Your Greatest Power and Your Greatest Responsibility

July 29, 2014 by

love, obey, chooseOur Creator has truly given us much.  Even in dark and troubled times if we have food to eat, a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs we are blessed.

Beyond our material blessings God has given us all something that is far more important and profound.  No matter when or where we were born or what kind of circumstances we encounter, there is one thing that can never be taken from us.

Simply put, God has given us the right to choose.  At every crossroads, at every decision point and at every moment, we have the power of choice.  We can choose to do right or we can choose to do wrong.

In the context of our relationship to God, this is an awesome responsibility.  God is creator, sustainer, has all knowledge and all power and yet He entrusts us with the responsibility and the right to choose.

I’ve often wondered why God allows us this freedom.  To say that we could have avoided a whole lot of fuss and bother had God never given us the chance to choose to do evil is to put it mildly. But He did give us the choice and we know what happened.  Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, humanity and all of creation fell and Sin and suffering were introduced into the world that God had created.

Yet it is in our power to choose that our love for God finds its greatest expression.  Just as God expressed his love for us by sending Jesus to die for our sins we can express our love for Him by choosing to keep His commandments.

I don’t know about you but I find this very empowering.  I understand that when I am faced with a choice I can choose to show my love for God by following His laws and obeying His commandments.  Even if I have messed up previously and failed to make the right choice at an earlier occasion, I can use this moment and this time to do the right thing and make the right choice.

The Lord’s mercy is new every day.  It is because of His mercy and His love that He allows me to choose to do the right thing even if I have chosen the wrong thing many times before.  Great is His faithfulness and great is my responsibility to choose to do the right thing.

God chose to show His love for me.  I choose to do my best to show my love for Him.  What will your choice be?

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Coming Soon – Peace on Earth!

July 21, 2014 by

peace, submission, Luke 2:14If you know human history it would seem that true, actual peace on earth is far from a possibility.  If you keep track of current events it would also seem that true, actual peace on earth does not exist.  And if you add together our human history with what’s going on in the world now it would seem like peace on earth won’t be a part of our future either.

Yet Luke 2:14 says “Glory to God in the Highest, peace on earth and goodwill towards men.”  And if we take the Bible to be God’s infallible word then a true, actual peace on earth must not only be possible, but must be in the making even now.

Where is this peace?  If it really is in the making then where does it start and can we be involved?

The good news is, peace starts with us.  It starts IN us, to be more precise.  It starts when we lay down our own selfish wills and submit our lives to the authority of God through his son, Jesus Christ.  By proclaiming publicly that God’s will is more important than our will, we unify our hearts towards a high calling.  And when hearts are unified towards God, peace begins.

We can finally be at peace with God having been redeemed out of sin and death and unto life and freedom.  Together with like minded individuals we can work in one accord toward God’s ultimate purpose on earth: to spread the good news of the gospel and make it known to all men that Jesus saves.

In Luke 2:14 the message of the angels from God was really a statement of beginning.  Stated another way they said” God’s goodwill is shown to all men.  Peace is now possible with God through the gift of His son!  Praise His name for this marvelous gift!”

Although it may seem that true, actual peace on earth will never be attained we can read and study God’s word and know that one day God will bring peace to all the earth.  He will do this through force in a final defeat of Satan and his armies at a place called Armegeddon.  Once evil is removed from the earth those who chose to submit to His authority during life will be given the privilege of living with Him in His holy city of New Jerusalem.  Those who chose not to submit to His authority during life will be sealed away forever in a place called Hell that was originally reserved for the Devil and his fallen angels.

I say this both to inform and to warn.  The time to choose peace with God is now, while you have the chance.  We are not promised tomorrow.  God can do amazing things with your life but only if you let Him.  He leaves the ultimate decision up to you.  Choose peace with God by laying down your will in submission to Him or choose to be the god of your own life.  Both decisions have eternal ramifications and there is no middle ground.

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The Good the Bad and the Rest

July 17, 2014 by

repentance, sin, confessionLife constantly surprises me.  You would think after 39 years I would be accustomed to the way that things work, but that just isn’t so.

My mistake is in thinking that I can attain some level of mastery in being a human being.  To be a human is to be error prone, selfish and often blind to what is most important.  So even if I do things right for a while, just wait, something stupid is coming.  I will inevitably muck something up and then spend a few days contemplating where I went wrong and what I can do to fix it.

This is basic human thinking.  Thankfully, I am no longer fully human.

Christ lives in me.  God in the flesh.  That means that I am to show the attributes and characteristics of God in how I think and act.  When I make a mistake I need to own up to it and realize that I am forgiven based on what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross at Calvary.  I am not to carry around a load of guilt and shame and cause that to make me hide from God.

The Good is that Jesus’ love for me does not change or diminish based on my behavior.  If I am on point one day and listening to the Spirit’s voice then I will produce the fruits of the Spirit and good things will come from that.  But God will not love me any more than He does right now.

Nor will He love me less when I display my fleshly characteristics and am selfish or thoughtless.  God’s love is constant and His offer of grace and forgiveness does not change.  This is a mighty and wonderful truth that I must never forget.  God loves me.  Right now, just like I am.

The Bad comes in when I do try and hide from God, either intentionally by ignoring His voice or unintentionally by wallowing in guilt and shame.  Either way, my focus is not where it should be.  Instead of focusing on Him, I become like Peter who focused on the wind and the waves and began to sink.  In this case, my “wind” and my “waves” are me and my problem.  And it is always a bad idea when I focus on anything other than God who is Sovereign.

So what’s the Rest of this process?  The Rest is what happens in between the absolute truth of God’s grace and redemption and the Bad of my sin and rebellion.  The Rest is where I must take the right steps to confess my sin and make Jesus the Lord of my life once again.  The Rest is always up to me and will always come down to my willingness to repent.

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The Absolute Best Rest Ever

July 11, 2014 by

rest, Psalms 37:7,hopeFriday is here!  If you are like me you have been trained to look forward to Friday afternoon and the weekend that follows.  Weekends are a time that we can rest and play and hopefully enjoy a few days away from our jobs to do other things.

But then Monday comes and the process starts all over.  If we are not careful we can find ourselves in a perpetual “looking forward to the weekend” mindset where we aren’t truly enjoying each day to the fullest.  We start chasing the idea of rest and relaxation as a goal in and of itself instead of the good things that God has for us each and every day.

What we need, then, is to learn to rest properly.  We need to learn to rest in the Lord and be sustained by Him.

Psalm 37:7 says “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him”.  Note that resting in this context involves a continued hope that waits patiently on God’s provision and God’s timing.  This type of resting does not involve stopping, giving up or running away and is certainly not a form of escapism like so many of this world’s distractions.  This is a rest that remains focused on God as our provider and the one who sustains us.  This is the only type of rest that truly restores us and blesses us.

That is not to say that we should neglect physical rest.  It is important to take care of the bodies that God has given us and be good stewards to our health and well-being.  But we don’t need to stop at just resting physically.  If we are just resting physically without taking the time to rest our spirit in Him then we are missing God’s best for us.

We live busy lives.  Distractions are everywhere.  As God’s people, it is imperative that we remain rooted and grounded in Him at all times.  By learning to truly rest in the Lord with our hope and confidence placed in Him we can enjoy the absolute best rest ever.

 

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How To Live With A Curse

July 2, 2014 by

self, grace, submissionI am so glad that I accepted Christ as Savior while I was still a child.  I understood just enough to know that I needed Jesus to save my soul and that I wanted to be in Heaven one day with Him.  But it was a learning process of many years filled with a lot of rebellion before I completely yielded myself to Him as Lord.  I just didn’t understand how deep and how wide God’s love for me really was and until I came to the end of myself I didn’t know how badly I needed His grace.

Before God’s grace can be truly comprehended by us, we must be real with ourselves.  If we don’t see our sin for what it is then we will never understand our need for salvation nor will we grasp how good God really is.

Understanding is needed.  Wisdom is required.  A frank inspection of the self at the prompting of the Holy Spirit will help us see exactly who we are and why we desperately need the Lord.

This is a frightening process and I do not make light of it.  I think most of us realize that we have some flaws and make some mistakes but actually looking into our own souls and seeing the depth of the darkness there requires God’s help and more than a little courage.  And it usually doesn’t happen until we our faced with a crisis so overwhelming that we have no choice but to stop and ask ourselves “Why?”  “What am I?”  “What have I done?”

God will lead us to that place, as He did with me, where we truly are at the end of ourselves.  We will finally glimpse all that the self is capable of and how shallow and small it really is in comparison to our creator God.  Only when we are well and truly tired of “self” and want God more than anything else will He finally be able to pick up the mess that we have made and begin to form us into something beautiful.

In some way and at some time every person who truly desires to follow Christ must come to this point and go through exactly the same thing.  In my own life it is the absolute lowest point and the absolute highest mountain all at the same time.  What began as a broken and angry man was transformed into one who was humbled but full of peace about the present, hope for the future and a greater love for God than I have ever known.  God met me and showed me His grace contrasted against my sin and I, as long as I live, will never forget what that looked like.

 

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15 Years Ago Today

June 26, 2014 by

anniversary, wedding, marriageToday is my 15th wedding anniversary.  Vicki and I have been truly blessed and today we celebrate and remember those blessings together.

I admit, we aren’t all that good at celebrating in a traditional sense.  We’re both quiet introverts who prefer snuggling on the couch together with a good book over any sort of public gathering so this year’s “celebration” will be suitably low key.  We’re going out to eat together to the restaurant where we held our rehearsal dinner all those years ago.

I am sure that there will be conversation about that rehearsal dinner and the hours that led up to the wedding just as I am sure that there will be some quiet reminiscing about all that God has done for us since then.

Anniversary’s, in my mind, should be about three things.  Celebration, reflection and inspection.  We should celebrate how far we have come together.  We should celebrate our love for one another and Christ who is the center of our marriage.  And we should celebrate the blessed union that God has given us.

We should reflect on the trials and tribulations that we have overcome as well as the many moments of joy and laughter that we have shared together.  It is good to remember and to draw strength and inspiration from our remembrances and I believe that this practice of remembrance and reflection is necessary for all of God’s children.  Not only can it be an excellent cure for a bad day but it also helps you to build trust in your relationship with your Heavenly Father.  And that’s important!

We should also inspect ourselves and what we are bringing to each other and to God.  This can and will be uncomfortable.  As imperfect as I know that I am I do not need to shy away from areas that I am lacking in.  I need to have the courage to ask God and my wife to help me grow and to become a better person.  It is my duty and my privilege to love my wife as Christ loved the church and although I fall short I never want to stop trying to love her better.

Inspection should always be tempered by love and grace.  It is easy to criticize ourselves and others and we have an Accuser who is only too happy to help us in this.  Always be ready to forgive, both yourself and others, because none of us are perfect.  If we let love guide our every step then we can never truly go wrong.  This is the way that proper inspection should be carried out so that it is truly about improvement and not tearing down or hurt feelings.

A 15th anniversary is a good thing.  It is a good thing because God is good and He has granted this time to us.  I am thankful to Him and I am thankful to my wife for the way that she loves me.  I know that I am a blessed man and I hope and pray that the Lord will grant us many more years.

 

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The Steps I Must Take

June 16, 2014 by

Psalm 63, trust, learnParts of Psalm 63 have been adapted to a song called “Step by Step”.  Written by David Strasser the song has been made popular by artists such as Rich Mullins and Michael W. Smith.  If you’ve ever spent time in a church or youth camp that featured more contemporary praise and worship music, you have probably heard this song.

The second part of “Step by Step” has been on my mind a lot lately.  It says “I will seek You in the morning, and I will learn to walk in Your ways.  And step by step You’ll lead me, and I will follow You all of my days.”

It seems to me there is much wisdom in these four phrases and if I could just commit myself to carrying them out then everything else would take care of itself.

Breaking it down, it looks like this: “I will seek you in the morning” is a declaration of intent.  David, who wrote the Psalm, is saying that he will, by an act of his own choosing, seek after God early in the day.  Wonderful things happen when we humans bend our wills towards seeking God.  Even better when this happens early in the day and early in our lives!

And then what happens?  “I will learn to walk in your ways”.  We don’t just seek in vain.  We seek Him for a specific purpose.  We seek him so that we may know Him and know His ways.  As His children and His creation we want to be just like Him because His spirit resides in us.

This is a learning process.  We must be patient with it.  Saints are not formed in a day or even a year.  Salvation may be instant but sanctification and holiness is a life long process that must be worked at continuously.

“And step by step you’ll lead me” means we do not walk or work alone.  God has placed His spirit in our hearts and Jesus said He would never leave us or forsake us.  The Lord will guide us every step of the way if only we will place our complete trust in Him.  Even when we can’t see Him or feel His presence He is there and He wants us to continue to trust Him.

“and I will follow you all of my days” must be our decision as well.  Times may be hard.  Circumstances may not be favorable.  Trouble may surround us on all sides as it did David when he wrote Psalm 63.  But we must stand firm on the promises that have been made to us by our Almighty Father in whom there is no shadow of turning.

God is truly good.  He alone knows what tomorrow holds and is able to guide us through in perfect peace.  My prayer is that we would trust His goodness completely and desire to seek Him and to learn to walk in His way, every single day of our lives.

 

 

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Good Things Come

June 10, 2014 by

blessings, God, lifeGood things come to those who wait.  That’s how the expression goes and I have found it to be true.  But, as a child of God, good things come to us every single day and we need to acknowledge them and then give our thanks for them.  Here are a few of my favorite verses that talk about all the good things that God does for us.

James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (NASB)  God gives good gifts and He gives them in all kinds of ways.  His giving is constant and never ceases because His goodness never changes.  We, in turn, are to give joyously because God first gave to us.

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord‘s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. (KJV)  This is one of my favorite verses because it reminds me that nothing is too big for God.  The whole world belongs to Him.  All created things are His and we exist in Him and through Him.  We will never lack for the resources we need because our Heavenly Father has them all.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (NASB) Ephesians 1:3 speaks to God having given us all that we need to accomplish His will through His son Jesus Christ.  He’s already blessed us with what we need and He gives generously to all who ask.  Our part is to recognize our need and depend on Him to fulfill it.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (NASB)  God was thinking about His children long before we were created.  In fact, he prepared good things in the form of good works and placed them along our life paths so that we would discover them as we walk in Him.  I think of these as pre-ordained presents from God that will be given at certain times and in certain places, just because God is good.

Psalm 104:14-15 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine which makes man’s heart glad,so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man’s heart. (NASB) These are sometimes referred to as the blessings of life.  We should all be well familiar with them but just because we are familiar with them we tend to take them the most for granted.  Along with the knowledge the we are blessed we need to understand that our life could be over in an instant and that any of these life blessings could end tomorrow.  Don’t take God’s blessings for granted and don’t forget to thank Him for all these good things.

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (NASB) This is perhaps the most amazing verse in the Bible that deals with good things coming.  God is so mighty and so powerful that He is able to take any problem or circumstance and cause it to produce a good result for His children.  Don’t misunderstand.  Not all things are good and not all things are positive.  Evil is real and it is terrible.  But God is able.  He always gets the last word and through Him our ultimate victory is assured.  

Brothers and sisters in Christ: good things are coming.  Do you see them and are you ready to receive what God has for you?

 

 

 

 

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What I Wish I Could Tell Myself Twenty Years Ago

June 3, 2014 by

Wisdom, Knowledge, GodThis is my thirty-ninth year.  God has been very good to me and every day I realize just how blessed and favored that I am.  As I start to count my blessings and thank God for His provision I can’t help but look back and see how far He has brought me.

Twenty years ago I was nineteen and in a state of transition, as many at that age are.  I had just started college, a semester late and a semester behind most of the other kids my age.  I was away from home for the first time and every day was a new learning experience.  Although I greatly enjoyed my college years I can look back and recognize mistakes I made and habits that I developed that I wish I hadn’t.

They say wisdom is gained through experience.  I pray that I gained wisdom from my errors and have learned a better way.  Even so, if I could take a few things that I know now and tell my nineteen-year old self back then, this is what I would say:

1. A life lived in complete surrender to God is the richest and fullest life you can have.  This is the absolute most important truth that I could impart to anyone, at any age.  Surrender is such a difficult concept for us humans and I believe that it gets tougher as we get older.  The younger you are when you decide to fully surrender your life to God and start to take the necessary steps to live a Godly life, the better off you will be.  The reason why?  Because God takes our surrendered lives and produces love, joy and peace in us and through us, something we can never do on our own.

2. You can’t take it back.  I’ve said some things in my life that I wish I hadn’t.  And as sorry as I might be after the offending words have left my lips, I have never been able to call them back.  My words have hurt people, led them astray and many times have been full of foolishness.  If you are like me, you can identify moments in your life when you wish you had said something different or just kept your mouth shut.  My goal at this point in my life is to try and make sure my speech matches up to Colossians 4:6 which says “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”  Speak grace (unmerited favor) and wisdom and you can never go wrong.

3. Don’t live in debt.  Financially speaking.  Don’t spend more than you make.  Live below your means.  Live well below your means because that is the truest and best path to prosperity.  Don’t waste what you earn and what you are given on fruitless pursuits and on things that don’t bring glory to God because you will only regret it later.  It’s so easy to use a credit card and to buy things that seem like fun now only to realize that you can’t afford to pay it off at the end of the month.  It’s easy to dig yourself into a financial hole and very difficult to dig yourself out of one.  Learn to handle money wisely, respect your resources and get into the habit of saving money.  That way you can give your tithe and offerings to God with a clear and unburdened heart and know that God will bless you for it.

4. Be patient.  All things happen in God’s time.  Despite what our society is telling us, you really can’t have it all right now.  Some things can and should be waited for.  Be patient and pray for faithfulness while you look for your cue from God that it is time to act.  Wait for sex until marriage, it really is worth it.  Wait until you’ve grown up a little bit before you buy a really nice car or other big ticket item because without the benefit of maturity, you won’t appreciate it properly.  Wait for experience and study of God’s Word to teach you wisdom and knowledge of the truth.  If you keep your focus on God then you won’t miss anything good that God has coming your way.  Getting impatient and doing things out of order just causes problems for you and for others and can bring you heartache and pain.

5. God can fix it.  Inevitably you will mess up.  I have actually failed at all of these in one way or another!  Amazingly, God still loves me and there isn’t a mess that I have gotten myself into that His love and His grace haven’t been able to get me out of.  That isn’t to say that we should ever take God’s grace lightly or forget what it cost Him.  Sin is serious and there are always consequences for our sin.  But praise God that His grace is always greater than my sin and He can work any problem, error or mistake out for ultimate good.  Only an awesome God could do something like that and I know that when I fail I can always turn to Him for His help.  If you’ve messed up, let God have it and let God fix it, because only He can.

These are the five things that I would tell myself twenty years ago, if I could.  Although it isn’t possible for me to deliver this message back in time, I can deliver it to you and ask you to deliver it to anyone that you think it might help.  I want the best possible life for everyone I meet and if someone else can benefit from my experiences then I will thank God for that.

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To Be Unassailably Blessed

May 26, 2014 by

unassailable, eternal, blessingsUnassailable is a big word, but I like it.  It means to be impregnable and not able to be doubted, attacked or questioned.  To be unassailable is to be sure, firm and sound.  Whether we realize it or not we spend much of our lives and enormous amounts of energy trying to make ourselves and our families unassailable.  We desperately want security, and rightly so.  Unfortunately, experience has taught me that the human experience is the opposite of unassailable and that very little in this life is secure.

Our wealth can be stolen, taxed and diminished by any number of outside forces.  Our homes, cars and possessions deteriorate with age and with use.  Our loved ones can choose to leave us or be separated from us by circumstance or disease.  And worst of all, our health and with it our very lives fade away and are forgotten.

And yet, to be a child of God is to be unassailably blessed.

God has given us that which is normally impossible on this physical plain.  He has given us something secure, timeless and constant.  He has given us the gift of His presence and His peace as long as we are walking with Him.

Through salvation and the regeneration of our spirit, the Son of God is manifested in us.  We are given the ability to overcome our old sin nature and the habits that once bound us and be made like Jesus.  God’s Word tells us that every spiritual blessing is ours to claim (Ephesians 1:3) and that we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17) and His rightful inheritance as the Son of Almighty God.

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time understanding that.  I know who I am.  I know what I deserve.  But God still offers me the same grace, the same love and the same forgiveness that he offers you.  He offers us blessings that can’t be diminished by time or use!

Every time that I become tempted to find security in something material or wordly, God pulls the curtain back and shows me how flimsy it all really is.  He does this not because He is cruel or unkind, but because He knows that there is only once place in all the universe where my security can be found.  All else is false and fading and quite frankly, beneath us.  God wants us to invest our time, energy and hope into things that will last and into those things that store up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).  Those things are eternal, unshakable and yes, unassailable.

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