Corona Devo 1143
Have you ever gotten caught being in the wrong place?
I have.
I've been in conversations that have taken a gossip-turn (via my own lips sometimes!), and when I (finally) parted company, there was a pit in my stomach and a guilt in my spirit. I had no business being there in that verbal crossfire, and I benefitted no one by partaking in it. We (as followers-of-Jesus) know better.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ~Ephesians 4:29
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Have you ever gotten caught being in the wrong place?
I have.
For too long and with too many people, I have invested time, attention and myself into people that were not interested in God, and therefore should have been uninteresting to me.
But we linger, we procrastinate, we try-to-fix, and we savor-the-attention, even if it comes at great cost. And in the end, we lose. Because we can't win when we are not actively pursuing God, and we can't run after Him at full spiritual-speed if we are weighted-down and held-back.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? ~2 Corinthians 6:14
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Have you ever gotten caught being in the wrong place?
I have.
Professionally, socially, as-a-parent, even spiritually---I can get caught up in how the world defines success, instead of how God defines success. The Bible never says that straight A's will get you into Heaven (I've checked), and it turns out--he who dies with the most toys does not win.
Once I even challenged a Christian school teacher when I felt that my kids weren't memorizing enough Scripture in her class. She calmly responded that her intention was not mere rote-memorization, but (rather) spiritual-maturation and transformation for the students in her class. She then showed me my son's prayer journal notebook which brought me to tears. Tears of joy at his sweet and growing-in-Jesus heart, and tears of shame as I realized that I was defining "success" in all the wrong ways.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ~Romans 12:2
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Have you ever gotten caught being in the wrong place?
I have.
And sometimes I do it again and again and again.
Why do we keep walking into the fire, even though we know it's going to burn us? Why do we expect different results, when we have made no positive/productive/prayerful changes? Why do we seek and desire and get REtangled in the web of people and pleasures that have no positive imprint on us?
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. ~Proverbs 14:12
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Have you ever gotten caught being in the wrong place?
I have.
So did this guy: we had set a trap to prevent mice in our garage, but what in the world was a salamander doing in the place where we park cars?
He got caught in the wrong place.
I figured he would die, because his whole body was stuck to a glue-surface, and what else could we do?
I asked my husband to dispose of him, because I honestly didn't think we had another option, but I also voiced a hopeful whimper in reference to freeing him, and (to my surprise), my husband said that he would "see what he could do".
A little later, the empty glue-trap was tossed and the blue-tailed skink (I found out it wasn't a salamander) was gone, running free and beautiful, just as he was created to.
I am still not exactly sure how my husband did that. That skink had definitely gotten caught in the wrong place, and I didn't think he had a chance of redemption.
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Have you ever gotten caught being in the wrong place?
We all have.
Time after time we get caught in the wrong sinful places. And each time our Heavenly Father could look down and say, "What in the world were you doing there?"
Find it today. Find Jesus today.
He's already found us. He loves us.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ~2 Peter 3:9
God our Heavenly Father saw our helpless plight and "saw what He could do". He has unstuck us from the stickiness-of-sin, and in Him we are free.
I am still not exactly sure why He did that and provided our redemption. But He did.
Live free in Him today, running free and beautiful, just as He created us to be in Him.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ~John 8:36
Blessings,
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com
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