Redeemed for Service

      By Fern Horst

"For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?" (Psalm 56:13)

A number of years ago I had a scary experience driving on a freeway in a fast-falling snow that was rapidly accumulating on the road. I called out to the Lord as my car slid and spun and narrowly missed hitting the guard rail, another car and a semi truck. I feel I could truly say, "Thou hast delivered my soul from death." Most of us are aware of times in which it seems God saved us from serious situations. The very fact that we are alive right now means that God has protected us. I also believe it means that God has a purpose for us.

If God can protect us from death, does it not also stand to reason that He will protect us spiritually, so that we can "walk before God in the light of the living?" God created each one of us with a unique purpose, designing us and forming us in the womb to be the persons we need to be to fulfill that purpose. It is God who has designed us, created us, and it is God who will sustain us until that purpose is accomplished.

There are many things in our paths that can cause us to stumble and to stand in our way of doing what God wants us to do. The temptation to lust and to give into that lust is sometimes very strong, especially as singles with no legitimate sexual outlet. The temptation to feel sorry for ourselves and to think that our lives are worthless is also strong. The temptation to squander our freedoms as singles, to "live it up," or to just kick back and take it easy is another strong pull. But stronger yet is God's grace and power to say "no" to those temptations and to live the purposeful lives for which He has created us!

God's Word tells us that with every temptation we face He will make a way for us to escape from giving into that temptation (I Corinthians 10:13). We can never make a valid excuse that a temptation was too strong to resist. In our human weakness it may be, but God has promised us His strength and power to not give into it. We must make the choice to accept that grace and power, to call out to Him for it, and then to take that strength and walk away from the temptation.

Easy? No. Vitally important? Absolutely. When we give into the temptations we face we cannot be all that God created us to be. Sin sabotages our God-given purpose. God's grace in and through us fulfills it.

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6)

© 2007 Fern Horst

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