From the title of this post, one would think that I am once again going to rant about something or someone who is annoying or frustrating me. In a way this is true, but probably not what you are thinking. The person I am saying is foolish is myself.
The way I have been acting and the negative attitude I have had for the past week just sickens me to death. I should be maturing, yet I am acting as if I have never faced anything difficult before in my life. This act of holding grudges, hating people, not forgiving people and especially not loving people is not acceptable. This type of action is what I try to avoid, yet I go running right towards it. It is so much easier in life to dislike people than to love them.
It says all over in the Bible to love others. In every chapter it mentions the word "love." Believe me, I've been noticing a trend with this thing called love. Not just love like loving a spouse or a person you are in a relationship, but the type of love that you are supposed to share with everyone.
Our job here on earth is not just to be an example by being nice, but we need to take action. We really need to do something with our lives and not just keep this to ourselves. In the book of Titus, it kind of spells it out in a way that might not be straight forward, but makes complete sense with it. Titus 2:11-14 say
"God's readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation's available for everyone! We're being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness."
If God suffered, then why do we complain when we suffer? God took all the real pain away and we can't even image all the pain and suffering he must of went through on the cross. He didn't have to do this for us but He LOVED us that much.
If you feel as you are suffering, then you should still glorify God, because suffering will be over. 1 Peter 3 speaks about this topic.
It says:
If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath. It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.
Just a couple days before the season of Lent start, we should really think about how we have been acting so far this year. This Lenten season might be the thing that can forever change your life. Don't just give up something just for show, because you have lost the point of it all. Give something up that is a type of god in your life. Giving that up will open up some space for you to try to get a deeper relationship with God.
I have been foolish these past few weeks by falling away from God, but yearning to grow close. The revelation has come for me and the change is slowly beginning again, but what about your relationship with Christ? Do you show Him the same type of Love He shows you? Do you really want to grow deeper with God during this season or is this just one of those "typical religious practices?" If that is what you think it is, then I'm sorry, because you need to get over that thought. You need to take off that religious mask and show your true identity in Christ, because when you do, the feeling is unexplainable.
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