May 12, 2009
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Waiting for Tomorrow…..
A friend emailed this to me. It is something he found on a Christian Professionals Group forum. What a great testimony and what a great encouragement:
I often find myself waiting for tomorrow thinking that when it comes my life will be so much better. As if there was some thing out there that I don’t already have that will make my life complete. The weird thing is that everything is already really great in my life – I just don’t have a job. In the last months I was allowing this to over-shadow the truth until I found myself full of sorrow and self-pity and anger. Not any more!
A lot of people’s unhappiness is due to a sense of “entitlement” about life. It’s an unrealistic view of what they “deserve” in life. Most of us are in the top 1% riches people in the world and we live in great country where we can still worship God without fear. Yet we feel we deserve so much more and when we don’t get it we become unhappy.
I understand the pressure to make money or as we call it “make a living.” The problem is that I have set my standard of living so high (certainly compared to the world but even compared to families just down the road a few miles). We’ve also spent most all of what we’ve earned each year so now we expect God to be our banker and cover our expenses. I’ve made a ton of money over the years that I’ve been working but it’s all been spent on “stuff” and now that I don’t have a paycheck coming in each week there is a tendency to look at God like he’s not there for me. We forget all the money He already gave us for years and years and how we used it how we saw fit. So we end up feeling stressed, worried and bitter at the world around us and even our GOD.
What does God promise us in His word?
The Bible tells us that EVERYTHING in heaven and earth is the Lords.
He alone allows us to be successful even when we think we have made the wealth ourselves. It is HE who has given us the skills and situations that brought us success and money thus far.
Job said after losing all he had (except his very life) “ Naked I was born and Naked I shall Die. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job was real about his life as it was falling apart around him and although he lost it all he still kept his focus on who he was compared to GOD.
- Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers but later he saved the nation of Israel from starvation.
- Ruth was taken as a slave into a foreign country and then ended up as wife to the King of Babylon where she would later save the nation of Israel from massacre.
- Paul was arrested, beaten and homeless for years as he spoke boldly for Christ and he said “to live is Christ and to Die is gain”
Here’s a thought – maybe you already have the “good stuff” and you’re still looking for more?
I Timothy 6:6-8 “But Godliness with contentment is a great source of gain. For we have brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” Can you say this about your life today?
What do you feel you are DUE from God today that you don’t have?
A job? Your health? A spouse who you love? Good kids? A cool house or stuff? Is the lack of these things making you unhappy?
Christ came to give us joy and peace that are not bound by our situations and if we are not experiencing this then we have lost our focus.
Jeremiah 29:11 says: “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
If you are not experiencing His Joy and Peace it’s because you are not willing to take it in the format that GOD has decided to give it to you. It is right there to be taken if you want it but you have to be willing to take it the way GOD serves it up. It requires you see God for who He is and realize that if you are walking in righteousness before God then this is EXACTLY what he wanted for you. The things in your life today are a representation of His love for you and not that He has forgotten you.
So today I say to me and to you … “Man Up” and get going!
Find out what God wants of YOU today and do it.
Don’t hold back your heart from Him or others around you.
Serve the Lord gladly and serve others too.
Trust that He is able to do more immeasurably more than we could possibly ask or imagine according to HIS power that is in us!
Stop waiting for tomorrow but consider each day as the best GOD has for you and stay focused on Christ love for you and truth of God’s word.
