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Don’t Be Distracted From Your Purpose
by Rick Warren |
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Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22 (NIV) Living this decade for the glory of God will require a change in your priorities, your schedule, your relationships, and everything else. It will sometimes mean choosing a difficult path instead of the easy one. Steve Adams, our pastor to children at Saddleback Church, says when we are moving forward in the direction God tells us, “Action requires traction, but the enemy brings distraction.” In other words, we can’t just say we believe in God’s plan, or say we need to take some steps. God requires that we take real steps to move us forward. But the enemy, as Steve notes, rushes in with distractions designed to pull us away from God’s plan. We become like the man described by James in the Bible, who looks into a mirror, but then forgets what he looks like as he walks away. Distractions such as bad attitudes, excuses, procrastination, and busyness make us mere ‘listeners’ of the word when God calls us to be ‘doers.’ We face a choice with every step we take into this decade of destiny: Will we fulfill God’s purpose, or will we shrink back and live a comfortable, self-centered life? Will we live for our own goals, comfort, and pleasure, or will we live the rest of our lives for God’s glory, knowing that he has promised eternal rewards? |
Fellowship of Christians and Jews:
Israel — alone?
March 23, 2011
While Israel is still reeling from the murders of a Jewish couple and
three of their sleeping children less than two weeks ago, the
Palestinians have upped the ante by firing rockets and Grad missiles
against Israeli towns. And today, terrorists set off a bomb that blew
up an Israeli city bus traveling in the heart of Jerusalem.
With all of this brutal terror striking the heart of Israel, the
Israeli people are fed up! We are fed up with the Palestinian
Authority’s double talk of condemning terrorist attacks for the
western media while promoting terror to their society. We are fed up
with Hamas and the Islamists’ implacable hatred of all things Israeli
and Jewish.
And we are also appalled at the lack of support Israel receives from
many western countries. Israel is fighting on the front lines of the
war against terror. Israel stands for the same values of freedom and
democracy that so many in the West claim to champion. But, not only do
we receive precious little political support from many western allies,
we are all too often condemned for acting in self-defense.
The fact is that many people in Israel simply feel that we are on our
own. We cannot hope that the West will sympathize with and support our
war against terror. At the end of the day, Israel alone must show her
enemies that she will not tolerate any form of attacks on Israeli
soil. Israel alone must demonstrate the will and determination to
defeat terrorism and to punish all those that would eliminate the
Jewish state.
As unfavorable as that might be in the international community, it is
what’s best for Israel. And it’s what we must do — for our own
survival.
