“The loving are the daring,” wrote Bayard Taylor. Our lives and our relationship with God would be richer if we loved Him more deeply, dreamed of showing our love more extravagantly, and then demonstrated our faith more boldly and bravely every day.
Our faith must be courageous. In the faith that takes risks, trust is always the key element. We are willing to put any number of things in jeopardy in the short run because we have confidence that, in the long run, the Lord will not let us down.
Some Christians tend in the direction of active service while others tend toward quiet devotion. Neither is inherently wrong; there is a need for both. We should be cautious before criticizing someone for not doing discipleship exactly as we do it.
Sooner or later, God’s methods will be seen to have been the best, however ineffective they seem right now. Until then, let’s trust the process and give it time — nothing less than a lifetime — to work. The process may be slow, but it’s very sure.
In the kingdom, there are many new things to be learned. But before we can learn them, there is a good deal of grown-up “stuff” that needs to be unlearned, especially our desire for counterfeit pleasures rather than the real ones God has provided.
We need to be more honest, openly acknowledging the things that move us most deeply. The darkness is to be avoided, yes. But even more than that, the light is to be loved. The Lord is to be worshiped “in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2).
We can’t stay put and move forward at the same time. Change will come to us all, our choice is simply a choice of attitude: will we resist change and make ourselves miserable, or will we accept it with gratitude for the good things it makes possible?
It’s a dangerous thing to replay the still-enjoyable aspects of the memory of sin. Like Lot and his family who were told to leave Sodom and not look back, we need, in the case of some things, to leave them alone decisively for the rest of our lives.
We paralyze ourselves by failing to forgive. Doing little to rid our hearts of resentment, we find that our minds do little but replay the past. Energy that should be spent building a better future is wasted in bitterness. Our future is blocked.
I might wish my misdeeds could be seen as nothing more than personal quirks or foibles, but unworthy character and unacceptable conduct can’t be excused by saying, “Well, that’s just the way I am.” Christ gave His life to get us over the way we are!
