NOW! Monday, November 3, 2008

Were you aware that something incredible happened this morning?  When you woke up, there was a brief moment that passed that you might have missed.  Do you know what this event was?  Simply…an opportunity for a clean start whizzed by you.

Everyday brings a new promise of hope as it unfolds and yesterday is over and written into your history book.  But for some strange reason, we feel compelled to reach back into where we’ve been and drag all of our garbage forward into the new day.  Don’t sit and try to convince me that you have to hang on to your junk because you’re not finished working on it.  The truth is that you live in fear of what life would be if you laid down all of your luggage and started fresh.

There is some strange comfort in wallowing in your pit… but it makes you smell bad.  Stop it.

How many times have you asked God to forgive you of some things that you really aren’t happy about in your life… only to find that those things are still around and they haunt you every morning.  God has promised you that when you honestly ask Him to forgive you… He does and He forgets.  So why do you continue to carry that baggage with you?

Living a Christian life isn’t a complicated journey.  God says simply that you should love Him with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself.  How can you love others when you don’t even love yourself enough to drop your baggage?  Prove to me that hanging on to your garbage somehow shows how much you love God because you need Him?  Don’t even bother… it doesn’t work that way.

I made a vow with myself back at the beginning of this year that “No man can steal my joy”.  This came on the heels of asking God for relief from the obsurd challenges I was facing at the beginning of the year.  I couldn’t find relief and was becoming anxious and almost angry that God wasn’t taking my problems away.  Then it became crystal clear one morning as I was standing in the shower… “no man can steal my joy”.

If you aren’t happy, or you are carrying around a load of garbage, don’t blame God and don’t blame anyone else but yourself… you woke up this morning and you picked it back up.  God forgives and forgets… why can’t you?  Why do you feel as if you can handle this life on your own… your own way?  Are you better than God?  I don’t think so.

There is an amazing transformation that takes place in life every time a Christian looks around and says… ENOUGH.  It happens when you transition past letting the burden of the world hold you pinned to the ground… and you start letting those things go and leaving them in the day that you found them.

Don’t bring your problems into today.  Leave them where they were when you closed your eyes for sleep.  You can argue all you want about how you have to solve these problems or your life is doomed and your joy will never come back.

Listen to me when I tell you this:  NO MAN CAN STEAL YOUR JOY… NO MAN.  I don’t care what you are facing in your life… God is bigger.  When you pray to God to relieve you of the pressure… don’t go back and pick it back up – if you do…that’s your fault.  Don’t be a whiner about it either.  What are you asking of God and what are you saying about God when you ask Him to forgive and relieve you for something over and over and over again?

Today…your day has started, and you have some things that you’ve brought with you.  Finish those items and find a place to put your garbage tonight.  When you wake up tomorrow… leave it alone and enjoy and brand new day.

Peace,
GREG
ACTS 4:31

About

Welcome, and thanks for dragging yourself over to Live|Bold! My name is Greg Arnold and I am pumped to see you here. This interactive online community is here to point every man toward the cross. Whether you have been a follower of Christ for ages, or you are just stumbling into this strange new world of faith, we have something of value to offer you. This online e-zine is a cross between a blog, a social network, a resource center, and a pulpit. My hope is to inspire you to live your faith on the outside and be a real man for God. We need you in the fight.