Why do so many believers lack the confidence needed to activate their faith, utilize their gifts, and live out their purpose for Christ and his Kingdom? Indeed, why are we afraid of our own shadow?
The parable of the wise and the foolish builders illustrates how important it is to build one’s life on Jesus and activate our faith. There are two kinds of people whose hearts reveal their actions: hearers and doers. The wise person is the doer who puts Jesus’ teachings into practice. The power to find peace lies in our belief in Christ, our repentance from sin, our love for one another, and our living a life that is worthy of the Master’s example. This is what theologians call sanctification, or holiness.
Think of it like this…
Why did God create us? It certainly was not because he needed us.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” Acts 17:24-25
No, he did not need us, but he chose to create us anyway, out of his great love: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jer. 31:3).
We were created to fulfill his eternal plan to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5), to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39), and because “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).
Look at all of those promises!
Living a life in Christ comes, in large part, from seeing God complete in us what he created us to do on this side of the heavenly divide. It is impossible to miss that “completion” when we see it unfold in the real world as we glorify and exhibit Christ in our lives. When it is all said and done, in the end it will be our faith, not our gold, that God will have on display as our victory.
All we need to do is stop being afraid of our own shadow.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL MORRISON
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