Skip to main content

Your CART

 


If you have shopped on-line, I am sure you are well acquainted with the term “your cart.” The “cart” works the same as any regular shopping cart in the retrial stores. Your “cart” is the location where all the items you are intending to purchase on-line are “stored” until you are ready to “check out and pay.” 

Spiritually speaking, do you know we also have our own faith-based “cart?” That is “C-A-R-T” which is an acronym to help guide us in striving after holiness. We must be pursuing a sanctified life that is holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:2). After all, choosing to live a sanctified life is considered reasonable, appropriate, and is not “too much to ask” (The Living Bible). 

We must seek, daily, in a personal, loving and intimate relationship, our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Spending time with Him and in Scripture and prayer, will strengthen our resolve to be a holy people that brings glory to our Heavenly Father. 

One way to do that is to remember the acronym “C-A-R-T”….we must keep the cart full by doing the following steps: 

1. C - Come: We cannot remain in the same place. We must continually move toward Jesus. We must come to Jesus, and to no one else, to nothing else. John 15:5, ““Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

2. A -  Abide: Once we have come to Jesus, we must stay with Him and never return to the life we had before Christ. Jesus asks us to remain with Him, and not gradually wander away from Him. Salvation is not the end, but only the beginning of our faith journey. We must remain in Jesus and in His Word. John 8:31-32, “…Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

3. R -  Rest: Just because we have come to Jesus and are abiding in Him doesn’t mean we will continue to do so. As Augustine one wrote: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Jesus says that in Him we will find rest. However, we must strive diligently to enter into His rest through practices such as our devotional life, prayer, and observing the Sabbath. Hebrews 4:11, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” We must do everything we can to keep the cares of this world from robbing us of our time of rest with Jesus. 

4. T - Trust. Here is the “catch.” Once you come, abide, and rest, you realize you have to live out your faith and a battle to fight. Jesus’ heart is focused on the conversion and salvation of all. He wants all to come to know the Lord. 2 Peter 3:9, “Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. We must take action and obey. We honestly can’t go about our life and “mind our own business.” We must forsake “self” as we are called to take risks by living out the Gospel as well as telling others about Jesus. 

Choose holiness and a lifestyle, in faith, that is pleasing to God. Live each day fully surrendered to the work of the Holy Spirit to transform you and use you to bear spiritual fruit. Keep going on towards perfection of a sanctified life. Let’s keep our “C.A.R.T.” full! Let us: Come. Abide. Rest. Trust.
 

Popular posts from this blog

Learn from Lydia

  There are a lot of interesting mentions of women in the Bible. Whether it is the Old Testament or New Testament, there are many strong, yet oddly missed, lessons from women that we can familiarize ourselves with to strengthen our faith.   One such woman is named Lydia. She provides a very powerful lesson for us. We find one particular mention of her in the book of Acts. Acts 16:14 , says that Lydia “reverenced God, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying.”   Lydia is actually a significant person in the New Testament. She is described as “a dealer in purple goods” (Acts 16:14). Pointing that out is quite a clue. Dealing in “purple goods” was considered a luxury in the ancient world.   It is probably safe to say that she was both a woman of great financial means and able to deal successfully with the influential people of her time. She was also noted as having a great gift of persuasion.   I think she might have been the only perso...
Read more

Tetelestai!

Just before Jesus gives up His spirit on the cross, He utters a very powerful word. The word that He cries out is “ tetelestai” (tih-tellis-tie). When literally translated, this word means, “It is finished.” It can also refer to something completed or accomplished. The word occurs in  John 19:28  and 19:30 and these are the only two places in all of the New Testament where it is found. In the John19:28 passage, it is translated, “After this, when Jesus knew that all things were now  completed , in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’” Two verses later, he utters the word himself: “Then when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘ It is finished ,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”   Did you know that the word  tetelestai  was also written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a bill had been paid in full? The Greek-English lexicon (by Moulton and Milligan) sa...
Read more

Asking "What" Instead of "Why"

Life is not easy and it is not void of struggle, challenges, pain, sorrow, loss, grief, and suffering. I am sure I can come up with more words than that, but this article would soon blossom to two to three pages in length. I am sure we are familiar with the trials and frustrations of Job in the Old Testament. Some of us might even be familiar with the words of Habakuk in 1:2 , “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” When things don’t go well or something tragic or unfortunate befalls us, we are faced with the struggles of crying out to God, “why me?” “Why, God, did you let this happen?” Many times, we too, grow frustrated and angry at God, for how He chooses to work within our situations and circumstances. We sure do end up asking God a lot of “why” questions. I believe “why” could be the wrong word to be using. Asking “why” seems to imply a lack of faith, ungratefulness, and, somehow, that we think God owes us an explanation, an answer or reaso...
Read more