I am re-reading the book "Crazy Love"....next to the Bible it is one of the most inspiring books I've read. Francis Chan talks about Christian's being "lukewarm". Which means you are not fully following the plans that God has for you.
A paragraph that made my jaw drop last night BECAUSE it perfectly summed up what Brian and I have been learning over the last few years. Here it is:
Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don't have to trust God if something unexpected happens-they have their savings account. They don't need God to help them- they have their retirement plan in place. They don't genuinely seek out what life God would have them live-they have life figured and mapped out. They don't depend on God on a daily basis- their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.
DID YOU READ THAT LAST SENTENCE????? OUCH....would anyone have noticed if I suddenly stopped believing in God? Would my life look any different?Can people see Jesus in me??? I didn't want to live like that anymore!
Why that paragraph hit home to me was because it described my old life perfectly....living all for the wrong reasons the big house, fancy SUV's, vacations. Now I know you may be saying, "What's wrong with that?" For many...nothing is wrong with that....but for me....it wasn't making me happy. It usually put me in debt more....stressed us out more....left us feeling empty. The goals I had in my life usually hit a brick wall so eventually I started to realize that maybe just maybe God had better plans for me than I was coming up with on my own. (DUH!)
So from now on God is my compass....I will only make decisions when He shows me it's what He has planned for me and my family. The security in that is way sweeter than any amount of material possessions I could ever imagine.
Luke 12:16-21
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
And the truth is- most of us live for things that make US happy. But God doesn't care about our happiness- He cares about our HOLINESS. Period. Preach it sista! ;)
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