I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
True Inward Transformation
Have you ever thought about what a proper response to God looks like when you make a mistake?
It was common in ancient times to tear your clothes as a way of repenting and showing sorrow over mistakes you may have made. It was an outward expression of something happening internally.
But what would often happen is people would make a public display of repentance without actually repenting in their heart. So, rather than tearing your clothes, God says He would rather you repent in your heart. Tearing your clothes means nothing if your heart isn’t broken before God. Outward expressions should come from true, internal transformation.
And God says that anyone who comes to Him in genuine repentance will experience His grace and compassion. We do not need to fear God’s wrath since we are His children. He encourages us to repent and return to Him when we mess up.
Scripture says that God is slow to anger and abounding in love. Rather than living in guilt and sorrow, God says He will give grace and love instead. He desires that we experience and live within His love, even when we mess up.
What is your first reaction when you mess up? If you try to hide or ignore your sin, take some time to consider why. God wants you to experience freedom and love. Go to Him with what you’re carrying in your heart, and repent of anything that goes against His ways.
Remember that nothing can remove His love from you. He desires that you live in grace and mercy as a child of God.
Keep the Faith
In the book of 2 Timothy, we find Paul writing a letter to Timothy, a fellow missionary. Many Bible scholars believe that this was the last letter Paul wrote before his death and that he wrote it from a Roman prison cell. Reflecting on his own life and believing that his death is coming soon, Paul writes that powerful passage:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7 NIV
Faithful.
Paul was faithful to God and, without end, God was faithful to Paul. Shipwrecked. Stoned. Abandoned by friends. Imprisoned. The list of what Paul suffered goes on and on. But he persevered. He remained steadfast in his devotion to Christ.
When you think about your life, what do you want to be able to say at the end? What will you see when you look back?
In Paul, we see an example of what it is to cling to faith in Christ. He knew what it was to be dependent on God for everything. He drew strength from God because he could not do it...
