Receive mercy & grace

Hebrews 4:14-16

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Are you weak? Of course you are. In some area you have weakness. It's not about our weakness, it's about His strength. Even when we're weak, in Jesus, we are strong. We don't have to have pity parties where we summarize, or even speak at length, about "How unworthy we are of God's love......since we were such scumbags.......and we are still weak in this area and that area....." Stop it! Quit focusing on who you used to be, and your inability to be perfect, and focus on His perfection......His ability to change and transform you if you are willing. This is going to surprise some of you, but so be it. Jesus didn't die on the cross so we could all be exactly alike! Did you know that? He doesn't want robots, and cookie-cutter Christians. You are who you are. Some of us are more emotional than others. Some of us are more compassionate than others. Some have a shorter fuse than others. It's not enough to say "That's the way we are, and that's the way we'll always be." As I said the other day, we're all being perfected, or sanctified, daily. Most of our problems emotionally (at least as men.....I can't tell you in depth how a woman feels, because guess what? I'm not one) come from pride. Boys are taught to be tough, that crying is for girls and wimps. We carry much of those things with us into our Christian walk. Jesus wept several times in the bible within a 3 year span of time. How many before? We don't know. We should never let "feelings" dictate our entire lives, or make rash decisions when we're all messed up emotionally. That's why when a spouse dies, the remaining spouse should wait at least a year before making any BIG decisions. We're all going to have things that upset us as well. I don't share this much, and some of you don't know it. I'm the one who found my dad when he died in 1988. Mom came in shortly after. One of my fears is finding my mom like that. That terrifies me at times. And yes, the enemy uses it to scare me once in a while too. But with the Lord's help I deal with it. If it ever happens, I know the Lord will give me the strength to deal with it. But with all our fears and shortcomings we can STILL come before the throne of grace, boldly and receive mercy and grace!!! I'm happy to say there are fewer things that concern me about day to day life, because I know the Lord is in control, and He's promised to always be with me. I can try to leave Him, but He will never leave me! But as David mentions in Psalm 139, no matter where I go, the Lord is there. I can't run from Him, I can't hide from Him. I can't deceive Him, but I can deceive myself. And I can allow myself to be deceived by the devil if I choose to believe his lies. Jesus described him as a liar, and the father of all lies. I can't be you, and you can't be me. We are all striving to be more like Jesus, but we shouldn't be striving to be more like each other. Let me give some examples. I preach, but I can't consider myself a failure if I don't preach like John Hagee, or Joel Olsteen, or Benny Hinn, my uncle, my cousin,.......or ____________ you fill in the blank. I'm a singer/songwriter/musician, but I can't consider myself a failure if I don't sing like Third Day, or Michael W. Smith, or ________ you fill in the blank. How is music most beautiful? It's most beautiful when there are major and minor parts being played and/or sung at the same time. If they're all singing or playing exactly the same notes, it's quite boring and not very pleasant to listen to. An orchestra must play together. All the different parts in unity. An oboe by itself sounds silly, comical even. We are God's orchestra. All together, but all just a little bit different. Unity is the key. I pray you all have a great day, and a splendid weekend. God bless you all. :-) James

PS: I'm sorry for my grammatical and/or spelling errors from time to time. I usually remember to do the spell check thingy, but sometimes I proofread the post and miss something. I guess I'm still being perfected in that area too. Hehehehe.