Pastor Tim’s Blog

THE BLESSINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

I’ve been caught up today in my awareness of the many blessings God has brought into my life as I have served Him. Admittedly, there are some days when I could as easily get caught up in how hard it is to live the Christian life…but we’ll save that for another blog! There’s an old song (admittedly only old people know old songs!) that proclaims, “It pays to serve Jesus; it pays every day. It pays every step of the way.” And you know what? It really does! My grandparents and the other old saints of the church used to tell us that—now I know from experience that it’s true!

Sometimes I consider briefly where I’d be if it wasn’t for the Lord in my life. I don’t think about it long or hard, because it’s too painful! But long ago, God forgave my childish sins and welcomed me into his family as His son. It’s been a great journey, overflowing with one blessing in life after another! Despite my human frailties (and the fact that I’ve occasionally messed things up), God has been so gracious to me—the perfect Heavenly Father!

I’ve been reminded today of several blessings via email. The Lord brought an old saint to my mind early this morning as I was driving to the church. I hadn’t heard from him in a while, and I got to wondering if he was doing okay. When I got to the office, I had an email from him—and he explained some major transitions going on in their lives right now. It explained the long silence. I felt compelled to reply to his email and tell him what a blessing he’s been in my life.

Then later this morning I took a few minutes to respond to an email full of questions from a young friend of mine. He and my son were buddies during their junior high and high school years. I hadn’t had any contact with him in nearly ten years. He was a good Lutheran kid from a nice family—and, to my amazement, I recently learned that he’s now a seminary grad looking for a church where he can serve. He came to know the Lord in a personal way during his college days at Ohio State and responded to God’s call into ministry. I had no idea! It’s such a blessing to learn how the Lord has been at work in his life!

Every day brings new blessings! Scripture says that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning–
”Great is your faithfulness!” Oh, yea…there are challenges along the way too, but God’s been there all along to help us make our way through those. Giving my heart and my life to the Lord was the best decision I ever made in life. It really does pay to serve the Lord!

Pastor Tim Pusey