Life is About Doing What Is Right Instead of What You Feel
Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there. The most difficult, but rewarding job in a man’s world! Let’s get started.
If I had a dollar for every time someone asks me about the meaning of or the purpose of their life, I would have the money of a mega-church for mission work! People are confused. They are seeking. They want to know because they can feel the “lack” inside of them but have no clue how to deal with that empty feeling.
First, I want to encourage each of you to do what your Holy Spirit knows is right and you will have those acts reinforced because you will feel phenomenal when you act on God’s instinct that lives inside your heart. If you KNOW God’s Word and FOLLOW God’s Word, you are on the right track. People get off track when they start doing what they “feel” is right (in that moment) instead of KNOWING right from wrong and then always behaving in a way that is right…regardless of how others act!
Second, I encourage people to seek answers by reading the Bible instead of “seeking” happiness, joy, peace, and other positive feelings through secular (worldly) methods. Your actions to “find” these things when they are given as a free gift from our loving God will likely end in frustration and even more confusion. In other words, SEEK HIM and these things will be GIVEN to you. Seek these things using your own power/control and you will likely fail because you cannot create the internal happiness that can only be found in God!
A couple of days ago I posted my most recent testimony on Facebook. It is a list of things gone wrong, but a testament to faith during 4 years of hell on earth. However, a HUGE part of the end result was staying kind, generous, and compassionate as other humans tried to tear me down and apart. My behavior during those trials is an important road map to receiving the prosperous life God has planned for you (Jeremiah 29-11) during your storms and trials.
The Book of Job is an excellent template and study guide as to how we should act when everything seems to be going wrong. Ultimately, God WANTS to redeem each of us and our lives to joy and prosperity, but it isn’t likely going to happen if we don’t do what is right when we feel angry, sad, depressed, confused, and vengeful.
So to be perfectly clear, I am mirroring advice from previous sermons when I tell you to pre-determine how you are going to act. YOU CAN CHOOSE! God rewards sinful people throughout the Bible. Why? Not because they are perfect, but because God found them to be righteous in His eyes!
Righteous by definition refers to your conduct (how you act). It means acting morally right, very good, and virtuous. So by definition, God is determining how He looks upon you while you are on earth by what you think, do, and support. Of course, Jesus came to save us from our sins and make us “white” (pure) in the eyes of God, but the Bible says over and over that how we act and what we support as causes on earth has value in decisions made about you in heaven. All of us face judgment day.
AS A WARNING: Especially dangerous to your eternity is allowing children to be hurt and endangered. (Matthew 18:6 – READ THIS SCRIPTURE)
One of the better-known scriptures is “Faith without works is dead.” What God is telling us is that if He is truly inside of us, then we will be compelled to act in a way Jesus exampled to us while He was incarnate on earth. There are so many scriptures about righteous people and acts approved by God that it would be a very long sermon on each subject, so for today I mention it as something you must think about and then act upon this information I pass on to you in this sermon.
Because many people act based on circumstances and feelings, it is very important for pastors to remind the flock that we must act logically and with righteousness. If you act as you feel instead of doing what is right, you are putting yourself on a very slippery slope whereas scripture says “people see the gate (to heaven) as very wide, but it is narrow.” (Matthew 7:13-14 summarized)
Most people have very strong personal beliefs about many different topics; especially politics and religion. I urge you to align your thoughts, actions, and who you support with the Word of God! It is imperative that you act out of love, forgiveness, kindness, generosity, patience, and faith in order to reap God’s best rewards. To act out of your own belief system is to walk down a rocky and dangerous path that may lead you to a place you don’t want to go. At a minimum, it will make your life more difficult and lacking in success.
Remember, God has a WONDERFUL plan for you that includes peace, prosperity, love, and support, but you must act in the way He taught in order to get the best of everything He promises. I can assure you that we all sometimes lose our way, but as long as you act RIGHT, God will find you, pick you up, brush you off, and set you back on the narrow path to His paradise.
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Until next week, God bless with love and hugs, Lisa ><>