In our youth, we often pursue an active worldly life and ignore the spiritual side of things. We maintain this course of action, until some catastrophe or broken heart chases us down and restricts us. Stuck in the corner, we first attempt to fight our way out, but then we just hunker down in fear.
Face-to-face with our vulnerability, we search for answers and for something solid to support the weight of our next venture. Some of us turn to religion to find some sort of peace; others turn to addiction to numb our pain; still others may take risks that end us up with more unrest and regret.
A true conversion from carnality to spirituality is the only real anchor for our soul (John 3:16-18). The tossing waves around us threaten to sink our ship, until we find a secure mooring in Jesus Christ and His solid anchor of salvation for our body, soul and spirit.
Although our life’s circumstances remain the same horrifying issues, and the next problem seems worse than the one we just came out of, we have an inner peace and joy that keep us afloat during even the worse events that we ever have to face.
The brokenness we experience compels us deeper into the embrace of our Savior’s waiting and everlasting arms. God uses these negative experiences to build our spiritual strength, personality, power and maturity. We soar with wings like eagles, and we stand on solid ground (Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 26:12).
The beauty of the world surrounding us changes our soul as well. From the inspiring architecture and splendor of towering edifices to the thickets of the woods, to the lofty peaks of majestic mountains, and to the rushing flow of mountain streams or crashing waves of the ocean, we see God in everything.
Unfortunately, this joy does not last, because the reality of life on this sin-cursed earth spoils the beauty all around us. It is only as the permanent beauty of Christ within us fills our soul, that we truly have joy that is beyond words. We learn a new respect for the traditional, Biblical views of morality, truth and holiness.
Prayers:
Father God, help us to embrace Your idea of beauty, truth and a spiritual life. The unconverted human spirit is dead in sin – a third appendage for life that does not respond until we walk away from sin and stride into Your glorious life. Then, Your eternal flame burns brightly in our soul and spirit, as it also influences the health of our body.
Although we embrace the limitations of this world, we know that everything is possible in and through You. If You ask us to perform an act of service for You, You always equip us with all that we need to see it through to the end. In You, we find dependability, trustworthiness, authentic living, and Biblical truth upon which we can base our life.
Thought for the Day:
God gives us, as a free gift, His comprehensive dependability, His eternal guarantees, His authentic life within us, and His Biblical truth that inspires, exhorts, and instructs us about the reality of the Christ-life within us, each moment of every day.
