5:10 – Stop Fighting and Listen

#faithbites #faithjourney fighting

Intro

Most pparents with multiple children have said the following at least one time, “Stop fighting and listen.” I don’t know what’s in the air but my kids just want to fight with each other and not listen. The fight goes on, they lose their electronics and privileges, life gets harder then when it is all over they realize if they would have just listened, things would be easier. Yes, they do grow by realizing it, but wouldn’t it be easier if they didn’t have to fight every time?

I wonder if God feels the same way, when we just fight and don’t listen to his word. Thank God, we have Jesus to forgive us when we don’t listen.

Questions

• What are you fighting God on today?
• How do you move from fighting to understanding and growth?

Scripture

• Acts 5:9 – But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
• 1 John 5:3 – For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Reflection

We all wrestle with God from time to time. When we don’t understand or feel that God is messing with us. It’s during these times when we grow. If we didn’t wrestle, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn and be where he wants us to be. This is different then fighting or straight up rebellion. When we fight with God, we go against his wishes and his plan. As we see in Acts, fighting against those sent by God is a losing prospect. In 1 John 5:3, we see that God doesn’t ask us to do anything that is burdensome. His commandments are wise and only serve to help us. It’s our sin and hubris that. Make us want to fight him. This is where we need to learn from our past and embrace him.

As we close, remember that wrestling with God can be helpful, fighting with him leads to pain and suffering. Let’s ask for forgiveness and follow him.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for your laws, rules, and forgiveness. Sometimes we fight just to fight, other times we think we know better and want to win. In hindsight, we know that is foolish. We pray that you guide us, help, and show us that through faith in you and your plan, we will have forgiveness and salvation. In your name, Amen.