Dads and moms make it, and kids spend it. Kids never wonder, “Where are my parents going to get this money?” We never worried about it. Worry is really a form of atheism. Every time you worry, you’re basically saying, “I don’t believe there’s a God who is going to take care of me.” If you’re a Christian and you worry, you’re acting like an orphan. You’re acting like you don’t have a heavenly Father who has already promised over and over again in Scripture, “I will meet your needs if you will obey me and do what I tell you to do.” Trust forces you to live by faith. Worry is a warning light. Every time we worry about our finances, it’s a warning that we doubt God loves us and will take care of us. We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love. Always. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (NLT). As long as you love anything more than God, that thing is going to be a source of anxiety. Only one thing was meant for first place in your life, and it’s not your family. Anything you put first in your life besides God will create anxiety, because that thing can always be lost. Your bank account is not your security, no matter how big it gets. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (NIV). Put your hope in God, because he will assume responsibility for your needs if you’ll trust him. “Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures” (1 Corinthians 13:7 NCV).
The world is so negative that the last thing kids need when they come home is more negativity. Colossians 3:21 says, “Do not nag your children. If you are too hard to please, they may want to stop trying” (NCV). Are you an unpleasable parent? If your kids get C’s, do you want B’s—only to want straight A’s when they get B’s? Do you really want them to give up, like the Bible says they might? Unpleasable parents produce insecure children. So how do you raise confident kids? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures” (NCV). If you want to raise confident kids, you’ve got to build them up more than you tear them down. You’ve got to give more cheers than jeers. Many parents think, “If I balance it out and give an equal amount of positive to the negative, it will be okay.” No! You need to give about 10 praises for every negative you give. Why? Because the negative is what you remember. If you were to get 10 compliments and one criticism, which one would you go home and remember? If I get 10 cards that say, “That sermon really helped me out a lot” and one that says, “You’re off the wall!” which one do you think I dwell on the most? You’ve got to overemphasize the positive, because you inevitably have to do the negative. All children need somebody in their corner, somebody who’s their cheerleader and believes in them and says, “I know you can do it. I believe in you. I think you’re terrific. You’re the best. Go for it! I’m behind you. I know you can make it.” Kids need the confidence that only a parent can give. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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