Welcome to the daily devotional!

This blog began with the goal of posting daily for a year. Now, only 50 days to go, and it has been a sweet and special time of fellowship with the Lord. Each day, I look for His presence in my life, to see what He wants me to write. Thanks to those of you who have shared this walk with me. I hope that as He strengthens my walk with Him that He accomplishes the same in your lives.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Wednesday, November 24: Connecting the dots












People who are immersed in details rarely can see the bigger perspective of what is taking place around them, as “you can’t see the forest through the trees.” Paraphrasing that thought, there are too many trees for us to grasp the size or usage of the forest. In the same manner, when we are focused on a problem, it is often difficult to see the solution. Correcting mistakes first involves awareness of making mistakes! Usually, it is about connecting the dots.


Another old adage says that history repeats itself, and with nothing new on the planet, we seem to cycle through age-old problems and concerns. Harry S Truman said, “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.” With awareness of how others have solved problems, our passage can be simplified.


As Christians, we have a guidebook for life. In the Bible, God gives us rules of how to manage our lives. He began by giving us 10 Commandments, with the first half covering our relationship with Him and the second half covering our relationships with others. Additionally there are 603 others laws teaching us about life. Even without belief in God, His laws and commandments are for our benefit. Yet more important than the laws is what should occur when the laws are broken, as we all have the propensity to be rule breakers. Disobedience creates our difficulties and when looking for the solution, we can clear the field of vision by looking above the trees.


For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7


Solutions to real problems do not involve critical thinking, as the world believes. Instead, those solutions come from God. He has promised us as His followers that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He has promised that He will make all things work together to those who love Him, and to those who are the called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28). Only God can take our bad decisions and use them for our good as well as His glory! He has promised that He will not allow any temptation into our lives that we are not strong enough to escape from with His help (1 Corinthians 10:13). He has promised that if we confess our sins to Him that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He has promised that when we finish the race on this broken earth that we will spend eternity with Him!


How bad can any situation be as a Christian? To find the solution to any problem, all we have to do is connect the dots!


9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
Romans 10:9-13

No comments:

Post a Comment