One More Thought For the Rocky Road Ahead.

Through faith in the finished Work of Jesus we have a relationship with His heavenly Father.  And we live in a world full of other creatures made in His image, which means we each have a relationship with the world around us.  So, we have a relationship to the God who saved us, and we have a relationship to the people around us.  Which brings us to the third thing we need to note for the year ahead.  This is something I picked up from a blog by Christian author Donald Miller, and it is utterly and absolutely revelatory.

You have a relationship with yourself— make it a healthy one.  People who respect themselves feel better, in general, and feel better specifically about their own lives.

Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.  You become like the people you surround yourself with.  You doubt the validity of this?  See what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:33.  I want to ask.  What influence do you have on them and what effect do they have on you?  Are you maturing into the man or woman Christ created you to be, flowering into the fullness of His image, or shrinking into the shadows of your acquaintances?

If you want to respect yourself, start making decisions worthy of self-respect: start behaving in respectable ways, not engaging in disrespectful conversations about others.

If you want to feel better about your body— and I have never met a woman who didn’t— make wiser decisions with regard to your diet.  Choose, with the brain, the will, and the faithful heart God gave you, to eat healthier foods.  And not eat half a sheet cake ...or a chocolate pie, or those God-forsaken donuts sitting out front in churches every Son-day.

If you want to feel better physically, and have more energy and endurance, you’ve got to get out and walk.  You’ve got to exercise in some form or fashion: bicycle, mountain-climb, jump rope.  You’ve got to put a body not in motion into motion!

The point is: Make your relationship with yourself a good one.  Change the way you view you; and change it into the way Jesus views you.  “I am a Child of God in whom Jesus dwells.  And I live in my Father’s Kingdom.  This is who I am and where I am regardless of what may be raging around me.”  This is my Eternal Identity: the Beloved of Abba.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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