Ok, the Youtube totally cut off half my face. Oh well…
Hey Friends,
If you are stopping here for the first times coming from She Seeks-welcome! I want to continue our conversation from my She Seeks {inspirational entry} about stress in light of Easter and the Resurrection.
Stress is no fun and it robs us of the joy, peace, patience, hope and so much more that God promises us when we chose to follow Him. We don’t have to live with the chains of our daily stress because when Jesus died on the cross, He took our pain, sins and even our stress to the grave with Him. I believe that Jesus sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane because He was literally feeling the pressure and recounting the past sins and future sins/ pain of EVERY single person who believed Him to be the Christ. On that cross, I believe that Jesus took on my personal stress and your personal stress. The emotional pain He felt had to be just as excruciating as that of the physical pain of crucifixion.
So, where does this leave us now? Three days later, on Easter morning, Jesus conquered death and rose to sit as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in Heaven. All of our stress, sin and pain were conquered. God doesn’t promise that in this lifetime stress will cease to exist but rather, when we hand it all over to Him and lean on His strength, He can and will conquer our troubles.
Day to day, we must recognize Him as our Risen King Victorious. If we believe that He died and conquered death, why in the world wouldn’t Jesus be able to conquer our everyday stress?
Take sometime right now to praise Jesus as YOUR King who cares about you and your stress. Nothing is too small or too big to bring before the King, the Risen Victorious King.
Matthew 28:5-10 (New International Version)
5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
Would you ever admit to duplicity? {no…not talking about the movie here!} Probably not, I would venture to say. Here is the definition, please take special note of the second definition:
Duplicity:noun:
1 : contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; especially : the belying of one’s true intentions by deceptive words or action
2 : the quality or state of being double or twofold
2 : the quality or state of being double or twofold
You know when you were in highschool and the biggest put down was to be called “two-faced?” That is basically what I am getting at. In America, this is a problem among Christians, we are “two-faced” and our lives are not reflective completely and wholeheartedly to what we say we believe. I was hit in my “two faced” forehead with this when I bounced the definition of duplicity off of Jeremiah 32:38-39:
They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them.
Please know that I am pointing my finger right back at myself with this post. But, I just want to challenge my fellow Christians to think about our lives. Do you compartmentalize your faith to just your Christian friends, Sunday morning or Wendesday night Life Groups? Here is some data from Pew Research that perfectly illustrates what I am talking about:
25% of Americans (in general) believe in Astrology while 23% of Christians do as well! (Pew Research)
Um…hello…do we see what is wrong with this picture?
You say you have conservative values…
But how did you vote in the last election (if you voted at all)?
You say want to live a pure and holy life as taught in the Bible and at church last sunday…
But, what do you fill your mind with while surfing the web or flipping the channels?
You say you believe in Jesus as your Savior…
But, is your life really changed by your beliefs?
Like I said, no condemnation here from me. These are some of the very things I have worked through in my own life. Did you notice in the verse above that God promises He will give us singleness of heart AND action? It is ours for the taking. period. I think this lifestyle of duplicity can be tiresome. Most of us know deep in our heart that our actions don’t match up with what we profess and it slowly eats away at our conscience. God doesn’t want us to live with this burden, but He does expect us to take the actions to live a whole hearted, sold out faith in Him. This takes work, trust me, I know. I have evaluated and re-evaluted my choices and actions over the years and I will continue to do so.
So for today, I encourage you to take time with the Lord asking Him to show you where you act “two-faced.” He will not hit you over the head or wag a heavenly finger at your in condemnation, but He will show you where to start in your journey toward single-minded faith.
Stay tuned to more thoughts on this… about how our life of single minded focus benefits us and the people around us! {don’t want to bogg you down to much in this one post! ha!}