Alive and Active

In 1st Samuel 19, Joab tells David the hard message that he needs to get up and stop sulking over the death of his son Absalom. David responds by getting up and getting back into the game. When life hits us hard, we have to immediately go to the Lord, get off the floor, and live the resurrected life that He gives.

In 2 Samuel 18, David hears the news that his son Absalom has died and he weeps bitterly for him. As believers, there's a time to grieve and there's a time to get back up. There are a lot of people dealing with grief and the solution is the Gospel of Jesus Christ because that is where our hope lies. God so loved us that he gave up his only Son, Jesus Christ.

Walter Payton was an all pro running back for the Chicago Bears. Walter maximized his time on and off the field and he was an extremely disciplined athlete. As believers, we have to be strategic in studying the word of God, because we are called to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ. If we want to be great in the Lord, then we must be disciplined.

In 2nd Samuel 18, Joab disobeys David and kills his son Absalom. Joab throws Absalom in a pit and piles a large heap of rocks over him. If Absalom and Joab had an epitaph written about them, it would probably state that they were rebellious and disobedient. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to live out the calling in our life. What would people put on your tombstone? As long as we have breath, we still have a chance to recalibrate our lives for maximum Kingdom impact.

When our thinking is off, we should seek the Lord and ask Him for wisdom. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus Christ, our thoughts will be taken captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5). Our old life was full of sin, but we now have a new life centered on Jesus Christ.

In this new year, we can rest in our new life in Jesus while trusting in His promises. We should remind fellow believers of our new life and we should keep moving the chains for Christ and proclaiming Him to all. We keep advancing God's kingdom even on an Earth that boos us. As believers, we will suffer, but we can have joy in the Lord because He has overcome all things.

1 John 5 tells us that everyone who believes hat Jesus is The Christ The Son of God has eternal life in heaven. When we accept the free gift that Jesus offers us, we can know for sure that we have eternal life. Collisions will happen in life, but Jesus has overcome the world and our future is secure in Him. This is the Good News of The Gospel that Jesus offers us. Do you know Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior today?

Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers were Hall of Fame football players for the Chicago Bears. They were incredible players despite being on a very mediocre team. As believers, we are called to be marvelous and to shine brightly for Christ, no matter the direction that the culture goes. We can't blend in with a mediocre culture because we have been set apart by the Holy Spirit to shine brightly in a dark world.

Joab rebelled against
David's command and he killed David's son Absalom.
As Christians, we need to spend time with the Lord and get God's take on whatever issue we are dealing with so that our thinking is right. We must go to God and ask for wisdom no matter the circumstance. We can either be like the young man who followed his chain of command in 2 Samuel 18, or we can be like Joab who was rebellious and out of control.

In 2 Samuel 18, David commanded his men to not harm his son Absalom.
Joab took things into his own hands and he rebelled against that order. As Christians, we need to be teachable and we need to make sure that we respect the chain of command in our lives. We operate out of a biblical worldview and we must let the word of God guide us.