“In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.” Psalm 25:1
Words are invaluable to me. I try to stick to the wise advice of the animated rabbit in Bambi named Thumper. He told Bambi, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” On days when I need a little extra help being positive, I look up inspirational quotes.
In the grand scheme of eternity so many of our frustrations won’t matter. This first quote by Max Lucado reprioritizes my spirit and fills me with awe and gratitude. “Our Savior kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. But rather than recoil in horror, He reaches out in kindness and says, ‘I can clean that if you want.’ And from the basin of His grace, He scoops a palm full of mercy and washes our sin.”
This makes me think of a law enforcement officer, L.E.O. for short. An L.E.O. will do just this. His job, each day, is to pin on his badge, go into the fray and whatever chaos comes his way, he brings order and reinstates peace. An L.E.O helps rehabilitate. Our savior does all the work to redeem. In the grandest scheme, the only thing that matters is telling people this very truth. Jesus loves you.
We are all flawed. I used to bristle at this idea, until I realized how woefully true it was and still is for me personally. Knowing this truth gives me permission to accept God’s absolutely necessary grace because I am broken, and in turn I can extend that same kind of supernatural, amazing grace.
All of us being flawed and needing grace being said, we press up against another principle. Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, ‘I am not trying to please man, but God only’. This next quote from Pinterest spoke true of the idea that we cannot make everyone ‘happy’ and nor are we really supposed to for that matter. “Obedience to God may sometimes require you to disappoint the expectations of others.” It isn’t up to us to make everyone ‘happy’. It is our responsibility to operate under love and grace and mercy and to uphold personal integrity. If we are acting in accordance with this steered by the razor straight edge of scripture, we can’t help if and when of fellow man gets upset with our standards.
One of my spiritual mentors, Charles Spurgeon, said, “Be thankful for the thorns and thistles which keep you from being in love with this world.” Some days we are blissful and light and nothing can hamper us. Other days, we can add and add the
number of thorns and thistles. My, how eagerly I await eternity where His presence and perfection is on full display.
Jesus said, do not be anxious! But being anxious feels like an epidemic. Finances, careers, health, and dreams all swirl and collide and create the perfect storm for anxiety. When we think of anxious thoughts, as a behavior pattern not speaking to a chemical imbalance, we can see it for what it is, a sin. Jesus said don’t, and we do. And just like that we don’t follow His instruction which is sin. I love John Piper’s take on anxious thoughts. He wrote, “Whenever your heart starts to be anxious about the future, preach to your heart and say, ‘ Heart, who are you to be afraid of the future and nullify the promise of God. No, heart, I will not exalt myself with anxiety. I will humble myself with peace and joy as I trust this precious and great promise of God- He cares for me.”
Life is not easy. Some seasons may be easier than others. Some more enjoyable, some more of a struggle, some horrible even, but life itself is a gift. Each new morning is proof that God deemed His personal breath in your lungs and the functioning of your heart and mind of great importance to Himself and His kingdom at large. Wow. How humbling that is.
I believe the next quote is from Ashley Morgan Jackson where she says, “No one talks about how hard spiritual growth and dying to ourselves is. It’s not a one-time thing. It’s every day. It’s remaining quiet when we want to speak. Its trusting God’s timing when we would rather control. It’s doing it God’s way when it doesn’t make sense to us.” God can be trusted. He has never failed His children, and He surely won’t start now. Who are we to question the holy, magnificent, incomparable being that created physics, that perfectly ordered the reproductive process, that dreamed up the difference between fresh and salt water, that designed each petal and stamen in flowers, that pollinates plants by bees visiting one to the next, that foresaw sin and created a way back to Himself through the death of one perfect and innocent man. Is it hard to follow God sometimes? Absolutely, and only few will do it. But the alternative, to not know Him, to not follow him- that is unimaginable.
The last quote for today is from Bill Johnson. It needs no explaining or following up. I pray that all my friends in the Lord out there reading this find the peace and genius of this statement. “In order to have a peace that surpasses all understanding, you have to give up your right to understand.”
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight…” Ephesians 1:4
