The ‘Just Stay Home’ Parent Trap
Read The Daily:
Now take my yoke and put it on you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle. And you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
Matt reminds us that the most meaningful things in life are rarely the easiest. Parenting is full of incredible joy, but it also stretches us in ways we never expected. The same is true of following Jesus. We sometimes expect faith to remove hardship, but Jesus never promised a life without challenges. Instead, He promised His presence in the middle of them. When we stop fighting the reality that life can be both beautiful and difficult, we begin to experience the peace Christ offers. Today, instead of asking God to remove every struggle, ask Him to help you walk faithfully through it. His yoke is light because He carries the weight with you.
Check out c3church.tv/whatsnext to see how you can help us build What’s Next at C3
Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.
Read The New Testament In A Year
Jesus instructed him, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.” But the man couldn’t keep it to himself, and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to listen and be healed of their ailments. As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer. One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him. Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, “Friend, I forgive your sins.” That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins.” Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it–got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous–and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!” Luke 5:14-26
If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries. There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down– and the very last enemy is death! 1 Corinthians 15:19-26