I listen to Eric Metaxas on YouTube/Socrates in the City. He’s brilliant, witty, half Greek and half German. ...delightful combination. SO..what provocative statement has he made lately that gives me pause to ponder? "WE DIE DIFFERENTLY WHEN WE KNOW WE AREN'T GOING TO DIE.". O.K., how am I "dying differently" from people who don't know Christ? Well, for one thing, by now I have learned that my Father always has purpose in pain. (Oh, and BTW you're all going to die. ...in His time.)
Currently I am being tempted by the devil to get even with someone who has shredded my soul ...including my motives. The tears have flowed and flowed and flowed. It's been an awful month, emotionally. Rational thinking comes and goes. ...comes and goes. We know that thinking and feeling are not the same part of our souls. Like all the pilgrims before us, we trudge over mountains and through valleys of feelings before we arrive at right thinking, ...understanding that God is bringing us to holiness. That path is strewn with pain. It is "The Road Less Traveled". (Scott Peck wrote that book many years ago.)
Currently I am being tempted by the devil to get even with someone who has shredded my soul ...including my motives. The tears have flowed and flowed and flowed. It's been an awful month, emotionally. Rational thinking comes and goes. ...comes and goes. We know that thinking and feeling are not the same part of our souls. Like all the pilgrims before us, we trudge over mountains and through valleys of feelings before we arrive at right thinking, ...understanding that God is bringing us to holiness. That path is strewn with pain. It is "The Road Less Traveled". (Scott Peck wrote that book many years ago.)
Doesn’t our Lord instruct us to “encourage one another and all the more, as you see The Day approaching?” Some Christians seem to think giving words of affirmation will make a fellow Christian proud. How very odd, when He tells us clearly to do exactly that. Our Lord is not talking "flattery" here, but is talking about words that warm and encourage the heart. If words are not your "love language" God will help you form them. It will take quite a few to block out the ones that crush souls.
We are the beloved children of the God of the Universe. Cherished children. Children that He deemed worth every drop of His blood.
Now, darlings, think on these things.
Love, Jo