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.
Blessed in Trust
Jeremiah 17 begins with a rebuke. God is calling out the Israelites for their idolatry, for trusting in other gods and forsaking Him and His teachings. Like a parent with a child who's made a terrible choice, God makes it very clear that these choices have led and will lead to consequences. And yet, rather than only focusing on all that's been lost and will be lost because of Israel’s terrible choices, Jeremiah takes a moment to bring a refreshing reminder:
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.”
Jeremiah 17:7 NIV
He calls those who trust Him “blessed,” even as chaos, sin, and idolatry reign around them. He says that people who trust in God “will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:8 NIV)
We get to choose who and what we worship. Who is your confidence in? Who do you trust? If it is the Lord, take heart knowing that in this you are blessed. An abundant life in God, full of fruit even when sin is all around, is the mark of having chosen to trust Him. What an incredible thing it is to be able to make this choice!
An Abundance of Blessing
Do you pray for God to bless you? We probably spend most of our time in prayer asking for God to bless things in our life, or asking God for something we need. And we should. Jesus even tells us we should.
We know that all good things come from God. That means that we don't truly own anything we possess. It's all a gift from God and ultimately should be used for Him. Our money, talents, and resources are opportunities to give back to God and others.
2 Corinthians 9:8 says that God is able to abundantly bless those who are generous in using their time and resources to do good things for others. This verse isn't saying that God will bless us unconditionally. The two verses before this one, in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, talk about how we should be cheerful givers in everything we do.
Paul is saying that God blesses us—not so we might have comfortable lives—but so that we would be selfless in giving back to God and others.
There are many ways we can give back to God and ...
