Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
The search for a life of confidence is on. Some move from relationship to relationship looking for a sense of peace in a person. Some try to find something to soothe their soul in a bottle, needle, or pill. The recipients of today’s passage must have been putting their trust in the “Almighty Dollar”—the other god. The writer tells them to steer clear of money worship and learn contentment.
What happens when we die? Do we enter the grave in a sort of soul sleep until Jesus returns? Do we live as spirits forever? Will we be able to recognize each other? Let’s consider these questions.
What do you need to do the thing that God is calling you to do? What’s holding you back? What’s causing spiritual paralysis? What’s causing you to run from God? What’s the one thing you need to make you feel sufficient to follow hard after God?
Whatever God calls us to do, he gives us the “can do.” Whatever the situation, we can do what God wants us to do through his strength. Ability does not come from positive thinking. It comes from the power of the Spirit who lives in us. In every situation, God provides his strength.
God’s instruction on worry is not “Get ahold of yourself.” Rather, God wants us to get ahold of him. Worry is the reminder to take our fears to God. Tell him that you’re scared. Confess your doubts. Pour out your dread. Let him know your reservations. Thank God that he hears you and promises to meet you right where you are.
The great apostle Paul was a realist. He said, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.” Then he noted that he wasn’t there yet; he had not “already achieved these things.” Can you relate? You are not where you want to be in your spiritual journey.
All believers should wear a T-shirt that says UNDER CONSTRUCTION. We are unfinished projects. God started a good work in us, but he’s not finished. He will “continue his work until it is finally finished.” It will be finished when we take our last breath.
Here is a powerful story from a friend of mine named Mike. It affirms that God’s grace is sufficient! His power is always made perfect in our weakness.
Many people live with a “scarcity” mindset, a glass-half-empty philosophy that is always focused on the “What if this happens?” or “What if it doesn’t happen?” The “scarcity” mindset is not the needed process of risk management; it is the problem of being risk averse. “Scarcity” is always based in the fear of inadequacy. “I’ll never have what I need.” “I’ll never measure up.” “I’ll never be able to find satisfaction.”
What happens when you die? The soul sleeps? Time is spent in a holding place? Purgatory? Nothing? No, no, no, and absolutely no! The Bible is clear that when believers die, they pass from death to life in heaven. As Paul wrote in today’s passage, when we are away from the body, we are at home with the Lord.
The spiritual life is superhuman. The things God calls me to are beyond my capabilities. The tasks before me are outside my skill set. The spiritual journey outpaces my strength. Check out Paul’s dose of reality in today’s passage. We are not “qualified to do anything on our own.” Say it with me, “I am unqualified.” When you admit that, things start getting good!
I watched my dad die. Cancer robbed him of energy and vigor, and left him lying in a bed, surrounded by his family watching him take his last breath. Death is not glorious. Paul describes it as the last enemy. However, it is a holy moment. I watched my dad pass from death to life.