Skip to main content

The Real Deal

“ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. “ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. “ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.”
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭26:3-12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

These are some BIG promises... think about it. Who wouldn't want a life promised to be safe from evil people and wild animals? A life so full that you're still enjoying the benefits from last year when you have to make accommodations for more stuff.
A life free from strife and touched with favor. Sounds pretty good to me!
This is what God promised the Israelites and in return asked them to honor His decrees and follow His commands. Yet, they couldn't do it. If you're familiar with the Bible you know that not long after the Israelites deserted God and their lives were shattered as a result.

We are not so different today. How short sighted are we! Working so hard to find that plastic ring in the cereal box when God is offering us the real deal from an exclusive high end store.
Why do we give in to those simple and short lasting sinful desires instead of waiting for the fulfillment of His major life changing promises?
The struggle is real and it's hard.
I'm sure thats why Paul said “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭7:15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Without Christ, we are not strong enough to wait for the life God has for us.
Stop looking so hard for the plastic ring. Find the One who wants to give you the real one instead.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Because of great empathy, Jesus wept

John 11: 32-33&35 "Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. Jesus wept." As I was reading through this chapter and familiar story, I was suddenly struck with the depth of this particular part of the story. Jesus, being God, knew that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. Not only that, but a few verses earlier, He even told His disciples what He was about to do. The death of Lazarus was not news to Jesus--nor, in my mind, do I imagine a very troubling thought to Him since He knew what was about to happen. So then, why did He weep? Why was He greatly troubled? Because He saw the deep pain of His friends. His empathy was SO great that even knowing what was about to happen He still wept with His friends. "Fo...
1 comment
Read more

Life in a seed

I wasn't a science major but if I understand the very basic reproduction cycle of a plant it goes something like this... An adult tree has these beautiful flowers which bees are attracted to. These bees shake the pollen into the "ovary" of the plant for fertilization. The fertilized plant embryo (with the proper care and nutrition) blossoms into a delicious fruit. Inside that fruit there is a seed, and that seed can be planted into the ground to grow another adult tree. Question... Is there life in the seed? Is the seed valuable of its own accord? Two adults who fell in love and were married. The male adult "pollinated" so to speak, the female adult, thereby creating an embryo. Already equipped with its own little beating heart, this little embryo (whom I believe was 7 or 8 weeks at that moment) grew into a fetus with the proper care and nutrition. At halfway (20 weeks) through the pregnancy, the baby looks like this picture above. She already ...
1 comment
Read more

I'm Not Losing Me

I had a bad day yesterday. You know the one—a handful of little aggravating circumstances that haven’t seen results yet topped with a new unforeseen unfortunate circumstance and I broke... big, hard sobs that I had to run and stifle lest I terrify my children. My bed was my place of comfort until I could cry no more. God, where are you? My heart cried. Silence I know the right answers, the right Scriptures, the right attitudes; but at that moment I was broken—my shield and sword no longer defending but laid aside next to my crumbled self. Depression’s ugly face taunted me and tempted me to let him hold my hand. This foe whom I hadn’t seen in a long time was here again waiting for me to decide whose side I was really on. God, why won’t you just miraculously fix this growing lists of challenges I’m facing? Haven’t I tithed faithfully and given offerings? Haven’t I prayed, and fought with Scriptures, and served You? Why am I in this spot?! The vision of Peter ...
1 comment
Read more