{"id":21351,"date":"2017-04-10T00:10:35","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T07:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=10390"},"modified":"2017-04-10T00:10:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-10T07:10:35","slug":"april-10-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/04\/10\/april-10-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"April 10, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cAnd whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.\u201d<\/em> Colossians 3:23-24<\/span><\/p>\n

Look Away<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

At the risk of stating the obvious, we sure had a lot of rain this season. Morning after morning, I awakened to dreary gray skies that matched my mood and colored my world with drab. I craved sunshine, blue skies, and puffy clouds skipping on warm breezes. (Isn\u2019t that just like us, to want what we do not have, thereby overlooking the gifts already being given?)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One wet Sunday afternoon, I sat looking out the window when I noticed there were buds swelling on the tree in my front yard. Joy! My own heart swelled with hope, and I smiled at that promise of spring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is just like the reward of our inheritance. We know it is coming, for God has promised, but it\u2019s yet in the future. Consider this excerpt from Moses\u2019 life: \u201cBy faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he LOOKED TO THE REWARD\u201d<\/em> (Hebrews 11:24-26).<\/span><\/p>\n

The word \u201clooked\u201d in this Scripture literally means to \u201clook away from everything else in order to look intently on one object.\u201d Moses was living out the example of looking away from earthly treasures or gain, away from suffering and loss, and everything else this world gives or takes, looking instead at the reward of inheritance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s hard to look away from what is obvious to see a future that we can\u2019t imagine. \u201cEye has not see, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him\u201d<\/em> (1 Corinthians 2:9). But God has promised it, and it will surely come to pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are walking through a deeply difficult time, or if you are weary, weak, or struggling, please know that a day is coming when all this will pass away and everything will become new. Don\u2019t lose hope: Jesus is coming! He has set aside an inheritance for you! Stay faithful to the end, and look away from everything else so that you can look intently at Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLord, You have promised an inheritance to Your people. We look to You with expectant, certain hope for all that You will do, and we trust You to bring it to pass. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5yn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}