So... finally school is done, WACE is completed and now life begins its new phase! I Thank God for bringing us this far in our schooling, and giving me the friends I now have. Here is the ramble I finally completed... Its not an intro or a sermon or whatever, just purely my thoughts after an inspirational bible study meeting.
Often in life we tend to worry about what is to come, and I know for one I am no different. We worry about our future, which career would suit us best, which clothes to wear, how to approach someone about the Lord without being called a Christian fanatic. We read the verse from Matthew 6 starting at verse 25: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is life more than food and the body more than clothing?” And then we wonder how it is possible to live a life complete without worry when the whole world seems to be pushing against us?
My bible study discussion lead me to understand that in this case we must look at life as a whole and measure it against all of eternity before and after us. Earth's existance is barely a speck, and for believers, a temporal passing through before spending eternity with God.
Now in this, it is Satan's pure goal to distract us, pull us off the rails which God has set for us and make us believe that the things of this world are neccesseties for life.
IF GOD IS FOR US WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?
Our purpose in life however, is to praise God, not glorify the things Satan wants. We must resist the devil. This isn't easy however, I know that myself; because the devil doesnt look like a red horned monster with a tail and triton. The devil looks like everything we want to have which appear innocent.
I had someone ask me a few months ago how we know when we are sinning, and I had to think about that. I know for myself I often think that God will be happy with my helping someone, and like to think that I am not sinning while doing that. But I realised that even our best works are defiled with sin, yes, nothing we do is purely good. Even our good works are not good enough to save us. We need God's help continually to keep us on the path of righteousness. Our minister once compared us to helpless people stuck upsidedown in a mudhole, yet because we are upsidedown we can't (and dont want to) grab for the lifesaving ring Christ sends us. God needs to hold our hands to the ring, because we love our mudhole of this sinful world so much, our nature wants to return to it.
It is at this point that judging fits in, an issue I know for myself I struggle with. We find it hard not to judge a person's character and their eternal destination by first-time appearances. I think what we need to realise in this case is our own sins, and how much better are we than they? Nothing. God sees sins not as different sized piles, but He sees the existance of sin. If you look at it from God's point of view, are we not then all equal in depravity? In that way, by judging others we are just as worthy of the same judgment.
Yet God, so graciously saves us from the sin we as man put ourselves into. Graciously He looks past our flaws and sends His own Son to save us. He has overcome sin before we even existed, and even though the devil persists to distract us, God's grace is invincible. John 16:33 well summarises this when it says “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” What a comfort.
IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE. BUT TAKE HEART, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD. JOHN 16:33
Let's go back to the beginning... We have absolutely nothing to worry about in this life if we set eternity in our sights and God in our hearts. Although this is so hard when we are hardwired to strive for acceptance, if God's purpose for us is in our mind as we journey as sojourners through this temporal world, nothing else within this world matters. The soul purpose for our existance on Earth is to praise God in everything we do, and facing what comes in our paths, knowing that God has overcome sin, and giving Him the glory for everything He gives us.
Let us praise God from Whom all blessings flow!