Revelation 21:2-4
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of thing has passed away.
What of Today’s Verse…
I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of ready for that old order stuff to go away. The end of tears, death, mourning, crying and pain sounds pretty good to me! No wonder the early Christians would say, "Marantha. Come Lord Jesus!" They couldn’t wait.
Let us Pray:
Holy God, please help me as I try to continue serving you faithfully. My desire is to be steadfast in my love and living for you until the glorious day that so many of your children have longed for over the centuries. I long to see you in your glory and to share in your presence and to join with the saints of all ages past praising you around your glorious throne. Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Words of Wisdom
Indulgence…
One of the best ways to become disciplined is to indulge yourself on a regular basis. At first that might sound contradictory. When you think about it, though, indulgence can be a key tool in developing and maintaining discipline.
Discipline always requires denial. For example, if you want to discipline yourself to lose weight, you must deny yourself fattening foods. When you discipline yourself to work hard toward achieving goals you’ve set for yourself, you deny yourself some of the "fun" activities of life.
We’re only human, though, and we need incentives along the way. One powerful incentive is to keep yourself focused on your goals, on the objects of your discipline. Another good way is to schedule a regular indulgence. It’s better if your indulgence is something you do regularly — every day, every week. It is important to be able to look forward to it. And when the time comes, enjoy it. Savor every minute without the least bit of guilt. Take time for yourself and reward yourself for your hard work and discipline. And remember that you’ll get the opportunity again and there’s no need to "binge." (I use "binge" here in a generic sense, not just as it applies to food.)
One powerful way to take this concept to a higher level is to develop indulgences that actually enhance your discipline. A good example of this is physical exercise. If you can find an exercise that it also a true indulgence, then you can discipline and indulge at the same time. That is a powerful combination.
Try a little indulgence — you deserve it and it will help to keep you on track.
