God Will Take Care of Us

Have you ever seen someone who obviously isn't serving God succeed, and succeed well, and then wonder how God could allow them to do so when it seems like those who are serving God can't even get a single step up in life?

Have you ever wanted the rewards and riches that life has to offer, and been just a little envious of the fact that those who would do anything to get them don't deserve them, and those who deserve them won't do what it takes to get them?

There are those in this world who do as they please, with no regard to either God or man. They live by the precepts of lust, greed and covetousness, doing whatever they can to get what they want and satisfy every physical craving and hunger their body and soul demand. They lie to get what they want, steal too. Some may even kill for it. They blaspheme and fornicate and dishonor those things that God gives high priority, and when they are done, they shrug their shoulders, dismissing with a laugh any thought that there might be consequences to pay.

Recently there have been some thoughts--passing, fleeting musings--of how unfair it is that I sometimes seem to be struggling through life with no relief in sight while trying to please God, and those who could care less about pleasing God have no cares or worries in the world. But today, the Spirit really moved me when I began to read Psalm 37. And what does the Scripture tell us to do?

• Don't fret about them; they'll get what's coming to them.
• Trust in the Lord and do Good
• Dwell in the land and feed on God's faithfulness
• Delight yourself in the Lord...

AND HE WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART!

• Commit your way to the Lord and trust in Him
• Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him
• Cease from anger and forsake wrath

It goes on an on with good instructions for clean, Godly living, assuring us that the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished, and I have to decide for my life which I'm going to be. But my favorite verse in the whole Psalm is verse 25:

I have been young, and now am old;

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

nor his descendants begging bread.

I Value Faith

Faith is foundational to my worldview as a Christian. Without faith, nothing else matters. Without faith, all the things that should matter become irrelevant. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, which is the reason I am here in the first place.

Faith is first and foremost in the things I value, the prime factor in fulfilling my roles, relationships and responsibilities.

Faith is the reality of the the things I hope for, the proof of the things I cannot see.

Faith is the substance of belief, an abiding conviction and persuasion that, first of all, God is, and secondly, that He rewards those who are really looking for Him by being found.

Faith is the assurance that One far greater than myself and all the collective universe combined is absolutely sovereign and in control of all things, and that He works all those things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Faith is the confidence that life has meaning, that God has a purpose, and that I have a destiny.

Faith is the trust I place in the grace of God for salvation through Jesus Christ, the knowledge that what God has promised, that will He also do, that what God has started, He will also complete in you!

Faith is what produces from within me the character of Jesus Christ, that driving force that inspires me to be more like Him and less like myself, which also results in good works that exemplify my faith.

Faith without works is dead, therefore I prove my faith by what I do.

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world and its ways.

Faith is the beginning of life, the end, and the beginning of eternal life with God in Christ.

Faith is fundamental to everything else--Family, Friendship, Fellowship, Freedom, Fitness, Forgiveness, Fruitfulness, Faithfulness, and the Future. Faith is everything.