Genesis 22:1-19
God sees our needs beforehand and provides for us in every situation. It’s not our job to worry about where money, food, shelter or work will come from. We should concern ourselves more with trusting and following God, the Lord who provides, with our entire being.
(via joelbakermusic)
What is idolatry?
Growing up in Sunday school, I’ve only known idolatry to be something that was bad and sometimes involved golden cow statues. Clearly, I now understand that this sin is not specific to brazen bovine, but do I really know what it is and if it’s a factor in my life?
The Resurgence gave me the best definition of idolatry: the opposite of worship.
Think about that. God made us for his glory; we were made to worship him (Colossians 1:16). If we’re not worshiping the one true God, we are worshiping idols, and according to the first two commands of the Ten Commandments, it’s clear that worshiping idols is a sin.
This got me thinking: what are some idols in my life? Pride, for one; but especially now that I’ve graduated from college, worrying about jobs and my future and money has driven me away from worshiping God. I spend most of my day applying for dozens of jobs and stressing over why I haven’t received any offers yet that I forget to stop and praise God for providing for me every day to this point.
This is not something I can’t do on my own; I need God.
But in order for God to move in my life and bless me, I need to get rid of all the idols. Idolatry is a sin. In a sermon a few weeks ago, my pastor said this: sin never dies of natural causes; you have to tear it down.
If you look at King Hezekiah, that’s what he did. As soon as he became king, he destroyed the idols the Israelites worshiped and restored the house of the Lord, and God blessed Israel under his reign (2 Chronicles 29-30).
I know that I will still slip up. There will be many times when I forget God. But the best part about him is that he loves unconditionally and his grace and forgiveness are incomparable.
It’s my hope and prayer that we’ll remember what we were made for and who is worthy of our worship. Don’t let idols stand between you and the God who loves you.
“But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” — Deuteronomy 8:18
No matter what you’ve done in your past, God forgives and he forgives freely. Wouldn’t it be nice if we forgave each other just as freely?
Colossians 3:13
Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
—Psalm 37: 3-7
—Romans 15:13
—@lecrae
I know you through and through— I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you— even in your wanderings.
I know every one of your problems. I know your need and your worries. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you— not for what you have or haven’t done— I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity My Father gave you by creating you in His own image.
It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed my blood to win you back. If you only ask Me with faith, my grace will touch all that needs changing in your life. I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power.
I know what is in your heart— I know your loneliness and all your hurts— the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share My strength and victory. I know especially your need for love— how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures— and ending with even more pain. Do you thirst for love? “Come to Me all you who thirst” (John 7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine to the point of dying on a cross for you.
I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe my love for you: I thirst for you. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds.
If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I thirst for you. Open to Me, come to Me, thirst for Me, give Me your life— and I will prove to you how important you are to My heart.
No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life, there is one thing I want you to remember always, one thing that will never change: I thirst for you— just as you are. You don’t need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you. You forget Me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day— standing at the door of your heart, and knocking.
Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross; look at My heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood My cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there— for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: “I thirst” (John 19:28). Yes, I thirst for you— as the rest of the Psalm verse, which I was praying says of Me: “I looked for love, and I found none” (Psalm 69:20).
All your life I have been looking for your love— I have never stopped seeking to love and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to Me, right now, more than you ever have before.
Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit: “No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake.” Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock… Open to Me for I thirst for you.
—I Thirst For You, Mother Teresa
A church is not a building, it’s the people.
This is Africa, our Africa
This is so beautiful.
True worship.
(via laurendeleon)
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
1 Peter 2:24
He was broken so that I could be whole.
He was rejected so that I could be accepted.
He was punished so that I could be set free.
He died so that I could have life.
I’m no longer tied to my sins, bound to death. Jesus took my punishment, your punishment, their punishment to the cross. He paved the way to forgiveness and opened the doors for us to be reconciled to God.
The good in Good Friday is the goodness of my savior and the love he has for me.
