"I want you to know that your relational failures discourage only your pride and, at the same time, deepen your dependence on Me for relational success. Know this too: your real temptation is to use your fear and failure to justify walking away from Me into pleasures you can arrange for yourself." 66 LLIt's been a discouraging day on many levels, and I definitely feel tempted to arrange life in ways that please me. These days, pleasure would be a day all alone, with my nose in a good book, and no one asking me for a thing. Frankly, that sounds like bliss right now.
But I know it's just my favorite way of escaping my dissatisfaction with myself and others. Parenting and other relationships are wearing me down, and I feel the familiar urge to disconnect from everyone and everything.
"You cannot escape from the desire for your own happiness and well-being. And I don't want you to. But you can escape from the demand to arrange for your own happiness and well-being. You can do so by trusting Me with your life and devoting yourself to revealing my nature to others by how you relate." 66 LLIt's on days like this that my flesh appears to be winning the battle, but God's Word reminds me that I am not left alone to solve my problems. I already have all that I need.
Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. (1:3)Or more familiarly,
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (1:3 NIV)By faith, I'm choosing to believe it's true today, regardless of how I feel in my circumstances. And thankfully, it is true. God wins! And ultimately, so do I because God lives in me. Yes, praise Jesus, I do have everything I need, even on the discouraging days like today.
1 comment:
Thank you so much for writing this. It is exactly what I needed to hear. You put into words exactly what my heart was feeling today and reminded me that through it all, Christ is sufficient and has already given me all I need for today. Thank you for helping me regain the right perspective. And I love how even though I was a day behind in my reading, this is what I needed for today.
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