Monday, March 16, 2015

3/22/15---We're on a Journey...With a Promise

So....we are smack dab in our journey of Lent together. Right now, you may be feeling the difficulty that this season can bring. You may be feeling accomplished because you have kept your goals, and are growing in your commitment to what God has led you to do for these 40 days. Perhaps you are feeling like you can't keep up with the promise you made to God, or you are struggling to keep it.

Wherever you are, let the words of Jeremiah 31:33 comfort you and bring you hope:

"I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."


God has made us this promise. And it's a big one. God has promised to be our God, and to have us as the people of God. We are God's, and God is ours. 

Notice the first part of the verse, too. God's instructions are to be engraved on our hearts, as opposed to stone tablets, which are subject to deterioration. God is putting God's instructions within us, because we are permanent. We have eternal life if we are truly the people of God, so these instructions are put in a place that lives on. These instructions are put in a place where they have life. They are put within us.

But if we wish to be the people of God and inherit eternal life, we must lose our current, temporary life:

Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. 

John 12:25 reminds us that we have a choice to make. "Hate," here, does not mean that we are not grateful for what we have in this world. This is a question about what we will follow after. Will we pursue recognition, congratulations, money, popularity, favor, and comfort? Or will we pursue Jesus? Will we pursue the way that God has illuminated for us in Jesus?  Are we willing to lose our life to save it? 

God's ways are in our hearts. Christ showed us the way. The Holy Spirit guides, protects, and can inspire us to follow it. Will we follow the promise?






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