Digging deep

Sometimes life requires us to dig in and put in extra effort - to live for God like we haven't done before, and trust in him for things we never thought would happen. The 'bigger' parts of faith seem more relevant to things like mission trips or taking on a new role at church. But, some of the things that take 'all your might' look different at second glance. Take a look at Galatians 5:22-23 - the Fruits of the Spirit passage. The fruits are a big part of faith by anyone's measure: becoming more like Jesus. And they don't generally develop easily or quickly.

Putting God's will first can take as much attention, energy and prayer as a huge mission trip, but it's life-changing and so thoroughly worth it. It takes effort to be gentle in a situation where we'd rather let anger boil over. Wrestling our human tendencies is tiring. It can take a lot of effort to exercise self-control.

To act for God when we're feeling weak can take all our might. But it's so important. When we act out of love (which is the best motive we can have, according to Corinthians 13:2), and ask God to bless our efforts, we're not pointlessly exhausting ourselves in order to 'be good'. We're being changed by him in a permanent, enriching way.



So what now? This coming week, commit to digging deeper with Jesus than you have before. Ask him to help you to pursue him with all your might. It is so worth it!





— SCRIPTURE —

'Do it with all your might.' Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV
— SOULFOOD —

Est 4:9-5:3, Heb 4:7-16