Remember
every day, God chose you.
He chose to love you before you were in your mother’s womb.
God
chose to lavish His grace on you, so you would be saved from your sins and not be
separated from Him.
He chose you to “be all
things to all people” so that you can tell them the good news–the gospel–so some
could be saved (1 Corinthians 9:22).
God chose you to bend, break, and
remold you into His image because of His love.
He tells you to cast your burdens on Him because He cares
for you, and to take up His yoke, which is lighter (1 Peter 5:7, Matthew
11:28-30).
Why does God allow difficult things to happen? That is a common question.
Possibly to remind you He is God.
Possibly to cause you to
seek Him so He can grow you and reshape you more into His likeness.
More than anything, difficult and
easy times provide an opportunity for us to learn a big lesson we and reinforce
our deep connection-our personal relationship with God.
Abraham had just received God’s promise that Sarah, his
eighty-year-old wife, would have a son in less than a year. He had a
relationship with God then God told him, He had to see if the outcry in Sodom
and Gomorrah was accurate. Abraham had a close enough relationship with God
that he began to intercede for the people of those cities (Genesis 18).
Closeness to God makes us intercede
for others,
not only supplicate for ourselves.
Paul had a close relationship with God. It came through many
a blinding light on the road to Damascus and through many trials of beatings
and persecutions. His closeness to God brought a dramatic change to the Roman
world of the first century and to humanity since then.
Closeness to God creates
the heart of God in us for lost people.
It gives us love, God’s love, for all people so that we “strive
to become all things for all so that we might win some to Christ (1 Corinthians
9:22).
Joshua was a strong man of God. When God sent him and 9
other men into the Promised Land to spy it out and report back to the
Israelites, he told the people it was a bountiful land and that Yahweh was
almighty enough to give it to them. As they prepared to enter the Promised
Land, Joshua challenged the people. He reminded them who God had been and would
continue to be for them. Joshua called them to renew their commitment and
service to the LORD.
Closeness to God leads
people to commit and serve the Lord.
A genuine heart of God in a person for other people-to serve
Him, to intercede for them, and to try to win them to Christ-cannot be manmade.
Nothing we can do causes us to be good enough to be acceptable to God and for
His service. Only God can make each person acceptable-holy. He provided this
way through His Son’s death on the cross and resurrection.
Why can God’s people do these things?
Because God chose
them.
God loves them.
God empowers them.
And they love the Lord
with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Do you have a heart for God? Have you heard Him calling to
you to come to Him? Did you go? Did you give your heart to God, so you can be
saved from your sins and have an eternal relationship with the God who created
and loved you before you were ever formed? Today is the perfect day for you to
stop running and answer His call to your heart. Today is the perfect day to
turn around from striving to survive, succeed, make it one more day in this
world. Each of us sins. Whether you are saved or not, God is calling you to
turn back to Him today…now. What will you say to Him? He is there calling and
waiting.
Lord, we do not
understand this love of Yours. We do not understand how one man dying, even
Your Son, can erase our sins and make us holy. But, Lord, we want to leap in
faith to You and ask You to hold us, forgive us, and remold us into Your image
for Your service. Please accept the sacrifice of my sin-broken heart and make
me clean and new for You. Amen.
