horton's who
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learning about God's grace
| not past, not next, but now |
You're only as good as you are now - not as good as you were before.
Andreas Katsulas
Don’t you get nostalgic for the “good old days”? No matter how old you are,
everyone has “good old days” – days of fondness and familiarity. I’m talking about
a time in your life that you wish you could go back to because everything was
good; maybe a time when you didn’t have any stress or anxiety, maybe when you
were experiencing success, or maybe even cotton candy – carefree moments.
Sometimes life takes us down a path that’s hard and we just want to go back to
the “good old days.”
Don’t you just wish you could skip and fast forward through some moments in
life? It would probably be a lot easier if we really did have a remote control that we
could omit unfavorable episodes with a push of a button. Scary movies are sure a
lot less scary when you can push the button to skip to the next scene. Sometimes
we go through stuff that is tough, stuff that is scary – and we wish we could just
get to the next scene in life.
But we need to learn that life shouldn’t be lived in the “good old days” nor by
skipping in the next scene – but life is meant to be lived in the now.
James 1:2-4 – Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at
you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the
open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let
it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
The Message
Nobody wants to hear that tests, challenges, and hard times are good things,
because in the middle they are by no means, good. James calls things like this –
gifts. Gifts of what? The lesson James teaches us is that no matter how tough a
trial may be for us, no matter how hard it feels, it is a way for our faith to grow.
You know as well as I do that we live in a discomfort hating society. We have pills
and distractions of all sorts to help us forget and numb what we may be feeling. I’
m all for lessening pain, but the extremes can get a little ridiculous. We then take
our natural hurt hating emphasis and use it in spiritual discomfort avenues that, in
the end, stunt our faith growth. If we must look at everything in life from a spiritual
and biblical perspective, then our hard times and painful experiences are no
different.
But what we tend to do whenever we are experiencing tests and challenges, is to
either whine about how good the “good old days” were or try to get out of it
prematurely, too soon. This causes our faith to not grow and leads us back to
learn the same lesson once again.
I really believe that right now is the best time of your life, no matter what’s
happening in your life right now. Why? Because you can’t go back to the “good old
days” and you can’t live in the tomorrow. All you have right now – is the now.
Whatever is happening in your life right now is not out of the grasp and control of
God. He knows your hurts and discomforts. Allow your faith in Him to grow and
allow Him to work in you to make you mature and well-developed.
God has your best interest at heart. Life shouldn’t be lived in the past or the next,
but the now!
Andreas Katsulas
Don’t you get nostalgic for the “good old days”? No matter how old you are,
everyone has “good old days” – days of fondness and familiarity. I’m talking about
a time in your life that you wish you could go back to because everything was
good; maybe a time when you didn’t have any stress or anxiety, maybe when you
were experiencing success, or maybe even cotton candy – carefree moments.
Sometimes life takes us down a path that’s hard and we just want to go back to
the “good old days.”
Don’t you just wish you could skip and fast forward through some moments in
life? It would probably be a lot easier if we really did have a remote control that we
could omit unfavorable episodes with a push of a button. Scary movies are sure a
lot less scary when you can push the button to skip to the next scene. Sometimes
we go through stuff that is tough, stuff that is scary – and we wish we could just
get to the next scene in life.
But we need to learn that life shouldn’t be lived in the “good old days” nor by
skipping in the next scene – but life is meant to be lived in the now.
James 1:2-4 – Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at
you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the
open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let
it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
The Message
Nobody wants to hear that tests, challenges, and hard times are good things,
because in the middle they are by no means, good. James calls things like this –
gifts. Gifts of what? The lesson James teaches us is that no matter how tough a
trial may be for us, no matter how hard it feels, it is a way for our faith to grow.
You know as well as I do that we live in a discomfort hating society. We have pills
and distractions of all sorts to help us forget and numb what we may be feeling. I’
m all for lessening pain, but the extremes can get a little ridiculous. We then take
our natural hurt hating emphasis and use it in spiritual discomfort avenues that, in
the end, stunt our faith growth. If we must look at everything in life from a spiritual
and biblical perspective, then our hard times and painful experiences are no
different.
But what we tend to do whenever we are experiencing tests and challenges, is to
either whine about how good the “good old days” were or try to get out of it
prematurely, too soon. This causes our faith to not grow and leads us back to
learn the same lesson once again.
I really believe that right now is the best time of your life, no matter what’s
happening in your life right now. Why? Because you can’t go back to the “good old
days” and you can’t live in the tomorrow. All you have right now – is the now.
Whatever is happening in your life right now is not out of the grasp and control of
God. He knows your hurts and discomforts. Allow your faith in Him to grow and
allow Him to work in you to make you mature and well-developed.
God has your best interest at heart. Life shouldn’t be lived in the past or the next,
but the now!