Now listen, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to this city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it sin for them. James 4:13-17
Have you ever taking the time to think of how God sees you? I would say we have all been guilty of this as well, because we can see the good in others, there talents, but when we come to us to see what God sees our view and opinion of ourselves falls pretty short. I believe that this happens after we have been hurt by another, from a situation that takes place in our lives we begin to believe the lies from the devil himself, I am not good enough. The way you see your life shapes your life. Your perspective will influence how you invest your time, spend your money, use your talents, and value your relationships. I have read more than once the book call The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren a well known author, if you haven’t read it as of yet I do encourage you to do so. As Rick Warren shares in his book, we don’t know all the test God will give us, but we can predict some of them, based on the Bible. You will be tested by major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies. I know that in my own life that God test my faith in many ways, through having a chronic ill child, times of challenges in my marriage, the disappointments I went through with people, but during these times my faith gets tested over and over again of being faithful to my Creator, my Lord and Savior, and through these times as I look back on my life I have grown closer to Christ more than I could ever image I would be able to do. Every time you or I pass a test, God notices and makes plans to reward you in eternity. In the book of James he tells us “Blessed are those who endure when they are tested. When they pass the test, they will received the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Our culture today says, “If you don’t own it, you will not take care of it. But Christians live by a higher standard, “Because God owns it, I must take the best care of anything I have because all gifts are a blessing from God, in other words everything and I mean everything I have and own comes from God and God alone. Rick shares with us in his book that Christians should carry spiritual cards (called a green card), to remind us that our citizenship is in heaven. God says his children are to think differently about life from the way unbelievers do, all they do is to worry about life here on earth, and for us as Christians is to look forward to the day when we are reunited with the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not sure how God sees you and how precious you are to him, a simply suggestion for you to do is ask him, and believe me he will tell you. He loves you so much that he sent his one and only son Jesus into this world to die for us all so that we will never be separated from him once we leave this world. Remember when life gets hard and really hard for you, and you are overwhelmed with doubt, remember you are not home yet, and when the time comes and it will in a blink of an eye you will return home to the Father, “The Great I Am”
Grace and Peace to You My Friends
QuietMomentsWithGod 