Hi, Samara.
Did you get a good sleep? Are you all refreshed and ready to take on another day? Probably one of the most important things to establish at the beginning of any day is this: “WHO DO I MOST WANT TO PLEASE TODAY?” If you can answer, I MOST WANT TO PLEASE MY MAKER TODAY, I judge you are good to go! That’s really what Christian living is all about.
Now that I’ve made that same determination, I need to figure out how to lace together all the parts and pieces of unfinished business, new obligations, and domestic needs. Who said a balanced and disciplined life was necessarily easy?! But it’s sure easier than being forced to live with the constant negative effects of NOT doing so—of living only by feel.
God bless you on this special day which really is THE FIRST DAY IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
Love, Tua.
Here’s a question for you, Samara: What if you read this FOCUS VERSE to your dog Bella? Then, what if you followed up with a lecture to her on how important and beneficial it would be to leave her simple canine ways—to stop thinking like a dog, acting like a dog, and sounding like a dog? “Come on, Bella, you need to think bigger, plan for your future, get an education, get a good job, save for retirement, etc.” (If she could, she might want to respond, “Phooey with that! All I need and care about is the SPARRE WELFARE SYSTEM!”) Well, this is silly! You already know how absurd this is. Dogs live almost totally for the moment. They live by feel—largely by instinct. They never struggle with moral or philosophical or theological issues. They are assigned no responsibilities by their Maker for which their Maker holds them accountable. In the final judgment, no canine will ever hear his Maker say, “Well done, thou good and faithful puppy.” But humans like you and me, created and designed with a deposit of His image and likeness—that’s an entirely different story! Humans ARE responsible before their Maker—and WILL BE held accountable.
The FALL OF MAN as a result of ORIGINAL SIN has sure messed things up—inflicting humans with a NATURAL SIN NATURE. So here’s the deal—dogs naturally act like dogs, and sinners naturally act like sinners. Duh! But the fact is that humans do not need to remain in that condition. This is where the GOOD NEWS OF THE BIBLICAL GOSEL shines so brightly. Indeed humans not only have a wonderful opportunity but a binding responsibility before their Maker to seek CHANGE—change from being a natural plain old sinner, to a sinner that is saved and transformed by God’s grace—BORN AGAIN (John 3:3)—it can happen no other way—actually becoming a CHILD OF GOD (John 1:12). However, when humans insist on living according to that NATURAL SIN NATURE with no care or interest in change, they actually lock themselves into being more like animals, like dogs, when they should be more like intelligent seekers of God. That’s the idea that Peter puts forth when he describes this sad human mindset: “But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish” (2 Peter 2:12). Oh, but “…whoever believes (really believes) in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).