In the Christian life this is especially true.   Once you have made a commitment to serve God and leave behind a life of sin, that commitment is for a lifetime.  You can’t go back to your former life.  To do so means death – especially spiritual death.

Lot’s Wife Looked Back

The best example of this is Lot’s wife.  You will find the story in Genesis 19.

The Lord was about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their atrocious sins.  The Lord decided to save Lot and his family because of his righteousness.  The angel of the Lord told Lot to take his wife and daughters and flee the city immediately.  He also told them to not look back otherwise they will die (verse 17).  However, Lot’s wife could not help herself; she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt (verse 26).

You see, by looking back essentially she was saying, “I will miss this place despite all the wrong acts it committed.”

Change for the Better

The Christian life means change for the better.  A life filled with blessings and accomplishments.  In Proverbs it states:  “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”  (Proverbs 26:11)

Don’t be a fool and keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again, but keep working to improve your life and you will reap the rewards.

Road not Easy, but Rewarding

A Christian life may not be easy as you will not always get the things you want when you want it, as well as face persecution from those who are against your beliefs.  But despite the trials, it is a much better life than one lived apart from Jesus.  The bible teaches that:

“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.  These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure… So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world”. I Peter 1:6-7

Your trials help you to build faith and not to mention the great reward you will receive when Jesus Christ returns.  If you give up, you will lose.

Keep looking at the road and ahead and at no time look back, because God is at the end of the road.

When you involve yourself in gossping and slandering another person, this can impact negatively on your spiritual life.  You spend so much time minding other people’s business, you don’t have time for your own.

I have had the experience of people taking an interest in my personal life.  You see, I am a very reserved person.  In my workplace, I keep to myself and hardly really mingle with others.  This is not to say I am ’stuck up’ as some people think, it is I just prefer to be on my own than get involved in matters that does not concern me – office politics for one, and gossiping of other coworkers being the other.

Because I am such quiet person, people tend to take an unsettling  interest in me and ask questions of my closest friend which really does not concern them – am I married; does my husband work; where does he work; who is the father of my baby (when I was last pregnant);  etc, etc. 

I would tell her that because they don’t have a life of their own, that’s why they are so interested in mine.  Then there is the other aspect where they say nasty things about me because they don’t know anything about me.  Sometimes it just takes one person to say something and someone else expands on it and then it becomes so nasty and degrading you really wonder how some people could be so malicious.

I don’t take them on though.  I do what I have to in terms of my work and I make sure that all my conversations to others are about work and nothing more.  I think that is one of the reasons I happen to keep so young and happy.  I don’t worry unnecessarily and concern myself with only what concerns me.

If I am in the company of others and the topic happens to gravitate to gossiping about another person, I just excuse myself and go somewhere else, or just listen and have nothing to say.  I don’t like it for myself so I won’t do it someone else.

The bible says:

“Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own”.  Proverbs 26:17

What happens when you seize a dog by the ears?  It is likely to bite you.  When you meddle in matters that does not concern you, you are likely to be bitten.  This can happen by:

1. you getting hurt physically;
2. you worrying unnecessarily about something that has nothing to do with you;
3. you end up holding a grudge against someone because they refuse to take your advice;
4. you are so concerned about someone else’s problems your own life with its own problems are neglected.

Jesus Christ commanded that we love one another.  When you love, you do your best to see the good in everybody.  Don’t join in gossiping about others and don’t involve yourself in matters that don’t concern you directly.

We must all look at the positive side to any matter and pray for someone in a difficult situation for this is the only way we can truly help them.

You must remember that there is only so much you can do to live a peaceable and stress free life.  You cannot put yourself under undue stress and anxiety over things you have no control over.

For instance, as a wife, mother and career person, life can be very overwhelming with the amount of duties you have to do in a given day.  But apart from proper planning and time management, there is only so much you can do.  Trying to overstretch yourself will only make you stressed out and tired unnecessarily.

There is a saying “why put off for tomorrow what you can do today,” but if you don’t have the time today then by all means put it off for tomorrow.  God does not expect you to be super human, and this goes not only for women, but men as well.

Another stressful situation can be the lack of money.  If the money you have now can only go so far, then you have to be content with that for the moment.  Stressing yourself out over money you don’t have does not make any sense whatsoever.  Do what you can now and more will come when the time is right.

Don’t let anyone pressure you into doing something you don’t have the time, resources or inclination to do.  Happiness is your right, and you can only do so much.

“Don’t worry about anything, instead prayabout everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done.  If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand”.  Philippians 4:6-7

Fruits of the Spirit – Are you Bearing Them?

Paul and Barnabas

One of the roles of a Christian is to spread the word of God.  There are many ways to do this and it will vary from individual to individual.

Some people wait for a dramatic experience to happen to them before they can start witnessing to others.  Maybe they think something of what happened to Paul would happen to them.

The Apostle Paul was an avid persecutor of the early church, but when Jesus appeared to him in a vision, his life turned completely around and he became the apostle who took the gospel to the Gentiles.

Now, if we wait around to see visions or hear voices before we can do God’s work, then we will just wait forever.  You can only do God’s work if you really make up your mind to do it.

If you want to change your life – just do it!

If you want to do God’s work – just do it!

Don’t sit around waiting for miracles, just do what is necessary to be a witness.

Once you’ve made a start then the right help will come along.  Pray and ask God for guidance and then He would put everything in place for you to succeed.

“Draw close to God and He will draw close to you.”  James 4:8

Reflection in Water

What you think in your heart is what is reflected on the outside.  To change your outlook on life you must change how you think.  The type of life that you live is dependent on what you think and believe.

“As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects a person.”  Proverbs 27:19

To change your life to something better and more positive, you must change your thoughts.  No-one is responsible for your life but you.

What is your destiny?  Only you can decide.  Do not blame others for your failures or lack of accomplishments.  You are in control of your own life.  Your ideal life can be attained by constant positive thoughts and beliefs.  You should not change them to suit your circumstances, but build a positive, spiritual life by entertaining positive, spiritual thoughts everyday.

If you wish to change then you must build a relationship with Christ and as with any other relationship it takes commitment, patience and communication (prayer) to be successful.  Once you do this, it will be the best relationship you will ever have, and not to mention a life filled with happiness, joy and contentment.

This is a very important aspect in developing your spiritual life.  Your quiet time should not be less than one hour.  You can break this down by spending 15 minutes praying, 30 minutes reading your bible and 15 minutes meditating.  Of course if you can devote more time to your quiet time, that’s even better.

You can add reading a spiritual book, listening to an audio sermon or gospel song.  Either way make God’s time the most important item on your agenda for the day.

If it is possible, try and make it the same time everyday.  It can be early morning or late evening.  Once you’ve developed a schedule it becomes easy.  Of course, with life being what it is, it may not be possible to keep this schedule everyday, however, whatever you do, try not to postpone it.  Always make time for your quiet time.

If you study the life of Jesus Christ, he always made time to pray and prayed often.

“The next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray”.  Mark 1:35

“But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer“.  Luke 5:16

“One day soon afterward Jesus went to a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night“.  Luke 6:16

Jesus always made time for his quiet time.  Even before his crucifixion, he prayed three times in one night.  This was how he got strength to face his final hours.

“Then Jesus brought them to an olive grove called Gethsemane and he said, “Sit here while I go on ahead to pray… He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.  Yet I want your will not mine.”  Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep… Again he left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away until I drink it, your will be done.”  He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for they just couldn’t keep their eyes open.  So he went back to pray a third time, saying the same things again.”  Matthew 26:36-44

Once you’ve gotten into the habit of spending quality time with God, you can face any situation in your life, and thus, strengthen your spirituality.

Holy Bible

Many people view the Bible as an out of date book.  But do you know that the Bible is still the #1 bestseller of all time?  To live a happy, spiritual life, the bible is the first book you should turn to for help.

Those who believe the bible is a dull, boring old book obviously did not have it presented to them in the correct way.  The bible is God’s instruction manual for mankind.  It gives advice on any difficulty you may be having in your life – marriage, family, finance, health, career, religious. 

Don’t look at the Bible as a religious book, but as a resource to help you live a peaceful, happy, righteous and spiritual life.

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.  2 Timothy 3:16

The Bible – Our Instruction Manual

The Bible – A Simple Guide to Understanding the Good Book