Like Others

1 Samuel 8:20 - We want to be like the nations around us.  Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.

The people had clearly lost their way here, despite Samuel's best efforts to change their minds.  God never intended for His chosen people to be like everyone else.  His plan has always been for us to be set apart and holy because He is holy.  This was well demonstrated by Jesus.  Though He is fully God, He was also fully man.  As a man, He was not like the others of His time (or any time for that matter).  He was perfect and sinless.  He showed us what it meant to be set apart and holy.  This is what we should all be striving for.  Not to be perfect, because it is already too late for that.  But we should be striving to be set apart and holy by God's amazing grace and love.  Once we have accepted God's sacrifice and Jesus as our savior, God begins to transform us.  We are works in progress, and the work on our part doesn't end until we pass on from this life and into God's glorious and eternal Kingdom.

Have I allowed God to transform my life?  Yes I have.  I am certainly far from perfect, but I really have felt God's Holy Spirit moving in me lately.  I have felt God calling me to do more for His Kingdom.  I need to make sure that I am trusting His plan for me, and doing what He tells me to do.  He wants me to be set apart and holy, and if I am hesitating to follow Him, I won't be.  Just like in 2 Timothy 1:7, He didn't give me a spirit of timidity and fear, but of power (His power through me), love (love for God and others more than myself), and self-discipline (to train myself to trust Him completely).

Dear Lord, thank You for Your wonderful plans for me.  Thank You for finding a use for a no good sinner like me, which is proof that You can use anyone for anything great and mighty.  I pray for Your guidance and wisdom to keep me on the straight and narrow path and focused only on You, as I work for Your eternal Kingdom.  In Jesus' name, Amen!



God Bless!!!