Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Location 878). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I really don’t believe that is God’s way with us.   O yes, there are things he doesn’t want us to do that will hold us back in our spiritual formation but the truth is, he created us to do something. Mark says, “Goodness is not the absence of badness. After all, you can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Would you rather be right or righteous? They are not one and the same. Righteousness isn’t just being right; it’s doing something right. It’s not just breaking even; it’s going all in and all out for Christ.” He then says, “Too many Christ followers are playing not to lose, and that’s what results in if only regrets. It’s like a prevent defense in football, which in my opinion, doesn’t prevent anything except a touchd...

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Location 907). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I know, I know the phrase, born again can have negative overtones to some but it usually comes from someone who put pressure on you.   Here is how Mark says it, “When you put your faith in Christ, it’s a hard reset. It doesn’t just clear the cache. It completely clears your history, as if it never happened. That’s what the word justified means— just as if I’d never sinned. That’s more than a mnemonic device. It’s more than a paradigm shift. It’s a factory reset.”   He then says, “At the cross, Jesus turns if only regrets into what if possibilities. He sets us free from sin and the shameful feelings that go with it. The prison doors of past guilt and future fear fly wide open. If you fear God, you have nothing else to fear....

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Location 562). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) And we have felt that, haven’t we? Mark says, “Satan is a complex personality, but one of his monikers is ‘the accuser of our brethren.’   Condemnation is his native tongue. He tries to remind us of everything we’ve done wrong over and over again like a broken record. Why? So that all of our emotional energy is spent on past guilt. That way we have no emotional energy left over to dream God-sized dreams or pursue God-ordained passions.” Did you catch that?   We spend so much emotional energy on past guilt “so we have no emotional energy left over to dream God-sized dreams or pursue God-ordained passions.”   He goes on, “The irony of his accusations is this: he leaves our unconfessed sins alone. Why wake a sleeping...