We are Hopeful.

Life can seem interruptible. You have a plan but somehow, someway, it gets interrupted. It might be at the doctor’s office with a prognosis of cancer or a mobility limiting chronic illness. Your adult child could walk away from faith or you discover you’ve been let go from your job due to downsizing. In recent days, we have seen violence all around us that changed people’s story. From the very public murder of a national spokesman to the school shootings in Colorado and Minnesota. From the murder of an Ukraine young woman on public transportation to the public hanging of a young college student in Mississippi.

I think about the last verse in Judges in the Old Testament. It says, “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” I dare say this is where America is right now. Our country does not look to THE King but does what it wants to do. Sin and Satan are prevalent and active.

But the Apostle Paul wants to remind us in Romans 8 that we are different as followers of Jesus. We have the Holy Spirit living in us. So while sin is ever present and we are groaning from the weight of sin and destruction in the world, we will not be crushed since God’s Holy Spirit lives in us.

In fact, Paul says in Romans 8:24-26, that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. While we may not know what to pray for, He prays for us. While we may lack information on how to move forward, He gives us wisdom. While we may wonder which direction our next step should take us, He will be our compass.

With all the destructive behavior all around us, we can forget about the power that lives within us to move forward in positive and loving ways. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4:22-24, “…throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” As followers of Jesus, we want to embrace our new self.

And did you know the whole world is waiting for you to take your place? The very power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you (Romans 8:11). So, we’ll take courage amid the sin around us and live boldly, proclaiming life in Jesus is a better choice. A life that is full of love, compassion, joy, peace, forgiveness, goodness…that’s how the Holy Spirit transforms us when we surrender to Jesus.

And the whole world is waiting for you to become who you were created to be. It desperately needs something different than what our enemy has been offering. Not only does the world wait on you but so does your spouse, your kids, your neighbor, your church, your workplace. Real followers of Jesus become thermostats, changing the environment of the room for good.

Through the adoption into the family of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and our follower-ship of Jesus, you and I can help make this world a better place….a different place. That’s the call today: become who you were created to be. In Christ, God works all things out for the good. Blessings on the journey.

In and then Through

Most things I purchase that need put together are met with a “jump right in” attitude. In other words, in typical male fashion, I don’t read the instructions. I just start putting things together but then wonder why I have a handful of screws left at the end of the project.

I can be like that too when it comes to what God wants to do through me. But to find my purpose, I first have to let him do something IN ME. I generally don’t want to wait around for God’s work in me because I’m impatient and stubborn. I’d rather just get to the thing he wants me to do.

The disciples needed some coaching in this area because they didn’t seem to get what Jesus was trying to do in them. They were not seeing the people in front of them Jesus wanted to help, teach, heal, move, and grow. The disciples saw those people as a hindrance…an annoyance.

Examples of this attitude are found in Matthew 14, 15 and 19 where Jesus is doing ministry for some needy people but the disciples are oblivious. “Just tell them to go away…” is what the disciples say in a paraphrased version. But God will eventually do something in the disciples so that later he can do something through them.

We need God to do that in us as well but we need to check our hearts. How does our heart line up with the heart of Jesus?

Jesus tells a story in Mark 4 about a farmer who sowed some seed. Some seed fell on the road, some in the gravel, some in the weeds and some on good soil. Good soil is where God wants our heart to be. But it calls us to some self-reflection to discover how we are leaning into the things God wants to do IN us before he can do anything through us.

Some hearts are like the hard road and the minute the seed is planted, Satan removes the seed. Maybe you’ve become hard and cynical toward a spiritual journey and how God has called us to live in his son Jesus. Some symptoms of a hard heart might look like you’re going through the motions just checking off a list. Some might develop spiritual apathy having no prayer life, no time in the Word of God, no community with which to travel. Some might have bitter resentment toward God, blaming him for your current position in life.

Some of the seed falls on rocky hearts. You’ve heard the message of Jesus and are happy about it but you do nothing to cultivate the seed and create deep roots. The minute any “heat” is applied from the world, you’re shaken and lose spiritual momentum.

And some seed falls in weed-infested areas. The seed breaks the surface of the soil but other things in life crowd out its growth. Jesus says things like the worries of this life, the lure of wealth and the desires for other things are what choke out spiritual maturity. We are unwilling to let go of the things that are opposed to God’s will.

So where are you? What does God want to do IN your life to accomplish his work THROUGH your life? God has an extraordinary purpose of you but you and I need to fully surrender to him and allow the seed to change us from the inside out. When we do, God will do something incredible through you. Blessings on the journey.