Ash To Altar

“The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” - Proverbs 16:9

Every man is chasing something.

Approval, status, respect, a seat at the right table. The problem isn’t the chase, it’s the target.

A man who lives for the approval of people becomes a servant to every opinion in the room, and opinions shift with the wind.

Paul draws the line plainly: if he were still trying to please men, he wouldn’t be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10). You can’t serve both and one will always cost you the other.

The world will hand you everything it has. Comfort, approval, a softer version of yourself and all it asks is that you bend.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

Rejecting the world is refusing to let the world decide who you are, burn what it offers.

Sunday reminder

Scripture never promised that discipline would feel good.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

The ache in the grind, the cost of saying no, and the weight you carry when nobody sees it are all part of the training. A man of God doesn’t run from the pain but in fact lets it mold him. What comes out on the other side is stronger than what went in.

Pay the price.

Log off the noise, log off the algorithm telling you what to want, log off the comparison game you never agreed to play.l, and log off the scroll that keeps you numb and the distractions that keep you weak.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

Every minute you stayed logged in to these endless distractions is a minute you didn’t give to God, your family, or the work in front of you. Close it. Step outside it. Find out who you are without it.

Which path will you take?

Sundays reminder

Romans 16:20 (ESV) reads: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

It’s the closing of Paul’s letter to the Romans, right before his final greetings. The line comes after Paul warns the church about people who cause division, so the promise that Satan will be crushed.

God will deal with the source of discord, not just the surface-level conflict.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” - Isaiah 43:2