Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Accepting the Savior in our Life

Shibu Mathew
Epiphany MTC, NY


8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 


In my own life, the experiences that I remember the most are the ones I’ve had to struggle the most to get through.  A class or a project at work that really pushed me to the limits, where I constantly felt like I had to give 100%, but even then it’s barely hitting the mark, or meeting deadlines.  When I look back at those experiences, I not only remember them but I also know I learned a lot about the subject matter and a lot about myself. 

Being a follower of Christ and Accepting Jesus Christ in our lives as our personal savior ends up being a  constant day to day struggle.  In verse Romans 2 vs. 7 interestingly the word PERSISTENCE is used to describe the acts of doing good and glorifying God, but in verse 8 the contrasting verse describes a sinful life that has no such word.  Because living a life of sin comes natural for all of us and can be done quite easily where we don’t need to think about it, it’s just easy.   PERSISTENCE points to a struggle and means it is not easy.

This is perplexing, because we think accepting Jesus Christ as our personal savior is this awesome experience that means life should be easy because God is in control, and many times we’ll hear  verses like Mathew 11:29 where it says “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” and if you read that verse alone you would think that being a believer will be easier.  Mathew 11 starts with us reading about how John the Baptist is in prison, and if you continue reading the chapter Jesus describes to the crowd the life of John the Baptist in verse 7 he asks “what did you go out to the wilderness to see?  Verse 8 goes on” what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces”. And then at the very end we read verse 29. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Seems to me John the Baptist had a lot to struggle with in preparing the way  for Jesus.

Every believer should ask themselves on a daily basis, what things made me exhausted being a Christian today.  If we are not feeling tired or strained from the Persistence that is needed in being a disciple of Christ, then maybe we are living the easy life, the one where we are focused about ourselves, the one that comes naturally and not the one that our Savior has called us to live.  

PRAYER

Father God help us to be persistent and overcome ourselves and live our lives as redeemed and not our sinful lives.  Help us to glorify you today, and point more people to your son. In Jesus Name Amen. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
How are we going to  Glorify God today with our life.  Have I been persistent in following the word, and renouncing my own desires.

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