If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
It's not fair.
Why me?
When will I find answers?
Is God even listening?
Some days I feel like simply sitting around and moping. It sure is easy to come up with so many reasons why life isn't fair.
For me personally, I can come up with a lot of reasons why my life "isn't fair". I have lost way too many close family members, I get caught up in emotions of daily life struggles, people aren't always kind, and I guarantee I could keep going for awhile.
I'll be honest. Life ISN'T fair.
It's not fair that a perfect, loving man was beaten, had nails driven through his hands, was mocked, had knife-sharp thorns driven into his head, DIED. It's not fair that our Jesus went through this and I didn't have to.
It's not fair that I take advantage of the greatest act of love that has ever and will ever occur. It's not fair that I will be able to spend eternity with no more pain and no more tears when I am the reason that our God went through all of this pain.
Isn't Jesus good? It's not fair that He had to go through that, but I am so thankful that He did. Grace is a really amazing thing, and I'm comforted to know that it won't go away. However, I am ashamed by how much grace I end up having to use.
We really enjoy playing the victim. Things don't seem absolutely perfect in our world, and we get pretty angry at God for it. Life really can be hard, and terrible things happen that are so hard to overcome.
Lay down your burdens; pick up your cross.
I feel like we often get our burdens and our cross confused. Our burdens are the hardships we go through, the things we wish were different, etc. We complain about how we can't move past them, but I wonder if we really want to?
Is it possible that it is easier for us to hide behind our pain and let that define us rather than being defined by our healer? Comfort from friends and family is a wonderful feeling, but we might crave it a little too much.
Where do you identify on this list:
Girl who had a parent pass away or a girl who found a Father in Christ.
Child of a broken home or a child that knows their true home is eternal.
Spouse who was cheated on or someone who knows their real true love died on a cross to save them.
Young adult tired of singleness or someone who truly knows they are never alone.
Student getting excluded because of their beliefs or God's messenger that will stand strong and help lead others to Christ.
These are just a few examples, and I don't want to downplay the pain of the world. I think it is so important that we understand each other's pain and know that we all have our own hurts.
We each are broken, but let's not end our story here.
The way to go from broken to beautifully broken is by laying down our burdens and taking up our Cross. Lucky for us, our cross is light because Jesus has already done the hard part. He took the entire pain of the world in order for us to spend a perfect eternity with Him.
If we give our burdens to Christ, He is the ultimate healer. I know what a lot of people probably think about the list above: it sounds like the cheesy things we hear all the time.
Is it really cheesy, or are we just in denial of God's power so much that we don't actually expect God to be big enough to fix us?
It's easier to trust in the pain we currently feel and not truly want to escape from it instead of turning to something we can't see and blindly trusting our hearts to God.
We are broken because of death.
We are broken because of sin.
We are broken because there is no way that we can live a life that is anywhere close to pure. This is when we need to deny ourselves. We need to deny the temptation that we so often fall into. We need to deny sulking about things that we don't understand. We need to let God completely shatter us and take the parts of our hearts that are the darkest, the parts we cling onto the hardest.
Okay, I know this post is kinda all over the place, so I'm going to try and tie it together.
It's not fair that we hide behind the sin and pain that Christ DIED in order to save us from. It's perfectly fine to grieve and be upset, but it's not okay to let that define who we are. I want to find my identity as someone rebuilt by a perfect, strong, loving God, not only as someone who has suffered. Instead of just being broken, let's be beautifully broken (and made new!) in Christ.
In order for this to happen, we have to let go of the darkness. We have to allow God to make the changes in our hearts. He has paid the price, so let's stop wallowing in the debt that has already been paid.
It's not fair.
Why me?
When will I find answers?
Is God even listening?
Some days I feel like simply sitting around and moping. It sure is easy to come up with so many reasons why life isn't fair.
For me personally, I can come up with a lot of reasons why my life "isn't fair". I have lost way too many close family members, I get caught up in emotions of daily life struggles, people aren't always kind, and I guarantee I could keep going for awhile.
I'll be honest. Life ISN'T fair.
It's not fair that a perfect, loving man was beaten, had nails driven through his hands, was mocked, had knife-sharp thorns driven into his head, DIED. It's not fair that our Jesus went through this and I didn't have to.
It's not fair that I take advantage of the greatest act of love that has ever and will ever occur. It's not fair that I will be able to spend eternity with no more pain and no more tears when I am the reason that our God went through all of this pain.
Isn't Jesus good? It's not fair that He had to go through that, but I am so thankful that He did. Grace is a really amazing thing, and I'm comforted to know that it won't go away. However, I am ashamed by how much grace I end up having to use.
We really enjoy playing the victim. Things don't seem absolutely perfect in our world, and we get pretty angry at God for it. Life really can be hard, and terrible things happen that are so hard to overcome.
Lay down your burdens; pick up your cross.
I feel like we often get our burdens and our cross confused. Our burdens are the hardships we go through, the things we wish were different, etc. We complain about how we can't move past them, but I wonder if we really want to?
Is it possible that it is easier for us to hide behind our pain and let that define us rather than being defined by our healer? Comfort from friends and family is a wonderful feeling, but we might crave it a little too much.
Where do you identify on this list:
Girl who had a parent pass away or a girl who found a Father in Christ.
Child of a broken home or a child that knows their true home is eternal.
Spouse who was cheated on or someone who knows their real true love died on a cross to save them.
Young adult tired of singleness or someone who truly knows they are never alone.
Student getting excluded because of their beliefs or God's messenger that will stand strong and help lead others to Christ.
These are just a few examples, and I don't want to downplay the pain of the world. I think it is so important that we understand each other's pain and know that we all have our own hurts.
We each are broken, but let's not end our story here.
The way to go from broken to beautifully broken is by laying down our burdens and taking up our Cross. Lucky for us, our cross is light because Jesus has already done the hard part. He took the entire pain of the world in order for us to spend a perfect eternity with Him.
If we give our burdens to Christ, He is the ultimate healer. I know what a lot of people probably think about the list above: it sounds like the cheesy things we hear all the time.
Is it really cheesy, or are we just in denial of God's power so much that we don't actually expect God to be big enough to fix us?
It's easier to trust in the pain we currently feel and not truly want to escape from it instead of turning to something we can't see and blindly trusting our hearts to God.
We are broken because of death.
We are broken because of sin.
We are broken because there is no way that we can live a life that is anywhere close to pure. This is when we need to deny ourselves. We need to deny the temptation that we so often fall into. We need to deny sulking about things that we don't understand. We need to let God completely shatter us and take the parts of our hearts that are the darkest, the parts we cling onto the hardest.
Okay, I know this post is kinda all over the place, so I'm going to try and tie it together.
It's not fair that we hide behind the sin and pain that Christ DIED in order to save us from. It's perfectly fine to grieve and be upset, but it's not okay to let that define who we are. I want to find my identity as someone rebuilt by a perfect, strong, loving God, not only as someone who has suffered. Instead of just being broken, let's be beautifully broken (and made new!) in Christ.
In order for this to happen, we have to let go of the darkness. We have to allow God to make the changes in our hearts. He has paid the price, so let's stop wallowing in the debt that has already been paid.
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