Making Jesus smile and don’t be your own worst enemy!

By Pastor Doug Cox

I’m sure you’ve noticed already that life can be a struggle. No one is exempt from the storms that come our way. Young and old alike can face relational issues and feelings of insecurity. There are financial problems and hardships as inflation increases. Fear and worry about many things can plague us and rob us of peaceful nights. And what about the constant pressure from the world to bend to their redefinitions of gender, sexuality, marriage, and everything sensical? Yes, life can be a struggle, even for the Christian, yet the good news is there is help from God. Let’s just make sure we don’t become our own enemy. Read on to see how that can happen.

 Jesus understands our dilemmas. During His earthly ministry He taught what we call the ‘parable of the sower.’ It’s about how God sows His Word into the world wherever He can. It falls on people with different kinds of attitudes. Some are hard, some uncommitted, others distracted and driven by other things and of course, there are those He calls good ground. If you are reading this article, I’m sure that’s your desire, to be good ground!

 In the parable Jesus poses a question saying “…do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mark 4:13) This means this parable gives us a key to understanding other things He has for us.
 
Think about it. The whole point of planting seed is to get the result which in this case is Godly fruit! That’s what God wants to have coming forth from each of our lives, godly fruit. Godly fruit develops and is brought forth when true Christ followers, give God’s Word the highest priority in their lives.
 
Jesus warns us that we can let “…the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in (and) choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19) Can you see it? By giving the wrong things priority we add to our problems and many times unconsciously disassociate ourselves from the life Source. And being dominated by “other things” can not only cause spiritual crop failure, it can also set us at odds with God Himself.
 
James 4:6 says “…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” It is prideful to say you are to busy for God. The opposite of pride is humility. We should be humbled to think every day is one day closer to the Lord’s return. Every day is our day to put His Word and priorities first. Every day is our day to walk with Him not in resistance to Him. As we do that we will put a smile on His face and He will provide us the grace we need for that day.

Part of humility is obedience. Maybe the Lord is leading you to be water baptized? You can do that this Sunday morning after the service . Just come with a change of clothes, your humble heart and a towel.