Bless the Lord – Part 3

He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. (Psalms 103:3 NLT)

“Bless The Lord” – Part 3
The thing about sin is that we all have a deep awareness of its affect on our lives and eternity. It may not be a conscious awareness but Ecclesiastes says “eternity is set in the heart of men” so in some way there is God-shaped hole in our lives, a great sense that something is missing, that leaves us wanting more. It's pretty obvious once you see it, but our sin nature tries desperately to fill it with temporal stuff, things that cannot replace the eternal. Like junk food, it fills a hole, but in no way nourishes our being. Also like junk food it increases our appetite for the wrong things! In John 4, Jesus has an encounter with a Samaritan woman, who has been doing just that…filling the hole with temporary stuff, getting more and more hungry. I love the interaction that follows. “Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 NLT) One great lesson from this passage is don't get frustrated or judge those filling up with the wrong things. Everyone's on a journey and given enough prayer and space to figure out that temporal stuff doesn't fill the eternal hole, they will come running to the truth of Jesus. Our responsibility is to steward that truth well; not judging or condemning but loving, praying and never giving up on people. He forgives all our sins, the greatest power of that is when we “pay it forward”. Peace and blessings for you today…