Daily Verse: Hebrews 12:4

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Make no doubt, living a life for the Lord is no easy task. In fact, you could even argue that living a life that opposes God’s Will is probably a whole lot easier. When we are living in sin, we can say what we want, act any way we please, and think all kinds of inappropriate thoughts. All is pretty much fair game…a free for all…open to any and all interpretations. But when we live for the Lord, we are living according to His will, His wants, His desires…not our own. And God calls us to control the words we speak…Ephesians 4:29…”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”…carefully watch how we treat others…Ephesians 2:1…”For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”…and govern the thoughts we allow in our minds…Hebrews 4:13…”Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”. We must live disciplined lives where we push aside our selfish wants and embrace God’s righteous plan. We must squash anger and rage, remove judgment and ridicule, curb foul language and complaining, refuse lust and filth…all in service to the living God that gave us everything when he sent his Son to the cross to pay the price for our sins. When Christ took his place on that cross, he resisted sin with his blood…he stomped out sin and death once and for all with the spilling of his blood. An incredibly selfless task carried out so a bunch of unworthy, incompetent, selfish sinners could be rescued…so that we could be in heaven one day…perfect paradise for a group of imperfect people. Seems too good to be true, yet it is. So the next time we feel like living for the Lord is just too hard, may we remember the text above, recalling what Christ did in his effort to defeat sin on our behalf. And we might just find our struggle to not be so hard after all. To God be the glory!