Run in Such a Way

He was a thoughtful and funny teenager who enjoyed misbehavior.

We had a rousing discussion one day about right and wrong.

He contended that he had the freedom, even responsibility, to bring BALANCE to the do-gooders of society.

"Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I want you people to do what’s right. I just want my right to push the boundaries of what’s acceptable.”

A few weeks later, he was arrested for selling drugs in the school parking lot.


I do not know the rest of his story. 
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The story of Job is one of great suffering as he reasons through his personal, physical and spiritual torments, all of which were allowed by God. 
 He calls his life “compulsory service” and refers to his passing from this world into the next as the coming of his “relief,” as in a change of clothing from the human body to a spiritual body or serving in a military. (Job 7:1)

************** How should we then live this compulsory service?


Do we value the self the most?


You cannot serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other. (Matthew 6:24
 )

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Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. I am doing a new thing-See, I have already begun! do you not see it? (Isaiah 43: 18-20
)

The same God empowers varieties of gifts, of service, of activities, all in every one…….To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for His common Good. (1 Cor. 12:4-11)


RUN IN SUCH A WAY AS TO WIN THE PRIZE. (1 Corinthians 9:24) ***************           Hope Clay, acrylics on board