learing lessons well

Those of us who have been Christians for awhile, for me a good many number of years tend to know a lot what God’s word, scripture tells us. We know a lot of truth. But do we put it into practice, or do we too easily revert to old ways?

I think I’ve improved, but I was reminded this morning that I haven’t arrived yet where I need to be. On top of getting a new furnace, we had to get hundreds and hundreds of dollars work done on my old car. I worked through that pretty well yesterday. Then this morning I awaken to no water heat. And couldn’t get the pilot of the water heater lit. I complained and my good wife reminded me of what God’s word calls us to do both in Habakkuk 3 as well as James 1.

Sometimes there’s a disconnect between what we know and what we do. Or how we live.  My wife, Deb pointed out that God will let the trials come if I don’t respond better. She is right.

We often look for secrets of how to live well as in God’s will. But the reality is that the answers for this are found in scripture and lie in Jesus. We are called, and can walk in the way of God’s will for us in Jesus. We need to receive and keep working at receiving the whole counsel of God given to us in scripture.  And we need to ask God to help us respond accordingly when trials inevitably come. Learning lessons well. Life lessons, not merely some sort of academic exercise.

Does that mean we never struggle with doubt, or over the trials we face? Of course not. For the most part my wife tends not to so struggle, and I tend to struggle. It is what we do with that which counts. We may need to repent, and from there ask God to help us live according to his word to us in Jesus. That our lives might be different, more and more conformed to the image of Jesus so that others might see him more and more in us. That we ourselves in Jesus might be living letters written by God for the world.