Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
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May 29, 2018 10:00:00 PM
We start strong. Determination and strength come easily. Faithfulness flows from our hearts. Then life happens. We didn’t plan to grow cold spiritually. But we did.
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Somehow, we can wake up after a number of years and discover that our lack of passion for God has gradually shifted Him away from our hearts. We then find ourselves living in the ruins of once-vibrant spiritual lives.
How does this happen? By forgetting this one thing.
When life gets busy (including ministry), it’s often tempting to view God as good for salvation but a little lacking for our real lives.
We didn’t start out walking with God only to ignore Him when we grew up. The reality is, growing up shows us how much we really do need God. Like the prodigal who longed for freedom, we come to our senses and realize that life apart from the Father isn’t the freedom we imagined it would be.
The soul of man bears the image of God; so nothing can satisfy it but He whose image it bears. —Thomas Gataker
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
Christians never outgrow the basics. We either build on them or we overlook them. How?
The pattern for the Christian life has never been other Christians—it is Christ. How easily we can forget that.
Getting back on track could begin by answering 3 questions:
It takes guts to answer those questions honestly. It takes even more courage to change.
Godly behavior and orthodox doctrinal statements are important, but that’s not the hub of the spiritual life. Jesus Christ wants our affections—He wants to be our first love (Revelation 2:1-5).
In every situation in which we live and serve, in every action, our motive should find its root in love for Jesus. The goal is love, and love expresses itself in those ways we often confuse as the goal (1 Timothy 1:5).
Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is still the greatest commandment.
Because it is the most essential.
Learn the top 6 Lessons from Visiting the Holy Land more than 20 times in 21 years with Dr. Wayne Stiles, a longtime devotional scholar who is passionate about sharing the practical application of bringing God's Word to life.
Tell me what you think: What are your greatest distractions to walking with God? To leave a comment, just click here.
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