Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Don't doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light


No matter how hard you try, in a room that's completely dark, you'll never be able to see anything. Even if you know for sure that something is in the room, it's impossible to see it if the room is totally dark. You know it's there, but you just can't see it. That's what faith is like. You may be absolutely confident that God loves you; however, during the difficult and dark times in life, you may not be able to see that love.
Hebrews 11:1
defines faith as being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Even when you don't see God's love for you, you can still have faith that he loves you -- that is, you can be certain that he loves you, even though you don't see it.
During those "dark times" in your spiritual life, you may not be able to see God's love, his faithfulness, his grace, or his promises to you; however, don't lose your faith. Be certain of what [you] do not see.
One day, your faith will be sight.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Wisdom is to do now what you will be satisfied with later.


Wisdom is to do now what you will be satisfied with later. From a practical standpoint, wisdom is to do now what you will be satisfied with later. This means that if you know doing something will be very beneficial later, then you do it now even if you don't want to. The opposite is also true: a person who lacks wisdom will base his or her actions on what feels good right now instead of looking at the long-term picture. For example, say you want to eat a snack, but you aren't hungry. You might say to yourself, "Well I know I shouldn't eat this, but ... ." And then you decide to keep eating even though you are full. Your actions followed your feelings instead of wisdom, and it's a decision that may lead to results you're not happy with later. Clearly, wisdom requires using self-control to choose to do what is better. A wise person looks at the end results instead of focusing only on his or her immediate circumstances. In short, wisdom is to do now what you will be satisfied with later.

Friday, January 25, 2008

He who is not content with what he has will not be content with what he wants



Life may seem like a race to accumulate more money, more wealth, more status, and more possessions. Sadly, many people are very greedy and look only for ways to get more for themselves, thinking, "If I could just get this certain thing, then I would be happy." However, greed is not the path to contentment. Greed is when you always want a little bit more. Yet, greed causes you to never be satisfied, because you always want more and as soon as you get what you want, you want even more. And so you never get what you want, because what you really want is contentment. The old cliche "money cannot buy happiness" really is true. It is no wonder Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. Likewise, Hebrews 13:5 tells us: Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." In other words, God is enough to keep any person content and joyful. The fact that God is always with you and that He will never leave you ought to be a cause of great joy in your life.