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Yesterday during the Memorial Day sermon, God took my mind in another direction.

The Son of God was sinless, always did the right thing & completely innocent of the charges brought against him. Yet he was not a wealthy man, was mocked, spit upon, severely beaten and crucified.

The disciples, those closest to God in flesh as he walked the earth, lived their lives according to scripture. Yet they were beaten, imprisoned and martyred.

The highest honors/medals awarded in the US come at great personal sacrifice.

We do the right thing, live our lives & run our businesses with honesty and integrity, yet struggle financially. To add fuel to the fire, we see dishonest and ruthless individuals prosper! We ask how this can be & pick out men like Solomon and Abraham who were blessed with wealth as proof that this doesn't make sense.

We don't like to think of those men and women in scripture whose service cost them everything. They were not wealthy and they were not safe from harm. They knew they would likely suffer and die, but chose to follow Christ anyway. What did they have that made it all seem worth it? It had to be more than what was to come in eternity. These men faced and were facing severe persecution.

Paul and Silas held a worship service while chained up in a nasty prison cell, for pete's sake. I want what they had, whatever is more precious than anything this world has to offer, whatever is more precious than even life itself.

That's why we live according to scripture. It's not so we can live in a bubble of protection from anything bad and not so we can be blessed with monetary wealth. It's for the peace that passes all understanding, the deep abiding joy, the scripture that strikes the chords of our soul, the sweet fellowship with our creator, the compassion you feel for a stranger, the thrill of the ride, the calm in the storm, the unexpected wow, the dance with the Father of all creation.

It's worth it. Our Father and all He desires to pour out on us and within us is worth whatever the cost. We have the hope of eternity, but we have more than we could ever imagine waiting for us right here, right now.
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Very well versed Joy, thank you for your post. That is one fact about being a Christian that many don't understand. The "peace" of God's presence, His Holy Spirit within. How when things are at it's worst we still have hope and prevail. Or as the Scriptures put it, about Christians:

From the Contemporary English Version Galatians 5:22-25 (CEV) 22 God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, 23 gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. 24 And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. 25 God's Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit.


From the Amplified Version Galatians 5:22-25 (AMP) 22 But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, 23 Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge]. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires. 25 If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]

I put two versions because I also enjoy the elaboration that the Amplified brings to the scriptures.

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