How do you show concern for the people around you?  Does it cost you in any manner to remain conscious regarding the mental, physical, spiritual and situational circumstance of those within your acquaintance sphere?  Do you have to convince yourself to demonstrate authentic care for others?  Is it a struggle to find internal empathy for their poverty, hunger, illness or pride? Since I am connected to a living God, who lives inside of me, should I ever expect to experience this ominous disconnect from sympathy for brethren or those yet to accept His Grace?

We know the implications, yet we sit within our intentions never considering that God has left the building.  Jesus wept over Jerusalem, wanting so much to gather them together in safety and hope.  Have we forgotten His passion, empathy and zeal for salvation?  Shouldn’t this world break each and every heart given to Christ Jesus?  There will be a time when we will never shed tear for the decisions in this lifetime, but that day has not yet come.  For now, my tears should be shed with those in mourning, the dying, imprisoned, lost or sorrowed, for I belong to a merciful and mighty God.

Our God is the Living Lord.  He told Moses to call Him, “I AM”.  This erases any concept of Him being simply a unconcerned deity.  He does not simply try, attempt or perform works, He IS.  Therefore, though we ought to follow His footsteps in service, prayer and holiness we would be better served to Be, kind, gentle, long suffering, righteous, just, true, honest, patient, merciful, caring, encouraging, etc…..  These should not be acts perpetrated to alleviate, transform and nullify guilt or misbehavior in attempt to call ourselves Christians.  Christianity is an eternal state of being.  I do not somehow hope to become a Christian, I AM Christian, one with God through Jesus.  As such my actions will naturally reflect the internal state of being.  Though I will mature as I am transformed by God’s Holy Spirit, I will always be the same in relationship to God.  I AM His Son, something that requires no effort in realization.

Stop trying so darn hard to be something you can never become.  Just Be as God IS, leaving any remaining work to the one who is faithful and true to complete that which He first began in each of us.  I will never reach heaven for it is not a destination but a gift for believing on Jesus.  Being with God is part of my eternity, just as this life is obvious training for what comes hereafter.  What effects God’s emotion then should also ail me.  This world desperately needs Him and we ARE His designated messengers.  Being does not take work it just takes living in truth without concealment or denial.  So let us Be Christian instead of pleading indifference, inadequacy or excuse.  I pray for your strength, character and reason this and ever day from here throughout eternity.  In Jesus’ Name.

Long have I sought to consider myself in the group of people with no strife.  But why?  For it seems that this is just as the idle hope that nothing ever changes, rain doesn’t fall on parades and time stands still for them in bad health.  This is the life that the Lord has given me.  This is the family into which I have been born and raised.  These are the circumstances with which I must find my way to contentment.  If I truly trust God, having continually petitioned Him through prayer to change my situation and He in His Sovereign Authority has not, then I must assume that this is the crucible of my remaking.  If He isn’t changing it then I am the object of His intended transformation.

It provides me no benefit other than frustration and bad relation to fight against the determined winds of God’s erosive works.  Wanting my wife, my children, family, job, friends or finances to transform is a natural tendency within my self-determination.  However, I serve God’s Purpose and accepting this fact is the pivot point to my own transfiguration.  What if, I suddenly appreciated my Wife’s constructive comments as God ordained, intended for my polishing, improvement or rewire?  How would my life change if I saw ever opportunity from the perspective of its potential to bring me closer to God or reshape me toward His likeness?  How would my happiness quotient trend if I were to truly believe that this moment, this day, this situation is exactly what I need to get to where God wants me?

Just because I am challenged by my situation or seek the ease of comfortable living does not diminish the perfectible qualities of my predicament.  I must assume that God knows better than I ever will.  He gave me these people for my edification, this poverty or plenty for my betterment and this health so that I might glorify His Will through faith and testimony.  He also gave us this abominable status of a world that was intended for peace and perfection as a response to our inability to humble ourselves, believe and be set free from the sin of man’s historical disobedience.  We must assume, though His Word clearly corroborates that there is a time line by which time we must come to grips with this reality.  I recommend that we all accept those circumstances against which we have traditionally wasted our time, thought and energy in fruitless struggle.  This is the day that God has made, I shall rejoice and be glad in it.

I must then assume that my life will change significantly if I welcome the criticism of those whom love me, spend my wealth in a way that honors Him and steward my health, imagination and time to serve something other than my own self-honoring wishes.  Thank you Lord God for my circumstance, let me use it wisely through wisdom and new found perspective.  In Jesus’ Name.