Guess What?…God Cares More Than You
Often times when I am struggling with the hurt of a loved one, or my heart goes out for someone I love that is hurting, I often feel over whelmed with a sadness or an ache that does not seem to go away. One particular thought that God always reveals to me during those times is…”I care more than you Ron”. I had never thought about it like that before, God really does care even more than I can even imagine. That same hurt or ache is magnified even bigger in Him. He cares about the outcome of that situation more than I do or could worry about. So why would He allow it…if He could just fix it? The same reason He “Brings the Rain” (Mercy Me), He uses the circumstances and trials in our lives to “prune” us and shape us.John 15: 1-8 1″I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5″I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.Guess what? God wants nothing but the best for you and I. And He knows exactly what circumstances that it will take to shape us that way. Here is one other secret…God does not need you, but He wants you. So seeing He wants you, He needs to shape you to be all that He has planned for you.
God wants you to be a Loner!
I once heard that there was study conducted with teenagers and the power of peer pressure. The study took 15 teenagers and put them in a room. 14 of the teenagers were in on the study and were told what answer to give. The 15th teenager was not told anything about the study and thought he and the other teenagers were all on the same page. The instructor had two colored cards that he held up for them, one was red and one was blue. The 14 teenagers that were told how to answer the question were told to say both cards were blue when the instructor asked what color. So as the experiment started, the first 14 teenagers said that both cards were blue when asked…when it got to the 15th teenager, 76% of the time the teenager would say both cards were blue, instead of saying one was blue and one was red.
Changing Your Composition
Have you ever notice one of the toughest things in life is to change your body composition. That is trying to lose weight and build muscle tone. It takes a very dedicated schedule of eating the right foods, sleep, exercise, portion control and time management. Everyone of use can tackle this for a short period of time, however only consistency and longevity really cement the change. All other attempts might produce quick results, but not permanent.
The same is true with our spiritual composition. After you have a face-to-face encounter and accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, only a consistent schedule of prayer, bible study, quiet time and worship will produce the permanent change of giving up your desires for His. Many new believers fall into the same patterns as many do with their physical exercise; they produce short-term change by doing these things for a period of time, but fall short when it comes to consistency and longevity.
For me it is learning how to give up my selfishness, my time, my desires for His. As one song puts it “The art of losing myself in bring Jesus praise”. Let’s face it the selfish human side of me can easily get distracted or lazy in doing these things consistently. The problem with that is, this is about having a relationship with Jesus, and if I am not constantly engaged with that relationship I start to get self absorbed rather than God absorbed. Being self absorbed is not good for changing my spiritual composition. Self absorbed also takes me right back to the places I came from that only lead to disappointment.
Know Before You Grow
What is the one thing we as Christ-followers need to know before we can grow into mature Christ-followers? As I have titled this posting, you need to know before you can grow. As I was reading in Hebrews chapter 5: 11-14 it says…
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
In verse 14 it says “to distinguish good from evil”. Are you having a problem growing and reaching the next level in your spiritual walk? If so, maybe you are still struggling with the same “elementary” things the Jewish Christ-followers were during their time…In Hebrews chapter 6:1 it refers to the elementary teaching as learning the foundation of repentance (regret for any past action) from acts that lead to death and faith in God.
Maybe your struggle to get to the next level in your spiritual walk is due to you not applying the above basics to your own daily walk with Christ. Maybe you are reluctant to move past the “religious” tradition you have learned in the past. Maybe you are still trying to blend in with your old life and friends and are not 100% committed to doing away with sinful activity in your life. There will come a time when you will have to move outside of your comfort zones because commitment to Christ does move His children outside of their comfort zone.
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