Recently something happened to me that has never happened before.  If I am quite honest, it was over something, I will usually tease other people about.  I left my cell phone on top of my car, while I was driving.  In case you are curious or are wondering, that is not an ideal place for a phone to be.  Cell phones shouldn’t necessarily ride on the top in case it falls off and breaks or gets run over.  Anyway, but in my infinite wisdom, I forgot to remove it from the top of my car when I got in my car and started driving.  

I wasn’t completely aware of this situation.  I just assumed I left my phone at the office when I got to my new destination and didn’t have it with me.  However, as I am sitting drinking my tea at the tea shop, behind the scenes, a stranger found my phone, posted it on facebook, asking a whole bunch of people to share it and if they know who the phone belongs to.  Then he also brought it to a safe location, where I could eventually pick it up.

I obviously did find out my phone had gone missing.  I got a call on my work phone from my supervisor who in turn had gotten a phone call from my mom, who had seen and been notified on facebook about my phone being missing.  I lost my phone, without any stress in trying to find it! Talk about modern social media technology at its best.  I am so extremely grateful for this man who found my phone and did everything in his power to find me as the owner and to keep my phone safe.  

It can be very easy to do things for the people we love.  When we love someone, we want to be kind and help them out to the best of our ability.  It can be a bit harder to do this for a complete stranger or even someone who is an enemy.  It can feel as though it has a lot less benefit to us.  We don’t get the satisfaction of seeing our loved ones happy.  We may not also receive the same kindness shown back to us when we are showing love to a complete stranger.   However, sometimes we as people are so dependent on the kindness and the random love shown by someone we had never known.

I have always heard stories of kindness shown by strangers.  There is finding a wallet and making sure the person finds it through all sorts of means, as opposed to leaving it where it was or stealing it for themselves.   I have heard of paying it forward and paying for the coffee for the person next in line at the drive thru.  I have heard of people stopping randomly to pray over those they meet in the street.  I have always been impressed and inspired by those who have done this for strangers, and now I am even more inspired because of my own personal blessings from a stranger.  

The Bible also gives a lot of verses when it comes to showing love, even to strangers.  One verse that describes this love is Hebrews 13:2 which says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”  The whole chapter of Hebrews 13 describes different people we are supposed to love.  He reminds people to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, prisoners, those who are mistreated, and strangers.  He reminds his workers that through helping strangers, you may be showing love to God the Father.  Remember that all people are in the creation of God, so this is the main reason we need to show love to all people.  

The challenge for you this week is just as much of a challenge for you as it will be for me.  My challenge for you is to do something really loving and really kind to a stranger.  This has so many potential options.  This could be paying for someone’s coffee that is behind you in the drive thru.  This could be helping someone with a task they need to complete.  There may be an opportunity that comes up unexpectedly, like me with my phone.  Be willing this next week to show love, even to strangers. 

The church I attend has been making their way through Romans.  This past week was over Romans 16. Romans 16 goes through a whole bunch of people Paul wants to honor. Some of the people he wanted to highlight were Priscilla and Aquila, Phoebe, Mary, etc.  There were a lot in the church of Rome who made it a lot easier for Paul and the church as a whole to grow. Paul wanted everyone to know they had a role to play in helping the church be what it is today.   Paul also knows that when people are Christians, they all belong to the same family.  They are one God-honoring family, who should love and support each other.  

My pastor Peter through this section of the Bible shows us the importance of honoring others in Christ.  It can be important to show honor to others through a Christ-like way.  My pastor even  honored others in the church to show this as a good example.  He had certain members of the church stand up, so they could be recognized.  It was nice to highlight and honor members of our church.  He reminded us that we don’t need to feel awkward or ashamed of this act of Christ likeness. 

Sometimes we as Christians can be not the best at honoring other people or other Christians. We can believe if we give too many compliments then that maybe it would go to their heads or it would make them too prideful.  Sometimes we can also be too jealous or too comparative to really want to honor or highlight them. We may be too frustrated that we are not quite like they are.   This is highlighted by a point in the sermon with, “We can genuinely celebrate each other without jealousy because we are a Gospel family.”  

My pastor also highlighted that sometimes we as Christians are not very good about accepting honor.  We are not accepting of the good compliments.  We can believe we have to act with mild or faux pride.  However, it is a good reminder to us that when we are being honored and celebrated by other Christians that we are just showing the work that Christ has shown in us.  We are not supposed to act prideful because of our own work or because we have changed ourselves, but rather we are supposed to be proud of the work God has done for us. He reminded us of this when he said, “We can honor without pride, because we know we have been transformed by the Gospel.”  We have been transformed, so we can be at peace knowing he loves us and has changed us for the better.  

Both of these situations are not loving.  It is not good to feel as though we are not willing to give honor or compliments to others.   It is not good to never encourage or never want to cheer them on.  This is highlighted in the last point from the sermon which says, “We can give honor without hesitation because we trust in God’s work through the Gospel.”  We can see God extend his Gospel work through us and through our encouragement.  

Another verse highlighting this idea is Philippians 2:3-4 which says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  It is important to count others as more significant than ourselves. It is important to look towards the family of Christ as a whole and how we can make each other better.  

My challenge for you this week is to find a few (2-3) fellow Christians to encourage and honor.  This could be people who really have encouraged you or inspired you to be closer to Christ.  Let them know how they have taught you, or how they have inspired you.  Let them know and encourage them.  I also want to encourage you to really appreciate a compliment when it is given to you.  Be willing to accept this compliment with love and not with fake humility.  Let us all continue to grow this Christian family.  

This last week I did something very exciting but at the same time challenging. I did something I had wanted to do for years, like since I was a young child and especially a teenager.  This is RAGBRAI.  RAGBRAI standards for Register annual great bike ride across Iowa.  (The Register is referring to the Des Moines Register Newspaper).

Ragbrai is what it sounds like based on its full title.  It is a bike ride across the state of Iowa, from the back tire dip in the Missouri River to the very ceremonious front tire dip in the Mississippi River across the way.  I am going to quote the description from the RAGBRAI website to better describe it in its entirety.  The website says, “RAGBRAI is an annual eight-day bicycle ride across the state. RAGBRAI is the oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world.”   There are thousands of bikers every year who come and participate in this event.  Bikers come from all over the world, so that is very exciting for someone who has only lived in the state of Iowa her whole life. For example, I met someone from Australia and from South Africa. The route changes every year, and this particular year it was in southern Iowa where it is very hilly.  In fact, it was the hilliest year yet. (So glad, this was the one I chose to do first :))  

It was a challenge.  I was very exhausted.  I got sunburnt on both my upper thighs and my lower lip.  (I don’t know how many people reading have ever sunburned their lips, but it does really hurt, and it lasts forever!) I got a lot of bug bites.  However, I will also say it was one of the best experiences I have ever had.  I don’t think I will ever quite forget it, and I hope I will be able to participate in years to come.  There were definitely some life lessons I gained on this trip as well.  For one, make sure you protect yourself correctly from direct sunlight.  Another one is to make sure to hydrate yourself correctly and regularly, and I learned the importance of watching out for both myself and other bikers to avoid accidents.  

One life lesson that applies to both life and biking is to remember to break down our challenges.  We had some long days, where we biked 80-100 miles. It can be hard to start on mile 1 and think about the fact that one needs to make it to mile 85 by the end of the day.   It became a lot easier to think about just making it to the next town.  The first town may only be 10 miles away.  Once you get there, then maybe you could stop and get a drink, and make your way 15 miles to the next town.  It was so much easier to make it throughout the day when the mileage was broken down into shorter distances. 

It can be very similar to our everyday life.  Sometimes we can get overwhelmed and anxious about our walk throughout our whole life.  I know I can get overwhelmed and anxious about where my life will take me.  Will I get married?  Will I get my dream job?  Will I keep friends in my life?  Will I love where I live in the future?  However, this is not what I should focus on.  I need to make sure I just focus on the next thing.  I need to focus on making it through the day and getting the things accomplished I need to get accomplished in the present. I shouldn’t constantly be thinking about tomorrow or the next week, but rather today and today only.  

Matthew 6:34 speaks to this topic greatly.  This says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  There are a lot of things for a person to worry about in a day.  Even today, I am constantly looking at my schedule and what I need to get done in the day.   I am trying to crunch the time, so I can get the most done in the most efficient manner.  However, then I also get distracted by all the things I want to get done in the next week or on the weekend.  This is definitely not helpful for me, and my anxiety will then only rise.  It would be much easier to only think of today.  

I won’t really have a challenge for you this week.  It is hard to challenge you to do less.  I have an encouragement for you all to be more reflective on your daily time.  Don’t start to get too worried about the future days.  Spend time in prayer, praising and thanking God for the day you have right in front of you, and ask for guidance and help to spend the time wisely making plans and only worrying about today.  

This weekend I went to my 10-year class reunion.   It was such a good time.  It was only a handful of us, but it was a good time to get together with those I hadn’t seen in a long time.  It was nice to see where life has taken each and every one of us.  Some of them were married with children, others had a few kids but were single moms, some were newly engaged or in other relationships. Some finished college and got the job they had always wanted, and some changed careers and positions recently.  Some moved to a new town or a new state they never would have imagined in high school. 

A lot can change in 10 years.  There are a lot of things people can accomplish.  There were so many wins to see and hear about from these past ten years.  But there were some sad stories.  There were some things that did not go as well planned as others would have liked.  There were some things people could not have predicted.  However, they got through it, and we were able to have a fun evening. 

Besides just having a fun time, being able to go to my ten year reunion was a great reminder that we are not in control of our life and our decisions.  When we all graduated, we all had slight plans and thoughts of what would be in our future.  Maybe we expected to already be married by a certain age or to have a specific job in the future.  Maybe some of us thought we would be living somewhere in particular and we are somewhere completely different.  Things change, people change, circumstances change, but I believe most of us from the reunion wouldn’t change completely where they are right now.  A lot of us were in happy places, even though we all had to get through low times.  

I even realized all of the great things I have gotten to do these past ten years.  I went and graduated from college, where I learned a lot about Cedar Falls and Waterloo.  While being a college student, I got the chance to work at a nonprofit, where it gave me the love of nonprofit work in general.  I studied and received my teaching degree.  I then had the opportunity to be a Spanish teacher for four years.  My original plan when graduating from college was to continue teaching, moving from Spanish to Social Studies.  However, I now have a new role at a nonprofit and I am an education coordinator back in my college town, which I would not have predicted originally.  I also had opportunities to learn to write and published a devotional book.  The Lord has really truly been with me every step of the way in this 10- year journey.  I am so happy I have been able to have the experiences I have been given.  I am so glad I was able to reflect on these ten years with the 10-year reunion party.  

There are a lot of verses in the Bible that bring up ways God plans for us and our futures.  Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”  This is a good reminder that God has great insight to what we should do and where we should go in both our present and in our future.   He will be guiding and helping us every step of the way.  Another verse is from Proverbs 16:9 which says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”  We can make the plans, but God is the one who will establish the final direction of where we will go.  I am not saying it is wrong to make plans or it is wrong to schedule anything, but it is important to realize that we can only have so many plans because God is the one who will ultimately be the plan maker and decision decider.  The Lord can establish the steps and the Lord can fulfill all the dreams we want to do. He has certain wonderful and beautiful things in store for us.  

The challenge for this week is to reflect on these past few years.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be the past ten years.  It could even be the last one or two.  There are a lot of changes that can happen in a short amount of time.  There are a lot of things that go the way we expect, and yet there are a lot of things that do not go the way we plan or the way we expect.  It can be great to reflect over how life can change in ways we expect or in ways we don’t expect.  I believe this is important to notice, because then we can be more grateful for the ways God has continued to lead and love us. 

In church this past week, we went over Romans 8:14.  I really enjoy this verse, and I believe it has some great wisdom for all Christians to follow.  This verse says, “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”  The Lord wants us to be clothed with the characteristics of Christ.   He wants us to put on pieces of Himself, so we can show off his qualities to the world. 

I really enjoyed how my pastor addressed this verse with us.  He described how we, as a population, do often care about our clothes.  I know I personally love to spend time picking out clothes, going shopping for clothes, and making a new style choice.  We can take time picking out clothes for different important occasions because we want them to say a certain thing about us.  Even if we have a uniform, some of us take pride in the uniform we earned.  I know I feel this way whenever I wear a race shirt or a race jacket after I have crossed the finish line.  This is especially if it was a really challenging or long race.  I can’t wait to wear it and show others what I recently accomplished.   

We as people should have similar belief and desire to be putting on the characteristics of Christ in the same way.  Sometimes, I don’t know if we always think of putting on Christ in all situations.  When you think about clothes, we wear them all the time.  We are constantly in some sort of clothing material, whether it be swimming clothes, pajamas, work clothes, working out sweats, etc.  We are constantly wearing something.  They are different, and they change, but there is always something. However, I don’t think we always put on the qualities of Christ for all different circumstances.  We may when we are in Bible group, or in church, but do we when we are driving or when we are at the store or when we are frustrated at work.  

My pastor stated that sometimes, we need to simply go into different situations with a heart change. Getting back to the driving example from the last paragraph, there are a lot of times we as people can show impatience and lack of love when we are driving, and this is especially when we are in a hurry or a rush.  Sometimes we don’t plan out our mornings as well as we should, and then we are driving to work or some other event, we may not be as on time as we would like.  Because of this we get frustrated by any driver in front of us, who is driving slower than we would prefer.  However, if we go into the car with a Christ like attitude, then we are more than likely to be kind and loving when we are driving, even if something does happen we don’t particularly appreciate.  

My worst offender is at the Grocery store.  I hate going to the grocery store.  I don’t know what it is that makes me hate it so much, but I am always so anxious and filled with dread whenever I am headed toward the grocery store.  I really don’t like it when it is a very busy day, and there are people filled all through the aisles or when the lines at the grocers take a long time to get through.  I try really hard to keep my patience in check, but there are definitely times when I struggle while shopping. 

So what exactly is the clothes or the personalities of Christ we need to be putting on?  I mentioned one in the last paragraph, which is patience.  Galatians 5:22-23 specifically talks about the personalities or the qualities we need to have to be like Jesus Christ.  This says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  The fruit of the spirit is the qualities and the personalities we need to put on, on a regular basis.  

The biggest of this spirit is love.  Out of our love for others, we will be willing to be more joyful, peaceful, patient, gentle, and showing self-control.  No matter how unkind or how cruel they are to you, it is still willing to be loving or kind or filled with patience.  This is being willing to be faithful to the Lord and to your morals and values, even when it isn’t the most convenient.  These are the qualities we need to put on everyday.  It will take practice, and we will not always get it right, but the point is to try our best to be as close to Christ and to be the most loving we can be, on a daily basis.  

My challenge for you this week is to spend time thinking about the times when you are not always putting on the clothes of Christ.  I already mentioned the times when I don’t have the clothes of Christ.   Where is the area or even people where you most struggle to put on the outfit of Christ?  Then the second challenge is whenever you next approach this situation, take some extra time praying to avoid becoming un-Christ-like.  Maybe, take some time reflecting on your ability to be Christ like no matter what life throws at you.  It isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it.  

I will be completely transparent that I have been struggling with my finances.  I know many others also feel this way about their finances, especially recently as the last few years everything has become more expensive. I have been working really hard to get my finances in a better position than they were a few years ago, but sadly, it is just not going the way I wish it would. I know there are many times I need to depend on Him and His sovereignty, but I just really struggle and I end up getting really stressed about it.  In fact, I will be honest when I say I have some panic attacks because of my payments or because the bills are due.  Sometimes when something comes up, and I don’t know what to do financially, I will even get fairly upset with God at this moment.  

I have felt in my heart that God is really calling me to trust Him more and more with these issues.  He keeps reminding me about this every time I have an issue in my finances.  If I am honest, I think sometimes I am a bit angry with Him for the state I am in financially.  I know this isn’t how I should be, but there are just a few times I really struggle with not blaming Him for the place I am in.  I know it is ultimately my decisions landing me here, but it can still be easy for me to want to blame someone else, or in this case God.  

It is an odd thing I haven’t learned how to trust Him because I have been given so much, so many blessings, in the last few years when it comes to finances.  For example, while I have been struggling, God has given me a new opportunity to be a cross country coach at Waterloo Christian school.  This will be one, another just great opportunity, but two a way to help me with my finances in the future.  This just came because of a simple conversation with someone from my church.  I didn’t need to find this on a job site or wait for a long time as my application was processed with others.  The Lord blessed me, and I didn’t even really have to do a whole lot to get this opportunity.  

I know there are many reasons God is having me struggle a bit with my finances.  I know this is because he wants me to depend on Him more as opposed to depending on myself.  I am one who is easily able to focus on myself and all the things I can accomplish or I can provide or all the things I am capable of.  It is important for me to feel like I matter in society, and not feel as though I am just worthless.  However, this is not what God calls from us.  He calls us to be dependent on Him.  He calls us to pray to Him and for us to ask things of Him.  

I do want to say it is important to care about your finances.  I think it is important to be wise with one’s money.  A person shouldn’t just be spending money here and there.  They need to be wise in their decisions.  They need to be willing to think about how their money decisions may impact them in the future.  It can also be helpful to be wise with money, so we can have an opportunity to steward missions or actions happening in our church.  

1 Peter 5:5-7 explains this perfectly.  This says, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.”  There are many reasons this verse stands out to me for this topic.  The first point is to clothe yourself with humility.  I was just talking about how there is pride when it comes to me and my finances.  I feel the need to take care of myself completely.  I don’t want to depend on anyone else or be a burden on anyone else, but I want to feel as though I can depend on me to make my situation better.  However, this verse reminds us that God wants us to put on a robe of humility, and He reminds us that He opposes the proud but He lifts up and empowers the humble.  

However, my favorite part about these verses is the reminder that God wants us to depend on Him.  He wants us to lift up all of our concerns to Him and to tell Him whenever we are very stressed or anxious.  I believe this verse shows God’s great care about us.  He shows He has great concern and love for us, even when sometimes we want to go different ways, or even during the times we are too prideful to really ask Him for help.  

The challenge for you this week is to think of the biggest stressor you have in your life.  It may be financial situations like it is for me, but if it isn’t financial, if it is relationships, friendships, work situations, family problems, health issues, or whatever it is your concern, I want you to feel as though you can go to God for help and love.  He wants to be there for you for whatever it is you need.  He doesn’t want you to suffer.  He doesn’t want you to be sad or anxious.  He doesn’t want you to be prideful either, or only depend on yourself.  He wants to help, so the second part of the challenge is to go to Him with any of the concerns you may have and to let Him help you.

I was recently in church, and we as a church service have been going through Romans, and this past week, we were in chapter 12 verses 9 through 21.   Verse 10 was the one I wanted to highlight.  This says,  “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”  Through the rest of this section of text, it talks about different ways a person can show love to another person.  One important piece is making sure to serve the Lord through those who are around you.  It was also a good reminder to live in harmony with one another, whenever you are able.  Then lastly, we need to make sure to be kind and loving to those who persecute us.  

Our pastor, Josh, discussed how he is a very competitive person. He is a runner and very invested in sports.   He really likes competition and enjoys having and getting the chance to be a winner.  He will even compete sometimes with office work.  Who can get the most work done the quickest? However, Josh does highlight that he doesn’t always try to have competition with showing one another love.  He isn’t trying to show the most love in a week to someone.  He never even tries to think about this as a competition.  

Now granted, I think this could get very sour very quickly.  I think people would take this idea and make it toxic.  Because one good deed shouldn’t be in competition.  We really shouldn’t be trying to outdo one another in good works.  We were all made to do different purposes.  We were all made to help people in different ways.  This can’t be compared because each person will do what they are called to do at different times.  

There is a different version to this verse that I believe may help us understand it a bit better.  Another way to think or speak of this verse is through looking at the NIV (New International Version) which says, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”  This shows it is all about showing more care and concern about others, over ourselves.  In this version, it does not sound as though it is a competition.  It isn’t about trying to do better than other christians, but it is about caring for others more than you care even for yourself.  

This was brought up at church during a time when I was witnessing a lot of people helping and serving others throughout my home state. This is actually because the town where my parents live as well as surrounding areas recently had a great deal of tragedy.  With the great amount of rain the state of Iowa has received this year, some of the rivers have started to overflow.  This is what has been done in Spencer, Iowa, where my parents live.  The levee for their river broke, and because of this, a great deal of houses have been flooded, families were evacuated, and businesses are momentarily or could be permanently closed.  The streets were completely covered in water for a handful of days. 

It has been very hard to see, but the thing I love to see is the responses of the many people who have come to help the town and community of Spencer.  For the first example, my mom and dad have offered their shower and washer and dryers for people to use. The people living in the town of Spencer weren’t allowed to use water to take showers or do laundry for a few days.  My parents are not connected to the city’s water because they live just on the outskirts of town, which placed them in the perfect position to offer this help to others.  They were able to be a blessing to so many others through this simple sacrifice.  My parents have also been very kind and helped other people clean up their house and their area to the best of their ability.  

Then there were others, such as Okoboji middle school which is a town about 15 miles north of Spencer, Iowa, that offered up the school as a place to evacuate.   Granted, the idea of having to stay in a middle school may not sound like paradise, but it was still a safe place to go where it was dry.  Then to go with this, many people started to bring a lot of donations, such as groceries, and water to drink for those who were evacuated to the middle school.  

One thing I love about communities is that they are often the most kind when it comes to big natural disasters or big tragedies.  Something about those big moments brings people out to do good deeds, helping and sacrificing for those who are hurting or who have lost a lot.  This is very important and this is something I hope stays consistent in society, especially in Christian circles.  However, I do struggle to believe we as people in society or even in Christian circles really try to “outdo” each other in love on a regular day, even when there wasn’t a huge tragedy on the news. We have the capability, but we need to remember to love and care even when it is not because of something huge occurring.   

To end this blog post, I will give a few challenges.  The first challenge is to find one person to help you, help others.  While I don’t want this challenge or any of this blog post to come off too much as an invitation to be in competition with others because I don’t want us to be competing and comparing Christians.  However, I do believe we can use other Christians and other mentors to encourage us to be the best people we can possibly be.  Then my second challenge is for you and that person to go and find a person to serve this week.  There are a lot of ways we can serve God through helping others in our communities.  I hope it will be something very enriching for you.  

I was recently doing my Bible Devotional book over the personal revivals people will experience when they decide to rededicate their lives to Christ. This past week’s topic has been about obedience, and how important obedience is for our everyday lives and for our Christian walk with Jesus. Today’s Bible Devotion reminder was all about the importance of full obedience.  It can’t be partial obedience.  We can’t partially listen to God and his instructions.  We need to listen to God completely in order to really be an obedient follower of Christ. 

This is completely understandable.  I remember when I was a teacher, and I would get frustrated when my students would only listen to half of the instructions, or when they only completed half of the assignment.   I know not everyone here is or has been a teacher, but I think there are many different scenarios we can all be in where we do not get fully heard and therefore, we do not get what we completely ask for.  For another example, a few days ago, I ordered a coffee and while I ordered a hot coffee, I ended up receiving an iced coffee. It was still good, and it ended up not being a big deal, but initially I was a bit shocked and disappointed I did not get exactly the coffee I originally ordered.  

God is just the same way.  He also has thoughts and beliefs and commands he wants his people to obey completely.   However, just as most just people who make rules and who ask for certain things, there is a purpose for these requests from God.  Sometimes because we are people, rules or things we ask for are not completely perfect or selfless.  However, a lot of parents, teachers, and other rule creators choose these rules for the reasons of keeping people safe and to make wise choices.  

God is completely superior when it comes to making his laws or his requests be for the betterment of His people.  We as His people may not completely understand at the time, but the commands God gives to us are always for our betterment and for His will to be fulfilled.  We may not understand or have all the pieces, but we do need to know that there is a plan in the works for all of us.  God has a better picture in mind for every single one of us than we could ever imagine.  

A verse highlighting the importance of obedience is Proverbs 16:20, “Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”  This verse is a great piece of advice.  This is a good reminder to heed the instruction of the Lord, and they will prosper.  This may not be the kind of prospering the world always wants to highlight, but it may be more about prospering in the world after Christ comes back and brings everyone to Him.  Remember that we don’t have to have the prosperity in the world because it is such a short amount of our whole eternity.  It is our life after this world that matters.  

The hardest part of this devotional exercise was answering the questions about whether we are fully in obedience or disobedience.   Some of these questions were really hard for me to reflect over, like whether or not I am really willing to forgive all the people who have wronged me in the past.   I have really struggled with completely forgiving a few individuals who have really hurt me.  I know I should, and sometimes I swear I have completely forgiven them, but then some bitterness will creep into my heart.  I have to completely obey God when it comes to this particular act of forgiveness. 

I also personally really struggle with completely believing God will take care of me financially.  I can’t always trust God with my finances and all of my decisions.  I know I am supposed to trust Him, but it can be so hard at times.  I have been especially feeling this when I have many different car parts that have needed to be changed over this past year.  It has been very discouraging for me.  I have been very saddened and disgruntled by these payments that seem to come out of nowhere. 

My challenge for you this week is to find what you struggle to fully obey God in.  Is this in your financial life or in your relationship life?  Do you struggle to obey when it comes to your job life or when it comes to the friendships you have made over the past couple of years?  Has the Holy Spirit been trying to lead you to an area in your life where you should grow in obedience that you may have ignored up to this point?  Then the second challenge is to pray to God to best help you overcome this lack of obedience in your life.  It can be hard at times, but God wants us to fully obey Him, and it will end up with a bigger reward than anything else we could think or dream of as possible.  

Through this sermon, my pastor told a very interesting story.  The story was about baking cake mix.  A company originally set out this cake mix where the people just had to add water. They didn’t have to add anything else.  They just needed to add water and then bake it. It was going to be so easy and time-efficient.  Companies thought for sure this would sell like hot cakes.  They thought this would be perfect for the people who are busy, but yet those who want to bake.  

However, it bombed.  It most likely bombed because people did actually want to feel they put some work into the cake.  Hence why we now have cake mixes where a person needs to add egg, oil, and water.  We essentially baked the whole batter, in a way.  (Not really, but we like to think we did).  This is obviously a very popular item still to this day.  I don’t bake a lot of cakes, but I will bake brownies from time to time, and these brownie mixes are very similar to the cake mixes.  Usually I buy the ones that include eggs, oil, and water.  These are the most popular and they are because the bakers get to be involved, but yet they aren’t working overly hard and having to buy too many different ingredients.  

This is how we like to act with God.  We like to believe we need to do some of the work in order to be a real Christian.  We as Christians add to our lists of things we need to do in order to follow God.  This could be anywhere from needing to memorize 10 verses from the Bible or pray every night before bed and supper, read at least one chapter out of the Bible a day, or volunteer in church for so many events.  We can start to add so many things to our plate, that while healthy for spiritual growth, are not the actions that are going to save us in the long run.  It is not the actions in general that are going to save us.  

Then sometimes we can start to be too prideful of our actions.  We can start to compare ourselves to others, and how well they follow the word, or how much they volunteer, or how much they pray.  We can start to feel better about ourselves if we do more than others, and then we start to feel like a failure or can be filled with shame if we feel as though someone is doing more or is a better person than we are.  It can be hard to keep comparing and competing with others and with ourselves.  

Ephesians 2:8-9 explains this perfectly, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God-not by works, so no one can boast.”  The salvation and the righteousness we have been given is through God.  We haven’t done anything to earn our spot in heaven.  We haven’t done anything to gain our way to heaven for eternity.  We have the ability with God’s grace to complete good works for Christ, but this is not because of our own ability.  

My challenge for you this week is to pray the prayer with me written below.   You don’t have to pray the same words I am saying.  There are different words or thoughts you may have in your heart you want to offer up as words to God.  Then the second challenge is for you to enjoy some baked goods using cake or box mixes.  They are fun and easy to make, and it is a great way to share some love with coworkers, friends, family members, or neighbors.  

Dear Lord,

Thank you so much for your great love of us.  Thank you for the gift of salvation you have bestowed upon each and every one of us.  Thank you for allowing us to be your children and for welcoming us into heaven for eternity.  Thank you for the Holy Spirit and the ability to easily work for your good through the Holy Spirit.  

Please help me to not focus so much on my good works.  I know I can have a tendency to focus on what I need to do and get done in a day, and sometimes I can have a belief that these works or this time with you is what will get me into heaven, when in reality, I need to focus on the faith and the salvation you are bestowing upon me.  Please help me to not feel as though I am only saved through my service or through my worship or through my good works, but help me to put complete faith in you. 

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

I was recently continuing to work through my Bible Study devotional book about Revival and this week’s topic was over repentance.  There were many questions about how we feel over sin.  What do we think about sin?  How do we view sin?  One question was about whether we are fearful or regretful over sin?  And if we are fearful or regretful over sin, are we just concerned about the consequences of our sin, or are we sad and upset because we hurt God?  Or are we more focused on ourselves and how the sin will impact us?

This really struck me.  I think if I am going to be completely honest, it is a little bit of both.  I do hate hurting God.  I do hate when I am not acting the new way of Christ, and I am not being the person God has renewed in me.  However, I am also very focused on not getting any consequences or not having consequences.  I am fearful of how I will be punished. I am fearful if I will see the consequences of my actions in the near future.  

In many ways, this reminds me of teaching.  I remember being frustrated when a student of mine was only concerned about the punishment they will receive for doing something wrong, as opposed to actually caring about doing something wrong.  Granted, I understood that they were still developing and learning, but I would still get a bit hurt if they didn’t care about hurting me or hurting someone else, they were just more concerned about their punishment.  In many ways, I am sure God feels just the same way.  He is probably just waiting for us to care more about him and to care more about hurting him. 

I think this is where we as Christians need to realize the reason God hates sin.  He hates sin because this sin separates us from Him.  Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”  This is not great.  The Lord created us so we could have a relationship with him.   This is why he created people.  He had decided he wanted man, and then after he made man, he said this is good. 

So when we sinned, God needed to create a solution.  This is why He sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins, so we could be forgiven and have a way to get our relationship with God back.  When we accept Jesus into our heart, it is like a bridge has been created to lead us to God and to heaven for eternity.  So he does all of these acts of love, and then we keep sinning.  It is going to happen, we are people after all.  We are fallen, imperfect creatures.  However, to not put much of God’s thought into after all He has done is insensitive to say the least.  

Have you ever done a lot for an individual and then they don’t respond the way you expected or would have desired?  Maybe they didn’t love the gift you spent a lot of time and energy to get for them.  Maybe they didn’t notice the cleaning you helped them with while you were staying at their house.  Maybe they didn’t care about the times you go and support them in all of their activities.  Point is, have you ever felt slighted by a situation?  It can be hard for anyone.  Usually, we as people can have a conversation with this person and share with them our feelings.  A good friend or person in your life will care that they hurting you.  They will not care about the time you are taking out of their day to have this conversation and about whether this will impact their relationship in the future.  Wouldn’t that be more harmful? Wouldn’t you as a person care more about being cared about and being appreciated, being apologized to?  It would be a lot better than being pushed to the side as a dealer of consequences.   

My challenge for you this week is to first think about whether you view sins with consequences or you view sin as a hurt to God.  Do you care about whether or not you hurt God or disappoint him? Do you believe in sin as a harm or do you just fear the consequences or the punishment that could potentially harm you?  If it is about consequences, then maybe this is something you have to be reflective or willing to change over.  

Then the second challenge for you this week is to spend some time with God and spending time in appreciation over all that God has done for you and what he has forgiven you from.  This could be time spent through reflection such as journaling, extended prayer or through spending time with Jesus.  It is important to remember to think of God and you as a relationship and not just as someone who is trying to get in good standing.  He really does want a relationship with you, even when sins do happen.