Fragility

What makes a person change?  Its seems as though when we go through the various stages of our lives we make changes for the good and bad, but why do we make changes for the bad?  Why can’t it be like economics where the rationality assumption states that no one will make a decision that would make them worse off?  Maybe they are misinformed or maybe they believe that the decision they are making will end up making them better off when really in the end it won’t. How can someone claim to be one person at one point in their life and then when they hit a new stage they become someone different.  We hear all the time about wearing a face in front of a certain crowd and putting on a show for others to make ourselves look good. However, this is different.  Why is it that people put on a new face when they get to a new stage in life? I believe the reason for this change is that our lives are fragile.  We are by nature, beings that are weak and unstable.  We cannot do life on our own.  We fail at many things.  We break under pressure and give up when life gets too hard.  We are by nature-fragile.  It is this fragility that shows the need for Savior.  Think about it. If we were stable then we would not be in need of salvation.  We would not be in need of a God to send his Son to die for us and save us from a life destined for hell.  I praise God that he has made me a fragile human being.  However, along with this fragility comes the choice. Do we choose to accept his salvation…..DAILY? Or do we simply try to do life on our own and put on a face that shows we are stable?  Most of the time we try to make our lives look stable on the outside and we do this by changing to what is around us.  This brings me back to stages in life.  We change and adapt to our environment in life.  We live up to the expectations that society has put on us.  We do all of this to appear stable and firm.   Eventually (and it may take time and many stages in life) we will realize that we can’t do it on our own and we need a Savior to give us strength and power to live today for Him.   Don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about accepting Christ for the first time.  I believe salvation is something that happens daily. In Philippians Paul tells us to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling.  This must happen daily if we really are to rely on Him for our strength and not our own.  Otherwise, we are just going through the stages of life, changing as people because of the expectations of the world.  We are fragile humans beings in need of a Savior who can bring us true life.  All of this for His glory the one and only!! 

Discipline

I was looking at a blog entry written by Steven Furtick today and I was offered some hope from the scriptures. The passage comes from Hebrews 12:5-7.

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,because the Lord disciplines those he loves,and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

After reading this, it is obvious that because God loves us, He disciplines us. At times I think we wonder why God leads in a certain direction. And at times we get frustrated and question why He does things to us. The answer to all of this is because He loves us. If He didn’t then He wouldn’t put us through tough situations or discipline us.

I feel that at this time God is disciplining me. Maybe He is building me up for something better? Maybe He is training me to deal with frustration? Maybe He is preparing me for a different kind of ministry? Maybe He is doing all of these things? Only prayer, and God’s guidance will tell. My prayer is not that He would lead a certain direction, but that He would give me the strength to follow His direction when He reveals that to me. I also thank God that he loves me enough to cause me pain in order to discipline me and build me up to be stronger. I feel God is taking me in a new direction and I pray that its all for His Glory the One and Only.