Confession

Sometimes I don't learn the lesson God is teaching me until I completely fail His test. Although I wrote about how God is teaching me about dealing with frustrating people this week and how we should act, I totally did not follow this! I completely snapped at a clerk at a Walmart this week (long story, but it still doesn't excuse my actions). I went back to apologize today and I am very grateful that she forgave me. Hopefully now I have learned the lesson. It just goes to show you that we are all works in progress!

Striving for Holiness

It is so easy to become complacent in our faith. We get to a comfortable spot where we feel like we know what we need to know and are good with God. But the truth is that it is never enough to just be "good with God". We should be constantly striving toward holiness.

Genesis 20:26 You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have
set you apart from the nations to be my own.

How holy should we be? We should be so holy that the secular world hates us. Afterall, the darkness does not like the light:

John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it
is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you.

But I find myself afraid to be hated by the world. I don't want to say things that will offend people. So I water down my faith and I become luke warm. This is wrong and it is not the path that leads to holiness.

Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.

1 Tim 6:11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

God makes it clear that we should be so dedicated that we become SLAVES to righteousness, constantly persuing it and fleeing from all else.

Have you been pursuing holiness or have you let your relationship with God become stale? I encourage you to take some time this week and reflect on where your faith stands.

Difficult People

The holidays are upon us and I am sure you have run into some pretty frustrating people. It seems like so many people are in such a rush and can be so rude! One thing the Lord has really been working on me is learning to "love" these frustrating people.

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you" Luke 6: 27-31.

Some might say that it is impossible to love your enemies, but Jesus had to do this daily. OK really if someone took my jacket, would I let them just take my shirt? And if someone hits me wouldn't I want to hit them back? The trick is that you have to think of the other person as better than you.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” Philippians 2: 3-4.

When you put the other person's needs above your own, you will not want to cause them harm, you will want to help them. Now I am not saying that this is easy, but God can give us the strength to do anything... even to bite your tongue when someone cuts in front of you in a grocery line that you have been in for an hour!

God, change my heart and make it like yours. Teach me to love my enemies the way that you love me unconditionally.