Living in the Rest Stop?

Are you making the "Rest Stop" home? Friends, if we are not careful we can become overly consumed with the affairs of this temporal life! Imagine if you had asked a loved one if you could move in with them because you realized you were lost and desperate, then they sent you the provisions, road map and everything you need to travel out to be with them. Now as you began your journey down the long and narrow road to your new home, you see a sign on the side of the road that says "Rest Stop" so you pull off and decide to rest for awhile. Now how crazy would it be if you loved the Rest Stop so much that you forgot why you were there in the first place and where you were supposed to be going...and rather decided to just live at the Rest Stop? Crazy! That isn't nearly as crazy as exchanging our eternal life with Christ for a blip of hedonistic pleasure in this world! Let's face it, because of the temptations in our present condition, we can be apt to forget that we are sojourners traveling with a specific mission, to a specific destination! Perhaps the temptations of this world have clouded your mission? Let's remember that you and I are commissioned by the God of the Universe and made Ambassadors of Christ! We shouldn't become so overly consumed with the affairs of this world that we become taken away from our high calling! Jesus wasn't sidetracked by the affairs of this world, even when the pharisees tried to ensnare him in matters of taxes, etc. Jesus stayed focused Mark 12:17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him. What temptation, trial or distraction has you living at the Rest Stop"? The sins in our own lives that we rationalize, justify and accept as satisfactory or "not too bad" prevent us from moving ahead down the road! Friends, we can stay in that Rest Stop and forfeit the prize that awaits us all at the finish line. How do we move on down the long and narrow road to life? We must come before our Heavenly Father and confess our sins with a broken and contrite heart! He will disciple us on how to overcome, strengthen us and empower us to live victoriously in Him! You see we have to submit to his discipline and guidance. God's discipline is a good thing not a punishment! He disciplines his children, to purify us! Tonight what area of your life are you struggling with? Have you just given up? It's time to get on our knees and take it to our father and confess, he is faithful to forgive and cleanse us, in doing so he strengthens that area in our life and gives us the wherewithal to make a new path so we don't find ourselves right back at the same place. Let's review Hebrews 12:4-13
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Thanks for letting me share, Randy Young