Day 2410 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Hebrews 10:27 NIV
We're pretty good at pretending. So good in fact that we can reach this place where we don’t even realize that we’re deceiving ourselves. We paint on smiles that tell the world around us that we're okay. We cherry pick the best parts of our lives to piece together this picture perfect existence that we're nowhere close to living behind the scenes. We create these wonderful sounding lies that help us remain convinced that we're not struggling or doing anything wrong. We keep running full speed in the direction we selfishly want to go while telling ourselves that we’re the ones in control and that we can determine our own destiny.
Maybe that’s one of the biggest reasons that we find ourselves tired so often. We talked about that a bit yesterday, and I think this may have some correlation to it. Maybe we wear ourselves down by stubbornly refusing to accept the fact that God’s will is going to be done no matter what we say or do. Perhaps we wear ourselves thin trying to force life to unfold according to our personal wants and wishes and never take time to consider that maybe there’s a better path that leads to something far more incredible with much less work. But rather than stopping to consider all the options and the consequences they hold, we simply stay focused on what we want and throw caution to the wind so that it doesn’t get in our way.
Perhaps much of the exhaustion we feel in life is because we spend so much time running away from God and trying to out-will His will. I guess we just figure that since we know what we want in life that we can figure out the best way to it by ourselves. So we shove God out of our way and get to work blazing a path toward what we have our hearts set on. And we keep on running full steam ahead until we either reach that goal or get so tired of trying that we simply give up. And let’s just be honest, even when we do reach our goals and attain the things we want, what happens? The excitement fades and we’re left right back on the hunt for the next goal or thing that catches our eye.
That’s all that sin and selfishness do. They keep us and our desires front and center and blind us to anything else. They keep us convinced that we know best and that we can have everything we could ever want as long as we stay in the driver’s seat and refuse to stop doing things our way. That’s all fine and very convincing, but it foolishly overlooks one simple truth. All paths lead to God. There is no avoiding that literal ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting that we all have coming someday. We can spend our whole lives running away from it so we can this our way, but that road still leads to us standing before His throne with the realization that He wasn’t playing around.
Look, this life only leads to two possible destinations. One is full of peace, joy, rest, and fulfilled promises. The other is full of suffering, misery, regret, and a loss of hope. We can spend our lives running away from that knowledge. We can ignore it and stay focused on living these lives as we see fit without ever giving a thought to the dangers of sin. But when that last breath is gone and we’re standing before God then there’s no time for second chances or making changes. And no matter how smart or crafty we may think we are, there’s no sneaking our way into Heaven or breaking out of hell.
At this moment right now we have a choice. We have the chance to choose to lay ourselves down and turn onto the path that God is calling us to walk. We have the opportunity to face the facts, admit our guilt, and start doing things differently. Or we can keep on running wild and living care free. But again, both options lead to the same destination. A life of sin and selfishness may seem like everything we could possibly want. But we have to understand what we want may not be what’s best. I know that hurts the pride a bit, but pride does nothing but keep us on the throne and that’s just not where we’re meant to be.
The fact of the matter is that God is a merciful and loving God. But that doesn’t mean that we can afford to overlook the parts of Scripture that tell us that He is also a jealous God who is to be feared, honored, and respected. We can’t assume that His mercy will cater to our desire to do things our way. It won’t. He is holy, and His holiness cannot compromise with our sins. So we have to do something about it if we want to avoid the judgement and fiery eternity that unrepentant sin leads toward. We have that chance to experience His mercy right now. He gave us that gift in Christ. Please don’t let that chance pass you by because at some point it will be gone for good.
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