People have been begging me to do a full year of devotionals in book form for years. Well, the wait is over. Being Always Peachy is a collection of devotionals with a different theme for every month. There are enough devos in here for every Monday through Friday in 2015. It’s available on Amazon or you can buy direct from me!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I thought I’d better put this in just because I raised a pretty big theological, religious sort of topic in today’s post. Again, I’m not going to get into a discussion about this. I believe people waste a lot of time talking about God and trying to understand the way God thinks, but that’s my opinion. I would much rather just trust that God has everything worked out and then take a glass of water to someone who is thirsty.
God chose people to be saved, yes. That’s what the Bible says. But it’s also our choice to accept Christ. The Bible says that too. As far as our little brains are concerned, sometimes the true answer to our questions is yes, even if both questions seem to lead to a mutually exclusive solution.
But I thought I’d share this anyway, just for giggles and grins.
I don’t agree with everything Rob Bell has written or said (especially recently), but there are a number of his older books and some of his videos that I find challenging and very interesting. One of his videos, Everything Is Spiritual is particularly thought provoking. And this is the best example I’ve ever heard to describe the entire Predestination vs. Free Will discussion.
Please don’t take this as a recommendation to read/watch his materials, but if you’re curious, watch the clip. Whatever you watch or read, though, make sure you are solidly grounded in Scripture. And that goes for anything and everything you read–including this blog!
Challenge your own faith. Don’t be afraid to examine what other people believe or have discussions about what other people believe. It’s a good idea to test what you have always been taught so you know for sure what you believe, but some theology can get really complex and convoluted. Personally, I don’t believe the Gospel was ever intended to be confusing, but a lot of people like to make it that way.
Just remember that the Bible is God’s Word, wholly and completely, and we don’t have the right to cherry pick the verses we like and ignore the ones we don’t.
I don’t usually do this. But this morning I was so caught up in blogging about the first part of 1 John 1:9 that I totally ignored the last part of the verse.
And the last part of the verse is the most important.
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
If we confess.
If we say we’re sorry and we meant it and we repent and turn from the bad things that we’re doing . . . .
God is faithful.
If we confess, He’s faithful. He won’t turn us away. He won’t scorn us. He won’t reject us. No matter how far away we have fallen from Him, He is always faithful to us.
He is faithful to forgive us.
How? Because He’s perfect.
Why do you have to apologize the person you’ve wronged? Because you are the one who’s done wrong. You are the one who needs to be forgiven for something you’ve done or said. You have to ask forgiveness of the innocent person you’ve hurt.
We have all turned against God. To be forgiven, we have to ask for it.
And not only will He forgive us, He’ll restore us.
Getting to the point where you’re willing to confess is important, but knowing that God will forgive you no matter what is even more important.
And I just thought I needed to mention that.
Always Peachy 