The love of Jesus Christ is so great that nothing can separate His love from us. While we are sinners He still loves enough to die for us. We can work and try hard every moment of every day but human effort cannot earn such love. Only God can love us in such a mighty way.
Jesus saves.
Romans 5:8 New Living Translation
But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Jesus paid it all. It should be front page news every single day that salvation is available for all who accept Christ as Savior and Lord. There is no greater comfort than to know we are never alone. No matter the circumstances we can count on Jesus to be with us.
The greatest commandment Jesus gave was just before He entered into heaven was to tell others about Him. Jesus Saves. Praise the Lord.
Matthew 28:18-20 Living Bible
He told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this—that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”
It costs nothing to give a smile to someone or hold a door open for a person whose hands are full of packages. It takes no extra time to slow up in traffic to let another person onto the road. Simple habits like these can cause another person to have a great day.
It’s all about love. It’s free and it is abundant with plenty to give away.
When this becomes a lifestyle it will be amazing what all comes back in the way of blessings. These blessings are not expected because we feel we have given nothing because love is a new lifestyle.
Luke 6:38 Living Bible
For if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give—large or small—will be used to measure what is given back to you.”
There are certain things in life that are achieved by going about it the right way. Hard study makes good grades in school. Hard work earns promotions and raises. Proper respect for people earns trust and friendships. These type of achievements are the right thing to do.
Other achievements can be costly. Passing people right and left in traffic to be first in line at the next traffic light can cost a ticket or an accident. What did it achieve? Nothing.
Arguing with a sales clerk over a price and huffing off to make a point achieves nothing. In fact it costs the positive opinion of others standing by watching.
A tire salesman refuses to repair an additional tire rim for a customer who did not buy original tires at his shop. He tells the customer to take his repair to where he bought other tires. This costs the reputation of that whole company plus word is spread to others not to do business there. Several months later that salesman knocks on the door of the home of the same customer he turned away. He was going door to door in order to witness for Christ. Even though he remembers nothing about the customer or incident, the customer remembers very well. This earlier action costed the salesman his witness where the customer is concerned. Some decisions can ruin a whole life.
Sometimes it does not pay to achieve, especially when it comes to making a spur of the moment point. These split second decisions have costs that pyramid out for a long time.
Matthew 20:25-28 Living Bible
But Jesus called them together and said, “Among the heathen, kings are tyrants and each minor official lords it over those beneath him. But among you it is quite different. Anyone wanting to be a leader among you must be your servant. And if you want to be right at the top, you must serve like a slave. Your attitude must be like My own, for I, the Messiah,* did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give My life as a ransom for many.”
We all have a false front at times. We meet new people and we present better than our best. In fact we often times are not even ourselves around new people.
Resumes for jobs are prime examples of adding extra fluff that implies a little more than what we can produce. We seek to create an illusion of something slightly better in order to impress a potential employer.
As beautiful as this appears to be, it’s still a lie. Stretching the truth, adding fluff or even dressing in Sunday attire as a casual person to impress someone only makes us uncomfortable. Once an illusion has been created there is the continuous pressure to keep it up. There will become a day when we will just want to be ourselves. We find ourselves getting mad at people for no reason. We get jealous of others who prosper when we are unable to be like them.
There will be a day that we refer to as the breaking point. We are forced to be alone with God because we will have alienated all our friends who trusted our illusions and not the real us.
Praise God, it’s at that time He can get us all sorted out where we can live a life of truth and peace.
The first step is getting alone with God, just us and Him. None of us wants to bear all. God understands that. The second step is the wrestling match between us and God. We lash out at Him blaming the friends that deserted us or the ones who prospered instead of us. This wrestling match can go on for days. The third step is to choose to either let God have His truth in us or to walk away remaining in the same situation as before.
Letting go means to accept our own selves for who God made us to be. We realize we are jealous of those prospering and want to be like them but we can’t. What we find out is the person God made us to be is unique to us. When we present our own truths and strengths God will grow and prosper them. We can never prosper trying to be something we are not. It is at that point we can accept and thank God for the people we have been envious of without the anger because we see they give their truthful best and now we can give ours.
We can present our first impression as our only impression because we represent Christ and it no longer matters what others think. The truth sets us free.
When we are called to sort things out with God He will see to it we receive peace. He gives His approval because we have accepted His approval for who we are. He will bless us.
Just as Jacob wrestled with the things he did to get his own way, we all have this same obstacle to overcome. Blessings will come as we trust God for who He made us to be.
Hosea 12:4-5 Living Bible
Yes, he wrestled with the Angel and prevailed. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. He met God there at Bethel face-to-face. God spoke to him— the Lord, the God of heaven’s armies—Jehovah is His name.