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๐—ง๐—›๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—” ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฃ๐—œ๐—— ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฆ๐—ง

StaceyLovesJesus

Saved by the blood of Jesus Christ Yeshuaโฃ๏ธ
๐—ง๐—›๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—” ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฃ๐—œ๐—— ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฆ๐—ง

If youโ€™ve never done or said anything stupid, thereโ€™s nothing to see here. But for the rest of us, I share this oddly comforting quote:

โ€œ๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™‚๐™ค๐™™ ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™– ๐™˜๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ก๐™ž๐™›๐™š, ๐™ƒ๐™š ๐™–๐™ก๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ.โ€

Itโ€™s not a Bible verse. And I really donโ€™t know who said it. But I have to admitโ€ฆ with what scripture says about Godโ€™s sovereignty, and what He says about us as ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑโ€ฆ the quote rings true.

๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฃ๐—œ๐——๐—œ๐—ง๐—ฌ ๐——๐—˜๐—™๐—œ๐—ก๐—˜๐——. โ€œStupidityโ€ can be defined here as anything weโ€™ve done that reflects ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ฅ๐˜จ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ตโ€ฆ That relationship I got into. That job I shouldnโ€™t have taken. That move. That purchase. That direction. A missed opportunity. Because of poor judgments, some believers go through life wondering if they missed Godโ€™s will for their life. Theyโ€™re stuck with His plan B (or E or Gโ€ฆor ZZZ). But the truth is, our Savior is so much greater than our stupidity.

๐—›๐—˜ ๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—”๐——๐—ฌ ๐—ž๐—ก๐—ข๐—ช๐—ฆ. Psalm 139 clearly teaches us that He knows each of us individually and intimately. That has to include all the stupid things weโ€™ve said and done, and even future stupidity. Heโ€™s acquainted with ALL our ways. Though we cannot fathom this next truth, itโ€™s nonetheless true: ๐Ÿ‘‰ the Lord has recorded all the days of our lives before any of them ever happened. (vs 16) ๐Ÿคฏ And yet, He called us to Himself and is continually at work within us to give us the desire and will to please Him. (Psalm 139:1-4; Philippians 2:13; John 1:16) #GraceUponGrace

๐—ข๐—ฉ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—–๐—ข๐— ๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฃ๐—œ๐——. A popular secular saying today is, โ€œ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜น ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ.โ€ That may be true. But the ways of God ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š stupid. We may delay His plan for our lives by our blunders, but we simply cannot ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ foil it. (We are not that powerful.) Like a GPS that continually re-directs a wrong turn, or a potter who squeezes and reshapes his clay to make adjustments and correct imperfections โ€ฆ God, as Sovereign, always has the upper hand. He uses ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ in our lives to serve His good purpose: to conform us to Christ and bring praise to His glorious grace. (Ephesians 1:6; Romans 8:28; Jeremiah 18:4)

๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—™๐—˜ ๐—•๐—˜๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—ก๐—— ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฃ๐—œ๐——. Knowing this truth is of course not meant to give us an excuse to live carelessly (after all, we will live with the consequences). This understanding however encourages us ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ. And that is no small thing. Itโ€™s a huge boost towards living more wisely and carefully (โ€œwalk circumspectlyโ€, Eph 5:15-17) without fearing our own stupidity along the way.

If Godโ€™s love depended on us getting everything right, weโ€™d all be in trouble. So do not lose heart. He has factored in our stupidity. You are fully seen, fully known, and fully loved in Christ.

๐Ÿ“– โ€œ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ตโ€ฆ โ€œ (Philippians 1:6) ๐Ÿ’Ÿ

~ Ruth Brentner
 
๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™‚๐™ค๐™™ ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™– ๐™˜๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ก๐™ž๐™›๐™š, ๐™ƒ๐™š ๐™–๐™ก๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ.โ€
Sad, but true. The Lord knew of my many shortcomings yet still offered me the free gift of salvation, a gift I clearly canโ€™t earn, but am eternally thankful to have received it.
 
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