“Taste your words before you spit them out!”
I love to post encouraging words on this blog and I pray every day that it might speak to 1 or 2 people out there. But do I practice what I post? It’s easy to have great advice for everyone else, but do we use that advice when the going gets tough in our own lives?
As Christians we love to quote verses for others when they are struggling. We remind them that God will never leave or forsake them. We tell others that God has good in store for those who love Him. It’s so easy to take these verses out of context and try to convince others that everything in their lives will be perfect as long as they are faithful Christians. Sometimes we are even told that when we are sick or have struggles that it’s due to a lack of faith. The problem is that we spend too much time reading blogs like this that tell us about God’s goodness, and too little time with God himself. We read too many books, looking for answers to our problems, and spend no time reading His Word that has all the answers. Sometimes, I spend too much time writing these blogs to encourage others, and too little time finding my strength in Him.
We have become a wishy washy – I’ll-call-on-God-when-I-hit-rock-bottom society. We want to live life on our terms, yet expect God to respond when we have an issue. We want to live lives following our desires, yet expect to be in Heaven when we die. The problem is, if we aren’t willing to bend the knee for Christ, but rather for other causes, why would we want to be in heaven where we will worship Him for eternity. We can’t simply want to use Christ when we need Him. We can’t push Him aside when things are going well in our lives. Being a Christian is all or nothing. God is there all the time. God loves us all the time. God wants a relationship with us all the time. We should be found on our knees more than being found staring at screens. Our hearts need to be turned to God, more than to our material possessions. Our spoken and posted words need to be reflected in our actions, rather than being an attempt to impress others.
In Ezekiel 22:30 we read God saying: “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” God is looking for the same thing today. Are you and I willing to stand in the gap on behalf of our nation, our continent, our world? But before we do that, we need to be walking with God – ALL IN.
My prayer for you today is that the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Mark Davidson
