Skip to main content

A Morning View By the Wood Stove

Sometimes at night I just hurt. No matter what I do there is a nagging pain. I go to a chiropractor for some relief and occasionally I am able to get a massage which helps best. I take natural remedies, I take over the counter pain medicine and sometimes it helps and sometimes it does not. I have one constant spot in my right shoulder which is the main source of pain. Nagging pain wears on me.

Sometimes my head and heart just hurt. No matter what I do the nagging sins and failures of the past show up and remind me of my past. I fill time with other thoughts and strive to avoid the temptations of the sin. I read the scripture and ask God to take it away, but the reminders are there. I do not need to live in the pain of the past, but often I choose pain. 

Yes, it is easy to choose pain. Why? Why do we choose pain? When our lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, we do not need to live in the pain and sin of our past. Yet often, we do. Our pain and sin have been defeated, yet often we choose to not let them die. Our sins have been forgiven so we just need to let the be gone.

As we head to Christmas this week, the Baby Jesus has redeemed us. If we do not celebrate our forgiveness in Jesus Christ then we falsely celebrate the birth of the Savior. 

We do not need to live in the pain of the past when we can celebrate the reason the Baby was born. Jesus Christ is our Redeemer.

“I love you, Lord;

    you are my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;

    my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.

He is my shield, the power that saves me,

    and my place of safety.

I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

    and he saved me from my enemies.” - Psalm 18:1-3


Peace,

PB

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Morning View By the Wood Stove

If you proclaim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then I must ask you a question. Are you seeking the deepest possible intimate relationship with God that you can ever experience on this earth? Because I know what I am about to say to be absolutely true. If you are not and if you are pursuing anything other than God you will not ever be satisfied and ultimately any other relationship will fail. It does not matter how deeply connected with another person you are without God it will fail. Failure may not mean completely walk away, failure can mean that a relationship will not be what it is intended to be and you settle for it because at least it is there, it's the best I can do, it could be worse and for many other reasons.  We are created to be in relationship with one another. We have many relationships and many depths within those relationships. We have social relationships. We have relationship with many forms of addiction and substitution. We have friends and we have FRIENDS...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Morning View From the Balcony at OBX

So far the weather has not been at its best for us. It is a very cloudy morning. It is rainy with a good chance of clearing up later in the day. But as I sit here this morning I noticed that it does not matter if it is sunny and clear, partly cloudy or even ugly storm cloudy, the sun comes up. We just need to decide how to navigate the day!  Our lives are the same. We need to decide how to navigate each and every day we face. It does not matter what we face, if it is sunny and clear, partly cloudy or even ugly storm cloudy, we still have another day to live and the Son is with us.  I know to some of you this sounds like a no brainer message. Well of course PB, this is the day the Lord has made! Everyday is a great day. To others this is such a difficult message to swallow. It becomes a difficult task to simply tie your shoes. We are all different in our view and response and it is alright to be different.  But please recognize that the sun does come up no matter what. Als...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Morning View By the Wood Stove

I really struggle with what I see and experience in our world today. I say this and am really not sure it is the world as much as it is our country.  I guess it is not so much our country, but with those who proclaim and profess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. I realize in my setting I am making blanket statements, so this is not intended as an attack on anyone, but as a thought provoking moment for everyone.  My heart has been impressed with proclaiming what it means to be a Christian. I grew up with a checklist and if I did not check the proper blanks, I was not a good Christian. I have found out that living that way is full of a bunch of lies and a dangerous understanding of perceived salvation. I believed that there was no way God could ever forgive me for what I have done and who I have been. Again a dangerous lie. I see and read comments people make about issues, government, religion and their faith in Jesus Christ and I cross reference what is said with how Jesus l...
Post a Comment
Read more