If you are like most people, and maybe if you are like me, your day begins with waking up and one of the first things I notice are my subtle aches or pains on various parts of my body. I have flat feet, and my feet let me know that they don’t want to walk today. I abused my back over the years and my back tells me it doesn’t want to bend today. I stretch in bed and prepare my feet and my back for getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom. Those first few steps are usually my feet and/or my back giving me their input for the day in the typical – in your face buddy – reply to my using them. But eventually, as I move around, they begin to loosen up and at some point they quit aching, or complaining.
I didn’t have these aches when I was in my 20’s. I knew that someday I would begin to start feeling older but I didn’t really know what to expect. I also realize that everybody is different. Some people take better care of their bodies and so maybe their aches and pains don’t come until much later in life. I think we can all agree that in much of this, it is all relative to some degree. I think that life in general follows this same pattern, for the most part. There are always exceptions, as we know, but in general I think we can all agree that the world tells us this.
The pattern goes something like this. The more you put in, the more you get out. The harder you work, the better the results. The more love you give, the more love you will get, and on and on…. Some of you may be smiling right now and some of you may be thinking, it didn’t work that way for me. All I can say to you is you are right. Both of you are right.
I remember a television commercial in my youth and it made me think about life and specifically the life of a follower of Christ or the life of the Church. The slogan for the commercial was, “I can’t believe it’s not butter”. That line always followed someone taking a bite out of a piece of bread that was covered in artificial “butter”. This is my thought for today and I want to speak to those of us who feel like they put 100% in and they don’t get 100% out, or you’re putting a lot in and you “feel” like you get nothing out.
One famous trap that satan likes to use is to get you to think that you are ineffective or that you are inconsequential. He knows that we are always in tune to our “feelings”, and for a great majority of us we tend to listen to our “feelings”. After all, when we touch a hot stove, we feel pain and we need to listen to those feelings in order to save our bodies. It is a perfectly normal human condition. In our physical bodies, our feelings direct our actions. Here is the kicker. The issue isn’t really our physical bodies but our minds. Yes, our minds are part of our body, but our mind doesn’t have nerve pain. Our brain cannot feel pain, but it only interprets pain from our body. Our minds are the key to controlling our emotions and feelings that want to direct us a certain way. Satan knows this about us. He knows that if he can control our minds, he has control over our bodies….It is really that simple.
I don’t usually like to give a string of verses, but I really think that they speak for themselves and capture all of what I am trying to say…
Romans 12:2 ESV
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Philippians 4:8 ESV
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
Aren’t you thankful for our Bible? What God wants you and I to know is this. As a follower of Christ, you are a new creation in Christ. You become a living vessel of the Holy Spirit and you are forever connected to Jesus Christ and to God. You and I may “feel” like we don’t belong, or we may “feel” like we are ineffective in our ministries, but this is what satan wants you to believe. It is not the truth. It is not real. The reality is that last night you may have spoken a word to someone that gave them hope and gave them a new perspective, but this morning you “feel” like you didn’t change a thing. Keep this in mind. As Christians, we are only conduits through which, if we allow, Christ works through us. We don’t know the intimate thoughts of anyone but God does. We don’t know that the kind and supportive words that we spoke into someone last night are the very words that God is using to help change another person’s life. What we do know is that, we see this world heading in a direction that doesn’t look like the good side is winning. We see a world where it seems like the bad people are winning. We see a world where we think…”I can’t believe it’s not better”…
Can I tell you something? God has already won. God has redeemed anyone who will come to Him and believe in His Son Jesus Christ. God has told us, in His Word, that this world will come to an end. This world will fall. That in the end times, the world will be like the days of Noah before the flood that destroyed the wicked world. This world will be in a terrible way before Christ returns. This is why God tells us that as followers of Christ, we are not to be a part of this world. We are a part of His new Kingdom. Have joy! Have peace! Have patients! Have love! Have kindness! Have faithfulness! Have goodness! Have self-control! Self-control is the key to a long life in Christ. We are to think on Christ and His Word…. In order to transform our minds, renew our minds. Retrain our thinking from our old habits to our new ones. The more we do this, the longer we do this, the more our minds will be transformed. A new creation.
This is the key. Keep on keeping on in your walk with Christ and even as we fall down, we get back up. Even as we think we are ineffective, we keep sharing Christ. This is how each of us must on our own become a better follower of Jesus day by day.
God Bless.
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