{"id":14410,"date":"2016-03-09T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mintools.com\/blog\/?p=14410"},"modified":"2024-11-19T15:09:25","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T20:09:25","slug":"destination-vs-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mintools.com\/blog\/destination-vs-journey.htm","title":{"rendered":"Christian Life: Destination vs. Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

The church of Ephesus in Revelation 2 did all the right stuff yet Jesus said, “You have forsaken the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:4).<\/span> The Christian life was becoming more about duty<\/a> for them. The reason is not specifically identified in this passage but perhaps somehow they got to thinking that because they were doing what they should be doing, they had arrived. Here’s the problem: We can never out love the Lord. We will always have room to grow in our love relationship with Him. Remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Philippi. — “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more …” (Phil. 1:9)<\/span><\/p>\n

The Christian life is a process. We never arrive. We continually press on (Phil. 3:10-14).<\/span> When we get stuck in ruts it is often because we lost sight of the venture.<\/p>\n

What to do if you feel you have gone as far as you can go in the Christian life:<\/h2>\n
\"Forsaken<\/a>
(Click to enlarge in Pinterest & repin.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We’ve been looking at Jesus’ solution for the Church in Ephesus:<\/p>\n

Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first. (Rev. 2:5, NASB)<\/em><\/p>\n

Remember<\/strong> how overwhelmed you were with the love of God when you first trusted in Him. When you realized there was nothing you could do to merit salvation (Eph. 2:8-9), that salvation was a gift of grace from a God who loved you enough to die for you (Jn 3:16; Rom. 5:8), you undoubtedly had a sense that you could never out love the Lord.<\/p>\n

Repent<\/strong> of minimizing the love of God by thinking you’ve now arrived. God’s love is so great, you will always be on a journey toward loving Him more and more as He loves you. Doing things that please Him is not all He wants from you. — “To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mk. 12:33)<\/span><\/p>\n

Retool<\/strong> by establishing a new goal similar to that of the Apostle Paul’s in Philippians 3:12.<\/span> — “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”<\/p>\n

Even heaven<\/a> is not our destination. It will be our eternal home but it is not the objective of the Christian life. Our goal is to love the Lord our God with ALL of who we are. That is something we will continue to learn to do through all of eternity. Our journey will take on a whole new dimension when we have our glorified bodies, new minds and heart in heaven, but it still will not end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The church of Ephesus in Revelation 2 did all the right stuff yet Jesus said, \u201cYou have forsaken the love you had at first\u201d (Rev. 2:4). The Christian life was becoming more about duty for them. The reason is not specifically identified in this passage but perhaps somehow they got to thinking that because they were doing what they should be doing, they had arrived. Here\u2019s the problem: We can never . . . Continue reading Christian Life: Destination vs. Journey<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc-walk-with-god"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t