I mentioned to you through this section of the bulletin recently that I have finally made some headway with the goldfish pond in our backyard, and while that is still the case, it is an ongoing project for April and I. Due to the lay of the land and the absence of grass in the surrounding area, dirt makes its way into the pond during rainy times creating the need to drain the enclosure, and clear it of dirt and debris. I just wish it would stay clean without me having to put in a bunch of work. But when it’s clean, all the work has been worth it.
You’ve probably felt that way about things in your life as well. Perhaps you just wish the car would start without having to open the hood, the grass would grow to the desired length and just stop growing so you could stop mowing, the roof would finally stop leaking without having to ascend the outside wall of the house, or that a paycheck would continue to come even though you are retired. In truth, we all wish we didn’t have to put in excess work in order to achieve a desired result. But the reality is that if you want a better result from life, but you’ll have to make some changes in your life. And change requires effort.
As we all know, sin is present in the lives of people and it is an ongoing problem. We all want God’s favor but we want it in a disproportionate measure when compared to the work we put into gaining His favor. The only way to find favor with Him is for your sin to no longer be present before Him. So you have two choices in order for that to occur. You can either live your life in complete obedience to Him in every way (which is not possible), or you can accept Jesus as your personal Savior and commit the rest of your life to Him, thereby being covered by the work He did on the cross so you could even have the opportunity to be saved from the result of the presence of sin before Him.
To sum it up, we all need Jesus in our lives in greater measure, and for that to happen we must be realistic about what is required. The truth is that in order to find Him, you must seek Him. So we know there’s work that has to be done. You have to make the rest of your life an adventure of discovery with having Jesus as your goal. It is not realistic to think that since God is love, that He should just bless you no matter how you choose to live your life. But it is realistic that He will pour out His favor on those who are His, and the effort you will have put in to live a life pleasing to Him will not seem like much work at all, because the work has been worth it.
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