“The story is told about an elderly man who retired after many years in the Army. One day a man who knew about his long and distinguished military career decided to play a prank on him. As the old soldier walked down the street with his arms full of packages, the jokester sneaked up behind him and shouted, "Attention!" Without hesitation, the military man dropped his arms to his side, and every package went tumbling to the sidewalk. Without a conscious thought, the veteran was doing what comes naturally for a soldier.”
As Christian who believe in all that Jesus has taught us we to should act in a similar manner. We should be able to act more and more like the life of Christ. We still deal with temptations and sinful desires that come up, and because of that we need to train ourselves to act as God wants us to be. Like a solider or athlete in training we need to practice repeatedly until doing what’s right comes naturally without conscious thought.
There will be times in all of our lives where we make a big choice for God or for Satan. Maybe it’s going to be a choice of a person you marry, a item you buy, a job you take, or maybe you will be asked to deny Christ. In order for us to make that choice for God we need to be training ourselves daily on the small things in life.
With your faith in God and all that he has taught us, with your understanding in Christ in how he has shown us to live, we should all be developing habits of submitting to God’s word. Then in every situation of life we will find that obeying God’s will is doing what comes naturally.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Gift of Jesus
There is so much giving going on this time of year. It could be that you are helping with the feast of sharing giving time and/or food to those in need, or maybe you are purchasing gifts to fill the need of a child, maybe you have noticed a person in need that you work with and have helped in some way. Whatever it is giving a gift is a special thing and we all love it when someone thinks enough of us to give us a gift.
This time of year more than ever people’s hearts seem to be at least open to some discussion as to what Jesus is all about. Maybe it is due to all the giving, the idea of Christmas, or a little holiday cheer, but something has people more aware that there is a higher power in control. You will be around kids at school, co-workers, family members and other while preparing and celebrating the holidays. Take advantage of those moments to share the love of Christ with those who are lost.
My challenge to all of us is that while you are busy with the various things you will be doing in the coming weeks, don’t forget to add sharing Christ with others to that list. It has been my experience that hearts are never more open or more receptive than during these seasons. This can be the greatest holiday ever in regards to allowing God to use you to touch others for Him. Pray about it and ask for his help in guiding your efforts to affect the lives of the people you come in contact with.
As we all know sharing a gift with someone is a special occasion, but sharing the greatest gift that God has ever given, the gift of his son with someone else is priceless.
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday.
Joe
This time of year more than ever people’s hearts seem to be at least open to some discussion as to what Jesus is all about. Maybe it is due to all the giving, the idea of Christmas, or a little holiday cheer, but something has people more aware that there is a higher power in control. You will be around kids at school, co-workers, family members and other while preparing and celebrating the holidays. Take advantage of those moments to share the love of Christ with those who are lost.
My challenge to all of us is that while you are busy with the various things you will be doing in the coming weeks, don’t forget to add sharing Christ with others to that list. It has been my experience that hearts are never more open or more receptive than during these seasons. This can be the greatest holiday ever in regards to allowing God to use you to touch others for Him. Pray about it and ask for his help in guiding your efforts to affect the lives of the people you come in contact with.
As we all know sharing a gift with someone is a special occasion, but sharing the greatest gift that God has ever given, the gift of his son with someone else is priceless.
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday.
Joe
Messed Up Big Time
I want to remind you about a man of God who messed up completely in a big way. He committed sins that you wouldn’t think a good man would commit. This wasn’t one of those times were he accidentally committed the sins either. He committed them and then tried to cover them up with a great deal of effort. When all was said and done, two families were destroyed. The most amazing part of this whole story is that this didn’t ruin the man. He was able to recover from his mistakes and get back on his feet.
You probably already know which man of God I am talking about. He is none other than King David. He is the one in the bible referred to as the man after God’s own heart.
One evening, King David had a hard time going to sleep, so he went out on the balcony of his palace to take a walk. Off in the distance he saw a beautiful woman named Bethsheba taking a bath. When he found out that her husband, Uriah, was a soldier and was away at war, David sent for her and seduced her. Sometime later she told him that she was going to have a baby. In an attempt to cover his tracks, David had Uriah brought in from the battlefield for a time of "R&R". David suggested that Uriah go home and spend time with his wife. Uriah politely refused; going home to his wife during a time of war would have been an act of disloyalty to his fellow soldiers. Since Uriah couldn’t be persuaded to compromise, David sent him back to battle with a letter to deliver to the commanding officer. Uriah didn’t know it, but he was delivering his own death warrant. The letter told the CO to put Uriah on the front lines and withdraw the other troops so Uriah would be sure to die. This is exactly what happened. Uriah was killed in battle and David married Bethsheba.
No one in Israel knew the story behind the story, but the Bible says, in 2 Samuel 11:27 that…The Lord was very displeased with what David had done.
It wasn’t long before a prophet named Nathan confronted David with his sin. David knew that he had done wrong, and I’m sure that deep down he knew he couldn’t get away with it. To make matters worse, David and Bethsheba’s newborn child was very sick, and Nathan said it was all David’s fault. He said to David, "Because of what you have done, this baby is going to die." Imagine how David felt about that. He couldn’t hide it any longer. He had messed up big time and now he had to face what he had done.
David did face the music. He made things right with God and got his life back on track. At some point during this time, he wrote Psalm 51. This Psalm is all about "What To Do When You’ve Blown It." We can learn from David’s example how to make things right whenever we make a little or big mistake. When that happens, we often make the mistake of thinking that God hates us because of what we’ve done. The truth is, He loves us no matter what. When we sin, even when we sin big, He wants to forgive us and help us get back on our feet.
You probably already know which man of God I am talking about. He is none other than King David. He is the one in the bible referred to as the man after God’s own heart.
One evening, King David had a hard time going to sleep, so he went out on the balcony of his palace to take a walk. Off in the distance he saw a beautiful woman named Bethsheba taking a bath. When he found out that her husband, Uriah, was a soldier and was away at war, David sent for her and seduced her. Sometime later she told him that she was going to have a baby. In an attempt to cover his tracks, David had Uriah brought in from the battlefield for a time of "R&R". David suggested that Uriah go home and spend time with his wife. Uriah politely refused; going home to his wife during a time of war would have been an act of disloyalty to his fellow soldiers. Since Uriah couldn’t be persuaded to compromise, David sent him back to battle with a letter to deliver to the commanding officer. Uriah didn’t know it, but he was delivering his own death warrant. The letter told the CO to put Uriah on the front lines and withdraw the other troops so Uriah would be sure to die. This is exactly what happened. Uriah was killed in battle and David married Bethsheba.
No one in Israel knew the story behind the story, but the Bible says, in 2 Samuel 11:27 that…The Lord was very displeased with what David had done.
It wasn’t long before a prophet named Nathan confronted David with his sin. David knew that he had done wrong, and I’m sure that deep down he knew he couldn’t get away with it. To make matters worse, David and Bethsheba’s newborn child was very sick, and Nathan said it was all David’s fault. He said to David, "Because of what you have done, this baby is going to die." Imagine how David felt about that. He couldn’t hide it any longer. He had messed up big time and now he had to face what he had done.
David did face the music. He made things right with God and got his life back on track. At some point during this time, he wrote Psalm 51. This Psalm is all about "What To Do When You’ve Blown It." We can learn from David’s example how to make things right whenever we make a little or big mistake. When that happens, we often make the mistake of thinking that God hates us because of what we’ve done. The truth is, He loves us no matter what. When we sin, even when we sin big, He wants to forgive us and help us get back on our feet.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Get your Fill
Imagine that you have set down to a very large table that was piled high from end to end with a feast for thanksgiving dinner. Not too hard to imagine with the date so close to Thanksgiving. You pull up your chair to a table struggling to hold all of the turkey and dressing, potatoes, bread, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, vegetables, and anything else you can think of. Your host tells you to take your fill of anything you see.
Thank you very much you say. I think I will have half a cranberry.
Your astonished friend nearly chokes on a candied yam and replies,
'Please have all you would like. That's why I invited you! You're hungry, and here is everything you need to get full.'
'Thank you so very much,' you say. 'Perhaps I will have a sip of water.'
That’s Crazy! Who would ever act like that? If it were us, we'd gobble up so much food they'd have to use a bulldozer to move us out.
Why is it, then, that when it comes to getting full spiritually, we settle for a half a cranberry? What is it that we are putting in our lives that keeps us continually so full of Christ that we can only stand maybe a service or two at church a week?
You find all the time people trying to convince us that we need to go and do this, or we need to be a part of this program, or get our kids involved in this activity. All of these things in themselves are not bad things but anytime you are ask to take part in something that is going to draw your attention further away from God then that one thing becomes a stumbling block for you. That one thing starts filling you instead of what should be our top priority God.
The extent to which you need something else to fill you full is the extent to which you find Christ non-filling. If you find Christ non-filling, then you have found something in contradiction of Scripture, which says that in Christ all the fullness of Deity resides in bodily form.
We've got to decide, is it true that in Christ we have all that we need? Do we really not have to go and fill ourselves with things of this world to be satisfied?
Beware! Scripture declares that in Christ is all fullness, and if you are related to him, you have been given all fullness. We don't need something super-added, extra-plus to Christ. What we need is to daily discover all that we already have in him.
How much have you eaten off of Christ's banquet table? How full are you?"
Thank you very much you say. I think I will have half a cranberry.
Your astonished friend nearly chokes on a candied yam and replies,
'Please have all you would like. That's why I invited you! You're hungry, and here is everything you need to get full.'
'Thank you so very much,' you say. 'Perhaps I will have a sip of water.'
That’s Crazy! Who would ever act like that? If it were us, we'd gobble up so much food they'd have to use a bulldozer to move us out.
Why is it, then, that when it comes to getting full spiritually, we settle for a half a cranberry? What is it that we are putting in our lives that keeps us continually so full of Christ that we can only stand maybe a service or two at church a week?
You find all the time people trying to convince us that we need to go and do this, or we need to be a part of this program, or get our kids involved in this activity. All of these things in themselves are not bad things but anytime you are ask to take part in something that is going to draw your attention further away from God then that one thing becomes a stumbling block for you. That one thing starts filling you instead of what should be our top priority God.
The extent to which you need something else to fill you full is the extent to which you find Christ non-filling. If you find Christ non-filling, then you have found something in contradiction of Scripture, which says that in Christ all the fullness of Deity resides in bodily form.
We've got to decide, is it true that in Christ we have all that we need? Do we really not have to go and fill ourselves with things of this world to be satisfied?
Beware! Scripture declares that in Christ is all fullness, and if you are related to him, you have been given all fullness. We don't need something super-added, extra-plus to Christ. What we need is to daily discover all that we already have in him.
How much have you eaten off of Christ's banquet table? How full are you?"
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