😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you. ‘Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”’ – Revelation 7:13-17
“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress…” What is this great distress we are trying to survive? I think a decent portion of this distress is the battle within ourselves. The battle of knowing ourselves. It can be so much easier to ignore the person that’s looking back at you in the mirror, than it is to question yourself, your motives, and the true depth of your being. So often with ourselves and others, we don’t/won’t ask the hard and challenging questions. We just want the touchy feely, all about feeling good conversations. We’re too afraid to get real and to the heart of who we are.
I heard a quote from St. Augustine today and wanted to share it with you, but first, we have to acknowledge that St. Augustine was not always a saint. Like many of us, he struggled to make wise choices and was far from being a saint.
“Lust indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity.” You can replace the word lust in that quote with any other addictive action. Go ahead and try it. Here, I’ll throw this one out. Scrolling on my phone indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity.” Before the days of cell phones, I remember seeing one person lighting a cigarette and the next thing you know, every smoker in the area was lighting up. When you’re around a group of people and one person starts looking at their phone, other people in the group will start looking at their phone as well. It just becomes habit.
What are the unresisted habits in your life that have become necessity? How are they running your life? How are they stealing your time? How are they damaging your life?
How can you combat these habits? What are the steps and actions you must take to break free from these chains of addictive habits? It’s time to take a hard look in the mirror and answer yourself honestly. It’s not likely that anyone else is going to ask these hard questions of you, so it’s up to you. God is counting on you to have this conversation, because He wants you and me to come back to Him.
Bless others and be blessed.
Shelly :0)
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#JordanFeliz – Wounds
