The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
Of all the verses that convey the love of God, the love of Christ - this one speaks directly to the heart of the enemy. He cannot have us unless we choose to submit to him. If we allow Satan to steal our blessings, to kill our faith and destroy our destiny - he still loses! Jesus came to give us life...ETERNAL life! We need only look to the cross to see the love that our Father in Heaven has for us...what He will do for us...what He wants for us! Our blessings on this earth are far more than we deserve and more outstanding and beautiful than anything that the enemy could venture to offer us.
We often hear the expression that life is "a living hell" - in some cases, that can be true - so many people suffer unbelievable horrors and nightmares in their day to day struggle. But in all of those struggles - there is God - He will not be sharing the fiery pit with anyone. Think about that. Life is hard. It is full of hurtful, ugly and mean people who want nothing more than to bring you down to their level of misery. Is that really what you want from life? Don't you want something better? Don't you want to be part of the winning team?
A life centered in God and Jesus is not boring, it's not mundane - it is complete! Those of us who literally "work" for the Lord, do not sit hour after hour with our faces constantly planted in the Bible (yes, we do spend an extraordinary amount of time with the Word) - we don't just read it - we LIVE it (or try to, anyway). We are still human - we have likes and dislikes, we have faults (some of us more so than we'd really like to admit), we have wants and desires. What we KNOW is that all this ends - so therefore, material things - things you cannot take with you - are not nearly as important as how we live our lives. And no, we do not do that without mistakes either...
Balance in all things is the key - a balance between enjoying the pleasantries of this earth - the entertainment, the music, the food, the vacations that we can afford by working hard and the praise, honor and glory due to the Father who allows us to enjoy all of these things. It's not by luck or good fortune that we are where we are or who we are - it is through the blessings of God that we exist for yet another day. Does He not deserve our very best effort?
Take a good, long look at your life - what it consists of. How much time do you spend enjoying the blessings as opposed to how much time you spend thanking and praising God for them. If you're spending only one hour a week a church, with a bedtime "thank you, God" - and you are spending the rest of your week working, partying and playing - you may want to "rethink" your balance. God should not be an afterthought...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKnBcCdnXyg
