Life is a Struggle

Pastor Colin Smith

  

"All these I have kept since my youth!" Mark 10:20

On one occasion Jesus talked with a brilliant young man about the 10 Commandments. The man said, "I've kept them all." He really believed he had. What about you? Where do you stand in relation to the 10 Commandments? I want to suggest 3 possibilities:

Some of us feel we've kept them

The man hadn't murdered anyone. He'd been faithful to his wife. He hadn't told any big lies or raided a bank. He was a good, upright citizen, who flossed his teeth and paid his taxes. There are lots of folks who feel like this. Some of them hang out in churches.

The problem is that he didn't understand the commandments. Jesus made it clear that the commandments aren't limited to actions. They search the thoughts of your mind and the feelings of your heart (Matthew 5). If you don't know about the struggle of keeping the commands, it probably means you haven't started climbing.

The Prescription Everyone Needs

Lynn Cowell

"My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye." Proverbs 7:1-2(NIV)

Constantly churning and aching, the pain in my daughter's stomach just wouldn't go away. From the time she was small she complained, but her doctor didn't seem to have a permanent solution.

After years of discomfort and searching for answers, we finally found a doctor who was able to pinpoint the problem: my daughter's body was sensitive to the foods she was eating. Even though her friends could eat anything, she couldn't correctly process common, everyday items. Sadly, what she was taking in and storing in her system was working against her, instead of working for her.

The Key to Faith

How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? —John 5:44

This verse is a warning and an encouragement to you and me. The warning: if you and I do not make an attempt to receive the praise that comes from God rather than the praise of people, we too will find it impossible to exercise genuine faith. The encouragement: we are not required to have obtained the honor and praise of God, but only to make an effort to obtain it. God's commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

He is not demanding that we perfectly repudiate the praise of people and absolutely receive His praise; He is only asking us to make an effort to obtain His praise. Nothing can be more reasonable than that.

Remember Noah

"And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." (Genesis 6:7-8)

One of the dirtiest, most damaging lies that the devil ever told you was when he said, "You aren't important." Don't you ever believe that.

You are important! Every born-again member in the Church of Jesus Christ has a part to play in God's plan. God has something for you to do that no one else can do just like you can. If you don't take your place and do your part, things won't be quite right.

I can just hear you thinking, "Oh, Gloria, I'm just one person. What could I possibly do that could be so significant?"

I Want to Run Away

By Lysa TerKeurst

"If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him—then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you." Deuteronomy 11:22-23 (NIV)

One of the worst feelings in the world to me is feeling stuck.

Stuck in a situation where I can't see things getting better. I look at the next 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days, and all I see are the same hard patterns being repeated over and over.

I try to give myself a pep talk and tap into that part of me that chooses to see the bright side. But it isn't there.

Life suddenly feels like it will forever be this way.

Ever Surrendered?

And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love; and will meditate on Your statutes. Psalm 119:48

Operation Desert Storm of 1990, do you remember it? It was our definitive answer to Psycho Sadaam Hussein’s brutal and unprovoked takeover of oil-rich Kuwait.

I remember watching footage of that military offensive. Sadaam called it the mother of all battles, but the truth of the matter was the Iraqi soldiers were ill-equipped to take on America. In one memorable scene, the Iraqis surrendered to U.S. military without even a shot being fired. They came out of their bunkers with their hands in the air – the global sign of surrender.

A surrendered soldier has ceased fighting. He has relinquished his weapons and his rights. He is now pliable and agreeable to the will of the conqueror.

SURRENDERED?