“The saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all. Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there's nothing to make it last.”
― Nicholas Sparks, Dear John
GENESIS 6-8
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.(6:9)
JOURNAL
God's desire is for us to be righteous. He forgives us and we have grace but his desire is for us to pursue him, obey him and live holy, righteous lives. Because in doing so we become the best version of ourselves and as a result experience true joy.
I sometimes get complacent with the idea of grace. I sometimes mail it in because I know God will forgive me. Yet in really thinking about it...to do so is taking advantage of God, his love and his grace. To do so really hurts me. It wounds my own integrity and my passion for life. God is constant and his love never fails. To realize this and to not let it transform my life, my actions, my attitude, is ultimately to not really believe it.
When I really think about it...the reason I don't live with a spirit of gratitude and humility it is because I don't fully believe that it matters. I've let circumstances and my experiences in the past cloud my judgement on the reason and purpose of obedience. There have been times when I've been obedient and life didn't work out the way I wanted. There also have been times when I've intentionally been disobedient and it did work out.
Yet what I have noticed is that obedience always comes with the benefit of joy. In the end in some fashion or form, when I obey...I feel and know God's love and his approval. In those times, the circumstances and the success or failure really don't matter. His love is truly enough.
When I really think about it...the reason I don't live with a spirit of gratitude and humility it is because I don't fully believe that it matters. I've let circumstances and my experiences in the past cloud my judgement on the reason and purpose of obedience. There have been times when I've been obedient and life didn't work out the way I wanted. There also have been times when I've intentionally been disobedient and it did work out.
Yet what I have noticed is that obedience always comes with the benefit of joy. In the end in some fashion or form, when I obey...I feel and know God's love and his approval. In those times, the circumstances and the success or failure really don't matter. His love is truly enough.
28Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
ISAIAH 40:28-31
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