I made a mistake this week, as you do.
In the moment, my first reaction was an intense remorse, because it could significantly affect my husband's future.
And then, this realization: Nothing that I do wrong (accidentally or otherwise) can spoil the Lord's plan for my husband's future.
It is in these moments that one realizes how much you have received in growth mercies over the years.
The old me would have so easily drowned in self-blame and sleepless nights.
The new person believes that the Lord looks at the heart’s motive and that He effortlessly remains in control despite His children's good intentions.
As if this were not enough, the Lord also gives us the boldness to testify of our clay feet. Those feet of clay that are still being lovingly reshaped by the One who has imagined and dreamed and created every human being's entire existence since the beginning of time and is never caught off guard.
If the Lord has decided to bless you, who will be able to undo it?
Not even yourself.
If the Lord has decided to send you and bless you, who will prevent it?
Not even yourself.
Paul's life after his Damascus experience was anything but fun. But every time he lands in the jaws of the enemy, he is asked to share again, testify again, and he pushes those fangs wide with confidence as he tells again and again about the God who sent him:
“‘I am sending you to open the eyes of the outsiders
so that they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light,
see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God.
I send you down to offer my offer of sins forgiven and a place in the family,
invite them into the company of those who truly begin to live by believing in Me.''
Acts 26:17 The Message
It's an invitation to the dead to start living.
Just like the young man who wanted to humiliate the preacher.
"You think that unsaved people carry a heavy burden of sin with them.
But I don’t feel a thing!
How heavy is sin?
Ten kilograms? Fifty kilograms? A hundred kilograms?”
The preacher thought for just a moment, and then answered him:
"If you were to place a 400-kilogram weight on a corpse, would it be able to feel its weight?"
"Of course not," replied the young man.
"It's dead!"
"Exactly, my young friend," the preacher conceded.
"The person who does not know the Lord is just as dead, and even if the burden of sin is heavy, they cannot feel it."
As long as we still feel the weight of our sin, it shows that there is life.
However, we do not need to faint under its weight, because there is One who has already carried it for us.
And who out His hands to take it from us again every day.
So we can tell about it.
Your inspiration for the week: Stand in faith
Comments