Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Across the Pastor’s Desk by Jill Marin

My friend, this is your time. This is your time to leave the old behind. This is your time to rise above. This is your time to make your move.

Ever get sick and tired of being sick and tired? Life can become so heavy at times, that we just want to stop the world and get off. We can feel stuck, hopeless and insignificant. We can feel full of guilt and shame. My friend, it’s time to leave the old behind. Is that possible? Yes! Turn away from the old life, and turn toward God. He will make you brand new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17). It’s your time to leave the old behind.

Are you over all the drama? Life around us can seem so contentious and uncaring at times. People can seem so bound to their way of thinking that others can be ridiculed and unvalued. Have we ever fallen into that thinking trap ourselves? My friend, it’s time to rise above. God has a better way for us. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord…” (Jer 29:11-14a). It’s your time to rise above.

Are you tired of spinning your wheels? Do you feel there is something more in life, something you’re missing? My friend, there is more. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Do you wonder if God cares about you, even cares enough about you to call you? He is calling you. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mat 11:28) Do you focus on your imperfections, and feel you’re not perfect yet, so you can’t make that move toward God? Come to God first, and then you will have the strength and help to address all that other stuff. He wants you. You belong with him. He loves you. He will never turn you away. God says, “All those the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37) My friend, it’s time to make your move.

 

Jill Marin is a pastor at Grace Christian Church.