Who woos you?

This week's promise: God is always calling us back to him
Have you ever rebelled against God?

"My wayward children," says the Lord, "come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts."

Jeremiah 3:22 NLT


When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and you stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

Psalm 32:305 NLT

Create in me a new heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

Psalm 41:10,12



A tug-of-war with God

The rebel rejects the expectations, rules, and power of the organization or individual holding authority.

Rebellion can be good, as when we rebel against unjust or sinful societal pressure.

Rebellion is like a great tug-of-war; the authority figure holds one end of the rope while the rebel pulls on the other. The picture changes dramatically if we imagine the rebel's feet being mired in quicksand. Such is rebellion against God. God pulls on the rope, not to ruin our lives, but to lead us toward safe footing.

from the TouchPoint Bible with commentary by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 1257 For more on this week's topic, check this Tyndale resource:

The Prodigal Brother by Sue Thompson (2005)





It is difficult to think about life as separated from this thing or that thing, as humans we tend to always relate all stories back to our selves and our own circumstances. We tend to be self centered or "I" centered.

Think about September 11, 2001.

Admittedly, most people's first thought is where they were that morning and then they normally focus on other, less self-centered thoughts. But in general, they are focused on themselves first. This is how our species has survived.

The holidays always cause me to think of others, to notice how much I have and how little other people have. There are children in this world who will never have half the life I had. Somehow though, I was not an ungrateful child, I knew I was blessed..But these children do not have anything at all. At Christmas, the older I get, the harder it is for me to even want gifts.

What I truly desire is to sell everything and to move to some third world county and serve my God.

To live out my childhood dream of being a missionary.

To me, that would truly be Christmas.