While You Still Can
Have you found yourself chasing the treasures and pleasures of this world? Have you attempted to find peace and purpose outside of the One who created you? Have you discovered that your striving has done nothing but leave you anxious, empty, overwhelmed, and possibly numb?
God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, said this:
“Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.”
Isaiah 55:6-7 NLT
It’s not too late for you, and you are not too far from God.
So what can you do? Seek Him. Call on Him. Change your ways. Turn to Him. And what will He do? He will be near. He will offer His mercy. He will forgive even the worst of your decisions, mistakes, and sins.
God is good. God is also good at being God. He created you, He loves you, and He wants a relationship with you. And since He designed you, He knows how you were hardwired to thrive.
He knows that you need Him more than anything else in the world.
You can ignore His nudges and reject His love and continue to do things your way. Or, you can come boldly to the throne of grace, where you will receive mercy and grace when you need it most (Hebrews 4:16).
So while you still can … seek Him, call on Him, change your ways, and turn to Him. He is your loving Father and He is your merciful God.
“Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came ...
True Freedom is Here
Everyone thinks about freedom differently. Most people would say freedom is a virtue that should be sought, but that idea changes depending on how it’s defined.
A lot of people think freedom is the absence of restraints—we are free when we're free from things that hold us back. Others define freedom by our human will—if we can choose what we want, then we can be free. But these ideas are a bit different from what we find in Scripture...
According to God’s Word, freedom is found wherever the Spirit of God is found. Freedom is found when we live according to God’s original design for our life.
When we begin our life with Jesus, He gives us a new heart and a new way to live. He also sends the Spirit of God to live within us. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:17 that wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is true freedom. That means all of us who believe in Jesus have access to this freedom.
Freedom doesn’t come from doing whatever we want but from living according ...