(Some material adapted Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst)
Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the
fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to
seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
Hosea 10:12
Hosea 10:12
At the end of the week, at the end of the Bible Study, at the end of the book, we still don’t have all the answers and we still haven’t arrived. We may be better equipped, but we still may fail at times. We are human. We are sometimes weak and often tired and again wondering why? Why do we have all these things that come at us daily that try us so? The beautiful verse from above found in Hosea gives us a perfect charge to press on.
Sow
Righteousness for Yourselves…Sow seeds of righteousness into
your life – in other words, make right choices that honor God. Purposefully make these choices. Choose Him and honoring Him in the midst of
all – all the chaos and all the unglued moments. Even when you are disheveled, discouraged,
and at the end of your resource, honor Him still.
Reap
the Fruit of Unfailing Love… Satan’s great tactic is to get you
all tangled up in little things (unglued moments) that make you forget, or
doubt, the unfailing love of God. Every
choice we make that honors God, also bears the fruit of His unfailing
love. Resist Satan’s distracting
entanglements by honoring God in the choice you are faced with right now.
Break
up your Unplowed Ground…Don’t resist the blessing of brokenness
that plows up the ground of your heart.
Plowing up the ground of your heart will make it ready for new life,
growth, and maturity.
Until
He Comes and Showers His Righteousness on you… Give grace and
grace will be given to you. When we
grow, we are able to make better choices and look at life, people, and annoying
circumstances differently. We are
equipped to make different choices and respond in different ways. We may even get to the point we can thank God
for these hard places in life and see the value in the way it changes us.
Grace Spaces
The unglued moments of our lives provide the opportunity for us to allow God to change us, to help us grow. A little change goes a long way on our journey of imperfect progress. Our unglued moments can bring us closer to God and holiness. Part of this process is creating more grace spaces in our hearts. The catch is that we have to choose grace. We have to make a conscious choice to choose patience, gentleness, and grace. We have to choose to let God chisel, allowing Him to create a beautiful masterpiece out of our lives. He wants us to know victory over these hard places in life.
The unglued moments of our lives provide the opportunity for us to allow God to change us, to help us grow. A little change goes a long way on our journey of imperfect progress. Our unglued moments can bring us closer to God and holiness. Part of this process is creating more grace spaces in our hearts. The catch is that we have to choose grace. We have to make a conscious choice to choose patience, gentleness, and grace. We have to choose to let God chisel, allowing Him to create a beautiful masterpiece out of our lives. He wants us to know victory over these hard places in life.
Unending Grace
God’s grace is not something we earn by being “good” or perfect. There is nothing you can do to get it. It is given freely and abundantly and it never runs out. Let’s face it, there are people who probably use up their quota of God’s grace and cut into other people’s as well. God still loves us and has grace not matter how many times we mess us and trudge back to His arms with our heads hung low wondering “Have I done it this time?” Have I used every bit of grace allowed to me and now He will turn me away and say “Sorry, you don’t get anymore.” After all, the people in our lives do that sometimes. There may be a spouse or a friend that turns away and says “No more grace. I am done.” But God is not like that, thank goodness! He knows the secrets we harbor deep inside that would drive others away and He loves us anyway and showers us with His unending grace. We are human and we aren’t capable of having the grace that God show us but we can extend more when we remember the undeserving grace that is given to us.
God’s grace is not something we earn by being “good” or perfect. There is nothing you can do to get it. It is given freely and abundantly and it never runs out. Let’s face it, there are people who probably use up their quota of God’s grace and cut into other people’s as well. God still loves us and has grace not matter how many times we mess us and trudge back to His arms with our heads hung low wondering “Have I done it this time?” Have I used every bit of grace allowed to me and now He will turn me away and say “Sorry, you don’t get anymore.” After all, the people in our lives do that sometimes. There may be a spouse or a friend that turns away and says “No more grace. I am done.” But God is not like that, thank goodness! He knows the secrets we harbor deep inside that would drive others away and He loves us anyway and showers us with His unending grace. We are human and we aren’t capable of having the grace that God show us but we can extend more when we remember the undeserving grace that is given to us.
Scripture to Claim:
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. Ephesians 4:7
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. Ephesians 4:7
