Gifts From the King

When you get a new toy, whether it is an action figure, a new phone or a television, your first instinct is to protect it and keep it looking shiny and new. Do you leave it in the rain? Do you drop it on the ground? Drag it through the mud? No, that would do nothing but batter and bruise it.

So why then, do we do that with our lives? The lives we are living are all new and wonderful gifts from God. Yet we drench our minds with bad shows. We drop bad music into our brains. We drag this gift through the world, this imperfect, unholy, scary world. We are battered and bruised, some of us beyond recognition.

God gives us this life to live for him. It’s his life, his gift that has been given to us, that we may use it properly, to bring people to know him. How am I supposed to do that when I am immersing myself in this world, this evil? I pray that God will show me (and you) what he wants me (us) to do with his perfect gift that we so easily ruin.

However, no matter how much we attempt to destroy this perfect gift, it never ends. Now, this is where it gets confusing. This doesn’t mean we won’t die, of course we will. But beyond the gift of life, God has given us another; this gift God has given us is the gift of eternal life. And though we lie, cheat, steal and hurt others, God still loves us. We are never crushed, abandoned or ultimately, destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

No matter how hard we try, our new toy always gets worn, beaten and in the end, destroyed. Much like our lives. No matter how much we do to work against it, the world tarnishes, scratches and bruises this gift. But unlike our new toy, our lives don’t get destroyed. Yes, there are many sad cases of lives being destroyed, people dying without knowing the Lord. But there are many that will hear of this great gift we’ve been given, and will begin to repair it, working towards the end goal: eternal life.

Though the world presses down on us, trying to cause us to destroy our gift, God is always there protecting us, reminding us of the wonderful life He has given us, and how much He has in store for us if we simply hold on.

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed”   2 Corinthians 4:8-9  

And the funny thing is, it's okay

**Listen to this first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8cJQMU9Q-U

I'm frustrated.

Because I want to say something.

But I have nothing to say. That happens sometimes (shocking, I know).

And that's okay.

So instead of talking, I'm going to listen.

Listening is better than talking. 

Listening to other people. To the sounds of nature. To a child talking. 

To a song that perfectly captures what you are trying to say, without you even knowing you were trying to say it.  

But especially to God. It's good to listen to Him. He says good stuff.