Abiding Christian is one of the media channels of After God Heart Inc.
With so much to deal with in the world, and the ultimate goal for all Christians to spend eternity with our Lord Jesus, we are responsible for guarding our hearts as we live in honor of Him here on earth. As we go through each day, our life should reflect Heaven so that when people see us, they see Christ.
Imagine what Goliath thought when he saw David walk toward him on the battlefield. He had spent forty days taunting the God of Israel and did not expect that a boy with a sling in his hand and the love of God in his heart would end him. Goliath appeared tall and strong to everyone because they were limited by what they could see, not by the invincible, undefeatable, mighty God who was fighting for Israel.
It’s been years since I’ve been home. By home, I mean the place where I was born and raised, met Christ, where I met my husband, got married, learned to write, attended college, and got my first Christian writing job. I love this land I’ve called home for years now because God has been faithful. I am blessed with some of my life’s greatest treasures here, with whom I am enjoying God’s love in the most tangible…
Life is like a battlefield. You wake to a wave of choices and navigate each day, making decisions rooted in your core beliefs. Even if you don’t affirm your allegiance to a particular set of values, you are bound to something you inadvertently answer to with every decision.
How we see God matters because our view of life is shaped by our view of God. Understanding that He is mightier and greater, and that He rules with loving kindness and mercy, puts our souls at rest in Him. When we live for what God made us for, we don’t have to pretend to figure it all out to enjoy all that God has to offer.
How we define things mostly affects how we value them, and that, in turn, determines how we treat them. A million-dollar diamond to a child is nothing more than a shining stone and can be smashed by a $10 worth hammer if given the chance. To God, each life is worth more than all the world’s gold, and there’s a multiplier effect to each of God’s creations that stretches beyond our families and the confines of our homes.
David, by everyone’s standard, even the prophet’s and his parents’, was the most unlikely choice for a king. When God sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons in 1 Samuel 16, he didn’t expect the youngest son, tending the sheep, to be God’s choice. He went through each son until Jesse pointed out that David was with the sheep.
The cross we get to celebrate today, adorned on our necks and beautifying our walls, came at a cost worth more than eternity from its beginning to its end. It cost God, God, and took Heaven to lead us back to Heaven! To reconcile humanity back to the Edenic intent, the creator of the universe left majesty to live like a man and die in the cruel hands of the people He came to save.
Any life in God’s hands bears fruit, and no matter how rotten the past is, He knows how to bring newness from it. Who else can make a road in the wilderness or cause rivers to flow in the desert? After all, He founded the earth from formlessness and void (Genesis 1:2).