“The best Medicine against Many of our Headaches”
I am learning that the “bad things” we face in life; whether self inflicted, a product of demonic attacks or the testings of the Lord; are all designed to bring out the junk that is already in our hearts. We waste too much time blaming others and making excuses for our exposed ugliness, but at the end of the day, it is God bringing our hidden “stuff” to light in order change us. We fail to understand that we must die to ourselves. This is not an option, this is not a recommendation; it is indeed a Biblical MUST! It is so easy to adapt a victim mentality when faced with troubles and injustices. Many times we use those uncomfortable experiences to justify our carnality based on what we have been through. However, when we look at things through the glass of the word of God and not through the glass of our opinions or the cultural values of our society, we run into a very rude awakening. It is then that we find ourselves so full of self and so far away from Biblical truth that we adapt value systems that are totally against the truth of God. It is that value system that sets us up for great failures and disappointments as we begin to live away from the righteousness and holiness of God.
Very often we hear people saying: “I deserve this and I deserve that,” so they go after those things with all of their hearts. We even set expectations on what people should and should not do for us. James 4:1-3 reminds us the danger of these selfish desires and expectations:
| “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? |
| You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. |
| You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
So what do we deserve? The answer to this question is the root of many of our troubles or the declaration of our freedom. Because “…we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” according to Romans 3:23; we deserve eternal punishment according to Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” When we get an understanding of what we really deserve we can no longer use the sins committed against us as an excuse to whine and act like now we have a green light to do and say whatever we want. America is filled with an entitlement mentality based on the social injustices committed in the past; these behaviors are expected from the none-Christian community. We as Christians however, must understand that whatever injustices we face, whatever bad marriage we are engaged in, whatever position we did not get, whatever rumors are spread about us, whatever discrimination we suffered, whatever tragedy we endure, whatever unjust accusations we find ourselves victims of and whatever ugly thing you can think of, these things are nothing compared to what we really deserve. My brother, my sister, we deserve ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. |
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This is not a word to condemn you, but to set you free and to encourage you to focus your “Wants” and pursue what is really important and what will give you the best end-results. Even as we deserve nothing but eternal punishment we have a God that constantly releases his grace. The beauty of all is that in-spite of what we deserve, God love us unconditionally. The focus should be on Him and not on what we can get from Him.
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And refusing to accept responsibility for the junk in our hearts keeps us from the change in character that God has provided for us through repentance. Only facing ourselves and confronting those things that are unclean in God’s eyes will allow Him to “bring our hidden stuff to light” that causes us the guilt, pain and sorrow and keeps us from being free in Him. There is such a freedom and comfort with ourselves that comes from being rid of things that hinder us from walking “in a manner worthy of the Lord” (Col 1:10). There are so many changes God wants to make in His body at this time in which we are living, to make us people who will prepare the way of the Lord for His coming.
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