READ IT OR STUDY IT – There is a difference
I was raised Baptist so I received a healthy dose of the Bible growing up along with a healthy dose of Southern Baptist sermons. Even though I am a confirmed Episcopalian now I wouldn’t trade anything for my Baptist upbringing.
Did I listen intently on the edge of my seat to the sermons or read my bible on a daily basis. No. Perhaps as much as most kids do when they are younger, perhaps less, I really don’t know. What I do know is this. As you get older life tends to become more complicated, it can be tough, it will be tough at some point, multiple points, sometimes all at once. Tribulation is promised. Promised in John 16:33, and several other places.
While there are guarantees of difficulty there are far more guarantees of deliverance, through Christ, from life’s challenges. For instance, in that same verse, John 16:33, we are told to “take heart as Christ has overcome the world”. That same world we are guaranteed to have tribulations in we are guaranteed to be delivered from. A promise of tribulation and deliverance, all in the same sentence.
There is another sentence full of promises that turned the light on for me personally. The popular verse Jeremiah 29:11, promises that God knows the plans he has for us, to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future. We all like those verses the “get stuff” verses. But that’s not the one that turned the light on it was the next few verses, the lesser known verses of Jeremiah 29:12-14. These are the “do your part” verses. Here you find the promise that we will be given the things just listed…….. when we call on Him, when we seek Him with all of our heart, then He will be found. Found, when we do our part.
When did I learn this? I learned this when I stopped simply reading my bible to get my star for the day and started studying my Bible in hopes of changing my life. I did my part. God met me where I was.
Seek him with all you heart. Do your part. Get in the boat.
Nose to Toes / #16