Am I Spiritually Alive? (5)
Friday September 4, 2015
God offers us life. The devil offers us solutions that will steal, kill and destroy us. Our addictions are sufficient proof of the empty promises from the devil – temporary pleasure that ends in a fruitless search to satisfy a grating need. As life without God progresses we will experience lost relationships, hope, and even ourselves. God offers us life today in all its fullness – life controlled by God’s Holy Spirit.
A baby is alive when it is conceived in its mother’s womb. We don't physically see that baby for about 9 months but all sorts of growth is taking place during this time. When the baby is born, we don't expect it to be running and working and making changes in the world in the first 24 hours of its life. The baby needs time to eat and sleep and learn and grow and figure out what life is about, and what works and what doesn't. Loving parents will care for that little one and teach it and support it until it grows and matures. In the same way, we have a loving Heavenly Father who wants to teach us and support us every day as we grow and mature into the person He created us to be.
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them. (Hosea 11:3-4 NLT)
Day by day we will get to know how to live in this new life as we recognize and obey God's principles, and let God transform our thinking. Little kids think they can stick their fingers in an electrical socket or touch a hot stove or run out onto the street even though a car is coming. They have things to learn, healthy boundaries to be taught, even while they develop and take reasonable risks and gain new skills. We need to pay attention to our Loving Heavenly Father just as surely as a little child needs to pay attention to loving parents. As we do, we can be assured that we will grow and thrive in our new spiritual life as our Heavenly Father intended.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 NLT)
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