In Touch - May 6, 2005

In Touch Daily Devotional 
by Dr. Charles Stanley

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Friday May 6, 2005

What Hinders Us

HEBREWS 12:1-3

 

Because God has complete knowledge and wisdom, He knows exactly how we are to live. (Romans 11:33) However, we struggle to figure it out.

 

Doubt is one reason we miss what God has planned. We wonder whether He is really interested in our problems and question when His solutions seem impractical. Feeling unworthy will also cause us to stumble. Look what happens when God reveals wonderful scenarios for our future. Thinking we are undeserving, we refuse to believe Him. Busyness often leads to drifting from godly ways. Because we are too tied up in other things, we stop asking God what He desires for our day, and we make mistakes. In all three cases, we end up out of His will.

 

Fear comes in two forms to trip us up. One is our anxiety that God might ask us to do something we don’t want to do. The other is our apprehension that we will fail at whatever He gives us to accomplish. Both kinds of disquiet cloud our judgment and hinder our ability to understand and follow His plan. When we continue in our thoughts or actions even when we know they are wrong by God's standards, we are committing willful sin. Such transgression prevents us from living in the center of the Father’s purposes. Our holy God will not tolerate such sin.

 

Replace these five obstacles with the following truths. The cross of Christ reveals both God's trustworthiness and our worth to Him. It establishes Jesus' importance in our lives, emphasizes the perfection of God's plans, and points to our freedom from slavery to sin.

 

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