Tag: god's plan

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Day 4 Your Love

krisshetter 
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

In God’s Big Book of Life He constantly demonstrates He has a plan, an order of all things. All one needs to do is picture the cosmos, see the structure of our solar system, recognize we have everything we need here on this Big Blue Ball to sustain and enjoy life. He loves His creation so much that He promises to never leave us, never forsake us. He sent His son to bring us back into a relationship, bringing order into our lives.

He created an order for marriage, for our sexuality, roles for both genders, for how we treat others and so much more. It’s all there in that big book called His Word or the Bible. Yet for 1,000s of years we humans take our gifts of a free will and a big brain and buck against His order of all things. We are the only created beings that do this.

A tree, as a tiny seed, doesn’t decide if it wants to become a tree. It doesn’t decide where it will grow, or even what type of tree it will be. No, its very essence is to live according to how it was made by God. The same for all plants and animals. A bird doesn’t stress and ponder how to make a nest or even if it wants to lay eggs. It seamlessly moves to God’s plan and rhythm.

Believer or not, all humans seem to instinctively know when they aren’t in sync with God’s plan. Some of us may recognize we push to the limits of the natural order. While others may blame everyone else for not conforming to their plan for the world. But we all feel that friction when our marriages struggle, when we act sexually immoral, or when we are constantly unkind and ungenerous. That friction is God reminding us He is the creator; He is the keeper of the order of all things.

It’s taken me awhile but I finally decided I want to stay right in the middle of God’s love at all times.  I want my life to be ordered such that I never leave the comfort, joy and peace that He promises when we stay close to Him.  Because the thing about God is if you want to live outside His order, He will allow you.  And you will experience a friction that maybe you just can’t understand.

No, I want to be right in the middle of His love.  Not following my own will but His.  Not sitting on the fence straddling between two worlds.  Right in the middle.

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Taking The Easy Way   

krisshetter 
 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
17     “Stolen water is sweet;
    food eaten in secret is delicious!”
18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
    that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead. Proverbs 9:16-19

There’s a great debate raging in the United States today about achieving equity through stealing.  Where I live, a law was changed so that if you steal less than $950 and are caught you might receive a small fine.  As a result of this change, reported (much goes unreported) larceny as has gone up 3% in just one year.  Property crime has increased in 24 counties throughout the state.  Stores are closing in areas where shoplifting has skyrocketed.  As one woman put it in an interview, “If I need diapers or formula who is going to get it for me?  They aren’t out there arresting people for shoplifting and everyone knows it.”

Now this post isn’t a spotlight on political missteps or any particular point of view.  But there are consequences when we choose to live and make decisions outside God’s plan for us.  And one of the oft repeated admonitions in Proverbs is about laziness or taking the easy way out.  Some argue that being against allowing people to steal for what they call “basic needs” is racist or discriminatory.  But what really is at work in this particular issue is people who are not in need, such as politicians and activists, taking the easy path.  “Well, if we just let people steal without punishment that solves the problem, right?”

There are free needle exchange programs, safe drug taking areas, laws removed to allow for sleeping on the streets, money thrown at problems, etc.  None of these choices make us step back and take the harder, more intricate path.  Some would say they exacerbate the very issues we are trying to resolve.  As Christians we should be convicted to be more thoughtful and loving and wise.  To have the desire to help God’s fellow sheep be lifted from sin and despair.  

My favorite reality contest show was Biggest Loser.  Not only was the goal to lose weight but the show counseled participants on the root of their weight issues.  Many discovered their pain from abuse or loss triggered their unhealthy eating habits.  Without resolution of that pain, they were sure to continue on their destructive, “easier” paths.  

Friend, if in your own life you seek bandaids rather than true healing, if you try to avoid doing things the right way because it just seems easier, God is calling you to wisdom.  Stolen water is sweet but the dead live in that realm.  He is calling you to life and true joy.

Father, at times it seems simpler and less painful to take the easy path.  Please guide me to making better choices that effect both my own life and the world around me.  Amen

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Give Your Best, First

krisshetter 
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.  Proverb 3:27

A 2015 study done by Money.com found that Americans donated around $358 billion dollars that previous year.  Of those donations, $115 billion went to religious related charities.  In addition, the study calculated that Americans devoted $173 billion in volunteer work.  Pretty impressive!  But here’s an even more interesting fact.  Americans weren’t in the top 10 list of being most likely to donate.  The top country? Myanmar.  A tiny land whose citizens frequently keep their country in the top spot with 81% of respondents saying they had made a donation in the past month.  The United States sits at 61%.  Still an impressive number, however.

On average, according to another survey, US Christians give just 2.5% of their income to their churches.  And while the message of the New Testament reminds us we aren’t under the old laws of tithing, the apostle Paul consistently tells us to give with a cheerful heart – not just to our churches but to those in need.

Too many times we look to see what is left over before we will uncurl our tight fists around our dollars.  But throughout scripture, God reminds us of two points. 1) To always give our best, first and 2) He owns everything already and we are just His stewards.  When we scrimp with our giving and with our time we are, in effect, holding on to what really isn’t ours.  We aren’t effectively managing the resources God has entrusted us to help His plan unfold.

Friend, while you should pray on how to best use your resources (money and time) for His Kingdom, you don’t need to pray night and day whether you should be more charitable to the people around you.  God has already given us those marching orders.  When we hear “He will provide” so often that means He is asking you to provide in His name to someone who needs to see a little bit of Jesus at work.

Gracious Father, you have provided for me in so many ways.  If I can only provide a few coins or hours of my time let it be so someone will know your name.  And if I can provide more help me to give fully with a cheerful and loving heart.  Amen 

bible study, Christian, Christian Church, christian encouragement, Faith, Jesus Follower, Uncategorized

The Smoothest Path

krisshetter 
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:3-5

A few years ago, I came home on my birthday and opened my garage door to a beautiful, new, baby blue Vespa scooter.  On it sat a giant bow.  I was so excited I jumped out of my car and proceeded to run toward the scooter.  I suddenly realized, however, I had yet to put my car in park and turn it off.  So as my car inched toward disaster I jumped back in, turned it off and started laughing.  Once the excitement wore off, I realized I now was faced with a task I had long put off – getting my motorcycle license.

Since I was 15, I had wanted to ride motorcycles but my mom was fearful I’d kill myself.  So here I was, 53 years old, and finally doing it.  After successfully attaining that goal, my husband and I made a new one.  We decided to do a long ride with the local Vespa Club out to Palm Springs, California.  Taking the non-freeway route made it a 113-mile ride over a minimum of three hours.  And as the ride went along, I held my own.  Just before you drop from the mountains into the desert floor of Palm Springs, you’ll find a motorcyclist’s dream road.  On a map it looks like a mess of squiggles.  In reality it’s seven steep and sharp curves.  Having ridden with the group for more than two hours I recognized the most experienced and safest riders.  I picked one and decided to follow his line down the hill.

In motorcycle terms “following the line” means keeping an eye on the leader to see the smoothest, quickest and safest path along curvy roads.   A few years later on a Vespa trip through the Alps, following our guide’s line was crucial as he was the most experienced rider of our group.  And I certainly didn’t want to find myself riding off the edge of a cliff or smacking into a giant tour bus!  

That’s me waving! As we ride through Austria!

It’s amazing the people, some of whom we barely know, that we are willing to put our trust in. Yet with God, who has been with us from the beginning, we seem to struggle in following His line.  He promises to make our way straight.  He will make our ground level.  Yet, we are the ones that decide to take a path all on our own. 

We know better.  Or worse, we just don’t think He knows what we really need.  My youngest daughter was famous for going against my directives.  I once found her, at 2 years old, standing up on the kitchen counter attempting to get a glass down from an even higher shelf.  She had asked me for some juice and I had said, “no.”  I turned my back for a minute.  You see, she would explain to me, I just didn’t understand why she needed x,y or z.  If I had only just understood her need better I would’ve apparently said “yes.”  So, to her, that justified her standing up on the kitchen counter that day.

How many times a day do we do that to God?  How many times a day do we tell God what He needs to do for us?  Or how many times do we just think, “if only He really understood what I need.”? 

Whoever has my commands and keeps 
them is the one who loves me. The 
one who loves me will be loved by 
my Father, and I too will love them 
and show myself to them.”
John 14:21

How many times have we thought our kids or friends or spouse or employees don’t respect us because they refuse to take the path you’ve laid out for them?  You’ve tried sparing them from hardship and yet they still don’t listen.  Now think how God must feel.  

We are asked, entreated, implored by God via His prophets throughout the Bible to trust Him and follow His line.  He knows the best, quickest, and safest path for us.  The book of James has so many wise words about His path. It happens to be one of my favorite books of the Bible.  Why?  Because I like lessons to be clear.  And James also makes it clear that when we learn what that path is, we need to hold steady to it.

But when you ask, you must believe 
and not doubt, because the one who 
doubts is like a wave of the sea, 
blown and tossed by the wind.
James 1:6

I’m thankful for that Vespa rider, whose name I don’t remember and I may never meet again, for leading me down that treacherous road into the desert.  But I’m most thankful to Jesus, whose name I hold in my heart and on my lips, for leading me out of my desert and into a bright and beautiful path.