Our family has a dog named Odie.\u00a0 Odie is an interesting dog to say the least.\u00a0 One night he starts barking incessantly.\u00a0 I am thinking that he probably needs to go outside.\u00a0 However, just a few seconds outside and it becomes very evident that he didn\u2019t have to go.\u00a0 He wanted to track something outside.\u00a0 Now this is probably a good time to mention that Odie is a dachshund, not a retriever.\u00a0 But he tries his best to track things outside.\u00a0 After getting off the porch, he immediately puts his nose to the ground and starts tracking.\u00a0 Now I was able to see what he was going after.\u00a0 However, Odie was unable to see it because he kept his head down the whole time.\u00a0 We spent about 10 minutes outside, and though I could see the cat, Odie never saw him.\u00a0What is the point of telling this story?\u00a0The point is I think sometimes we as Christians can be like Odie.\u00a0 We can focus so much on what we are doing, that we miss seeing Jesus.\u00a0 But how does this happen?<\/p>\n
I think it happens in a variety of ways.\u00a0 But the root cause of it all is the same.\u00a0 We measure who we are and our importance by what we do.\u00a0 That is to say we have an identity crisis.\u00a0 If your worth to Christ is measured by what you do for Him, then you will be on a never-ending treadmill of ups and downs.\u00a0Some days things just seem to click.\u00a0We get up before the alarm goes off, and we get right to our quiet time and prayer time.\u00a0 Then there are days when every thing seems to go wrong.\u00a0 We oversleep because we set our alarm clock for p.m. instead of a.m.\u00a0 The kids get up earlier than normal or they just seem to fuss and fight with each other and they make it impossible to get alone with God.\u00a0 When we don\u2019t know who we are in Christ, we can believe that we have somehow let God down or that we are a failure.\u00a0 Or there can be times in which we fight temptation and overcome it through the power of God, and we think that God loves us so much right now because of it.\u00a0 But let a temptation get the best of us, and suddenly we are a failure because we sinned, and so there is no way that God could possibly love us. \u00a0I wonder how many of you reading this right now can identify with this roller coaster of emotions?\u00a0 Again, I want to emphasize that it is because you are suffering from an identity crisis right now.\u00a0 You believe that your worth to God is tied to your obedience to God.\u00a0 So I want to say this, you cannot do anything to make God love you more than He already does, and you can\u2019t do anything to make God love you any less than He already does.\u00a0 How do we know this?\u00a0 Because of the truth of Romans 5:8, \u201cBut God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus thought we were worth dying for when we were sinners!\u00a0 So if He loved us that much when we were sinners, how could He love us anymore now?\u00a0 Should we be obedient to God?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0In fact, Jesus says our obedience to Him shows our love for Him.\u00a0 But don\u2019t think that our love for God affects His love for us.<\/p>\n
Pastor Justin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our family has a dog named Odie.\u00a0 Odie is an interesting dog to say the least.\u00a0 One night he starts barking incessantly.\u00a0 I am thinking that he probably needs to go outside.\u00a0 However, just a few seconds outside and it … Read More