Monday Morning Commentary.
I was really sad when we concluded our Small is BIG Series last week, until I experienced the new, two-part message on “Story of My Life.” Wow, just wow.
Yesterday, we were challenged to write a better story– A story rich in faith, purpose and legacy.
Live with the end in mind.
It usually takes the loss of a life, a tragedy or perhaps even a good movie for us to begin reflecting on our lives and the story we are writing. Most days, we don’t live with the end in mind. Instead, we live for the here and now. When we live with the end in mind, we realize that the life we are creating, the story we are writing is so much more deserving than the mere accomplishments we will achieve or the possessions we will obtain. Instead, we begin to see our lives as vessels in which we touch the lives of others.
Perhaps our bucket list should be a list of lives we want to influence instead of items we want to posses.
Don’t stay down.
We’ve all walked through hardships, disappointments, headache and tough times (not suggesting they are all the same) but we must not allow them to keep us stuck, instead we need to allow God to turn them around for our good.
Life’s biggest tragedies can become God’s most beautiful miracles.
“Everything the enemy means for harm, God uses for the saving of MANY lives.”
What stories will be told of your life?
What “thing” have you walked through/ endured/ experienced that can be used to make your story more beautiful?
Suggested reading: 2 Corinthians 4
Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way,[a] we never give up. 2 We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.
3 If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
5 You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.[b] This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.
13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.”[c] 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,[d] will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are[e] being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
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