Lion

Lion. Whenever I come across the movie “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” on television, I always stop and watch it no matter what part of the movie it is at. There is just something about that movie that draws me to watch it any time it is on. I love the book as well, and my wife and daughter are reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia series together.

I recently watched a movie about C.S. Lewis, where they spoke about why he chose to portray Aslan as a Lion in his story. He said that most people view God as this heavenly grandfather in the sky that just gives into all of our wildest desires just to make sure we are happy. He said that he wanted to portray Aslan as both an approachable character, but also as a fierce character. He chose a Lion to portray the character Aslan in is Chronicles of Narnia stories.

The world wants to look at God as just this deity of love, that all He wants is everybody to be happy and that He will not pass any judgement on anyone, instead He will just welcome them with open arms and a big hug. He will do that if we repent and turn our lives over to Him and accept His Son as our Savior. But if man does not do that, the Bible says that God will judge man for his sins and punish him for eternity for not accepting the free gift of eternal life.

Jesus came to this world the first time representing a lamb. “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” - John 1:29. His first trip was to offer Himself as a sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world. His second trip He will return as the Lion from the tribe of Judah to judge the sins of the world. “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’” - Revelation 5:5.

The Lamb of God has come and gone, doing His sacrificial work. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is set to return to judge and conquer. Have you accepted the work of the Lamb or are you planning on facing the judgement of the Lion?  You still have time to choose.

Have a great day and God bless.

Error

Error. A few days ago, a baseball legend passed away. Bill Buckner, a lifetime .289 hitter, a NL batting champion and an all-star, passed away in Idaho at 69. He was a great ball player that played for 22 years with five different teams, but he will always be remembered for one fateful night in New York during the 1986 World Series.

In game six of the World Series against the New York Mets, Bill let a ground ball go through his legs in the tenth inning allowing the game winning run to score to force a game seven. The Mets would eventually win the World Series and the curse of the Red Sox continued. Every great play and every great season Bill Buckner had, took a back seat to that one error at first base.

Things like that happen in our lives too, except we don’t call them errors, we call them sins. Many times our sins become what defines us to others. They look at us and see our past sins over everything else we may have done in our lives. We could have been an all-star in everything we had done, but one error is all anyone remembers. When Bill died the other day, all they kept playing when the talked about his death was that fateful error.

We can’t let that continue to define us, Bill didn’t. He spoke about it when asked, but he didn’t let it haunt him from continuing on with his life. It reminds me of the story of Peter when he denied Christ three times. He could have let that define him, but Christ made sure that He forgave him so he could continue on to do great things like his sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

Don’t let your past sins define your future. Don’t let other’s remembrance of your past sins define you either. God has forgiven you and is ready to use you to glorify His name.

Have a great day and God bless.

Stories

Stories. We all have them. Some stories make us feel good and some stories not so much. We tell our stories and we listen to others tell their stories. Some people have a story for every situation in life and some people seem to love to tell them. Some people keep their stories to themselves and that’s okay too.

Sitting in airports and on airplanes, you get to hear a lot of people tell stories. Most of the time they aren’t even talking to you, you just get to overhear the conversations of others. Sometimes they are on the phone and you only get to hear one side of the story. Other times you hear the stories being shared between two people that just met and they are telling about themselves or what they do.

I always wonder how much of the story is exaggerated to make it either more interesting or make the story teller come across in a better light. Very rarely will anyone ever tell a story to a stranger to make themselves look bad. That got me thinking about the stories in the Bible.

Many people believe the stories in the Old Testament are just fairy tales or fables. But the Bible makes sure that it shows all the people at their best and their worst. No one is spared  from having their total lives on display: the good, the bad and the ugly. When stories are told in that way, it brings a higher level of truth to the story because we aren’t just given the “good” stuff.

We are told the sinful sides of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and a list of others. That allows us to believe that the stories are true and accurate; not fairy tales or fables. “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” - 2 Peter 1:20-21.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17. While the stories of man may be inflated with lies and exaggeration, the Word of God is truth.

Have a great day and God bless.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day. A day set aside for those that fought for our freedom and lost their lives in doing so. It’s a day to remember our past and the freedoms we have because of those that paid the ultimate price. Not all that went to battle came home, and some who went to battle came home and died because of what they were exposed to. My dad passed away almost 35 years after he came home from Vietnam because of his exposure to Agent Orange.

We set up a day to remember them and we probably all have different ways of doing that. It reminds me of the story in Joshua. As they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, they were getting ready to go into battle with the people already living there. Joshua sent twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel, back into the river to grab a large stone and bring it out. Once they were in the Promised Land, they built a memorial so that future generations would remember what God had done in allowing Israel to cross over on dry ground.

“And Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, 'What do those stones mean to you?' then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.’”- Joshua 4:5-7.

As we celebrate this day, let it be in remembrance of those that sacrificed all for those they never knew. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:13.

Have a great day and God bless.

Crying

Crying. It was a late night last night and our little guy fell asleep at the dance recital. When he woke up as we were leaving he got to crying and every little thing stoked the tears. We finally got in the car and started driving home and he fell back asleep. Every parent that I passed carrying a sleeping little one seemed to understand the problem.

We cry when we are hurt. We cry when we are sad. And we cry when we are happy. It’s part of the emotional package that God gave us. For some of us, our days of crying will cease to exist. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." - Revelation 21:4.

But for others, crying will be a part of the emotions they will experience for all of eternity. “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 8:11-12.

The Bible tells of two place that man will spend eternity: heaven or hell. In one place there will be no more tears as God will wipe away every one of them. The second place will be a place of weeping and utter darkness. We all have a decision to make in regards to where we spend our eternity. Accepting Christ will lead to eternal life. Rejecting Christ will lead to eternal suffering. Your choice.

Have a great day and God bless.

Music and Dance

Music and dance. Two things my daughter loves is dancing and playing the piano. We got to watch her perform last night at her piano recital and tonight we get to watch her at her dance recital.  I couldn’t be happier that she follows her heart and does what she loves to do even though most of her friends play sports.

Her love of dancing and music reminds me of David in the Bible. He was musically inclined and even soothed the soul of King Saul by playing for him on his harp. “And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.” - 2 Samuel 6:5. Almost all of the psalms are written by David and most believe they were sung to music. “I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.” - Psalm 7:17.

David loves to dance as well. “And David danced before the LORD with all his might.” - 2 Samuel 6:14. Whenever I think of David dancing I think of the scene from Footloose when they stood before the town council trying to get them to approve letting them have a dance in their town. They used Biblical Scriptures to show that singing and dancing were ways of showing praises unto the Lord.

I pray that Christina continues to pursue both her music and her dancing and that she uses both of them to glorify and praise the Lord as she grows closer to Him. “Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” - Jeremiah 31:13.

Have a great day and God bless.

Camels

Camels. One of my favorite all time commercials is the camel walking through the office asking everyone what day it was. Everyone tried to ignore him until he finally got someone to admit that it was Hump Day!  I used to have a guy I worked with named Mike and I would ask him every Wednesday what day it was and he would make me happy by telling me it was Hump Day. Little things make me happy.

One of the most confusing sections of Scripture involves the mention of a camel. “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." - Matthew 19:24. Putting it context, a rich young man had approached Jesus about what  good deed he need to do to have eternal life. When He overconfidently confirmed he had done all things Jesus required of him, Jesus told him to sell all his stuff and give it to the poor and follow Him. He couldn’t do it.

That leads to Jesus telling the crowd that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. There is some debate about this saying. In the 15th century a story originated that the “eye of the needle” was a small entrance in the wall around Jerusalem that was used after the gates have been shut for the night. However, no opening has ever really been found to confirm this. Second, it is said that the word “camel” was misspelled during translation and the word should read “rope”. They are very similar in the original Hebrew.  Either way, a rope nor a camel can fit through the eye of a needle.

Either debate really doesn’t matter to the context of the story. The point is this, whether “rope” or “camel,” Jesus’ point still stands; no matter whom you are and what you’ve accomplished, it is impossible to enter the Kingdom of God on your own “good works”. Which is exactly why Jesus had to take on human flesh and come to earth. It goes against our desire to be self-sufficient, the Gospel tells us that apart from being in Christ Jesus, we are deserving of the eternal judgment that God is going to hand out to the unrighteous on the last day.

It does not mean that rich people can’t get into heaven and that they need to sell all their stuff if they want a chance to make it. Remember, Jesus was talking to an unbeliever and not a Christian. In Jesus’ day, being rich was believed to be an outward sign of God’s blessing on someone. Jesus was trying to prove to the young man that material possessions don’t always mean that you are blessed by God. Having accepted His Son means you are blessed by God.

Have a great day and God bless.

Wardrobe

Wardrobe. I have to admit that my wardrobe isn’t much to write about. It consists mostly of khakis, jeans and polo shirts. That’s about all I wear to work. I do have one suit for those “special” occasions. I just don’t feel the urge to spend money on clothes. If I get anything new it’s usually because my bride bought it for me.

But there is coming a day when I will get a whole new wardrobe and it will go with anything. “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” - Revelation 3:5.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands” - Revelation 7:9.

“And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.” - Revelation 19:14. We will all be clothed in white for all eternity because our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west. Our white clothes will never have a spot or stain because Jesus took them from us on the Cross.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” - Isaiah 1:18.

Have a great day and God bless.

Amazed

Amazed!  I’ve used that word a time or two to describe events that have happened in my life. I’ve been amazed that my gorgeous wife chose to spend the rest of her life with someone like me. I’ve been amazed that God has blessed me with two beautiful and healthy children.  I’m still amazed that God would chose to save a rotten sinner like me and chose to use me to share His Good News. But God works in amazing and mysterious ways.

That word, “amazed” shows up many times in the four Gospels and it Is always in reference to someone’s reaction to what Jesus had said or done. The crowds were amazed at His miracles, the religious people were amazed at His knowledge and teaching, and it was even said that Pilate was amazed with Christ when he questioned Him.

It’s not hard to believe that people were amazed with Jesus Christ when they encountered Him. However, there is one place in the Gospels where the tables were turned and Jesus was the one that was amazed. “And He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He was amazed because of their unbelief.” - Mark 6:5-6a.

He was in His own hometown of Nazareth and the people would not believe in Him. Because of their unbelief, He could not do any mighty works there. These were people that knew Him, had heard of His miracles and still would not believe. If those who physically had the opportunity to see and hear him would not believe, why are we amazed that this generation will not believe?

Just like I wrote about yesterday, we are to continue to share the message of Jesus Christ, but we should not be amazed when that message is rejected. Our Lord and Savior was rejected in His own hometown and it left Him amazed.

Have a great day and God bless.

Mailman

Mailman. I grew up the son of a mailman. We moved back to New York from North Carolina when I was in the third grade because my dad got a job with the post office back home. My dad loved being a mailman. He loved meeting and talking to all the people on his route. He would carry dog treats with him for all the dogs along the way. He loved to just deliver the mail to people.

Christ asks us to do the same thing. He asks us to deliver the Good News of the Gospel. He asks us to love being the “mailman”. He asks us to love on, and talk to, the people along our route called life. He asks us to be His hands and feet.

What he doesn’t require us to do is make sure that the mail is received. We are not responsible for whether or not the receiver accepts the message, just like my father was not responsible for whether or not they paid  their bills. He just asks us to deliver the message. After that, we have to let the Holy Spirit work from there. We cannot “save” anyone, we can only make Him known.

How much of our own mail do we throw away when we get it because we feels it’s just junk mail. We will come across people that we share the message of Christ with, that will feel it’s just junk, however, we are to still deliver the message. We never know if the Holy Spirit has been working beforehand when we share the News. It may just be that they have thrown the message away dozen of times before because they thought it was “junk”, but something happened in their lives and they are ready to receive the Gospel.

Continue to be God’s mailman. Continue to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. You never know when the Holy Spirit has already prepared the path for you to share the Gospel. “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.’” - Mark 16:15-16.

Have a great day and God bless.

Full Moon

Full moon. Last night showed us the glory of God with an amazing full moon shining bright in the sky. I love when we have a full moon because it just lights up everything. It’s almost bright enough to be outside doing yard work. As we drove home last night, it was like the moon was guiding our way.

What’s amazing is that the moon produces no light of its own, it just reflects the light of the sun. What a Biblical principle that is. God and Christ are the source of the light, we are to be the reflection of their light. We produce no light of our own, we are nothing but sinners saved by the grace of God.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” - John 1:4-5. Jesus Christ came to this world to be the light of the world. He came to reflect the light of His Father even though the same light was within Him.

The purpose of His coming to earth was “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."  - Luke 1:79.  As the moon reflects the light of the sun, so should we reflect the light of the Son!

Our job is to now reflect the light of Jesus Christ in how we live our lives, “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” - Ephesians 5:8-10.

Have a great day and God bless.

Battles

Battles. We all face them. Whether they are battles within ourselves, with family or coworkers, or even with culture. Some we win and some we lose. We need to be careful what battles we fight as Christians because some aren’t worth losing a chance to witness of our Lord over.

The Bible describes many battles between groups of people and between individuals. There are all the battles listed in the Bible when Israel was taking the promised land. There were battles when Israel was being taken into captivity because of their idolatry. We see battles between David and King Saul. Battles are a part of history and they will still be a part of the future.

The Book of Revelation tells of a final battle between Satan and Christ called the Battle of Armageddon. Satan will attempt one last overthrow of Christ but will lose and be thrown into the lake of fire to suffer for eternity.

Maybe you are facing some of your own battles and you don’t know where to turn for help. You can pray like David did, “Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!” - Psalm 35:1. The battle belongs to the Lord, let Him fight for you, for His strength is greater than our own.

Have a great day and God bless.

Perfect Timing

Perfect timing. Ever have one of those moments when you thought all hope was lost and there was no way out of your current situation?  And then all of a sudden the improbable happens, something you thought could never take place to get you out of a situation. That’s God showing up right on time.

I heard a story on the radio the other day about God showing up with perfect timing that I want to share. A military husband and wife, with a newborn baby, had just moved to a new city. Most of their important stuff was in a storage unit they had rented. The husband, on deployment in another state, called his wife to tell her that he was notified by the police that their storage unit had been broken into.

Of course, his wife was very upset and started praying on her way over to meet the police at the storage unit. When she got in the car and turned on the radio, a line from Mercy Me’s song came on saying, “Your day’s about to get better!”  She laughed and told God that it was pretty ironic that that line was on and that there was no way that her day was about to get any better. In fact, she thought her day was about to get terribly worse.

However, when she arrived at the storage unit, the police notified her that someone had cut the padlock on the unit but the way the lock was cut, they couldn’t remove it from the hole it was locked through. So even though the lock was destroyed, they were unable to open the door meaning everything was still secure in the unit. Her day had gotten better and God was just letting her know through the song on her way over. He had perfect timing.

The Bible tells us that the birth of Jesus was based upon perfect timing, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” - Galatians 4:4-5.

The Bible also tells us that our salvation came at the perfect time as well, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8. God’s timing is perfect. As the Karen Peck and New River song goes, “even when He is four days late, He’s still right on time!”

Whatever it is you may be going through right now, stay faithful, God is working in His time and His timing is always right on time. A perfect God always has perfect timing.

Have a great day and God bless.

Adjustments

Adjustments. I have to say that I have never once been to a chiropractor. I know some people that swear by them, but I have never really had any back problems that made me go. I have this strange feeling that if you go once, you’re stuck having to go the rest of your life. I would love to hear your comments about going to a chiropractor.

I have heard that when you do go to the chiropractor, that it can be very painful until they are done adjusting you. They will push and pull on all the spots that are hurting to work out the soreness and make you feel like you are back to being your normal self. Again, I have never been to the chiropractor so I’m just repeating what I have heard.

God does the same things to us sometimes that a chiropractor does in adjusting our backs. God will take the sore spots in our lives and push and pull at them and it will hurt at the beginning. He shines a light into our lives exposing the dark spots He wants to work on and it’s painful. He will push and prod at those “knots” in our lives until He works them out and gets us back into His will. It will be uncomfortable at the beginning but when He is done, our lives seem to be back in correct working order.

The idea of God being like a chiropractor reminds me of the verses in Jeremiah, "’Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.’  So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel.  And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” - Jeremiah 18:2-4.

If something seems amiss in our lives to God, He will use his caring hands to remold us into something more beautiful. Just like the chiropractor use their hands to massage out the bad areas of our bodies, so too does the Master Potter use His hands to work out the areas in our lives He wants to fix. We need to be willing to allow God to work on those sore spots so that He can restore us back to where He wants us.

Have a great day and God bless.

Desire

Desire. We all have that fire inside of us that desires to excel at something. That little flame deep down inside to chase after the thing that makes our hearts happy. I watch the posts that people share on Facebook every day and you can see by the subject what that person’s desire is. For some it’s animals like dogs and horses, for some it’s sports and politics, and for others their desire is to know God and make Him known.

That desire is the flame that is inside of us that needs to be fanned into a greater fire. The Apostle Paul told Timothy the same thing, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” - 2 Timothy 1:6-7. Paul encouraged Timothy to fan that spark that was in him into a flame. That spark was Timothy’s sincere faith that Paul wanted to grow into a flame.

Many times in our lives we have the ability to fan the flame of others by encouraging them in the things they do. Paul was definitely encouraging Timothy, but the wording encourages Timothy to fan his own flame and not to look to someone else to do it for him. We are instructed to take what is a spark inside us for some “cause” and fan that spark into a flame by encouraging ourselves.

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” - Psalm 37:4. What are the desires of your heart?  What is that spark within you that makes you get up each morning?  What are you doing to fan that spark into a flame?  Seek after the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart according to His will.

Have a great day and God bless.

Squad

Squad. You know, that small group of close friends that has been given the term “my squad”. I heard recently that the older we get the less friends we make. Studies show that as we age we make less friends and it may be at least five years since you made a new friend. We all have acquaintances, people we work with, people we say hi to at church and even thousands of them on social media, but our “squad” usually consists of less than five people.

By “squad”, I mean those few people that if something went wrong in your life, they would be the ones you reach out to for support, not including your family. The small group that you feel free to stop by their house uninvited or that they stop by yours. The friends you don’t mind spending hours of just one-on-one time with, that’s your “squad”. It’s okay if you are thinking to yourself right now who your “squad” is and it’s okay if the number is greater or less than five.

Jesus had his own “squad” so to speak. He had the multitudes that followed him from town to town looking for miracles but they would be more like His Facebook followers nowadays, not really part of the “squad”. Then He had His twelve disciples that He was much closer to than the multitudes, but even they wouldn’t be termed as His “squad”.

Jesus had a very small group that He opened Himself up to more than any others in the group of twelve. His “squad” consisted of three: Peter, James and John. Those three men were the ones that Jesus usually separated from the crowd to give them insight to the deep things of God. And out of the three, John says he was the one that Jesus loved.

It’s okay to have acquaintances, and it’s ok to have friends, but it’s important that we have a “squad”, a group that we share life with, the good and the bad. We need that small group of people that we can lean on in times of trouble and that we can truly show our hearts to without fear of being judged. Do you have a “squad” or are you part of a “squad”?  It’s important spiritually to have one, Jesus did.

Have a great day and God bless.

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day. It only comes around once a year on the calendar, but in reality, it’s something that is celebrated every day. None of us would be here without our mothers. None of us probably would have survived this long without them either. Mother’s have a great responsibility in the lives of their children, Christian mothers have an even greater one. The Bible gives us some great examples of Godly mothers (and grandmothers) that can be used in guiding the raising of our children.

The Apostle Paul wrote to his “son in the faith” these words about his mother and grandmother, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” - 2 Timothy 1:5. The faith of Timothy was first modeled in his mother and grandmother. This is not to say that fathers and grandfathers can’t do the same, but the focus today is on mothers.

Mothers and grandmothers can do four things that can have a Godly influence on their children and grandchildren. First, they can show the watching eyes of children that they take God’s Word seriously by reading, studying and meditating on it. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man (and woman) of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Second, mothers and grandmothers can have an active prayer life, both in private and with their children. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” - Jude 1:20-23.

Third, to be a great example to their children, mothers should be an active participant in the church. If children see that church is important to their mothers, they are more apt to continue when they grow older. “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” - Romans 12:11.

Finally, mothers should train up their children in the way they should go and then be willing to let them go when God’s call on their children’s lives takes place. “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.  As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.  So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” - Acts 16:3-5. When Timothy’s time had come to go with Paul, his mother had trained him and then let him go.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” - 2 Timothy 3:14-15. Wouldn’t it be great if all mothers could say these two verses to their children when the time comes for them to leave the nest?

Have a great Mother’s Day and God bless all the mothers.

Blame

Blame. “You ruined it!”  Have you ever said those words to someone?  Has someone ever said those words to you?  Maybe a parent, or a teacher, a coach, or a boss. Maybe you even said that to your own children or maybe even your spouse. We think things are ruined because they are not going according to our plans. We feel things are ruined because of the amount of time that we have put into something that now seems to be turned upside down.

I think about all the times in the Bible that God could have looked down on His creation and could have said, “You ruined it!”  He could have easily said those words to Adam and Eve, He could have said it to the nation of Israel and He definitely could have said it to those that persecuted and killed Jesus Christ. But in all those ways that mankind could have ruined the plans of God, He never once said that.

We can’t ruin the plans of God. We will never read or hear the words, “you ruined it”, from the lips of God. He knows all things and nothing catches Him by surprise. He knew that Adam and Eve would fall, He knew the nation of Israel would be unfaithful and He knew that Christ can to die for the sins of the world. He knows all things and is not restricted by our concept of time.

He knows all about us too. He knows that we struggle and make mistakes. He knows that the plans we have for ourselves may be ruined. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” - Jeremiah 29:11-14.

Have a great day and God bless.

More

More. Our sin nature seems to always crave more. More money, more status, more love, more stuff!  We seem to be satisfied with not being satisfied. I was scanning through the channels last night and came across the show Deal or No Deal with Howie Mandel. As I watched the show, the gentleman playing made it to the last five cases with some big money still on the board. He was offered six figures to bow out but his need for more pushed him to turn it down and keep pressing his luck. It turned out that he made the wrong choice and ended with the $10 case, all because he wanted more.

“For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world.” - 1 John 2:16. Part of the issue is our lust for the flesh and the eyes and the other part of the problem is the world tells us we need more.

That verse shows us that the problem lies within our sinful nature. Things we see are things we end up lusting after. That new car that drives by catches our eye and all of a sudden we talk ourselves into how old our current car is and the need we have to want more. Our flesh wants to be satisfied and our eyes tempt our flesh to fulfill those desires to have more

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” - Hebrews 13:5.  We defeat the desire to have more with having contentment with what God has blesses us with. There is no sin in having things, that’s not what I’m saying, the sin is in the desire to want more. If God blesses us with material things then so be it, but we should have grateful hearts and be content in our lives.

The gentleman on Deal or No Deal kept pushing for more because he wasn’t content with the six figures that they offered him. He kept saying how much that money could help him financially but the list of the flesh, the list of the eyes, and the pride of life kept him from stopping. The world (the audience) kept pushing him to go for more and the world was wrong. He left with so little money he couldn’t even fill up his gas tank.

We need to look at our situations and be really honest with ourselves to see if we are content or if we are following our lusts and listening to the world. Take inventory of your life and thank God for all you have and be content in your life. “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” - Philippians 4:11-12.

Have a great day and God bless.

Retirement

Retirement. Not long ago, when I was in my new home-away-from-home, the airport, I was following an older couple and their friend down the jetway to get on the plane and I was listening to their conversation with another older lady. The retired group of three were telling the other woman about their upcoming adventure of hiking 300 miles through Portugal and Spain. As you can imagine, this story caught my attention and the amazement of the older lady whom they were telling the trip details to.

This got me thinking about growing older and a future retirement on my part. I’m still quite a few years away from retiring, especially with young children, but hopefully some day I can retire and have more time to do things like taking adventures with my wife. But what about our Christian lives?  Do we ever retire from doing the work of God?  The answer to that is “no”!

Our work for the Kingdom of God never comes to an end. Jesus never gave any of His followers a retirement party for their long years of service. All of the Apostles went to the grave, mostly against their will, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christians never retire, we just leave this world and enter into the glory of the Lord.

I look forward to retiring from the secular world, but recognize the fact that retirement from a relationship with Jesus Christ will never end. I will never retire from my relationship with my beautiful wife, so why would I assume I would retire from my beautiful relationship with my Savior?  You may never get a paycheck from being a Christian, but the benefits are for eternity.  “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” - Psalm 71:18.

Have a great day and God bless.

No Man is an Island

No man is an island. That’s the start of a famous poem by English poet and priest, John Donne. As he laid dying in his bed and hearing the church bells toll for funeral after funeral, knowing his own death was soon to come, he wrote these famous words, “No man is an island, entire to himself.”  It was recently turned into a Christian song by Tenth Avenue North.

We are created by God for relationships, first and foremost with Him, and then with others. We were not created to be solitary beings. We are not islands unto ourselves. So many letters in the New Testament, especially those written by the Apostle Paul, uses the phrase “one another” when exhorting it’s readers. Paul used this phrase multiple times in his letters to the Romans and to the Corinthians.

Paul, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, directs believers to love one another, pray for one another, live in harmony with one another, encourage one another, and welcome one another. There are many more that could be listed that I’ll let you look up on your own. Are we doing these things or are we escaping to our own little world thinking we will be okay without interaction with anyone else?

Do we think that we can still grow in Christ and not attend church?  The writer of Hebrews says “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” - Hebrews 10:24-25. We are instructed not to neglect meeting together. It is important to gather with like-minded individuals to worship together in Spirit and in Truth.

Even Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." - Matthew 18:20. If you don’t have a church family, find one!  Make sure they are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not just fanciful sayings.

Have a great day and God bless.

Graduation

Graduation. It’s coming up on that time of year once again. Little ones will be graduating from kindergarten, teenagers will be graduating from high school and people of all ages will be graduating from college. It’s one of the great achievements in life. We’ve reached a certain level of knowledge that the school tells us we are free to go on to the next stage of life whether we are really ready or not.

I’ve been through three graduations myself with my high school graduation being the most eventful. We were outside and they got about halfway through the 200 students and a storm cloud came rolling through and they stopped it at about the letter “G”. They had us all stand up at once and they announced us as graduates. Two seconds later everyone was sprinting for the gymnasium because the bottom fell out. College and graduate school were much more uneventful.

Graduation is a big life changing moment. We go from the routine of going to class, eating in the cafeteria, hanging out with friends and staying up all night studying for exams to all of a sudden we are kicked into the real world where nothing seems to be in any type of order. The same thing happens when we become Christians.

When we give our life to Christ, the routine of what we used to do all of a sudden is replaced with this whole new life. The things we once did now seem foreign to us. This new thing we call the Christian life seems just as foreign. We become “new creatures” like the Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Once the initial shock wears off and we start a new routine of a job or career, we start finding that what we learned from school was just the tip of the iceberg. What we expected doesn’t always meet reality. The same thing happen with the Christian life. We have this expectation that life is going to be all rainbows and butterflies but it’s not. The Christian life is hard, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:2-4.

Congratulations to all the new graduates and congratulations to those that may be new in Christ. Your best life lies ahead.

Have a great day and God bless.

Lucky

Lucky. That word always reminds me of the 80s/90s country song by Mary Chapin Carpenter, “I Feel Lucky”.  I tell my wife all the time how lucky I am to have her and her response is “it’s not luck, it’s a blessing!”  From a Christian point of view, she’s right, there is no such thing as luck. God is sovereign over all things and nothing happens according to luck. Things happen because He blesses us with those things.

We may barely miss being in a car accident and we are quick to say, “I was lucky I avoided that”, when in actuality, it was the blessings of God that we avoided it. Even those that are not Christians are afforded the blessings of God over luck. The Bible says, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” - Matthew 5:45.

The blessings of God have nothing to do with four leaf clovers, rabbit’s feet, horse shoes or pennies; it is purely the love of God that He has for His creation. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” - Matthew 10:29-31.

As Christians, do not rely on “luck”, but count all things as blessings from God.  “Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!” - Psalm 144:15. Even though Mary Chapin Carpenter may have sang about felling lucky, it all comes down to the blessings of God. Have you realized how blessed by God you really are?  Blessed that you don’t have to pay the penalty of your own sins!  That’s not lucky my friends, that’s being blessed!

Have a great day and God bless.

Lips

Lips. When I was an art student back in my high school and early college years, I used to love drawing portraits of people. I would draw people out of magazines or from pictures. It is very difficult to make a drawing look exactly like the person’s picture, very few people can do it. Certain features can make or break your drawing: the eyes, the nose and the lips. If you don’t get any of those just right, your drawing will be a disaster.

Our lips say a lot about us. We have all different shapes and sizes of lips based upon our genes. Our lips say a lot about us in who we are, and what we believe as well, based upon what comes out of them. Our lips are the gateway to our hearts.

As Christians, we like to say that we have given our hearts to Jesus, but what about other body parts, like our lips; have we given them to Jesus as well?  Would Jesus be proud of what we allow to come out of our lips in ordinary conversations or behind closed doors?  Would he be proud of the songs we sing when we are in the car alone and the lyrics may be questionable?  Jesus doesn’t just want our hearts, He wants all of us.

“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” - Psalm 34:13.

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” - Psalm 51:15.

“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” - Psalm 63:3.

“My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.” - Psalm 71:23.

Our lips are an important mirror to our hearts. Lips that praise the Lord reflect a heart that does so as well. If the Lord is the Lord of our hearts, then He should also be the Lord of our lips.

Have a great day and God bless.

I Don’t Know

I don’t know. It’s okay for that to be the answer sometimes when we are asked questions that we don’t know the answer to, especially as Christians. I don’t know why the horrible things that happened on the campus of UNCC took place. I don’t know why evil things happen in this world. I don’t know why some people were allowed to survive and some were not. It’s okay to not have all the answers!  Sometimes trying to explain what your opinion is only makes it worse.

Evil does exist in this world and it will continue to do so. Times like these make people question why God allows evil to exist. They ask that if He really exists, why doesn’t He just stop all evil things from happening. It’s not a question that has an easy answer, but it does have an answer. Evil exists because of our rebellious nature and evil hearts.

God create the angels and humans with a free will, a will to choose how we act and what we decide to do. God did not create robots that were automatically programmed to do exactly how they are instructed. Instead, He made the angels and mankind with the opportunity to choose to love and follow Him. Our free will allows us the opportunity to rebel or to submit. Evil exists because of man’s nature to want to rebel.

Even some of the angels, who have always been in the presence of God since they were created, chose to rebel against God and were cast out of heaven. If they were in the presence of God and still chose to rebel, how much more likely is man to rebel who have not been in His presence?  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “ - Jeremiah 17:9.

I don’t know why God allows certain things to happen in this world that we deem as evil. To deem something as “evil” means we must understand that there is a standard in which we judge evilness. God’s Word is that standard. What I do know is this; even though evil things happen, God is still good!  People want to blame God for the evil deeds of man. When I do things that are deemed evil, it’s not the fault of God, it’s because of the wickedness that resides within me. God is good, all the time.

Have a great day and God bless.

Static

Static. There is nothing worse than when you are traveling long distances and you start to move out of range of the radio station that you are listening to. It happens very slowly, where you start to get a slight static interruption in the music and it cuts in and out. But as you keep getting further and further away, the static increases to the point that you can no longer hear that sweet sounding music that your were just listening to and it’s off to seeking a new station within range.

Sin causes static in our fellowship with God. It also happens slowly, when we allow a sin to fester and not confess it. Soon as more unconfessed sins are added to our lives the static between us and God gets greater. We can no longer hear Him and our prayers to Him are blocked.  As we get further from God the static grows increasingly larger and instead of turning back into range with God, we usually search for another station. It could be relationships, activities or substances to fill in the vacuum left from being out of fellowship with God.

In my live video post with Nathan yesterday, the echo from feed was almost unbearable. All I could here in my earphones was my own voice echoing back to me. That made it extremely hard to speak as I felt I was speaking over myself. It effected my
message and interrupted the flow of the conversation. It was nothing either one of us planned, it just seemed to be a technical issue. That static caused a break in our effectiveness and fellowship.

Our need is to eliminate static (sin) in our lives by keeping in range (fellowship) with the signal (God). We do that by keeping our sins confesses and staying in fellowship. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9. Keeping a clean sheet with God eliminates the static in our conversations between Him and ourselves. It also keeps our relationship with one another in better fellowship. If you feel God is distant in your life, find the static that is causing that interruption in fellowship.

Have a great day and God bless.