In this world, we have values, protocol, expectations, and ideals that we attempt to live up to. It is impossible to please all of the people all of the time. However, it is God who deserves our allegiance, not our self or others in our life. He is our only true judge, and His Word is our guiding standard.
Satan continually attempts to beat us down with his shaming thoughts and contempt for our efforts to follow God’s will for our life. God never shames us, but simply convicts us when we are guilty of breaking one of His simple commandments, and He draws us back into His dominion.
God’s law is not condemning, but protective. His desire is to keep us safe from this dangerous and insecure world in which we live. God’s Word is full of wise and thoughtful advice to ensure our success in this life, and Jesus’ example is our standard for righteous living.
We often glibly determine that Jesus was God, so of course He was perfect; however, we have the same benefit that Jesus did, because once we are Born Again, God abides within us at all times. The human side of Jesus had to learn obedience through the things that He suffered on this earth (Hebrews 5:8), and we do too.
If we walk in the Spirit, and we do not fulfill the lusts of our flesh, we have the same chance at living a holy life as Jesus did (Galatians 5:15-25). This truth removes our hopeless feelings of inadequacy and rids us of the complacency that overtakes our attitude.
Much of our current attitude about guilt stems from experiences in our home of origin, foster homes, adoptive homes, etc. Well-meaning adults attempted to mold our character in order for us to succeed in life. However, some parents and caregivers had issues from their own past that they unknowingly passed on to us.
This often prevents us from admitting that we are guilty of sin, and our pride inhibits our willingness to trust in Jesus with our life. We may even feel angry toward the vindictive God that this world paints Him out to be, without realizing that He is not at all malevolent, but that He wants to shower us with blessings, not curses.
Prayer:
Father God, help us to see when our thoughts, words and deeds are out of sync with Your purpose for our life. Keep us as the “apple of Your eye”, and also continue to rejoice over us with singing (Psalm 17:8; Zephaniah 3:17). Search us and convict us of areas in which we are serving our self rather than You (Psalm 139:23-24). Enable us to be an example of Christ in this lost and dying world.
Use us to rescue other sinners from an eternity in the devastation of hell. Help us to look past the cynicism, vehemence, mockery and hatred many have toward us and You, and use us to meet their physical, spiritual, and core needs of their soul in such a way that they will see You lifted up in our life (John 12:32). Then, You can draw them into Your loving embrace. We want to be used by You to further Your Kingdom on this earth.
Thought for the Day:
Once we realize that we play right into Satan’s plan for our life by rejecting the benevolence of God, and calling it evil instead of good, then we are faced with a decision to reject the devil’s lordship in our life, and to turn our life over to the dominion and love of the Trinity of God instead.
