Are You Fully Convinced?

"He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God."
and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform."
Romans 4:20-21 (NKJV)

When you believe something strongly enough, and you are convinced about something, there is nothing that can persuade you otherwise.  When you are completely convinced something is true, no one can change your mind about that.  But what if you had an idea about something, but you were not sure if it was right or wrong?  If you were not completely convinced about something being true, someone might get you to believe that something else is true.  But once you are convinced something is true, nothing can change that.

Faith is a key element in the life of a Christian.  Faith is believing in something, and having faith in something means you accept that thing as true.  If you are in faith about something you find in God's Word, then God's Word is your evidence of the truth and accuracy of that thing, despite what you might see or experience around you.  Faith is something that can be developed to the point of having unshakable faith where you are fully convinced about what God has said, and nothing can change that.  But to get to the point of being fully convinced, we may need to have our faith more developed.  

Romans 4:21 says that Abraham was fully convinced that what God had said was true.  Abraham was strengthened in faith as he kept his focus on what God had said, and by saying what God had said.  We may read something in the Bible about what belongs to us in Christ, or what God will do in our life, but it may not seem real to us.  That is when we need to be like Abraham and keep our focus on what God has said, and we need to keep on saying what God's Word says.  By doing this, we can become fully convinced that what God has said is what He will do for us. 

Are You Stopping In The Wrong Places?

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. 
Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil."
Proverbs 4:25-27 (NKJV)

In Germany, there are different types of trains: regional trains, regional express trains, intercity trains, and intercity express trains.  Regional trains make more stops on their routes than the intercity express trains do, so the intercity trains are able to get you to your destination much faster than the other trains do.  Depending on where you need to go, there may be one specific train you need to take, but no matter what, the best train is the one that will get you to the right destination without making any unnecessary stops.

The Bible says that we are on a path in life, that there is a way we should be going, and we need to be sure we are on the right path to get to where we need to go.  If we are following the path that God wants us to take, then our goal should be to do what we can to reach our destination without unnecessary delays or stops along the way.  If we make unscheduled stops in our journey, or take the wrong route, we will be delayed in reaching our destination and we may not reach our goal the way that we should.  

In Proverbs 4, we are told to keep our eyes looking straight ahead, to ponder (consider), the path we are on, and not to turn to the right or the left.  Just like some trains in Germany make a stop at every station, while others make less stops and travel faster, we can make stops in the wrong places in life and get off track in the plan of God, through getting involved with people and things that are not part of God's plan.  We need to find the best way to reach our destination in life, to be sure that we fulfill the will of God, and that we do not get bogged down with excessive delays and stops along the way.

Honorable In The Sight Of Everyone

"providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men."
2 Corinthians 8:21 (NKJV)

Have you ever seen people going to some type of meeting or convention for people who take part in role playing games, or for fans of sci-fi fantasy movies or television shows?   Often people will dress up as a favorite character to attend these meetings as that character.  In those types of conventions, everyone dressed up as some character looks fine and fits in well, but what if someone dressed that way and went to their work as a doctor or a police officer?  If they dressed the same way in both places, they would look out of place in one of those two locations.

It is one thing to live in a way where you are just trying to please people and fit in for the sake of fitting in, but it is something else to do things that do not create some kind of problem.  While we should not live a two-faced type of existence where we behave one way with a certain group of people and then another way with a different group, there is a way to live where we can fit in to whatever situation that we might find ourselves in.  If we fit in well in one situation, and we look completely out of place in another, we may need to check into what we are doing.

In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul said that the way he was doing things was "honorable," not just in the view of God and Christians, but even with others outside of the church.  Integrity is an important quality that every believer, and especially leaders, needs to have.  Do we have a good reputation with those outside the church, or just with the people in our church?  If we only look good to other believers, and in our church group, but not to the rest of the world, we have lost at least some of our influence with those people.  We need to do things that everyone will see as honorable and good, and not just by those closest to us.  

Every Tool Has A Purpose

"from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Ephesians 4:16 (NKJV)

There are many different companies that make tools for different uses, but no company would make a tool that would never be used.  Every tool and piece of equipment that is made is made for a reason, there is some purpose that the tool was created for.  No successful business would create a tool that no one had a reason to use for something.  Some tools are very simple and easy to use, and some tools are more complicated.  But no matter the kind of tool, each tool has a purpose, and it was designed for that use.

Feeling useless and not having a purpose is a terrible thing, and many people today are living a purposeless life, but it should not be that way.  God has a plan and a purpose for everyone.  One of the greatest things in life is discovering the purpose God has for our life.  Once we become a Christian, we need to grow up spiritually and learn about who we are in Christ and about the plan and purpose God has for us.  As Christians, we should not live a purposeless life, because God has something for each of us to do in life.

God has a purpose for us, to help fulfill His plan for the Body of Christ and the world.  Just like every tool was created for a purpose, God has given us an ability that we can use to supply something in and to the Body of Christ, which will then impact the world.  We are God's children, He loves us, and He wants to use us to bring a supply of something to the Body of Christ and the world.  We need to get into God's Word and follow the direction of the Holy Spirit to learn who we are in Christ, what ability God has given us, and how He wants to use us to fulfill His will.