To Hell & Back

I'm not going to lie... the past couple of weeks of my life have been pretty crazy. And I'm not just talking about the busyness of my life. I'm talking spiritually and emotionally.

I've been in a place where I've let the enemy beat me up. I don't even bother trying to fight back. I just sit there and take the punches. Let him beat me to a pulp. Clearly, in our walk with Christ, there's a lot more to it than just sitting and getting beaten up.

It took prayer during lunch today for things to start realigning. Getting back to how they should be. I'm beginning to get back into that place where I have victory, where I walk in that victory, and I'm beginning to see God move in my life again. I love being in this place.

It's amazing how we can hold onto pain, to grief, to emotions, and make them a part of who we are. Even though it hurts, and we don't like being in that place, it's almost as if we do like to be in that place. We try to justify our ignorance and rebellion against God. "My father died, so I have a reason to be depressed," some of us might say. It's true that our feelings are valid, and in many instances, it's not wrong to feel the way we do. But as we grow in maturity and grow closer to Christ, we get more responsibility. Is this to be a burden? Nope. Jesus says in Matthew 11:30 that His "burden is light" and His "yoke is easy." It's such a joy to carry the calling that God's put on our life. When we sit around and do nothing about it, and make His promises the least of our priorities, things may go well for a while, but they won't go well forever. We start getting depressed, angry, frustrated, hurting others, and the list goes on and on. Romans 2:4 says that it's God's goodness--the very being of who He is--which leads us to repentance. It's time we begin to walk in that place of repentance daily--emotions, worries, and everything else set aside. If life was a bunch of ups and downs, no moving forward, and being depressed all the time despite knowing that He is Lord, then we wouldn't have much to live for. It's when our knowing that He is God overrules everything else, that's when we truly live. I once heard it said on a TV show that "Surviving isn't fighting. Thriving is fighting." We're not meant to merely survive, and to get by in life. We're meant to thrive. To grow. To see God move. To see the world changed by Him.

This is what we live for.

This... is what we love for.