Tag: Devotional

“²³ In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” ~ Proverbs 14:23

We have become a people of complaints. We complain about everything. As a church, we have forgotten what it means to be thankful. We tend to look at the glass half empty instead of half full. We’re so busy complaining about what we don’t have instead of what we do have. We don’t see how blessed we are. We have become a selfish, self-serving people.

When we look back at the Bible and see what those who have gone before us went through so that we can have all that we do, we really need to be thankful. When I look back at what my grandparents and great-grandparents did and what they went through so that their children and their children’s children could have better lives, it’s very humbling. They were innovative. They found ways to stretch very little.

My grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ generations were generations that took the bad, the ugly, and made good out of it. They didn’t make excuses that things were too hard; they didn’t make excuses that they didn’t have the education to be successful. They took what little they had, and they made so much out of it. Little to no education, no help, but they fought, they strove, and succeeded. They believed they could, so they did. They were a generation that had the fear of God in them and believed they could do anything.

Where is that in today’s world? Would they be disappointed if they saw what we did with their hard work? What we did with their sweat and tears? We complain so much that we envy and hate those who have more than we do instead of fighting for a better life. We give up and accept the plate that has been set before us. Why don’t we fight for a better future?

Those of us who grew up with it all, are we at a disadvantage? We shouldn’t be, but it seems like we’ve done the complete opposite than past generations. We’ve taken the good and beautiful, and we’ve turned it to the bad and the ugly. With all of the education we have at our fingertips, the opportunities, and the technological advances, we should be the generation making a difference. Making things better. Correcting past mistakes. But instead, we’ve become complacent and entitled. We no longer believe in working hard; instead, we want hand-outs.

What does that get us? Just enough to survive. Do you want to survive or thrive? I implore you to take advantage of what you have because I guarantee it is more than the generations before us could have ever dreamed of having. Be better than what you have come from. Never forget where you come from. Be thankful for what you have, but always strive for better.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Thrive.

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“¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” ~ Matthew 28:18-20

As the majority of us are Non-Jews, this verse can be very encouraging. Before His death and resurrection, Jesus said He only came to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. To His disciples, He said only go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. But something shifted in the Spiritual when He died and rose again; Gentiles were grafted in because now, Jesus gave us The Great Commission, to go out and make disciples of all nations. Sometimes we don’t even see the bigger picture because we get caught up in how amazing it is that we, Gentiles, were grafted in. But Paul takes that a step further, from just Gentiles, but the entire Earth being grafted into the Overwhelming, Never-Ending, Reckless Love of God. Paul said in Ephesians 1:4-6 that before the world’s foundation, God chose us (humanity) to be adopted to Himself through Christ Jesus.

So, before we were separated as Jew and Gentile. Before we ever sinned. Before Adam ever ate the fruit. And before there was even a foundation, God saw that we would sin, and therefore created a way to adopt us from darkness. For every sin we’ve committed, are currently committing, and are going to commit, Jesus died for. Jesus took the weight of all of our sin on Himself, taking our place on the cross. And then 3 days later, rising from the grave and finishing it all, for death has lost its sting and the grave has lost its power over us. For now, when we die, we are called to our new home, Heaven.

Thank you, LORD, for bearing our punishment. For taking our lashing. For paying our debt. You alone could bear our suffering on your back. You alone could overcome the grave, for we sin, not fully understanding what our sin cost. Some of us refuse to even acknowledge what You went through, and yet, You still did it knowing all of this. Knowing that we would betray You, spit in Your face, and call You a liar, You still got off of Your throne and came down to Earth to save us. Thank You, LORD Jesus, for paying our debt. In Your Holy and Precious Name, Amen.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Thank The LORD.

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