August 25, 2022
Greater Reward
Discipline trains, sustains and carries us through the valleys of life. We are born with a call, God’s plan for us, His vision for how we will impact the world. This call prepares us to submit to education or training, to becoming everything God needs us to become. We cannot find satisfaction, peace and that inner contentment in Christ any other way than through obedience. God wants our days to count.
Discipline and gentle reminders from God can be like Love notes from the Father. If we see our children headed for danger or disaster, we intervene. So does our Heavenly Father. He longs to lead us expertly toward our destiny. We are so blessed.
If I were an evangelist I would have a single message. Life with God is better than life without God. I live in protection, clothed in armor, I am loved and I have surrendered to His love. Ego, selfishness and jockeying for position leave one tired. Basking in love and in loving are renewable resources every single day.
We either live in the world or in God. We live carnal or we live in His spiritual light. The world tempts us with lovely things. Things that will prove empty and insufficient quickly. But a life lived with plenty of time for prayer, thanks, and helping others is a life filled with satisfaction and contentment.
There is a goal of that counterfeit spirit. He comes to kill, steal, and destroy. More currently he comes to steal your talent, to block you from your destiny, and destroy the very purpose you were born. Be on guard. He dangles treasures, he lures you with pretty baubles, but his one and only goal is to keep you from finishing your life’s work.
Being a member of God’s team requires the same level of training and struggle as any renowned athlete. We must dig in, stay focused in the face of exhaustion, then run the race all the way to the finish line with a goal of lighting the world with the message of Jesus.
Lord, Help me spend more time telling people the story of Your sacrifice. Let me remember we are Your feet and legs on the earth today. If I am silent, if I worry because someone is offended when I tell them about You, if I turn away because I don’t like rejection, and I was the one responsible for that someone’s eternal life, I will bear the pain of my refusal to do what I was asked to do forever. Forgive me, Lord, for any moment I thought about rebellion. Every opportunity to help someone find their destiny is an opportunity I cherish.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11