Some days the longing for Jesus’ return is more intense than other days. I cry out in my heart. I breathe. I carry on.
My wife is listening to Stealth while she is cooking. It is pretty fabulous.
Yesterday, my back spasmed all day. I stayed down and took muscle relaxants. Then I felt guilty for taking time off. I hate anxiety.
Jesus said that some of his servants will figure he isn’t coming and start to beat the other servants and get drunk and party with drunkards. It seems like this is being fulfilled right in front of our eyes.
Jesus also said that he will avenge his people and cut the oppressor into pieces and cast him into outer darkness.
Whether you are single, married, barren, or full of children; wherever you are called and whatever you do, the purpose for which you were created is to glorify God and enjoy him forever; to live with him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify him – beginning in this life. When you praise and glorify the Lord, you are living your best life and doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing.
Idolatry is alive and well. What causes you unrest? Where is your trust? what do you believe will make you happy? What uncleanness will you tolerate to get what you think you want?
I’m learning how to sit with myself and look at what is running through my mind and analyze it. As it turns out, I am not very kind to myself. I am practicing setting my mind on better things, but old habits die hard.
If the one who committed a crime against you is brought to justice, whether by God or by man, the consequences of his actions are not your fault. Never your fault.
Be kind to yourself. If there is sin, repent and be washed clean. For everything else, you are wonderfully made and gifted by God to be exactly who you are. Embrace that and then you can embrace others without fear.
My Only Comfort 
I love it when you have disconnected thoughts. The thing I love most about this post is where you say: “when you are glorifying God and praising Him, you are living your best life.” There’s many opinions out there as to what the “best life” looks like. You summed it up so smoothly and it is stirring my heart to do just that. My BEST life, glorifying Him. Oh, I love how you Keep It Simple, Sam… I love it.
Thank you. We always seem to complicate everything, don’t we?
Yes, we really do….
Thank you sharing such simple but profound thoughts, as usual direct and honest about the realities of pain, just as direct and honest about encouraging those in pain.
I confess to forgetting about that passage in the Word! “Jesus said that some of his servants will figure he isn’t coming and start to beat the other servants and get drunk and party with drunkards.”
Amazing clarity as well as applicable in so many ways.
I’ve struggled with idolatry and self-idolatry for years and still do so these words reflect my own personal experiences. Self-idolatry can and does mean you think you are really something else, a somebody above all somebodies. So you feel entitled to be hardest on others, never hard on yourself.
But it can also mean the exact opposite. You are a nobody, a nobody above all nobodies. Others feel entitled to be hardest on you, but you are the one who is hardest on yourself.
Idolizing others is no better, no easier. I believe others have idolized me as well as myself idolizing others, and I can say without a doubt that it is one of the worst things to have done to me, one of the worst things I have done to others. While it may be shrouded in love, it is actually one of the strongest most powerful forms of hate. You have turned, or turned others, into a stone statue, deprived of life and breath and humanity. You’ve taken away, or others have taken away, the one thing that matters the most: your humanity. It is demonic and is one of the lowest levels of spiritual darkness.
Idolatry and self idolatry robs you of contentment with godliness, which is great gain. Your thoughts made me think of that precious verse.
It’s not like this contentment comes without some real soul searching, which takes time and hard work. When I’ve done things like that, letting the Lord search the deepest parts, He uncovers too many things that are robbing me, but ALSO others who have robbed me. That is why I appreciated your words about being sinned against as well sins of our own making.
How’s your back feeling today? Been praying.
Thank you