Several girls in our 180 group have discovered the importance of spending time alone with God and becoming doers of what He teaches them. They want to offer an opportunity to any girl that wants to join in, to log onto this site each day and learn with them.

Ever wondered what to read in the Bible? Or better yet, what something in the Bible means?
Well join us each day, right here, and we will walk through God's Word together:)

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Day #56




I want to be clear on something as we study today.  Without Jesus Christ in your heart, trying to put the following learning into action becomes self-help... like a bunch of good ideas.  You need Jesus first. Do you know what that means?  Click “what is salvation?” tab to the right.

Once Jesus has his rightful place as the one in charge of your life, everything else we learn in the Bible becomes more than good ideas.  They become what they are, which is the WORD OF GOD.


God, I know you are in charge.  You are sovereign over all things… people… time… events.  When I say that I know this, I know my mind is limited on this.  Please forgive me when I go about life not consciously aware that you are indeed, “in charge.”  You created me and you love me.  Because of the love you have for me, I want to trust you as MY GUIDE.

In the next week or so, we will be studying many things.  I am going to trust that God can bring us wisdom as we cover the following topics, which come from James 4:13-17.

1.    Complexity of life
2.    Ignoring God’s will
3.    He uncertainty of life
4.    The frailty of man

Please read James 4:13-17.
This passage of scripture is jammed with incredible stuff, but we will move slowly so we can allow God to speak.

In this passage, it is possible that James was talking to a group of Christians that were of the wealthy merchant class (clue words- trade, make profit).  These folks must have lived a life of boasting about their deals and their plans to do this or that. 

On the surface “deals” and “plans” do seem like good business sense.  These people are obviously not lazy, which is good.  They are thinkers and planners… doers.  They have dreams of betterment for their business, which is also good.  But, there is no evidence of prayer or a seeking of guidance from HOLY GOD on what their next move should be. 

Evidently they trusted much in their abilities.  Yes, they must have gotten their way lots of times and had frequently accomplished their plans.  These Christians had acquired a world-view that ignored GOD and they were now trusting in themselves.

As James addresses this group of Christians, he brings home the fact that this way of life is foolish by bringing up 4 arguments.  The first of which is THE COMPLEXITY OF LIFE (v. 13).  This is where we will camp out today.

What things are involved in life?  Wow, loaded question, huh?  Let’s ponder the following condensed list of what is involved in life…

-         Today
-         Tomorrow
-         Yesterday
-         Buying
-         Selling
-         Getting
-         Gaining
-         Losing
-         Staying here
-         Going there
-         Failure
-         People
-         Places
-         Activities
-         Goals
-         Moments
-         Days
-         Months
-         Years
-         Choices
-         Decisions (day after day)
-         Crucial decisions
-          
Life is so FULL, and apart from an intimate relationship with God it is a mystery. 

Many Christians obviously know Jesus as their Savior.  But, there are far less Christians that know him as the Lord of their life… as the guide… the one in charge.  These Christians are humble and they seek Him and His ways.  They want to be made more like Him.  When you know Jesus Christ as your SAVIOR and your LORD, life begins to make sense.  Even the physical world around you starts to have new meaning.  What once was a mysterious, threatening universe, now seems to have unity.  For this person, God is in charge and they depend on that… they like it.  There is a peaceful simplicity to this kind of life.

Tomorrow we will continue with the rest of the 4 arguments James has for not living a Christ-centered life.

TARGET of the DAY
For a short time, put your phone away and ask for a moment of peace from your family.  Take a walk outside.   Sit and look around at the physical nature God has provided.  God is in control.  Do you know this?  Do you know Christ as Savior AND as Lord?

 Please remember to make a praise and memorize your last memory verse.

2 comments: