LIFE IS SPEEDING UP AND SPIRALING
‘Wars and rumors of wars.’ ‘Their hearts will grow cold.’ ‘Famines and earthquakes.’ ‘Beware of false prophets.’ These days certainly have the blueprint and saturation of End Times events. People are getting more and more intolerant of one another. We’re losing touch with common sense. People are calling men women and women men. We cling so tightly to fear wrapped around independence that we don’t even want to marry, we just want someone to act like a spouse without actually being one. The LGBTQ+ community finished celebrating “pride month,” but is pride something to celebrate? Is distancing ourselves from God and setting up camp with our sin really a lifestyle we want to commit to?
Every one of us needs to live into repentance. Pride has no place in our search for closeness with God. Our independence could be better spent acknowledging and adhering to the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than succumbing to and rejoicing in the self-sabotaging ways of this world.
GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL
Everything is speeding up and appearing pretty awful on the inside, like the unwashed inner part of a cup that tries to look pretty on the outside despite a rotten soul (Matthew 23:26).
And yet, God is still in control. He is allowing everything He’s allowing for a reason, and it has to do with His perfect will being carried out. Jesus said not one dot or stroke of a letter would be erased until all is accomplished (Matthew 5:18). That means more is coming. Now is the time to be dedicated to the Word, not lost in panic mode. Let us not permit the Devil to get in our heads, but let us ask and keep Jesus in our hearts.
THE LENS OF TRUSTING IN GOD
People will fret, we will worry and run in circles mentally. We will overthink everything. But being frantic isn’t the product of trust, and it’s not a fruit of the Spirit. Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit. Trusting in God and being faithful to Him requires the humility to surrender our preference to be in control. But let’s back up. Trust in God is an indication that we’ve established a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, through faith. God’s grace has permitted us to receive faith in our hearts, and we’ve learned to view life through this lens instead of the lens of needing to be our own gods. Because of faith, we no longer feel the need to worry like the world does because we trust all that’s happening is according to His will, or it wouldn’t be happening at all.
OVERWHELMED AND OVERWORKED
We all need love, but we’re feeling hate and intolerance. Selfishness is permeating society. Our needs aren’t being met and there is a lot of corruption and betrayal happening from the inside. From the food we eat to the news we’re fed on TV, it’s hard to know what we’re putting in our bodies or our minds. Entertainment is our go-to in order to escape the stress of an impending society too overwhelmed and overworked to care about slowing down and thinking rationally or spiritually.
Many of us spend far more energy glued to screens than we do engaged in meaningful conversation with people in real life. People are emotionally exhausted and distant, and we’re not feeling very forgiving. We just want what we want and that’s it. “What’s this about ‘what God wants’? What about what I want?” we ask. It’s easy to get caught up in this mentality, but we are called to take every thought captive that isn’t obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE
When we want Jesus to take over our hearts and lives, that has to include our thoughts. Something starts off as a thought and eventually becomes an action. We are, even subconsciously, dedicated to manifesting our thoughts into reality by first thinking of something before becoming convinced of it, and then we proceed to take action to ensure it becomes a part of our external world. By taking every thought captive, we learn its motive—expose it, and allow the Holy Spirit to turn it around and make it something that gives glory to God. We cannot be obedient to Christ without meticulously examining what is going on for us spiritually, and following through with prayer, fasting (when necessary) and committing to pursuing God’s heart first before reacting to the spirit of fear on the loose in the world.
SOMETHING IN THE WORLD BECOMES OUR GOD
It’s human to think about our wants and needs. It’s Christ-like, however, to ask God to overturn trust in ourselves to trust in Him and Him alone. Our lives could become full of opportunities to reflect dependence on God’s provision and divine intervention rather than mirroring the carnality of the world’s response to deficiency. We look around us and listen to people complaining and groaning, but we don’t see many people loving others as much or showing a genuine sense of compassion towards those who need it most. Who is our god when what is most important to us is either pleasure, or relief? When we turn from the selflessness of seeking God’s heart, we become distracted by searching for ways to feel relieved of the pressure of life, and something within the world becomes our god. Idolization is born.
“MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT”
Jesus says:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
