Hope For Today "Obedience"

In our spiritual lives God invites us to name those things that are harming our relationship with Him and with others, and to make them available so they can be removed. This is what we speak about in Step 6 of The Twelve Steps. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

We are not just insignificant no-bodies running around without purpose from the day we are born until the day we die. God has gifted each of us to do good and He wants to live in us today with power and love to accomplish those good things.

Living with God in our complicated world often presents difficult challenges such as: waiting for something we feel desperately in need of right now; not retaliating with anger when someone harms us; living with less when we could scam our way into having more; facing the consequences of revealing a difficult truth. In spite of the immediate pain we may feel, God promises that we will be blessed when we make the right choice and do the right thing.

On our own, without God, we are sick and in need of healing.  We are weak, sinful, and often crazy.  We need to be forgiven, cleansed, and enlightened by the truth of God’s word. If we are to live from a pure heart, we need to let the Bible be our handbook and do what it says without compromise.

Jesus teaches that the most basic hunger in life is the need to know and live as God intends. Whether we admit it or not, the guilt and shame that comes from living life out of sync with God's purposes leaves us feeling edgy and dissatisfied.  We know something is wrong but we're not sure what. God can help us make things right.

It’s important to ask ourselves in what ways we put our own ways of doing things ahead of seeking God for His plan in each of our days and circumstances. 

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17 We work hard at many things – not just our employment but our relationships, our service work, even the chores and handiwork we do.  I don’t know about you but when I know someone appreciates what I do, it gives me energy to get going and do a decent job. This is what we ask of God today.

God longs for us to be people who are alive and fresh and good. He calls us to be his people, distinctive by the fact that we have life in us rather than death, truth that we are basing our values and behaviours on rather than convenient changing social mores.

What might God be able to accomplish with yours and my ordinary lives if we were to offer them to Him today and follow what He tells us to do?

God wants us to be responsible and generous with all He has given us – time, abilities, money, possessions. God wants us to ask for wisdom and seek His will in how we use the resources we have been given. He promises to bless us when we do.