How to handle the news as a Christian (S. 2, Ep. 24)
Grab your latte & let's chat purpose. Listen In On Spotify | Pocket Casts | Anchor | Apple Podcasts season 2, Episode 24 How to handle the news as a ChristianIt’s been a hard season of news, especially lately it just feels like it’s one thing after...
New Year, New Me
I’ve been trying to take active spiritual, emotional, mental and physical steps to have my life become more pleasing to God.
I am SO ready for this year to be more NEW and DIFFERENT and CHANGING than any other.
In the past, I’ve wanted things to stay the same and nothing to change, but honestly I’m so over that. I’m realizing it’s important to not dwell in the past, long for it or get caught up in nostalgia, which, truth be told, I often do. But if I cling on to the past and don’t look for newness of life and growth right now then I’m not fully indulging in the blessings God may have waiting for me or even here for me already.
But whether it’s change and newness or another year of the same, am I prepared for WHATEVER may come my way?
The Vitality of Intentionality
I wholeheartedly believe that intentionality is one of the most vital aspects of our lives as believers.
It is defined as being deliberate or purposive (how fitting for a blog about purpose). Intentionality knows its goal and takes steps to get wherever it’s headed.
I am going to be sharing about intentionality in relationships, first with Jesus, then with others.
You have probably heard the saying a million times or more, “relationship over religion” and regardless of how you grew up, “relationship is a two-way street.” It may sound cliché or repetitive, but it’s oh so true.
Intentionality is required in our walk with the Lord.
Jesus: God’s Gift
We all love good gifts don’t we? Jesus is the best gift you could get from the One you deserve it least! God so loved the world that He gifted us His only Son so if we believed in Him, we would have eternal life.
Baby Jesus, God’s Gift affected the lives of the people around Him. Different people, roles and reactions. All people we can resonate with and learn something from.
Mary
In Luke 1:26-38, we meet Mary, soon-to-be mother of Jesus. I encourage you to read this section before continuing.
Mary was a young woman. I’m sure she was scared, maybe embarrassed and a bit confused. It seems she wanted to do God’s will, but it’s important to note that she already had plans of her own. She was going to get married to Joseph, be a wife and a mom and have a happy life. Then one day, the angel of the Lord tells Mary that God is pleased with her. (Yay!) He is in fact very pleased with her. (Yay!!) And then he tells her… all her plans and dreams are about to change. (Wait, what???)
Maybe someone is reading that has or had her life figured out, all your ducks in a row. You are trying to follow God, doing everything right, and now God is saying, “Sweet daughter of Mine, things are about to change, but trust Me. Sometimes My thoughts and yours are not the same, but will you trust Me?”
When We Fail
After years of priding myself on what I could bring to God, I realized I had nothing to bring of my own. It became very clear that those things that for years very much seemed MINE were absolutely not.
All of those qualities were things that God had placed in me. They were HIS qualities in me.
I had nothing on my own.
But the Lord called me anyway.
“And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go…; Do not I send you?’
And he said to Him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I… I am the least.’
And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you.’”
How To Use Your Talents and Gifts
Be careful not to bury the gifts and talents God has entrusted you with. We must invest and increase. This is such a major factor of living purposefully.
Let’s let this VITAL truth and way of life sink into our hearts, minds and lives.
1. Talents and gifts are given by GRACE. The gifts we have are just that… a GIFT. They are not of us but given to us. They are not only gifts but gifts from God. This truth really brings perspective on how we should treat talents and gifts and use them. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable of a man who goes on a journey and gives, entrusts his servants, with his property. The story goes and we see that the three different servants receive different amounts of money and they all do different things with those amounts. Two multiple it and one wastes it. A striking aspect to be noted for this first point of grace is that this master entrusts his land to his servants. There is nothing earned about this. It is GRACE on grace. It’s an accurate representation of God entrusting HIS gifts to us – not our land, not our talents, not our gifts but His. In Romans 12:6, Paul says that our gifts are given according to the “grace given to us.” Then in 1 Peter 4:10 that we ought to use the gifts to serve as “good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
A Thankful Heart
Thanksgiving is such a sweet time for family, friends, food and thankfulness.
Here’s some verses this morning to help encourage your heart in thankfulness.
I encourage you to sit with these verses and really meditate on them.
1 Chronicles 16:34 – “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”
1 Chronicles 29:13 – “And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.”
Isaiah 12:4-5 – “And you will say in that day: ‘Give thanks to theLord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made knownPsalm 34:1 – “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”