Over the past few days I have had a very special verse on my heart. "Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules." Colossians 2:20 (NIV)

This verse poses and interesting question for us all as believers in THE Lord Jesus Christ. If we have given all we have over to Him, being baptized as a symbol the death and resurrection with Christ…. Why then do we hold on so hard to the “rules” of this world?

When Christ gave His son to die on the cross ALL was paid for and ALL has passed away. The veil between life and death was torn so that death no longer exists for those who put their faith in the Lord.

Today I would like to challenge you. Put your faith above the rules of this limited world we live in, take God out of the box that you have put Him in. Do not submit to this world!

If you are sick, believe that you are now healed! (James 5:14-15)

If you are hurting, believe that He is comforting you! (Matthew 5:4)

If you are lonely, believe that He is with you! (Zephaniah 3:17)

If you are suffering financially, believe that He is your provider and He has already gone before you to heal your financial worries! (Matthew 6:31-33)

If you are feeling judged, remember that no one save God Himself has the right to judge anyone. All of your sins were left at the cross, there is nothing left to judge. (Matthew 7:1)

If you are worried, believe that God has already handled your situation! (Philippians 4:6)

If you feel like you have no direction in your life, God has already paved a path for you! He has a plan for your life and all He asks is that you believe in that promise. (Jeremiah 29:11)

This world wants us to flounder about feeling lost and confused, allowing the limitation of this world to make us feel like we are stuck in a box with nowhere to turn. Have we forgotten so quickly that the elemental laws of this world do not apply to us!?! Have we lost sight of the fact that Christ himself sent out His Spirit to give gifts to men. (Ephesians 4:8)

His children are a powerful race that can do all things through Christ who gives us strength! (Philippians 4:17) And yet… on every turn we are denying the Spirit and forgetting our place as children of the Most High King. In 2 Corinthian’s 6:18 it says; “and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” As a Child of the King I have all the rights and privileges that come with the title of royalty!

No earthly existence should ever limit our minds to what the world says is possible. Rather we should rise above holding on to every truth and every promise from our Father, and not submit to limitations of this temporary home.

Our Family

Have you ever sat back and looked at your family. You love them, right? They are yours. That is so precious to each and every one of us. We love them despite their flaws. We each have that one cousin, or sister, brother, or even parent that makes us a little crazy! Maybe even angry at times, but we would never want any other family. They are distinctly ours.

So we go through life, loving our family and even apologizing for them from time to time. But at no point do we ever stop loving them and go find a new family, with the rare narcissistic exception to that rule. For the normal person, this is just a fact… we love our family and wouldn’t want another one. They are God’s gift.

With all of this love in us for our families, I have noticed a hard to understand trend. We are now abandoning our families and finding new ones. This seems to happen to people numerous times in their lifetime.

Why? What am I talking about?

I am referring to the church. Without genuine doctrinal reasons, we abandon our church home and family and find a new one. Why? Because we want to! We justify these actions by saying things like “I cannot stand to be in the same room worshipping with that hypocrite”, or “they were pressuring me to volunteer”, “I was tired of that persons ‘holier than thou’ attitude.”

Seems to me that we all have that one person in our family that acts in a way we do not agree with. That one person in our family that has a self-righteous attitude. That one person in our family who is always asking us to help out. But we do not abandon them and find a new family…

Make no mistake about it, in the eyes of God our father we are a family! The church is a family, and we each have our own precious church family that will be with us through eternity. And we are quick to abandon them without good reason.

Christ came and adopted us as sons and daughters; He died on the cross so that we could forever be in fellowship with Him. And so often we point the finger and spit on the cross as we angrily abandon our family.

Shame on us! Shame on us for not praying for them! Shame on us for not reaching out in love to them! Why abandon our family when God can mend all wounds, He can heal all circumstances!

I am so saddened by this trend of abandonment. In Galatians 6:2 it says “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” When people act out they are often dealing with something more then you and I can see.

But often we do not stick around to understand their burdens. Instead we allow the unseen to irritate us to the point that anger becomes sin and we abandon those who need us the most.

The next time you are sitting in your church pew, instead of judging, look past the exterior behavior and try praying for your family. The only family that will be with you through eternity.

Faith

As young women we are seen for our beauty inside and out. The men that come into our lives see us as we are and do not see the future us that we will become. We ourselves do not see the future us and our minds get lost in a moment, a glimpse of what we think our future will be. Pure beauty!

As marriage takes hold and life begins things might take on that rose colored image we saw when we were dating. This soon passes as life truly takes hold. Perhaps an argument that is left un-ended or you simply get caught up in the day to day that before you have even been married a month you feel like strangers in your own home.

This passes and soon children are introduced into the mix. Now you are juggling home, perhaps work, a baby (or two), and still trying to keep up with being a wife. Often the wife part falls by the wayside as we try and give our children what we feel they need.

Soon you are only known as; mom, maid, chef, chauffer, and Mrs. …. It is so easy to get depressed at this point. Who are you? Which name is most important? Are you mom first and Mrs. Second??? When will you have time to lose those few extra pounds? Or take a day just for you? Perhaps when the kids are out of the house? If you wait that long you will back to feeling like you are living with a stranger you married 20+ years ago.

I know these feelings. I can relate, however, it can all change for the better. We are so much more!

Proverbs 3:15 states that we are more precious than Rubies. Stop and really let that sink in!

Often times we let our lives get so much of us that we lose sight of how precious we are.

Our lives are not our own. Now let that sink in a minute. We are more precious than rubies because our lives are not our own. We belong to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We are Princesses in this world and we too often have forgotten who we are! We have let others control our happiness when our happiness comes from our Father.

When life gets me down and I find it hard to remember just how precious I am, I often go back to one very precious verse. Isaiah 40:26b “He calls them all by name and through the greatness of His power and the strength of His might, not one is missing.”

You are not missing! You are not lost! Your name is not forgotten! Find hope in these words. When you get so caught up in being mom, wife, maid, chauffer, or you are just tired of being lost in the background. Remember these words, you are God’s precious jewels and he knows your name!