God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Hello,

Today I’d like to talk about how God has given us full control of our lives and our future. Unfortunately many people will take this free will and destroy their future- let me explain.

The only way for us to have a safe, protected future is by partnering with God. When we choose to turn our lives over to the Lord, He begins to restore us back to the original image He had in mind- an image that resembles Him. This walk to Christlikeness, will either be easy or extremely difficult depending on how hard we fight God in this metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis means to change completely from an infantile state to a mature state with the help of the supernatural. And yes, we are all immature and want what we want. Our baby bottles have turned to beer bottles or wine glasses and our tantrums over not receiving a coveted toy morphed into bitterness at not having the perfect life we envisioned for ourselves. Our childish defiance turned from skipping out of school to affairs, divorce, protests and riots as adults.

But God will try to get our attention off of our childish immature lifestyle by allowing the consequence of our sin and of the sin in the world to affect our lives. Things like illness, death of a loved one, job loss and divorce can jolt us out of our daze, causing us to seek God who shows us how superficially we have been living. Our pursuits and focus in life are now illuminated by the Light of the World,  and they lack the luster they once had.  Hopefully we come to the conclusion that there must be more to life than striving after a fit body, perfect appearance,  status in the community, possessions, job title and adult fun.

 “The Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”(1 Sam 16:7)

God’s first priority for our lives is to have our heart focused on true treasures- the things in life that we can’t buy with money-  first and foremost being in a relationship with our heavenly Father.

 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”(Matt 6:19-21)

“Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”(1 Cor 10:7)

The more stubborn we are, the more our future will be filled with trials and tests intended to get our attention focused on our heavenly Father. He will continue to watch as our life is bombarded with painful consequences of our lifestyle- hoping someday we will “look up” and ask Him “what are you trying to say to me?” If we are serious in knowing why many untoward things are happening in our health and in our lives, He will reveal it to us as we spend time with Him by reading His part of the conversation-the bible. We will learn that He can’t protect us when we have chosen to go at life without consulting Him. We have used our free will to step out from under His umbrella of protection and we will suffer the consequences of our choices. And like any journey in life, when we miss the “exit” so to speak, its frustrating, time consuming and painful to travel back to where we missed the correct road. Enduring God’s refining fire is worth every ounce of pain, and sacrifice of worldly fun, because the gifts God bestows on us include joy, not fleeting happiness. God also blesses us with health and prosperity.

“The blessings of the Lord brings wealth without painful toil for it”(Prov 10:22)

We have the choice to turn our lives around at any age. Any time we feel like giving God our life- we can. We simply say “Lord, I repent (turn away from) of my sins, come into my heart because I want to make you the Lord and controller of my life.” When we do this, God will get to work on changing us into the image of His son Jesus, a kind hearted, forgiving, gentle and selfless person. This is a process, one that can take years.

“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”(Jer 29:11)

God has plans for us- unfailing plans for our lives, unlike our fallible human plans, but in order to know what they are we need to set down our idea of life and ask Him how to proceed. We find direction to our best life in the bible.

^” I would have fainted, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”(Prov 10:22)

We will see the goodness of God if we allow God to slowly step by step, degree by degree,  change us into the person He created us to be.  Let’s not give up or give in to temptation to stray. The world offers only prettily wrapped “presents” that when unwrapped and indulged in, will kill, steal and destroy our life because all sin leads to a hastened death.

Food for thought,

Lisa