Oh, Oh, Oh, Green Giant
As part of my devotional time this morning, I read an inspiring blog post about how to stop comparing ourselves with others and live the life God designed us to live. This is an area I struggle with regularly as I always feel I’m falling behind or missing the mark in various areas of my life.
Evidently, my battle with envy is even more severe than I thought because as I read this dear Christian woman’s blog, I felt myself turning green.
When Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You
In Ezra 4, we see the enemies of Judah and Benjamin trying to stop the rebuilding of the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. They first tried to worm their way into the project, probably to sabotage the building efforts. When that didn’t work, the Bible says they weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them. We can only imagine their tactics, but the Jews continued their work despite the fierce opposition. The next assault from the enemy was a legal one. In grand toddler fashion, these men of importance wrote a letter to the king and tattled on the Jews. Mature!
Picture Perfect
For the past few weeks, I’ve been in the process of building my new website and updating our mission website to reflect our new “on the field” status. The task requires hours of tedious work, from deciding on colors to choosing a layout. While there are parts of the designing I enjoy, a lot of it is time-consuming work.
Camping Out With the Giant
Picture the scene, if you will. Two great armies. Israel on one hill; the Philistines on the other. In the valley between stands a giant. Mean. Tough. And, ugly, I would assume, but the Bible doesn’t say one way or another. What the Scriptures do make evident, however, is that Goliath was a bully. He was bigger than everyone else, and he knew it. So, acting on behalf of his nation, he sets forth a challenge: Israel could send out their best champion to fight Goliath. If Israel’s champion won, they would be the victors and vice versa. Challenge extended.
Comparing, Complaining, or Content?
No matter where you live or what stage of life you’re in, we all have to make a daily (and sometimes moment-to-moment) choice about our attitudes. Yes, as difficult as it is to believe and admit, we can—and do—choose our attitudes. We put them on just as we would a warm coat or a pair of socks. Sometimes we do it without even thinking, but we do it just the same.