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does anyone else feel like their drowning?
how much more can a girl take?
Tuesday, May 27
Saturday, May 24
the challenge
since i've moved to florida, i've really felt God's push to stop being complacent in my faith. needless to say, this has been the most uncomfortable time in my life. i can't get away with things like i could before. i can't make those small compromises that i could before. when i do mess up, i feel it. it's a new feeling. not like an "oops" moment. it's more serious. it's more...it's just more intense.
this is the way it should be, right? we shouldn't feel comfortable in our faith. in Matthew 10:34, Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." He is a good Savior and He does bring peace for our salvation, but He does not want us to be comfortable. He calls us to be devoted to Him beyond our worldly associations (v. 35-39).
throughout the Gospels, we see a Savior who does not asks us to be complacent but to go the extra mile; to not just accept the way of doing things, but go above that. for instance, in Matthew 18:21-35 peter and Jesus have a discussion about forgiveness. i love peter. i love peter because i think i identify with him the most sometimes. in Matthew 18, verse 21, peter asks Jesus, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" peter thought he was being hot stuff with this suggested answer. i would have done the same thing. i can imagine peter turning to andrew or john and smiling, saying, "ooh, look at me get some disciple brownie points for saying 'seven times.'" but he never gets those points because Jesus states, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Jesus, of course, was not suggesting that we count 490 offenses, but that the bar was so much higher than peter could imagine.
this is where i live. i think it's "seven times" and God is always challenging me: "seventy times seven." this is my challenge. i can't be who i was yesterday. i need to be one step closer to "seventy times seven." i need to be nearer to the person God calls us to be when we wear His Name.
this is the way it should be, right? we shouldn't feel comfortable in our faith. in Matthew 10:34, Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." He is a good Savior and He does bring peace for our salvation, but He does not want us to be comfortable. He calls us to be devoted to Him beyond our worldly associations (v. 35-39).
throughout the Gospels, we see a Savior who does not asks us to be complacent but to go the extra mile; to not just accept the way of doing things, but go above that. for instance, in Matthew 18:21-35 peter and Jesus have a discussion about forgiveness. i love peter. i love peter because i think i identify with him the most sometimes. in Matthew 18, verse 21, peter asks Jesus, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" peter thought he was being hot stuff with this suggested answer. i would have done the same thing. i can imagine peter turning to andrew or john and smiling, saying, "ooh, look at me get some disciple brownie points for saying 'seven times.'" but he never gets those points because Jesus states, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Jesus, of course, was not suggesting that we count 490 offenses, but that the bar was so much higher than peter could imagine.
this is where i live. i think it's "seven times" and God is always challenging me: "seventy times seven." this is my challenge. i can't be who i was yesterday. i need to be one step closer to "seventy times seven." i need to be nearer to the person God calls us to be when we wear His Name.
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