We aren’t citizens here!
Don’t you love it when a pastor can give a good healthy smack down in about 2 sentences!? Boom!I had to laugh when our pastor, who had been out of town for the last month, stepped back on the platform. He said, “I know everyone has something to say about the election… Well. I do too.” All he said was this…
If you are more hopeful because of the results of the election, then… you have a misplaced hope.
And if you are more hopeless because of the results of the election, then… you have a misplaced hope.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness!”
-Pastor Walt
And that’s all he had to say about that. Wisdom!!
Here’s the verse our church has been focusing on over the last few weeks:
Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
-Romans 12:2 (The Message)
Elections aside, I have noticed more areas where I am tempted to misplace my hope. Like the behavior of my children, for example. Why is it that when my two year old acts like a two year old, this 30ish year old also wants to act like a two year old?? Come on now.
I wish I could remember what drove me to that place today. The place where you just want to scream and you don’t really know if its out of anger or fear or frustration.
But somehow, in that moment, the Lord moved in and took over. He gave me the supernatural gift of self-control and I prayed out in my spirit. I opened my mouth and worshiped God. I pictured His Spirit bursting out of me and chasing away all the darkness around me. Friends, let us worship and bow down. Let us not forget that greater is He that is in us! What an amazing moment. We’ve been praying for that renewal of mind that Romans 12:2 speaks of. And in this moment, God swooped in and just rescued me from my flesh. He is so cool!
Pray with me?
Lord, I place my hope in you. You are the God of All Hope. You are my Hope. Show me if there are areas where I’m still misplacing hope. Please renew my mind. Change me from the inside out. When I am so tempted to act out immaturely, please help me remember that greater is He that is in me!!! Your goodness, your maturity, your self-control are gifts you have given to me by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I thank you for those gifts! Help me not take them for granted. Help me walk in those gifts. In Jesus’ precious and powerful Name. Amen.