Where do we go from here?
How many times in a day do we think about this world we live in and wonder, where do we go from here? How can it get any worse, or even how can it get any better than this? I believe that it becomes quite easy to be torn between two worlds as a follower of Christ. It is as if some of us try to mix oil and water, or blend the darkness and the light? As a Christian, we are called to influence others in this world, but if we are not focused on Christ, we can easily become tangled in worldly things. Scriptures say that once we put our faith and trust in God, through Jesus Christ, we become new creations. Our new home is in heaven, and we are as aliens in this world. Paul discusses in his letters to Corinthians and Philippians that while Christ lives in us, our physical bodies are still in this world and subject to worldly things even though we are citizens of heaven.
If we can commit ourselves to following Christ and give ourselves over to Him, He will complete His work in us from the inside out. Only God can take something that is broken and recreate that into something even better than before. This is the power and the love of God through His son Jesus Christ. To take a broken vessel, full of all kinds of broken pieces from a life of sin and wrong choices, and to turn that into a new piece of clay and with His hands, He will create something new and one of a kind. God takes all our broken pieces and restores them to something much greater than it was before we came to Him. You become a single building block for His Church. Each block is unique and special. There will not be one crack in any wall of His Church.
God forgives us. Let that sink into your mind, and your heart, and let it begin to work in you so that in that forgiveness we can find shelter from the storms that crash against us in this life. With God’s strength we can resist those storms and even when we find ourselves in a storm, we know where to turn to help us out of them. We learn in storms much like a ship mate learns how to work during the storm in order to prevent the ship from going down. It takes much strength, only from the word of God. It takes endurance to keep up during the storm but keeping our eyes on God and the end of storm, we can prevail. It takes courage to not turn back from the storm, thinking you can be rescued in the past, this is not the truth, but a lie from the devil. Moving forward is the only way through any storm or hurdle, or dry dessert that we will face in this life. When we fall, we get back up, ask God to help us to walk again in fellowship with Him. God is faithful to restart.
Paul spoke of his struggles with this world and struggles that all followers of Christ will need to endure to make it to the finish line. With God, we can be strengthened to make it through these struggles, the conflict between our fleshly bodies and our spiritual one. Paul reminds us that we still live in this world, which becomes more and more alien to us the closer we grow in Christ, and yet the pleasures of this world can be tempting and a stumbling block. We can even be a stumbling block to someone else. We strengthen against this only through a closer walk with Christ. To put on the full armor of God for protection and strength and to remember that we fall easier in the beginning but not to be so prideful to think we should not put on the armor as mature Christians as well. If I say that I am a mature Christian – that I have reached adulthood as a follower, then I am at risk of being a fool. A fool may think that he or she has reached the top, the pinnacle of Christianity, and that there isn’t anything else to be done. The truth is that as a follower of Christ, we never reach the end until we die, and even then, I believe we will find out that the vastness of God is even more vast than we imagined and we will never stop learning, never stop worshiping, and never stop being amazed at the wonders of God for eternity to come.
As we approach the remembrance of Christs resurrection, we call Easter, remember that God makes all things new. Jesus was raised from a grave as a first fruit of the resurrection to come for all people who have trusted God in believing His word and His work are true. We have faith that God will do what He says He will do.
The writer of Hebrews tells us what it means to have faith in chapter 11:1, “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” So, while we don’t see Jesus, it is by faith that we believe His word and in doing so we then take actions in the faith doing things for His glory. The things we do in faith, the actions we take, are called works. These works are small and great. However, what we may think of as a small work can be a great work. Remember when Jesus told his disciples about giving a cup of water in His name? Mark 9:41 says, “And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ —truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.” A cup of water can literally be a cup of water to someone in need, but it can also mean to give someone a gift of the word of Christ. Remember the event with Jesus and the woman at the well? Jesus told this woman that if she drinks water from this well, she will be thirsty again. However, He has something to give to her and anyone else who will receive it, that is if you drink from His well, you will never thirst again. If you take a drink from God’s cup, you will never thirst again. If you hear His word and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the grave, you will be saved. You will never thirst again searching for what is missing in your life because what you and I have searched for and what some are still searching for is this free gift of life through a relationship with God. When that new relationship begins, God gives us His Holy Spirit as a down payment for what is to come. We are made new as Adam and Eve before they sinned. We no longer thirst in our spirit because we are reunited with Christ in God no longer living a life that is against God but living a life as a son or daughter of God. Restored, justified, made new, made whole. As children of God, we must also press on to remain in fellowship with God, or close to God in our daily walk. This fellowship is important because it is a living relationship with God just as we have a living relationship with other people in our lives. If you let that relationship go stale or you stop talking to the other, then you notice how it starts to become weak or strained. At first you are talking every day, sharing stories, supporting each other in life’s ups and downs, caring for each others well being; you know, a relationship. Then you stop calling every day, maybe it becomes once a week because life is busy, and they understand. The next thing you know is you aren’t talking at all and you find yourself rubbing shoulders with the kind of people you shouldn’t be because they happen to be in your daily path. You forget your new name and you start listening to what these others have to say, instead of sharing your new life with them, they share their old life with you. You realize later on that you took two steps forward and one step back. Your joy has been stolen and you seem to have forgotten where you parked your car so to speak. This is what it looks like for a Christian to fall out of fellowship with Christ. You’re still a member of the family, but you uninvited yourself to the daily bread. God makes a place for you to sit every day with Him to talk with Him to tell Him how your day was and to just be with God in mind and spirit. God waits patiently for us to come sit at His table to eat our daily bread with Him, but if we don’t show, it is on us. We stray, not God. We become ineffective in sharing the gospel, we become ineffective in sharing a cup of water. What happens when we are out of fellowship is that our daily work in Christ is missing in our lives and our heavenly reward can be given to another. Remember, our works will be rewarded in heaven. So, get back into fellowship with Christ. Start now, it isn’t too late until He comes again…anytime now, He is coming.
God Bless.
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