View this lesson in a browser and print a "take-away" weekly copy. CLICK HERE (see link below)
| THURSDAY | April 8 |
“And of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her; and the Most High Himself shall establish her.’ The Lord will record, When He registers the peoples: ‘This one was born there’ Selah.” (Ps. 87:5, 6, NKJV).
Though all have the power of choice, not all have an equal array of opportunities. Some choices limit future possibilities and opportunities. Some individuals suffer disadvantages without the choice being theirs. Consider the disadvantages that cloud the lives of some: children born into homes where drugs are used, where domestic violence prevails, where poverty is extreme. Consider the ravages of violent corruption and desperation. We all, to one degree or another, have been placed in situations that are not of our own choosing.
Read Psalm 87:5, 6. What is the message there for all of us regarding some of the circumstances that are not of our own choosing? How too should these verses help us better understand the meaning of Matthew 7:1, 2?
God knows our circumstances; God knows that many of us have been brought into horrible situations not of our own doing. God alone fully knows the backgrounds of us all.
Who hasn’t, at times, met people struggling with some terrible issues, issues brought about by choices that others made: a choice of a parent to abandon the family; a choice of a spouse to commit adultery; a choice of a friend to betray someone who had trusted him or her? The variables are as endless as they are scary.
Yet, the good news in all this is that we can make one choice that is the most important of all. We can choose to follow Jesus. As we choose Jesus as our personal Savior, as we repent from our sinful ways, and as we are baptized, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through this gift, God now enters and influences our hearts and minds to direct our actions and to lead us to bear fruit. We become branches of the True Vine.
According to Galatians 5:22, 23, the fruit of the Spirit does not come individually but as a cluster. It is the result of the Spirit taking control of our will, at least to the degree that we choose to let Him. In other words, through the power of God working in our lives, we can—by our choices—allow the Lord to negate some of the negative things brought upon us by choices we ourselves had never made.
What are some of the things you have struggled with that are the result of choices that others, not you, have made? How has God worked in your life to negate some of the negative results of those choices? What better choices can you yourself make that could help in the healing process?
No comments:
Post a Comment