Nothing, But God...

     What would it mean to you if you were stripped of everything you had, much like Job, except for your relationship with God? How would you define yourself, your life? Who would you say you were? In this economy, people are losing jobs, marriages are falling apart and some are considering suicide. Why? I think about Judas in the Bible, he committed suicide because he betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:14-16) Many speculate as to his motives, but in reality it was that he did not believe in Christ as his Savior and Lord.
     The world is actually black and white in the sense that there is believing in God or believing in the devil. There are no fences to walk up to heaven on. We make choices and will live eternally with our choices. Sometimes being stripped of our "stuff" is a good thing. It gives us clarity about what really is important to us. We make idols out of our stuff, careers, relationships, finances, etc. Then we no longer control them, but they control us. We serve them, they no longer serve us. That's not God's will for our lives. He wants to set us free from the bondage of this world.
     Today I'm considering what in my life gets in the way of my relationship with God. What idols have I chosen to worship besides God? Some things are so much a part of me it will take the strength of God to loosen them from my tightly closed fists. But God...

 I want my cake and I want to lose weight too. Choices...hummm:)

Luke 22:³ Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. ⁴ And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. ⁵ They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ⁶ He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.