Give Thanks In All Things

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/09QIA5GAN9s?si=Eg_UpIjafWHieYkv

“Give Thanks In All Things”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

 

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to run my first half marathon here in Mankato.  This past week I have been mentally processing what happened and thinking through the whole experience.  I’ve thought about how I prepared for many months to increase my distance and endurance, and then the day came in hopes for all the preparation to pay off. 

 

I did my best to take into account what all issues I could possibly face.  I wasn’t preparing for a bad race by any means, but I just went through several scenarios in my head as I mentally prepared for what might come.  For months, I had been focusing on a certain pace that I wanted to keep, but as the time got closer within a couple of weeks, I finally just came to the mindset of, “I just want to finish and enjoy the experience”.  That’s the attitude I took into it.  I wanted to complete it…..running the whole time.

 

On race day, the hype of everything was amazing.  Being around thousands of runners definitely gave me a “runners high”.  The Saturday before I had run the course by myself to get a feel for it so that I knew what to expect.  As I ran the race, I just enjoyed the experience and asked God to give me the endurance.  After mile 7, I started having a side pain and knee problems.  I decided to slow my pace down to help with making the pain tolerable.  After a few more miles, I felt like I had it managed enough to keep running and finish.  I just kept praying for God to help me finish. 

 

As I think back, I ran into issues and I was prepared to deal with them.  Thankfully, God blessed me to finish while still running.  Every runner in the world would love to run a race with NO issues at all.  However, that’s just not reality.  Almost every runner experiences some setback at some point that is not expected. 

 

This past week I have remembered this is exactly like life.  We simply cannot expect a life that is void of any problems.  That is not reality and not the life God promised us.  However, He did promise to always be present with us, guiding us and helping us through.  Throughout the race, I was doing my best to give God thanks no matter the outcome.  No matter what obstacles I was facing, I wanted to focus on being thankful for the experience.  In life, we all experience setbacks and obstacles and we need to learn to give thanks no matter the circumstances.  God will bring us through.  We need to adjust our attitude and see things in a different light and perspective so that we can focus on Him and trust that He knows what He is doing. 

Trying To Impress Or Being Genuine?

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/PZ4gbjq3YBg?si=_3oBNa6BwLjkWUaK

“Trying To Impress Or Being Genuine?”

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

 

A few weeks ago, I had my 6 month dental cleaning checkup.  As I prepared and flossed and brushed my teeth before going in, it brought back some funny memories of when I was a kid and how I prepared for my check ups.  I wasn’t always great at taking care of my teeth as I liked to eat a lot of candy.  I’m sure I didn’t brush twice a day and didn’t brush the best when I did brush.  I also didn’t floss on a regular basis.  The day of my dentist appts, I would usually brush my teeth really good and hoped that the dentist would be impressed.

 

As you can imagine, as they cleaned and examined my teeth, I would usually hear all the reports of what I wasn’t doing and how I needed to do it better.  I thought by just brushing really hard before my dental appt, that would be good enough.  Nope!  Years later now with numerous cavities and crowns, I’ve learned that I really need to take better care of my teeth.  My dental visits now are not as bad as they used to be, yet I often fear they will find something that is bad and needs fixed.

 

I think we treat our spiritual lives a lot like this.  We don’t always take the greatest care of our walk with God.  I think sometimes we feel like if we show up to church and put in some time, we look good to God and to others.  Just like my quick brushing attempts before going to the dentist when I was younger, we often think we can impress God and pretend with Him, but we can’t. 

 

We can sometimes fool other people for a period of time, but we never can fool God.  I think He often shakes His head in sadness and heartbreak seeing what we do to try to make ourselves look good, but what He truly wants is us being honest and doing our best to be genuine. 

 

Is our desire just to try to impress God and others when we show up Sunday for church and maybe for a small group bible study through the week to look good, or are we striving to take the time each day to grow closer to Him in a very intentional and genuine manner?

 

I know that I often fail in my attempts to be genuine with God and in being intentional in my walk with Him.  He desires for all of us to be intentional and to truly desire time with Him.  He wants our all and not just various times where we try to impress Him. 

 

I hope and pray that our desire each day is to truly be genuine and intentional to grow in our faith.