I Did or I Did Not
I feel like life is made up of hundreds of choices every day. The simpler my life is, the less choices I have to make. When I’m crazy busy, I have lots of choices to make and they can’t always be delegated to someone else. When the dust of my day clears, I really make one of two choices…. I follow the Lord fully or I choose to follow my own way. I see all my other choices falling in one of these two categories. I either follow the Lord or I don’t.
As I was reading in the Old Testament this morning, I realized how much life is spanned in one or two verses with some of these kings. There were some super-star kings for sure. Most of the kings are described as followers of the Lord or they disobeyed the Lord. Some of the kings mostly pleased the Lord, but they didn’t go all in. An example of this is a young 25 year old king. Check this out…
32 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done. 35 The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the Lord. (2 Kings 15:32-35 NLT)
If people knew me the way the Lord knows me, they would not be so patient with me. I am so grateful for His patience with me. I really want to consistently honor Him with my actions and my choices. The Lord knows my heart. He knows that I want to honor Him. He also knows that there are things in my life that I haven’t totally given to Him. After all, I want what I want, and I sometimes do whatever I want. I sometimes wonder if I will be known for following the Lord fully. This is where I really lean into grace. I am not perfect for sure. Through Jesus, I’m forgiven, and I’m made perfect. I believe when the Lord sees me, He sees that I know Jesus and that makes me look perfect and pure. I’m so grateful for grace. Without grace, I’d be a miserable failure as a Christ follower. His grace and His love compels me to keep working out my salvation, leaving sin behind. I’m motivated by love and grace more than I’m motivated by guilt. I will keep following Him. I will keep seeking Him. I will stumble, but His grace lifts me up again to continue on the journey of seeking the Lord’s heart.
Pressing On!
Dwayne