As a bivocational pastor, I have the privilege of pastoring a rural church and working at Autozone. It is an interesting vantage point on life here in the so called "Bible Belt". Over the last several years of working in this way I have seen many people, get themselves into trouble while working on their cars and trucks.
Broken flanges, bolts, parts, you name it I have seen it come through our doors. Many times these broken things are accompanied by anger and frustration which a lot of times could be avoided, if the worker had just used the correct tool to repair their vehicles, in the first place.
I have been thinking about this over the last few weeks as I prepared to finish a sermon series on 2 Timothy 3:16-17, and I could not help but see that Christians many times find themselves frustrated and anxious like a misguided "do it yourselfer".
We as believers in Christ as Lord, and Savior of our lives, have in fact been given everything we need, in the Scriptures, to be, "equipped for every good work." Sadly though, more and more Christians have neglected this tool all together, and find themselves overwhelmed by the situations God has placed them in for their growth in faith and devotion to Him. We have been given the full and complete Revelation of God, that shows us how we can be made righteous in His Son, and how we are to live faithfully and obediently, "working out our salvation," the problem is we repeatedly reject and neglect this our most powerful tool for facing the adversary who is seeking to destroy our lives and testimonies.
So I challenge you brothers and sisters in Christ, know that you will face temptations and trials, but know that you have been given everything you will ever need to overcome and succeed in being obedient to Christ, if you would just use it. Remember even our Savior in His perfect example used the Scripture to overcome the snares of the devil. If it was good enough to be trusted and used by Him, what's stopping you?
That's good stuff!! Thanks for sharing.
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