2Corinthians 7:9(NLT)
"Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but
because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of
sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any
way."
No matter how many times you seem to move forward in your life, all it takes is
one word of bad news and the pain, fear, and nervousness rear their ugly heads
and set you back. They make you think they're running the show, and it makes us
feel so down. When I read the verse in 2Corinthians 7:9, I was reminded that
pain can be purposeful because it can cause us to change in ways that we never
thought possible.
You might ask, "Why do we need to go through pain in
order to change our ways?" I also asked myself this question, but
what quickly came to me is the freedom that God extends to us by allowing us to
choose. We have free-will choice, and we get to choose how we're going to
respond to situations. God is the complete opposite of the hurtful feelings we
experience. He represents love and liberty for us, and He doesn’t ever want us
to feel pain. But if we are going about our daily routines of life, walking
around asleep to God’s Word and what He’s called us to do, pain and sorrow will
inevitably find their way to us. Our hiccups and missteps can almost always be
tied back to something we could have changed or could have let go but didn't.
God is a loving Father. He is full of joy and love, and He wants us
to be full of joy and love as well. Jesus Christ said in John 10:10 that he
came to the earth in order to make a more than abundant life available to us.
So, we should be confident that Heavenly Father wants us to have a successful
life. And in order for us to have the life that Christ made available, God
commands us to live like Jesus Christ; we are to live through him. This means
we must pattern our lives after the example Jesus left for us.
We experience discomfort when everything around us is conspiring
to help us recognize that change is in our midst, and we need to make some
adjustments before life no longer cooperates with our refusal to do so.
Emotional stress is often a blinking indicator that something is going on
internally that requires our attention. Sometimes it relates to an area in our
lives that we have not yet given God access to, like our significant
relationships, for instance.
Many women have difficulty prioritizing when it comes to the love
they feel for a man and the love they should have for God. We must understand that our love for God should be
exponentially higher, more intimate, and more fulfilling than the love we have
for anyone else. Jesus Christ commands us in Mark 12:30(NLT), "And
you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your
mind, and all your strength." We must love God with all
that we are, and this is not up for negotiation. As we think about what we need
to change, alter, or increase about ourselves and our faith, this is the first
place to start.
We need to ask ourselves if we are loving God the way Jesus Christ
has commanded. Some of us never ask this question of ourselves, and this is
sometimes what our sorrows will reveal. Going back to 2Corinthians 7:9,
Heavenly Father reminds us that the positive change that our sorrows spark is
the greater gain. In His Word, He tells us His expectations regarding how we
should change. He spells out exactly what we should remove from our lives, and
exactly the kind of love that should saturate our hearts, and not only this, it
is the kind of love we should be receiving from others. In Ephesians
4:30-32(NLT), Heavenly Father tells us, "30 And do not bring
sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified
you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as
all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."
As God’s children, we are created to house His Spirit and to be
conduits of His divine love. We aren’t built to hold on to bitterness, rage,
anger, and evil behavior. Not only can these heavies break us down physically,
but they take a toll on us spiritually. We can't be who God has called us to be
when our hearts are not flooded with His love and goodness. Change can be very
challenging, but we cannot grow without it, and growing in Christ is our reason
for being on this earth. We must always remember that we are never alone. The
Lord is with us always, and He will never forsake us. We can be comforted in
the reality that He is helping us to develop spiritual character, and when we
have reached the level of spiritual maturity that He desires, He will be
pleased, and we will be rewarded. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
"Change Your Ways”, written by Kim for
https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2021. All rights reserved. All
praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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