If there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” why do we Christians so often feel like we’re just not good enough? Why do we try to do more, to overcommit ourselves to accomplishing more than we ever could, as if God’s love for us depended on our accomplishments?
In my experience, to know Christ is enough and to live like it are two different things.
You think you know the direction God would have you to go. You believe you have clarity about your next steps to do what God designed you to do. You may even want to leave your current job and step out in a new direction. But your spouse doesn’t see it. What do you do?
A reader actually sent me this question recently. It’s one I receive fairly frequently from Christians trying to figure out God’s best for their lives. And it is an important one.
Smack dab in the middle between real life and real faith is—real fear. Fear of failure. Fear that we’ll look foolish. Fear that everyone will laugh when we do fail. Fear that __________ —fill in the blank with your own fear. There’s no shortage of reasons to be afraid. But how can we stop being afraid?
I believe that for those who have trusted in Christ as their only hope, God has not left us to be paralyzed by the unknown.
Instead, His Word gives us 7 steps for overcoming fear and rising victoriously above the challenges that come our way.
That’s not to say it will be easy.
So you want to step out in a new life direction. But you’re afraid. That’s normal. Fear often keeps us from moving forward. What if I showed you the steps needed to move forward with clarity, confidence, and abundant faith to live an authentic life adventure?
First let me acknowledge that I did not follow all of the steps I am about to share with you—not intentionally anyway. Some I had to learn the hard way.
Do you know where you are headed next in life? Do you know where you should be headed next? If you’re like a lot of us, you may have accidentally fallen into a life direction instead of intentionally choosing your best path.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way.
God created each one of us with unique strengths, passions, and skills sets. He gave us each unique relationship connections that open doors of opportunity unavailable to others.
And He expects us to use it all to more fully reveal His majesty on earth as it is in heaven.
You’ve probably heard it said that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. And usually that’s true. Except when we’re considering our life story – and God is involved.
Think about it.
God’s redemptive story has unfolded throughout history with a singular purpose, but it has often taken a circuitous route, twisting and turning unexpectedly, even doubling back on itself at times.
Or so it seems to us.
I had another post planned for today to help equip you to live an authentic life. I love hearing from all of you who let me know the faith challenges you face. I then prayerfully plan posts, podcasts, and other resources (in the works) to help you get clarity and confidence for living the Christian life. But today I wanted to share a few thoughts about how to get there from here.
I’ve recently had a number of conversations with people seeking clarity on life direction, something we all crave.
Every day it seems I wrestle with feeling like a failure. You probably don’t have this problem. My plans don’t work out. I don’t achieve what I thought I could have. And then I don’t have time to post the appearance of success on social media so everyone else can think I have it together and they don’t.
Our social media connected world often gives the false impression that some people have arrived.
These people post all sorts of positive stuff all the time. They seem to accomplish so much. They are perceived as the experts in [fill in the blank]. It only makes it worse when we compare our life to what seems to be their perfect world.
Someday, you will tell your story. You may tell it here and now in this life or there and then in your next season of existence, after you have “shuffled off this mortal coil.” But it’s going to happen. The question is: will your story be worth telling?
Whether or not your story will be a good one will depend on one thing – your faith.
I don’t mean your commitment to organized religion or your ability to describe a conversion experience in vivid detail. We Christians are good at assuming our story will be good because we once said a prayer to secure a spot in heaven someday. I’m not talking about fire insurance.
I’m talking about faith – doing what you believe to be true, often in spite of what you see, sense, or feel. Faith is what writes your story and determines whether it will be a story worth telling.
What if the greatest risk you face isn’t what you think?
If we listed our current top five fears (or does concerns sound like more acceptable Christianeze?), I suspect most of us would have lists like this:
Well, maybe some of us don’t worry about that last one as much as we should. But the reality is this: all but one of those fears is already in the process of fading away. The Apostle Paul said it best:
The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18
For FaithWalkers, only relationships will last beyond our brief tour of this earth. And even those often come and go throughout our brief stay. How many of us lived our high school and college years consumed with what our peers thought of us – only to seldom, if ever, see them once we passed that season of life?
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