How’s Life?
God is gracious and worthy of all praise. Do we really believe those words? It is easy to check ourselves. All we need to do is consider our motives and behavior. Do we really love our enemies? Do we put the interests of others appropriately ahead of our interests? Do we act with the Spirit of God, not against him; doing those things that don’t come naturally for us (it is sometimes hard and painful to submit our ways to God’s Way)? God told us if we love him, we would keep his commandments. Loving God is not a mental exercise, gaining mysterious knowledge, or isolated love emotions; instead loving God is always action; to do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons in faith by his grace. The knowledge and experience of doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons in faith by his grace will produce joy within us that passes all understanding, even if we are in desperate circumstances. If you have been trying to love God but seem to fail at times, I highly recommend that you stop trying! I tried for many years to be a good Christian; I failed over and over again. What is different now? Am I some super spiritual person or found an ancient secret? No, just ask those who know me now; there are still times I pain God and others. The difference is I have made the choice to live by faith by his never failing grace. Before I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, God loved me unconditionally with all my warts and weaknesses. It was his kind favor and mercy towards me that brought me to the realization that I needed God. When I gave my life to Jesus and he saved me, I somehow got the notion that I had to prove to him and others that he made a good choice! I forgot God’s love is unchanging. I now act according to his unchanging love: trusting God’s love to empower me to live pleasing to him! By faith and by his continual favor toward me, God Almighty has become my strength and turns me from those things that tear my life down and hurts him and others. I have now accepted the fact that I am in a lifetime of daily spiritual training and practice what God teaches me. I and close Christian friends examine my life from God’s perspective (the Bible; God’s very Words), I confess what displeases him, then I ask and have faith in God to cleanse me and give me the power to overcome my weaknesses. My God sees every imperfection in my life, yet loves me unconditionally. My Perfect Father treats me with compassion, wisdom, patience, and persistent loving correction. He is waiting, with great patience, to bring you into his family too. Just ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. But before you do ask, weigh the fact that God will require your whole life in submission to him. Yes, there will be times of testing, growth, and suffering, but nothing compared to the joy of living today with the Creator of the Universe and being counted in his family for eternity! My life doesn’t seem to revolve around personal failings anymore. My life is full of the excitement of walking with God and seeing what he is doing through it to further his purposes; to please God and love all others.