Philippians 3:14 Amplified Bible (AMP)
14I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.
We’re closing in on the end of March. Where are you with that diet you started on January 1st, continuing your Job search “after the Holidays,” or what about all of the other promises you made to yourself at New years such as becoming financially fit, stop cussing or gossiping, etc.? Did you pray about and were you lead to Fast anything over the period of Lent that we’re in? That, too, is coming to a close in just a couple of short days! So, are you maintaining or did you ever get to the maintenance period and find your groove? If you have, how will you go above and beyond the maintenance period? Why stop at 20lbs when you really have 50 to lose? Why only send 10 Resumes when there are 40 companies that could be looking for your skill set? Or, have you just settled and given up on changing your vocabulary, your thoughts and the way you go back to your old regular routine, because no one is going to care about the “new you?” If you don’t hold yourself accountable to your goals, more specifically your faith, how do you think God considers your choice when you stray away from Him?
I’m not writing this to make you or anyone feel badly about yourself. I’ve stumbled and lost progress in various decisions and goals. We all have. None of us are perfect, but that is the beauty of having Christ in us and working through you to change you everyday into His image! See from the book of Lamentations below:
Lamentations 3:22-23 English Standard Version (ESV)
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a] his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I’ve been pondering this post for 4 or 5 days trying to bring it together. I’ve had the general idea for a good week, but have been wanting/waiting to hear from God on the process of developing the words to put here. In all honesty, I have not truly committed myself to praying over it. A few days ago, I had lots of ideas and thoughts that seemed like they would be a good fit, but was not at a place and time that I could write anything down or make notes. Today, during some of my Tweeting and Retweeting of myself, I was blessed to receive some correction from a friend on my Timeline and I am grateful that I was in a place with the Lord that I could freely receive the correction and not be offended. I think that is a huge turning-point that many people miss because we can become easily offended if someone “rises-up” against something we said.
Below is the RT (Retweet) of what I said earlier…
“@scrupulousgirl If u want to go to Hell, all u have to do is disbelieve God’s Word. Hell is the complete & total absence of God. There is no goodness there.”
While it is true that Hell is the complete and total absence of God, scaring anyone into an invitation or decision for Salvation is not the way God wants us to lead people to Him.
Here is the loving response that my friend kindly corrected me with:
“@nailingitdown@scrupulousgirl Scaring people w/Hell is one of the major errors of the Christian faith. Yeshua draws with cords of love not chains of fear.”
God wants us to have relationship with other Christians so that we can build one another up in the faith, and that is exactly what I felt this afternoon. I have Retweeted the above a few times over the past several weeks and no one, until now, ever said anything. Did they also not know any better or were simply ignoring it and hoping I would find correction on my own? So, here I am, with the opportunity to ponder and mediate on what other things I may have Tweeted or said to others that may have been misleading or misrepresenting the love of God, His Truth and Peace and distancing people from the faith instead of drawing them in. I now have the option of going above and beyond maintaining where I am right now, or falling back into the comfort of my old ways prior to this season as we embrace the Easter celebration coming up. I choose to embrace the lesson and to be stronger in my Faith through this day’s exercise. God’s mercies are new every morning, according to Lamentations 3:23. It isn’t too late to start fresh tomorrow and get your groove back.
“@scrupulousgirl We are on the edge of inheriting God’s glory!#Jesus will come back like a thief in the night. Are you ready for His return?#KingdomFocus“
@nailingitdown I want to graciously thank you for your patience with me and our conversations through Twitter. I always delight in having your input and could not have completed this Post without your kind correction. Thank you for your time and brotherly love in Christ today! #Blessings
scrupulousgirl 