We Either Are or We Aren’t

“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.” -Matthew 12:30 NLT

There is a great movie that came out called Grace Unplugged.  The story is about a girl named Grace who wants to pursue her dream to become a singer, and moves away from home to the pop music capital of the world:  L.A.  However, she does it out of frustration with her family - specifically because she is feeling smothered by her dad. 

There are many decisions we make out of the heat of emotion that we will probably regret.  But no matter how bad people treat us or what happens to us in life, we are still responsible for our own actions, and the roads they may take us down.  No one else will be accountable for us when our lives on this earth are over, and so we need to make the best decisions we can - without allowing our emotions to take over.  The decisions we make now will impact us for eternity, and eternity is a long, long time.  

I won’t tell you the ending of the movie, but toward the end, Grace is faced with the reality of where her decisions have taken her.  She comes to a turning point - she has to choose whether she will serve herself and her desires - or if she will choose to serve God and make it right with her family and friends.

The Bible speaks very candidly about the black and white of serving God.  We can’t serve ourselves, the enemy, or money and God at the same time.  We’re either serving God or we’re not.  But the truth is, serving God is much better - in this life and the life to come. 

Are there any areas of your life that you need to give completely over to God?  Surrendering our lives to Him is one of the best things we can do - He is big enough to handle any problem that we face.  We can trust Him to bring our destiny to pass. 

Choosing God Everyday

"The one thing I ask of the LORD - the thing I seek most - is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD's perfections and meditating in his Temple." -Psalm 27:4 

Every day, we decide what we're going to do that day. We choose what to wear, what to have for breakfast, and we may make a to do list for that day to decide what needs to be accomplished. Every day also, we decide who we are serving - are we serving ourselves and our own desires, or are we serving God and what He desires? 

Just as we choose our spouses over and over day after day over someone else, (if we are married), or choose every day to keep ourselves pure if we are not married, we have a choice to make before God: Will we put His will before our own? Even Jesus had to decide when He prayed, "Not My will, but Yours be done." (Luke 22:42) 

David desired God most in His life. He prayed over and over that God would not take His presence from him as He did from Saul. David wanted God with him more than anything else - more than winning a battle, more than having great wealth - and God granted His request because his heart was for Him. Even more so, God blessed him with wealth and won battles because David continued to choose Him, day after day. 

Is your heart attuned toward God, each and every day? May we each strive to seek God first, and chose His will over our own, so that His will, love, and life can be manifest in our lives to the fullest extend. Let's choose Him, every day!

Free Will

"The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, 'You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden - except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.'" -Genesis 2:15-17
 
Did you know that, in the beginning of time, God gave us a very important gift? The gift He gave us wasn't life, or work, or authority, or companionship - although those are very important things that did He give to us. But God gave us something very powerful that most of us don't even realize: He gave each of us the ability to choose. He gave us the gift of free will. 

We may think that we know what free will is, and yes, it is a choice. God could have created us as drones in the garden - robots to do His bidding - (which would have been far easier), but He didn't. "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.' So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." -Genesis 1:26 & 27
 
However, we as believers do much of the world a disservice when we expect them to abide by the same rules and belief systems that we do. I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "To love is to let go." If a choice is forced upon someone, then it really isn't their choice. But God is a good, loving God, drawing each of us to repentance by His goodness. "Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" -Romans 2:4 
 
We shouldn't be people who expect the world to live by our standards. Instead, we should be the ones to love and serve the world, creating an example that your best life is lived with God, surrounded by a community of people who love others and want to serve them too. And, most of all, who have really understood what it means to accept Jesus' free unmerited gift of precious eternal life and live in His abundant love, grace, and joy. 

Do you know how powerful this precious gift of free will is? Pray today that you would use your free will to bless and benefit others, so that more and more people could come into relationship with a loving God who cares about them so so deeply.