Author: Scott

How many times have you said or done something that as soon as you did you knew you had messed up? Are you ever frustrated with yourself? Frustrated that you did something that wasn’t honoring God? Was it hard to forgive yourself? These are all legitimate questions. I know from experience. I mess up daily. We all do. Thank goodness we have a forgiving God.

God‘s grace reaches farther than we will ever be able to comprehend. It extends and covers beyond all of our actions. Nothing we can do will surpass it. Nothing we can do to earn it. Nothing! That doesn’t mean we have a free ticket to sin. We can’t just go do what we want to do. It just means that there’s nothing that we can do that God‘s love can’t overcome. Think about Saul. Even he was forgiven when he repented. Then he went on to be a warrior for Jesus.

Make no mistake, there are two forces battling daily for our lives. There are two teams. Jesus’s team and Satan‘s team. I have played on both. Not proud of it. But I have. But I can say is this, God’s grace and forgiveness has covered me. And it can cover you. And what’s more amazing are the testimonies that we can have. Others can see this grace. They can see God‘s love. They can see our transformations. And how awesome is that! Others can see the hope from Jesus through us. And then they can be covered with grace and forgiveness. And then others can see it through them. And that’s what it’s all about. Don’t let Satan trick you into thinking you are not forgiven. Don’t let him trick you into thinking God’s grace isn’t for you. Pray that prayer. Receive that grace. And show others the hope that you have through Christ.

A few years ago at church during the message, our pastor said that we had gotten comfortable as Christians. That we were comfortable in our lives and letting things slide.  We had allowed God to be removed from many aspects of our lives. Oh, how accurate he was. And that can hold true still today.

I’m not sure why, but reading this verse today reminded me of that sermon. “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.” Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭16‬. When I read this, what I believe we are being told is that in this world there’s going to be attacks from all sides. Attacks will even come from within your inner circles. From your family and friends. Sometimes intentionally. Sometimes unintentionally. Wherever they come from, whether they were on purpose or not, attacks are going to come. How we respond is important.

So let’s stop being comfortable. Let’s get out of our comfort zones and go do God’s work. Stand up for God. Stand up for grace. Stand up for the Holy Spirit. Stand up for what took place on the cross 2000 years ago. And let’s do this out of love. Here’s something for us to remember. Let’s do what we can. And God will do what we cannot. Read that again. Let it sink in. God will do what we cannot. Let’s get off the sidelines. Saying we have faith is not nearly enough. Let’s put our faith into action. The Bible tells us that even demons believe. Demons believe in God! And we are definitely in a battle with them. Against them. “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?” ‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭19‬-‭20‬. So let’s go to work sharing the hope. Sharing the hope that only comes from Jesus. That is what we are called to do. So let’s do it.

As humans we possess amazing strength. Incredible strength. Sometimes that strength seems to be beyond anything reasonable. Powerlifters setting records. MLB players hitting tremendous home runs. We’ve all heard stories of people lifting cars off of others. Incredible physical strength. But I’d like to suggest, as amazing as physical strength can be, our mental, emotional, and spiritual strengths are more important. And as important as they are, they are limited. They can only carry us so far. 

With knowing that, we begin to realize that our true strength comes from the hope and grace that only God can give. The Bible tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. That does not mean that we can do all things. What that is telling us is that no matter what we are going through, we can get through it with Christ in our lives. He will be with us as we “face” what we are facing. The Bible also tells us that his grace is all that we need. That means that his grace will give us the strength to “face” what we are going through.

Don’t let this be discouraging. It’s incredible to know that God uses us in our weakest moments to show everyone his glory. He uses us as examples. As amazing as the feats of strength are that I mentioned a minute ago, I am more blown away by watching people handle deadly diseases, gut-wrenching heartache, and other situations that do not end the way they hoped for. Watching them continue to praise and worship. Watching them turn towards and show the hope that comes through the grace they received. And that is the strength that we’re talking about. The strength that we are given through Christ. Amazing! But you need to remember, you need to invite him in. You need to turn to him. Seek him. When you do so, he will be there for you.

Recently, many of those that we know have lost loved ones. Moments like these are hard to learn about. Especially, when it involves someone that we are really close to. But…as hard as it is to go through something like this, it’s comforting and reassuring to know that we will see them again. We will see them again, because Jesus was their Lord and Savior. These tragedies have lead to some discussions on wondering where people that don’t know Jesus place their hope. Where is it that they place their hope? As we continue to read together, there’s a reoccurring theme in the Bible that we see over and over. There’s one truth that we all need to realize and believe in wholeheartedly. That reoccurring theme and truth is that we have one real hope. And that is Jesus. 

I have made that trip around the sun almost 54 times now. Unfortunately, I have trusted myself and placed my hope in my own workings far too often. We live in a world where a man’s value is placed on his wallet and his conquests. His successes and his failures determine his worth. What he achieves determines how high on the “wall of fame” he gets placed. There’s nothing wrong with trusting ourselves, working to make a good living, and to be successful in the eyes of others. The problem is when we allow those to be our driving force. THE DRIVING FORCE. 

God wants us to live well. He wants us to be successful. He wants us to motivate others. But he wants us to do that with him being the driving force. THE DRIVING FORCE. Our hope is to be in him. Our guidance should come from him. Our achievements should be through him. When we prioritize our lives like that, we live for his glory. And all the while showing others that God should be first in all that we do. He should be first in our personal lives and our public lives. He should be where we place our hope. He should be THE place where we place our hope. He should be first because he loves us. Always has. Always will.

We have all heard the saying, God is for us. Chances are, you have said that at one point or another. Or someone you know has said it. Sometimes we convince ourselves that if we say it, we believe it. But do we really? Are we living like we believe it? Are we serving like we believe it? It’s easy for us to let life’s distractions block us from believing this all the time. 

Truth is…God is for us. God loves us. God believes in us. Song lyrics tell us: “If God is for us, then who can ever stand against us.” Remembering this daily is the key. Believe me, I am totally aware that can be easier said than done. But there are ways to help us remember. Ways for us to walk with him daily. For example, reading the Bible daily gives us the words we need. Fellowship with people who hold us accountable out of love. What we listen to, watch, read, etc. All tools to help us build the belief that God is for us.

When we truly believe that God is for us, we know there is hope. Although we live in a world of fear, we have the strength to get through the fear. We know that God is our foundation. He is our love. Each day, strive to believe that God is for us, including you. And that means that nothing will stand against you. Nothing! God has you. Always has. Always will.

God‘s plans for us are good. Even in this world of uncertainty, God‘s plans for us are good. Sometimes people question: If God’s plans are good, then why does God allow bad things to happen? Think about the last few years. The virus. Think about how Covid ravaged the world. You might even know someone who lost a battle against this virus. I do. It was devastating to our family. Think about how much life has changed during this time. And how quickly all of that happened. Almost overnight.

We’re living in an unprecedented time. We have seen diseases, natural disasters, and countries, even continents at war. But those were all generally isolated to certain areas. This virus was global. Some argue that it still is. Either way, life will never be the same as it was prior to 2020. How we interact with one another will never be the same. How we work, play, travel, everything, will never be the same. We are still adjusting to a new normal. 

But there’s still the question: Why does God allow bad things to happen? Unfortunately, we live in a world where bad things happen. It’s a part of life. This virus is an example. People want to argue back-and-forth about how it came about. But that’s besides the point. It’s a bad thing that happened. Terrible thing. But as bad as it is, I have seen a lot of good come out of it. I have seen unity that wasn’t there before. I have seen people strive to serve others more than they did before. And more importantly, I have seen people turn to God more than they have before. Now don’t get me wrong. We have a long way to go. But there are definitely glimpses of hope that only come from God. And that’s how I answer the question. Bad things happen, so people will turn to God who is the only true source of hope. So let’s fix our minds on God. Let’s thirst for his love. If we do this, we will see the hope that I’m talking about.

God created heaven and earth. And, God created everything on it. So we can conclude that God created us. And we were created to to bring glory to God. Not to ourselves. Not to others. Not to anyone. Our purpose is to bring glory to God. One way we can do that is by serving others. 

We are to live intentionally striving to serve our Lord and Savior. That might sound impossible. Or we can question how we can do that if we are not a pastor. Or if we’re not on staff at church. Or don’t work in the missions field. Our day-to-day lives (Careers, education, families, etc.) might not be Christ centered. That’s most likely true for majority of us. But, that’s what we are called to do: “Go and make disciples.”

So now…let’s think about our lives. Our purpose. And let’s determine how it aligns with what we’re called to do. I’m certain we can all find ways to better fulfill our heavenly purpose. I truly believe that if we take inventory of what we have in our lives, we can find ways to fulfill this purpose. If you struggle with this, I suggest you pray for guidance and wisdom. And I promise you that God will show you what he wants you to do. I know I’ve challenged us with this repeatedly recently. That’s because I’m challenging myself. We’re in this together. So let’s work together with the same end goal. To show God’s glory to the world.

When I was first saved years ago, I had no idea what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I thought being a Christian meant that I would go to church, pray over meals, listen to the right music, and have fellowship with other Christians. I tried to copy other people who I thought were “good” Christians. To the point that I was even saying what they were saying. I didn’t realize that Jesus wanted me to know him. Not just know who he was, or is, or will be. But to really know him. Did you go through this? Are you now? You’re not alone if so.

As our walks in our faith progress, we begin to learn more that our foundation should be built on Jesus. I don’t just mean the foundation of our faith. I’m talking about the foundations of our lives. Our entire lives. Everything we stand for. Everything we work for. Everything we live for. Everything! When we strive to get to that point, our mission switches from one of self desire to one of serving Jesus. Serving Jesus by serving others.

Our Lord and Savior is the perfect example of what serving others looks like. If you want to be like anyone, it should be Jesus. I love the story about the final night. The night that he bent down to wash feet. Ohhhh what a lesson he was teaching. To truly serve others, we must lower ourselves below them. We must be humble enough to lift them above us. He didn’t wash feet, to simply wash feet. He lowered himself, lifting them up, all with the purpose of teaching them how to truly serve other people. All the while, knowing that tremendous suffering was coming his way. Wow! Let’s copy that. Let’s lower ourselves and lift others up. Through love. And let’s all remember this…God loves us. Always has. Always will.

What is your daily mission? When you wake up, what is your purpose? Where are you going in life? When you are a Christian, Jesus should be your focus and your passion. So each day, your mission and purpose should be to serve him. No matter what it is you do in life. Serving him should be the focus.

God has equipped you with the tools and talents to fulfill your mission. He will show you what it is if you let him. If you ask him. If you pray to him seeking wisdom. He will show you.  If you don’t let God direct you, you will not have a clear sense of what it is you are called to do. Maybe it’s time to use the blessings you have received to better serve others. If you do, think of the testimony that you will have. 

You might question what blessings you have. I think if you look around, you will see them. Doesn’t have to be money. Doesn’t have to be a big house or lots of toys. Your blessings may include those. And that’s fine. But your blessings may also be recovering from an illness. Having a loving family. Overcoming some type of struggles. Addiction. Anxiety. Depression. Etc. We all have different types of blessings if we truly look for them. Then we can turn those into our mission to serve others. Our testimony may be exactly what someone needs to hear or see. May be exactly what shows them who Jesus is. May be exactly what leads them to salvation. How awesome would that be! So ask, “What is your mission?”