Friends' Favorites - Coasting

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.” 1st Peter 1:13-16 The Message Bible

We like to coast. It's easier. We don't have to work as hard at whatever it is we're doing. It can be very pleasurable. Wind at your back, helping to push you along. There's nothing wrong with coasting per se, it's just that often times we make a habit of it. 

Before long, it's almost too much effort to get in gear and actually work for something. That is a very dangerous place to be! The path of least resistance ALWAYS leads us back to the wrong place on the wrong path. Don't go back there! Pedal hard! Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now.

Prayer:

Father,
          Help us to put our mind in gear to be totally ready to receive Your gift. Shape our lives by Your life, O God, Your Word - a life energetic and blazing with holiness. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* What Lies Ahead

And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
Acts 20:22-24 NLT

Paul had his priorities completely in order. Nothing else mattered to him except to do the will of God. Whatever it took, his life included. Throughout the Book of Acts, we read of the confrontations, the averted confrontations and the escapes. His companions didn't want anything else bad to happen to him. They'd seen him stoned and whipped and imprisoned. In the next chapter, they beg him not to go to Jerusalem, but he could not be deterred. Paul was as dogged in his mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus as he was in his former pursuit and persecution of Christians.

When something bad happens, we always want to know why. If it happens to someone we know, most of us think it isn't right or fair. Human nature always seeks the path of least resistance. However, the truth is that there is no strength built unless there is resistance - something to push against - both in the natural and in our Christian walk.

Oftentimes, it is our greatest struggle that becomes our greatest testimony and an even greater witness to those around us. We don't always know what lies ahead, but God does. And He is trustworthy.

Prayer:

Father,
         We pray as Jesus prayed, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to stay focused on YOUR purpose for our lives while on the earth. Help us to see past the circumstances to Your perfect will, no matter what lies ahead. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen