Searching

Everything that happens begins in our mind. We are led by our thoughts, but we can also lead and train our thoughts. While the thoughts and temptations are not sin, they can lead to sin. As we train our thoughts to turn away from sin, we can be more successful in winning the battle against sin (Romans 12:1-3).

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:23-27

You won’t look for a guide if you don’t think you're lost.

For us to recognize the value of God’s gift for us, Jesus, we have to first recognize our need for Him. God gave us the whole Old Testament to show our need for a Messiah to purify us in a way that the blood of bulls and goats could never do. With all that is going on in our world today, it seems self-evident that something is not working and we need something outside of ourselves to fix our problems. We have to stop spinning our wheels in the whirlwind of life to recognize and acknowledge we need help.

Sin exists, but you are not to live in sin.

Just because sin exists doesn’t mean it needs to live in you; and just because you don’t let sin live in you, it doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. Since sin is a choice, it lives where it is allowed to live. Sin does not have any power unless we give it to it. We do not have to glorify sin to say it exists. We can recognize sin exists and work to remove it as we do with dog poop.

The two hardest things in life to handle are success and failure.

We must always remember that we are on a continual journey and have not arrived at our destination while we are on earth. When we have results of righteousness, we can be tempted to revel in our success, losing sight of God’s hand in our success and forgetting the work we have left to do. When we experience failure, we can heap blame on ourselves and get lost in the disappointments of falling short. Both failure and success should point us to our need and thankfulness for God.