Sometimes we all have one of those days, where things just seem to go against us. Usually they are things that may be important to our work, or accomplishing our goals, but in the big picture, these obstacles do not threaten our lives, our safety, or our loved ones, they are just frustrating.

Colossians 3:15, in the New Century Translation, says, “Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking, because you were all called together in one body to have peace. Always be thankful.”

It is our wrong thinking that gets us into trouble. If we stop and look at all the things for which we have to be thankful, we can reset our thinking, and stop feeling sorry for ourselves.

Dear Lord, no matter what we are dealing with, we all have something for which to be thankful. Help us turn our thoughts to those things, and give thanks to you for these blessings. Your peace comes through this. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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One of the challenges we have, at times as Christians, is understanding what God wants us to do with our lives. Sometimes it seems so clear, and other times, not so much.

Jesus says to the disciples in Matthew 10:39 (NIV version), “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” The Message translation gives an interesting variation, “If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.”

I found the Message translation to be a very helpful way to interpret this verse and to determine what God wants us to do. If we focus on demonstrating our love for God by following His direction, spelled out in the Bible, loving others, and sharing the Christian message of hope, other parts of our life will come along.

It is a bit like tuning an instrument, like a guitar. On a guitar, you can get one string in tune, then play the same note on that string and another string in order to tune the second string. If the notes are very close, but not exactly in tune, there is what is called “dissonance” between the sounds. The dissonance can be heard as an uncomfortable tremolo or “beating” sound; As one of the strings is tuned closer and closer to the other’s pitch, the beating gets slower and slower and eventually goes away, resulting in one nice sound, in unison.

As the verse in Matthew says, when we adjust ourselves to God’s standard, the dissonance goes away and we are in unison with God’s will.

Dear Lord, You have a plan for each of us. Help us remember to tune our plans to your will and we will accomplish both. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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There is an expression first recorded several hundred years ago that goes, “There but for the grace of God go I.” This expression was used when seeing someone who’s mistakes or bad behaviors resulted in punishment or terrible consequences. In modern language, it would be like saying, “If not for the grace of God, that could be me.” It was used when looking at someone we would normally be inclined to judge, like the panhandler, drunk driver, or shoplifter.

James says in James 4:11-12, “Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?”

So when that thought comes to mind about tempting us to judge or condemn someone, we should remember, “but for the grace of God, it could be me.”

Dear Lord, Thank you for your saving grace and mercy. Help us remember that it is you working in us that allows us to believe and be saved, not anything to do with our abilities. by your grace we go. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Sometimes it is difficult to have freedom, because freedom requires discipline.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:23, “‘I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.” NIV In order to handle the freedom that we have, we need to have boundaries of what is “beneficial” and “constructive” as Paul describes, then we need to stay within those boundaries. Having boundaries and staying within them is “discipline.”

When we are children, we need our parents to do this for us, but as we mature, we build self-discipline, so that we keep ourselves within the boundaries and do not need to be “disciplined”. The bible tells us that God also disciplines us on occasion. Sometimes the difficulties we face in life are actually God’s challenges to help us build our own discipline.

Proverbs 3:11,12 writes, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” And in Hebrews 12:7, Paul writes, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children.”

Dear Lord, It is difficult for us to accept challenges in our lives as learning experiences that you are using to help us set boundaries, or stay within boundaries we know we should. Help us endure these challenges to come out with better Christians. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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One of the many ways the devil works to separate us from God is by using good things that God has provided, against us. An example of this is ambition and determination. When we place too much emphasis on achieving what are good desires like, academic or athletic achievement, business success, and even success at our churches, they can become more important to us than they should, displacing God as our priority.

James writes in James 4:13-15, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

As James writes if we start our plans with, “If the Lord wills, I plan to…” it will help us keep our priorities in order.

Dear Lord, Thank you for the desires and ambitions that you place in our hearts. Help us keep our priorities straight to avoid these desires from becoming our idols. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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