“When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’”” – Jeremiah 43:1-2

If you say you want to know God’s will for your life, do you really mean it??? Are you open to WHATEVER answer He may give??? Or are you really just wanting God to bless what you’ve already decided to do???

The survivors in Judah came to the prophet Jeremiah, begging him to seek the Lord’s will. They swore they’d do whatever God said. But once Jeremiah heard from the Lord after several days of prayer, they immediately rejected what he passed on to them. They just wanted God’s blessing on what they’d already decided to do, which was to flee to Egypt. Of course, this ended disastrously for them. It always does when people aren’t sincere about seeking God’s will, thinking we know better.

God will reveal His will for your life (at least the next step or two) if you sincerely seek Him in Christ. Walking in God’s will is absolutely the best and most satisfying way to go. But too often God’s people have already made up our minds and we close ourselves off to God’s will. We ask but we’re really asking God to rubber stamp our will rather than reveal His. If that’s how you’ve been operating, stop! Get honest about whether you’re seeking God’s will or your own. Try to truly open your mind and heart to whatever God may have planned for your life. Honestly seek His will in prayer, meditation, silence, and solitude. Then refuse to dismiss His answer. Refuse to keep asking for a different answer once He makes Himself clear. Once you know what God is inviting you to do, take up your cross daily and simply #FollowJesus

“And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.’” – 1 Samuel 4:3

The nation of Israel had descended into a sinful, sorrowful state. The religious leadership was rotten to the core and undermining everyone’s faith. So, God tried to get Israel’s attention through a military defeat. However, the leaders of the nation didn’t learn their lesson. In fact, they didn’t even ask what lesson God was trying to teach! They just came up with a way to try and manipulate God into giving them victory. They decided that if they sent the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them, everything would be OK. It wasn’t!!!

The Bible promises that God disciplines those He loves. If you’re a Christian, then God loves you, which means He will discipline you if you get off course spiritually and fall into sin. That discipline will be uncomfortable and may come in a variety of forms. Learn the lesson of the Israelites… when you’re out of God’s will, you can’t fix that by trying to appear more religious. You can’t fix a wrong heart by displaying more religious symbols or objects. You can’t manipulate God into action by using holy objects or sacred activities to compensate for an unholy life. Such hypocrisy only deepens your guilt! It was true then and it remains true today.

When God is trying to get your attention because of some sin in your life, listen to Him! Don’t just double-down on religious practices or put on a more holy appearance. Seek the Lord in prayer until you understand what He’s trying to teach you. Ask God to reveal your sin to you. Then repent of it, rejecting it completely and confessing it to God. Ask His forgiveness in the name of Jesus. God will always forgive you when you do (1 John 1:9). Change your heart and how you live your life, don’t just put on the appearance of religion. #FollowJesus

“Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.” – Romans 3:27

No matter how well you have your act together, the grace of God is a reminder that there’s no room to brag. No matter how carefully you follow every rule or law… no matter how good, nice, moral, or generous you may be… it’s nothing compared to God’s amazing grace! Your best good works could never be enough to wash away your sinful thoughts, words, actions, or inactions. No matter how hard anyone tries to scrub themself clean, no one can wash the stain of sin from their soul. Despite our best efforts, the imperfect can’t make ourselves perfect.

But God’s grace makes us perfect in His eyes. God’s grace washes our sin-darkened souls completely clean. And His grace is given entirely through faith in Jesus Christ, His sacrificial death on the cross, and His resurrection. Our restoration and reconciliation to God can only come as a gift from God, never by being “good enough”. It is a gift lovingly given by our Creator so that we’ll never, ever be able to boast or brag about what we did to get right with God.

As followers of Jesus, we’re called to pray, to worship, to love, to serve, to obey. But these things do not save us. We don’t get to brag about these things as if we’d in some way helped ourselves escape the consequences of our sins. These things are the right response to God’s grace. We do them out of joy and delight that by grace we are precious children of God. These things are the joyful expression of the love we have been given by God through faith in His Son. There is no room for boasting about what we’ve done, just boasting about how awesome our God and Savior is! #FollowJesus

“I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.’”
– Psalm 16:2

Where do ALL the good things in your life come from? The Lord! None of us have anything good apart from God giving it to us. He is not only the Source and Sustainer of our lives, He is the gracious Giver of every single good thing we will ever have. It is by His will, His sustaining grace, and His strengthening and equipping of our bodies and minds that we enjoy every blessing in life. EVERY BLESSING!

It’s not just that God gives us every blessing. It’s that He gives us the ability to enjoy those blessings. Apart from Him, even our blessings would feel like curses. We simply have no good apart from Him. All the good in your life flows from God in Heaven. Contemplate this truth until you fully believe it in your heart. Then take time to rejoice and thank Him for everything. Be specific about the blessings God has poured out on your life. Try to list and count them all, though you surely won’t be able to. Live a life of gratitude and #FollowJesus

“Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” – Romans 1:32

What Paul wrote in the second half of Romans 1 might as well have been written directly to and about our modern American culture. We have become a people who know so much and yet are completely darkened and foolish in thought. God is not widely worshiped, honored, or thanked. Instead, he is loudly and proudly rejected or reduced to a cartoonish imaginary figure. We know so much about creation and the creatures all around us that many have come to functionally worship those rather than their Creator! We indulge in and applaud every kind of lustful sin and appetite, claiming those things define who people are.

Followers of Jesus must not fall into this dark, sinful, and foolish pattern of thought! It doesn’t matter what our culture says, does, teaches, or mandates. Those who call Jesus Lord must be careful to obey God’s righteous decrees. We must NOT give approval to those who reject them. This is a serious challenge for Christians navigating our culture today. We must not only reject sin in our own lives, we must be extremely careful not to approve of sin in the lives of others. We must not put our stamp of approval on the greed, cruelty, or sexual immorality that are widely celebrated in our culture. We must not falsely declare that because God is gracious, merciful, and loving He is OK with sin of any sort.

God is holy and righteous. We must be holy and righteous. And we must hold firmly to His holiness and righteousness in all that we say, do, or give approval to. Take a few minutes to carefully read Romans 1:18-32. Consider whether you have accidentally or intentionally given approval to any of the sins described there in order to keep peace or gain popularity in your family, community, school, or work. Christians must be loving at all times, but we must also clearly hold to, and present, God’s holy, righteous standard. #FollowJesus