Help yourself to the divine nature of God. You can have as much as you want–plate, after plate, after plate…
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“What are you after?”
Hmmm. What if Jesus asked me that? What if he asked you?
What am I after? What do I spend the majority of time and effort pursuing? Success? Loving relationships with my family and friends? Good health? A comfortable lifestyle? Happiness?
Too many things run through my mind.
There is nothing bad about any of these. But in my constant quest for these basically good things, I sometimes forget about Jesus. I forget to keep pursuing him. I forget that he is the main thing that I really should be after…
This is what he asked his first disciples to do, and this is what he wants from us. So how did they do it? How did they go after Jesus?
They turned from their old lives. They left what was familiar. They did not run from suffering. And they let him lead. Even when it wasn’t popular. Even when it cost.
That sounds very different than striving solely for comfort and control and good feelings.
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Jesus knew that as much as her body thirsted for water, her heart and soul were even more desperate for relationship–a knowing, compassionate, and lasting connection with someone who would love her just the way she was.
And he was offering her exactly that.
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We get to stand tall instead of staying small and scared.
We get to run free instead of being confined to the lies that we used to believe.
We get to have real and lasting hope that even the hardest things are not wasted when Jesus is in charge of our lives.
We don’t get shortchanged.
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When we feel afraid or ashamed, we can remember that God is the great giver of compassion. Not only does he buckle us in safely and take the wheel, but he will hold our hand as long as we need him to. He longs to be gracious to us. He rises up to show us compassion, even when we cannot show it to ourselves.
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The way God responds to us is astonishing. Like getting a huge bouquet of flowers on an ordinary day. Like finding out your gift card has WAY more money on it than you hoped. Like winning the grand prize in a contest with impossible odds.
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