Hello everyone!
Today I'm going to be sharing some thoughts with you that I think will be helpful to you, especially if you are stuck in the mode of mediocrity. 2023 now has taken a hold, sufficiently I feel, for me to begin to restart my posts on my blog.
As you know, last year I lost my dad so had to take some time away from blogging to process my grief. Now that the first year has passed and I've made it through the 1 year anniversary hell, I can look to become regular in my posting again.
It's a long time overdue, but I also knew that I could not afford to rush the process because a process rushed is never going to produce lasting results.
Let's take a deep dive into this, shall we?
Careful or Care-free?
There is a certain knack, I feel, to life that, once you get the hang of it, you learn to ride against culture's vibe and tap into Jesus' "unforced rhythms of grace" that allow you to navigate the storms of life in a manner akin to Jesus who slept on a cushion (Mark 4:38) in the midst of a storm, such was His stability in uncertain waters.
Uncertain waters...
That's a concept that stirs up a whole wad of emotion especially in these current turbulent times, which some believers are saying are proof that we are living in the end times.
My focal point, today, is not that but the fact that we often send our lives in the directions of the most dominant thought patterns in our heads. This is a concept, once understood, helped me to realise that I have an awful lot of power to paint a picture with my words that will either ruin my life, or cause it to be all that God intends for it to be.
Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time. Proverbs 17:22 (GNB)
Wow! "It is slow death to be gloomy all the time" - what a picture THAT paints, huh?
Have you ever been around a negative person? I mean somebody so negative that you doubt they ever have a positive thing to say, such is the amount of complaining that they do. For a lot of people, complaining is easier to do than actually expending effort to focus on applying change where they can to a situation.
I have.
It's not a nice place to be and, if anything, it's highly contagious and causes you to echo their sentiments, oftentimes, without even realising it.
Could it be a clue, then, that what we say echoes the very depths of our hearts?
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:45 (NIV)
So could it also be that, when we paint pictures with our words, we are actually revealing the canvas that has already been painted in the belief system of our hearts? Given that we act out of what we believe, nothing we do is without purpose; it either brings death, or it brings life.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]. Proverbs 18:21 (AMPC)
See that? "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" - this means that what I say can either produce death in my life, or it can produce life. Not both at the same time. It's an either/or situation but the good news is that I can change the results I'm getting if I will change the words that I am saying.
How?
Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. 1 Peter 5:6-7 (AMPC)
By considering that maybe, just maybe, I need to change my estimation of myself in my own eyes. It may just been that the image I have created of my own life has become bloated to the point where the things I care for God has already taken care of.
For if we are careful, or full of care, then it might just be that we have already created enough expectation and pressure upon ourselves to produce the results we want. All by ourselves.
It's not even our plan that stands, in the end. If it were then we'd be God, and we're not. No matter how many times today's culture tells you that you are. You're not. And that's okay because there is a God you can trust to work everything out in His time.
Peter's words are a distinct reminder that the path to being care-free from careful are by the casting of every relationship, situation, diagnosis , or whatever concern you may have today upon the shoulders of Jesus.
Too many people think Christianity has an agenda, when it doesn't; it is simply trying to point the way to Jesus as the only Way to live the life you were born to live. I'm living proof of that, after over twenty years in the household of faith in God, I am living proof that the life I'm living today is not the one I would have, necessarily, chosen for myself when it's the one I've got.
Final Thought
In closing, then, I want to leave you with a song that has a special place in my heart right now, because it depicts the struggle of life well, whilst at the same time pointing the way to Jesus as the only way to live the life you were born to live.
This is not the end of you today. It's not. It may look, sound and feel like that, but I want you to know that there's so much more going on that you're not aware of. God is already at work in your life and any discomfort you are feeling may just be a result of Him moving some things around to position you to reign in this life.
Your life is not mediocrity.
Your life is not a waste.
It's a precious gift from Him to do with as you will.
That's a contentious thought, but it's true; He won't force you to serve Him and He won't force you to acknowledge him. Yet He is ever present in your circumstance even if it feels like He's not.
Today, choose to reject mediocrity and throw off the shackles of restraint that's stopping you from being all that God has called you to be. Come on home to His fold and you will see what God can do through you.
Peace!
===TLP===
No comments:
Post a Comment