Tag: Salvation

The Freedom of Being Wrong

What if being wrong can bring us closer to God?

People hate being wrong.

I’m sure that’s pretty obvious, but the issue is that our society doesn’t seem to see this as a problem. Yet it is because our pride separates us from loving each other and God.

While we’d like to believe that no one can be wrong, the world wouldn’t work if that were true. There is only one who is always right, and that would be Jesus.

It’s to our benefit that Jesus is always right, especially because we are often wrong. Thanks to Jesus knowing best, we can live in peace and comfort because we are forgiven and taken care of. We can be reminded that we are loved and valued, even when others don’t treat us that way, because only Jesus’ opinion of us matters.

But yet our sinful desires often tell us that it would be better if we were right. Yet we don’t know the future. We don’t know the impact our decisions will make. We don’t know whether or not something will actually help us. We would be helpless without God’s help.

When we pretend like we are right all the time, we are harming three important relationships:

  1. Our relationship with God
  2. Our relationship with others
  3. Our relationship with ourselves

We act like we are above God (hint: we aren’t) when we pretend that we know more than He does. Like we, mere specks, could possibly have a better plan than the Creator of the Universe.

When we think we are always right, we never take ownership for our mistakes. That causes others to feel hurt and confused by our actions. We will quickly lose important relationships that way, and surely people won’t feel the love of God from us.

And when we believe we are always right, we give ourselves a false sense of security, when the truth is, we know very little. So when we finally recognize that we’ve made a mistake, we feel like failures, utterly useless and worthless.

But when we recognize that we are wrong sometimes, then when we do make a mistake, we can be proactive in repenting and be reminded that we don’t have to feel ashamed because we are covered in God’s grace.

So what’s the best way to handle this problem? Not picking out other people’s faults, but focusing on how to change your own outlook. Not living in shame, but praising God for the ways He is working within your life to make you the best person you can possibly be.

Remember, accepting being wrong is actually a gift. It frees you from having the expectation of always needing to be right.

You are loved and cherished no matter what ❤

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:15-17

In For a Dollar

What keeps you from having a deep relationship with God?

At the end of every speech, Christian writer Max Lucado tests his audience by offering a dollar bill to anyone who wants it. Usually, he’s met by silence, a confused crowd. After a little while, one nervous or daring audience member stands up and claims it.

He concluded that there are a few reasons why people don’t race each other to the stage. First, for simply a dollar, it might not seem worth the humiliation of going up there. Second, they may think someone else needs the dollar more than them. And third, they may think it’s a trick.

Lucado compares this example to salvation. There’s nothing we can do to earn God’s forgiveness, it’s simply there for us. We may not believe it will benefit our life, even though it certainly will. We may think others need it more than we do.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s two things separating us from God: fear and pride.

Fear tells us that salvation isn’t “really” free. It makes us doubt God and His plan, and even His existence. It causes us to hide our beliefs or ignore our convictions.

Pride makes us think we don’t need God. We allow self-sufficiency take the place of our need of our rescuer–God. We do whatever we can to avoid humiliation.

In order to have a deep and honest relationship with God, we need to trade our fear and pride in for two things: trust and humility. When we trust God, we are willing to do whatever He asks us to, even if the world thinks it’s strange. When we are humble, we allow the Holy Spirit to work within us by showing us where we need to grow and allowing us to demonstrate God’s love to everyone in our path.

We can be confident without being prideful by remembering we are made in God’s image and everything we have comes from Him. We can be logical without being fearful, by taking necessary precautions to be safe while not allowing them to come between us and God’s call.

Sometimes it feels like a long, endless journey towards becoming who God has created us to be. But don’t lose hope. Each day, by striving to know Him and become more like Him, you are growing. God is not wasting this season of learning. He’s shaping you into exactly the person you need to be.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

James 4:6

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

Psalm 56:3-4

The Empty Tomb

Happy Easter! He is risen!

Happy Easter! He is risen!

Easter is the biggest holiday in the church calendar for many reasons. Our best reason to celebrate is that we are saved through Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus rising from the dead proved that He is holy and our Savior. Easter is a time for joyous delight.

But what if Easter doesn’t feel joyful this year? What if being stuck at home, living in a world of uncertainty, causes you to feel anything but celebratory today? Does that make you any less of a believer?

Absolutely not.

If you think about it, the women walking up to Jesus’ tomb likely weren’t joyful. They expected to find Jesus’ body in the tomb and be faced with the undeniable truth that their loved one was gone forever. They were full of grief, loneliness, and disappointment. They felt empty inside. They weren’t ashamed to bring their emptiness to Jesus as they approached His tomb.

But imagine their surprise when they were greeted with an empty tomb and an angel telling them unbelievable news! Jesus left an empty tomb behind so that He can fill the emptiness in our hearts. They traded all the feelings that come with emptiness–the grief, sadness, and uncertainty–and were filled with joy that only Jesus can bring.

You may not have all your questions answered today. But you can be filled with the joy that Jesus brings. Trade in your emptiness for Jesus’ love. Joy looks different in every season, but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful or hopeful. Joy is allowing Jesus to make you feel peaceful and hopeful despite all you are going through.

Allow yourself to proclaim “He is risen!” with full confidence that by God’s grace, you have been saved.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen.

Luke 24:1-6