December 11 ~ Philippians 4:13
Christ gives me the strength to face anything.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
In his book, Become a Better You, Joel Osteen admonishes us to quit putting ourselves down… that doesn’t do us any good. Forget the past… it’s over and done and can’t be changed. If we continue feel guilty about the past, we will lack the strength to live victoriously today – and beyond.” I’m paraphrasing here, but Pastor Osteen makes a very important point.
While Christ gives us the strength to face anything, a lot of us are pretty busy counteracting that strength at every turn by living in the past, wallowing in guilt and shame over something that happened ten years ago, or blaming our childhood for the mistakes we make today! We need to recognize that we are all human. We all have moments that we regret… something we said that was not so kind, a poorly made choice. Who among us hasn’t said (if only to ourselves), “You didn’t do your best on that test… you should have studied more,” or “You should pray more… longer… harder…” or “I can’t believe you gave such a lousy performance – on the court, the field, or in the concert. You should have practiced more”… or even “You are a lousy mom/dad/grandparent/friend. How could you treat this person so badly”?
You can fill in the blanks with your own litany of criticisms. But the point is that we are wasting valuable time living in guilt, shame and resentment and frustration instead of saying, “LORD, I have all of the strength I need because of You… help me to focus my thoughts and actions in a positive direction. Forgive me for the things I’ve done… and help me to do better.” This is what God asks of us… that we humbly admit our shortcomings and disappointments – then try to do better moving forward.
We must remember that God knows what flawed creatures we are… and He loves us anyway. He wants us to succeed… to be happy, productive, hopeful servants. And He has equipped us with everything we need. OUR JOB is to recognize His power within us… and to embrace it!
I’m not suggesting that we limp along in life, make mistakes, then throw up our hands and say, “Oh, well!” We must take responsibility for our actions… and our faults. But we serve a God who stands ready to pick us up and deliver us into a better day… if only we will receive His gifts of wisdom, hope, forgiveness – and strength.
We have a choice today… we can continue to wallow in the past and let the devil remind us about the mistakes we have made – or we can invite Christ Jesus to fill us with His Holy Spirit and give us all the strength we will ever need… and more. We can stay stuck in our rut… or we can let Jesus propel us into a hopeful, productive future. Which way will you decide to go?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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