There's a burden that comes when you set your life toward God.
Once you've taken those first, tentative steps of faith - not sure what it all means or where it will take you, either in the short term or ultimately - your life is no longer your own. What you do, why you do it, how and even when you do whatever it is you do has a meaning, an importance far beyond you....
"You are not your own," the Apostle Paul says, "you were bought with a price." And, what a Price!
When you set your life toward God, your decisions matter more. "You are not your own..." and neither are your decisions. Or the consequences of those decisions.
When you set your life toward God, your "yes" should be "yes" and your "no" should be "no"... and your "maybe" should not be a simple way to brush someone off or to push a decision down the road for another day. Your "maybe" should be the opening to prayerful, thoughtful, honest and ethical consideration and seeking.
When you set your life toward God, the burden of significance rests on your shoulders... reminding you that
You are not your own
Your life is not just about you
Your decisions matter, and
The impact of your life sends ripples into the lives of all those you contact.
But - and here's the Good News - when you set your life toward God, the burden is not your's alone to bear.
"My yoke is easy, my burden is light," Jesus says to those who come to him
Weary of doing life by the world's definition
Laden down with the burdens of a self-focused understanding of purpose and even life itself.
The burden that comes when you set your life toward God is the "weight of glory"...
The pressing in of the Holy Spirit's presence
The gravity of being conformed to the image of Christ, and
The substance of the God of the Universe being real and present and involved in your actual life.
The burden changes you.
Thanks be to God.
Once you've taken those first, tentative steps of faith - not sure what it all means or where it will take you, either in the short term or ultimately - your life is no longer your own. What you do, why you do it, how and even when you do whatever it is you do has a meaning, an importance far beyond you....
"You are not your own," the Apostle Paul says, "you were bought with a price." And, what a Price!
When you set your life toward God, your decisions matter more. "You are not your own..." and neither are your decisions. Or the consequences of those decisions.
When you set your life toward God, your "yes" should be "yes" and your "no" should be "no"... and your "maybe" should not be a simple way to brush someone off or to push a decision down the road for another day. Your "maybe" should be the opening to prayerful, thoughtful, honest and ethical consideration and seeking.
When you set your life toward God, the burden of significance rests on your shoulders... reminding you that
You are not your own
Your life is not just about you
Your decisions matter, and
The impact of your life sends ripples into the lives of all those you contact.
But - and here's the Good News - when you set your life toward God, the burden is not your's alone to bear.
"My yoke is easy, my burden is light," Jesus says to those who come to him
Weary of doing life by the world's definition
Laden down with the burdens of a self-focused understanding of purpose and even life itself.
The burden that comes when you set your life toward God is the "weight of glory"...
The pressing in of the Holy Spirit's presence
The gravity of being conformed to the image of Christ, and
The substance of the God of the Universe being real and present and involved in your actual life.
The burden changes you.
Thanks be to God.