God wants us to engage our hurting society and address its problems, but He wants us to do so on His terms. Those terms begin with working within the system to seek justice. We do this by obeying the rules ourselves, and then holding the system accountable to follow its own rules and improve itself.
If we want to be spiritually healthy, we must accept Paul’s “healthy” teaching about salvation – namely, that everyone needs saving, we can’t save ourselves, and only Jesus can save us. All spiritual health is built on this foundation.
We become spiritually unhealthy when we choose to follow leaders with awful teaching and despicable character. Before long we find ourselves consumed with the wrong priorities, focusing on worthless distractions instead of our true purpose as believers in Jesus.
It’s easy to lose our motivation to be spiritually healthy, isn’t it? In those moments, we need outside help, and the apostle Paul is the perfect person to serve as our personal spiritual trainer. His qualifications are impeccable and his heart is driven by a desire to see us succeed- let’s listen to him!
Jesus wanted us to know, as we wait for the Kingdom, that He would one day come back to the earth, both to reunite with His people and to rule and judge humanity. This should encourage us to be ready and eager for that day to come! SHOW MORE
It was only natural for the disciples to want God’s Happy Ending for the world immediately – they’d been through so much! But Jesus challenged them to be patient, for they had work to do first. The good news was that they’d have help along the way, and their happy ending was soon to come.
Disappointment with God’s choices of how to run the universe is inevitable when we encounter circumstances that make no sense to us. Jesus calls us in those moments to express it to Him openly, study the clues that He has left behind for understanding, and trust His heart that it’s all necessary.