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16
Feb '23
Seize the Moment – Day 1066
16
Feb '23
Glory Days!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 16.
Do you believe your best days are behind you? Job 30 is a heart-wrenching lament that is weighed down by Job’s profound loss of his glory days – “I once was all of this [read Job 29], but now I am not [read Job 30]!” In fact, his present sufferings are made even worse by his past achievements, as he emphasized in the following three verses:
- Job 30:1, “But now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.”
- Job 30:9, “And now I have become their taunt, I have even become a byword to them.”
- Job 30:16, “And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have seized me.”
Have you ever experienced the damaging effects of the comparison game? We often think of this in terms of comparing yourself with other people, but it can also be the crippling game of comparing your current self with what you used to be, or how you remember you used to be (even worse!). This can be either the universal struggle to grapple with the physical and mental effects of the aging process, or a unique struggle with a lost opportunity or broken relationship specific to your life.
Songs like “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen illuminate this phenomenon. Comparison is often the root of our discontentment! In the same way that your current conditions can feel worse when you are comparing them with your polished memories of days long gone, so can you fall into depression when you can’t envision a better future for your life. So, never forget, for those who are in Jesus Christ, the glory days are always in front of you!
Seize the moment by “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, … press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13b-14).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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