Tag Archives: christian living

July 20, 2020 · 5:55 AM

Making Choices

Making financial decisions or long term decisions can be difficult. There are some people who have no issues making a decision and living with it, but there are other personality types that struggle because they’re thinking of all the ramifications. They study up on the subject, they weigh the consequences and don’t want to make a mistake. What usually happens is that they feel they can never get enough information to feel comfortable making the decision or they get paralysis through analysis. They are so afraid of making the wrong choice that they end up making no choice at all. It’s a tough spot to be in. Because they can’t feel peace inside, they hold off on the decision until it is often made for them by circumstances.

When this happens to my wife and I, we usually take one or two different approaches. The first one is usually to lay fleeces before the Lord like Gideon did. We ask God to do an impossible thing to show us we’re to make that decision. Gideon did two fleeces, but we usually do three. If two out of three happens, we walk away, even if the third is 99.9% there. If God had desired for us to make that decision, it would have been 100% there. He is able. I don’t always like Hid decision, but in the end, if we have prayed then I know we’re in His will and His decision is better than mine. When disappointment or bitterness try to creep in, I remind myself that God sees the future, and I can’t. He knows what is best, and my peace returns.

The second thing is that we pray for peace regarding the situation. Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]” (AMP). If it’s not God’s will, we ask Him to take away our peace, cause us to be stressed over it and to lose sleep. If we lose our peace, we make the decision to not do whatever it is and His peace that passes understanding returns. You and I can’t live in a state of fear or of paralysis through analysis. The Bible shows us many ways to make decisions, but these are the two we have found to be most helpful for us. Decisions can be difficult, but when we have the peace of Christ, we can make them and no that we’re in His will one way or the other.

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July 15, 2020 · 5:58 AM

Seeing Someone’s Worth

Worthless. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used that word to describe someone. It comes out of my mouth and into my head too often to be honest. There was even a time when that word would come into my head as I looked into the mirror. Rejection and pain have a way of doing that to you. The problem is that when you say it about someone or yourself enough, you start to believe it. When you think or say those things about yourself or someone else, you’re capable of doing anything to that person simply because you don’t see any value. It’s hard to live in harmony or to be at peace with someone, especially yourself, if you don’t value them.

One of the things I love about Jesus is how He valued people. When I read the Gospels, that’s something that always jumps off the page at me. When Jesus looked at people, the Bible said He had compassion on them. Because He valued them, He poured God’s Word into them, fed them and healed them. Think of the disciples He called. The world said they were uneducated and worthless, but Jesus saw more than that. He didn’t see a wispy washy man. He saw a rock in Peter. He didn’t see a doubter in Thomas. He saw a person that carry His message outside the Roman Empire. With Matthew, He didn’t see a worthless, traitorous person, He saw someone who could reach the rejected.

What do you see in others or in the mirror? Can you see beyond the present? Do you see value? Romans 12:16 says, “Live happily together in a spirit of harmony, and be as mindful of another’s worth as you are your own” (TPT). How can you love someone if you don’t value them? We’re to be known for our love. We’re to carry out the Great Commission, but we can’t if we don’t value people. Worthless shouldn’t be in our vocabulary when it comes to ourselves or others. Christ loved and valued each of us enough to die for us so that we could spend eternity with Him. God created each one of us in His image as well. If we value God, and Jesus’ work on the cross, then we must value ourselves and everyone else. When we value them, we can love them. When we love them, we will see them as Jesus does.

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July 13, 2020 · 6:10 AM

Imitators Of God

Recently I had to take my son with me on a sales call. He stood beside me as I asked the person questions and took notes on my iPad. When we got home, he brought me his iPad and wanted to show me something. He had written out some nonsensical measurements using words he heard me and the customer using. A few days later, I needed to run out to a job site and I asked if he wanted to go. He ran to the car and beat me to it. When we got there, he pulled out his iPad and said he was ready. I told him to leave it in the car, but he wanted to take it. We went back and forth until I realized he thought we were on a sales call and he wanted to take notes on it real time. He was wanting to do the things he saw me doing.

Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]” (AMP). You and I are to be no different than him in following the example Jesus set. In John 5:19, Jesus said that the works He did were only the works He saw the father doing. He was a well-beloved son imitating His father giving us an example of how to live our lives. The problem is that most of us are like Philip in John 14 asking Jesus to show us the Father. We use the excuse that we can’t see God, therefore we can’t imitate Him or do the things we see Him doing. However, we have seen His work and the effects of His work.

On one of the mission trips I took, at the end of each day, we would ask the question, “Where did you see Jesus today?” Each person had to share where they saw Him at work in the lives of others. That activity is something each of need to engage in daily. Where have you seen the Father at work lately? Train your eyes to look for God and you will see what He’s doing. Once you see that, begin to do it. The Bible helps us to understand the character of God. It also tells us the things Jesus did such as: having compassion on the lost and hurting, caring for their needs, teaching people to see God, going to where the people were and so much more. If you’re having trouble seeing God at work, read the Gospels and then look around you. Who needs compassion? Who needs encouragement? Who needs godly wisdom? Look for them and get busy being about the Father’s business.

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July 9, 2020 · 5:30 AM

God’s Image

One day, there was a religious leader who wanted to trap Jesus. He asked Him which of the commandments was the most important. Jesus knew what was in his heart and replied that we must love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. What the leader wasn’t prepared for was what Jesus said next. He said, “A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself” (NLT). He knew if we could do these two things, we could fulfill the law.

The first one seems easy enough. We are to love a perfect God with everything in us. The second one, that’s equally important, is the tough one because people are imperfect. People do things that make us mad, offend us, hurt us and drive us nuts. Yet Jesus is telling us to love them with everything in us as much as we love God. Why would He put that pressure on us? Why can’t we just love God and go to Heaven?

I believe God wanted us to learn to look past each other’s faults to see what He sees in them. Genesis 1:27 tells us what to look for. “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Each of us are made in God’s image, even the people you can’t stand. God put His likeness in each one of us and it’s up to us to learn to see it the way He does.

If you look for the best in others, they will look for the best in you. If you can see God’s image in them, you can learn to love them because we can easily love God. It’s tough sometimes to dig through their layers to find it deep inside them, but His image is in there. When we learn to see Him in others, and to help them see His image in themselves, we begin to see the world through different lenses. We begin to know as we are known and also to fulfill that second, but equally important commandment. Look deeper into to others today to find God’s image and fulfill the law of Christ.

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July 8, 2020 · 5:54 AM

Your Potential Growth

To me, one of the coolest miracles is the miracle of a seed. I have packets of them sitting around. Some are for flowers, some are for vegetables and some are for trees. They can sit inside their packet for years and nothing will happen. However, when I plant them at the right time of year, the miracle begins. In the dark, wet earth, something in the seed wakes up and it begins to come apart as a small shoot makes its way out of it. That shoot pushes back the ground all around it and somehow knows to go upward in search for light. It continues growing in the proper conditions until it replicates in some form the plant or tree that produced it. Then, it produces its own seeds so that another generation can grow.

When I look at an acorn next to an oak, I can’t help but look up and ask God, “How do you fit an entire tree in this little nut?” When I think about it, He does the same thing with us. Each of us have an incredible potential inside of us waiting for the right conditions in order to grow and develop into something incredible. We all have hidden potential that is waiting to be discovered, but it needs the right conditions in order to start growing. Those conditions are usually dark times in our lives where we’re in over our heads and aren’t quite sure which way is up. The world around us seems to be pressing in on ever side, yet out of that, God births things in us that we didn’t know were there.

2 Peter 1:3 says, “Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power” (TPT). Just like every sin lives in you waiting for the right conditions to come out, every good thing lives in you waiting on the right conditions to come out. Don’t run from the pressures of hard times in your life because those are the places where God grows these deposits in your life. You have an incredible potential beyond what you can imagine. Just like a giant tree begins with a small seed, there is a giant in you waiting to come out. As you mature and grow, you will begin to reproduce other people in the faith. You will provide shade for them to grow in, when you have roots that go down deep into God’s Word. Isaiah 61:3 says, “In their righteousness, they (you) will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory” (NLT). There is a tree inside of you waiting to grow.
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June 30, 2020 · 5:56 AM

Defeating Hidden Sins

Nearly twenty years ago, I found myself sitting on the edge of my bed with a shotgun on my lap. Thoughts were racing through my head. I had been hurt badly and wanted revenge. I knew that the people were meeting at Target in about an hour. My heart was racing as I played out the scenario in my head. I thought about where I could run to or where I could hide out. Then I started thinking about what it would be like to spend the rest of my life in prison. I started to put the gun back up, but all those thoughts of pain came rushing back. “They deserve it,” I reasoned with myself. The argument went back and forth. In a split second, I put the gun in the closet, ran to my car and drove an hour away. I called a friend to meet me, gave him my keys and told him not to give them back no matter what I said.

That night scared me to death. It’s the night I realized that every sin lies within me dormant waiting for the right circumstances to bring it out. I never thought I was capable of such a thing, but that mental battle was real and it was all I could do to keep from committing it. That night I began to pay more attention to my thoughts and where I let them go. I also started to keep myself from certain situations that I thought I was immune to. Guarding my heart became something I did rather than just something I read about in the Bible. If every sin was hiding in my heart, waiting for the right moment and circumstances to align, I needed to be more cautious.

David must have had one of those moments too. In Psalm 19:12, he prayed, “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults” (NLT). He found out that every one of us are capable of any sin, but he also knew that the remedy was knowing God’s Word and seeking Him for help. In verse 11, referencing God’s Word, he wrote, “They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.” The Bible is a lamp and a light (Psalm 119:105). It exposes hidden sins, faults and thoughts, as well as it shows you what to do. Jesus used the Word of God to keep from sinning as He was tempted. It’s a powerful weapon in our arsenal against sin, but you can only be equipped with it if you know it. Don’t fall prey to the hidden sins in your heart. Be proactive by putting God’s Word in your heart so that you won’t sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).

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June 17, 2020 · 5:51 AM

Becoming Christlike

A book on spiritual growth that I’m reading discusses the different stages we go through as believers. There are two different places that mature believers fall into. Both look very similar on paper and in actions, but there is a huge gap between them. In both stages the believer has the spiritual disciplines of reading the Bible, praying, fasting, sharing their faith, serving others, seeking God and hearing His voice. However, the thing that creates the biggest gap between a person who is close to Christ and Christlike is how they run their life. A person who is close to Christ seeks God for direction in their life, but is still at the steering wheel determining to obey or not. The person who is Christ-like gets out of the driver’s seat and fully trusts God to guide their life. On paper it looks like a minimal difference, but in reality, it’s a huge gap.

In Mark 8:34 Jesus said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am” (MSG). It’s a pretty serious statement He made to us, but it’s what He desires from each of us. He’s not going to come in and wreck your life, but He is going to want full control of it. He made this statement immediately after having to rebuke Peter. A few verses before, Peter famously declared that he understood Jesus was the Messiah and savior. He was a believer, but then when Jesus talked about being killed, Peter took Him aside and reprimanded Jesus because that’s not the way he thought things should go. Peter is representative of those who are close to Christ in this incident. We argue with Jesus when His plan doesn’t make sense and then choose to do our own thing. Think about that. He knew Jesus was God the Messiah, yet he reprimanded Him.

Just like a Peter, you and I must get to the place where we quit trying to call the shots for our lives. We can’t be the ones who reprimand and argue with a God when we don’t like what He’s asking of us. If we find ourselves in that position, we haven’t fully let Jesus get in the driver’s seat. It doesn’t mean we’re not moving in that direction or we’re bad people. It just means there’s room for growth. Each one of us are called to continue moving and growing into a person that fully trusts God with our lives. It’s a hard thing to do, but it’s also what He’s asking of us. Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from knowing God more. When we accept Jesus, we begin the process of letting go of what’s important to us and begin to embrace what’s important to God. Just like Peter, we’re going to experience some bumps along the road, but if we keep moving closer to Jesus, we will become more and more Christlike.

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June 10, 2020 · 5:54 AM

Taking A Break

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a person on the go. I didn’t like naps then, and I don’t like them now. Instead of forcing me to take a nap, my mom would have me come inside each day between 1-3. It was her way of getting me out of the heat and forcing me to sit down. These days, that’s my wife’s job. She tells me when I’m too busy or when I need to take a break. I giver her push back like i gave it to my mom. Taking breaks and naps just seem so unproductive and and feel like a waste of time to me. The truth is that they are probably the most productive because they reenergize, refresh and refocus me. In the moment I can’t see that, but it’s true.

When I take what John wrote about Jesus saying that all the books in the world couldn’t contain all the things He did during those three years of ministry, and I read how the crowds constantly followed Him seeking healing, I know He was busy about His Father’s business. From sun up to sun down, day in and day out, Jesus was followed by crowds seeking something from Him. They followed Him in boats, walked miles around the Sea of Galilee just to meet Him on the other side. He was busy, busy, busy, but He also took time to rest. Even when the disciples came back after being sent out to preach, He made them rest. Mark 6:31 says, “There was such a swirl of activity around Jesus, with so many people coming and going, that they were unable to even eat a meal. So Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Come, let’s take a break and find a secluded place where you can rest a while’” (TPT).

When’s the last time you took a break? I mean a real break where you stepped aside, quit thinking and worrying about everything and just rested? If you can’t think of it, that’s been too long. God designed your body and your brain to need a break. Jesus constantly took them and He was still productive. God took a break after creating everything just to show us we need one. The word “Sabbath” means “to stop”. It’s not that the things you’re doing aren’t important. It’s that it’s more important to stop often. Your life and health are more important than the things you’re doing. If you’re busy like me, you’ll need to schedule your break and put it on your calendar. Taking a break is just as godly as being busy.

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June 9, 2020 · 5:46 AM

Curing Sin

People will often ask me, “Why would you drive six hours one way to go to the doctor?” It’s a legitimate question. My answer is always the same, “He is interested in curing me instead of treating me.” There’s a big difference between the two. Most of the American system of healthcare is designed to treat the symptoms of a disease instead of attacking it at its root because the money is in treating it rather than curing it. Think of all the over the counter medicine we buy. We’re reading the symptoms on the box that it treats so that we can be relieved of them for about four hours. Then, we have to take that medicine again just to get rid of the symptoms again. We go back and buy a new bottle when we run out. What if there was a medicine that stopped what was causing the symptoms with one dose? Would you rather take that? That’s the difference in treating diseases versus curing them.

That same line of thinking that treats the symptoms creeps into our Christianity. We look at the symptoms of our brokenness and try to treat them. Each of us have certain propensities to sin based on the way we’re broken inside. We get mad at ourselves for falling for the same temptations over and over and vow not to commit that particular sin again. We try to remove the triggers, we try to make sure we’re not in those situations again or we think we somehow have the willpower to beat it. None of those work because they’re dealing with the fruit of the sin rather than the root of it. As long as we do that, we will continue to commit the same sins over and over. We’re been conditioned to think our salvation is based on our behavior rather than God’s grace.

In Mark 2, Jesus was addressing the same thinking in the Pharisees. Some friends lowered a guy through a ceiling to be healed by Jesus. The first thing Jesus told him was that his sins were forgiven. Why? Because that was his greatest need. His physical condition was a result of the fall of man. He then healed the man, but the Pharisees got angry. Jesus later called Matthew and then went to his house for dinner. The Pharisees couldn’t believe Jesus’ behavior because their relationship with God was based on symptoms and behaviors rather than grace. I’m verse 17, Jesus replied, “Who goes to the doctor for a cure? Those who are well or those who are sick? I have not come to call the ‘righteous,’ but to call those who are sinners and bring them to repentance” (TPT). Jesus didn’t die to relieve the symptoms of a fallen world. He died to make you whole and to cure the disease of sin within you.

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June 3, 2020 · 6:00 AM

The Master’s Hand

I’ve been thinking of an old poem by Myra Brooks Welch turned into song and sung by Wayne Watson. It’s called, “The Old Violin: The Touch Of The Master’s Hand”. It starts off, “’Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it hardly worth his while, to waste his time on the old violin, but he held it up with a smile.” He asked for a dollar for it, maybe two. Then an old man came up, tuned it and played a beautiful melody. The auctioneer then asked for $1,000. It then switches and says, “And many a man with life out of tune, all battered and bruised with hardship, is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd, much like that old violin…But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can understand, the worth of a soul and the change that is wrought by the touch of the Master’s hand.”

In Matthew 14, Jesus is grieving John the Baptist’s death and just wants to be alone. He gets in a boat and sails to the middle of the Sea of Galilee, but the crowds follow His every move from the shore. He goes to the shore and heals the sick all day long. By late afternoon, the disciples catch up and presume to tell Jesus what to do. “You should send the crowds away to the nearby villages to buy themselves some food.” But Jesus has other plans and told them to feed the crowd. They answered in verse 17, “But all we have is five barley loaves and two fish.” “Let me have them,” Jesus replied” (TPT). He then fed the 5,000+ crowd with so little.

If you’re like me, you look at your life and say, “God, how can use you me? I have so little to offer.” But going back to the poem and the story in the Bible, value is measured based on whose hands something is in. You and I can only do so much with what I have to maximize our potential. The exponential change and growth happens when we surrender our lives to Him and place them in His hands. Your background, past and brokenness limit you in your own hands, but becomes limitless in His. Where you disqualify yourself, He tunes up and plays a beautiful melody that touches others. Submitting our life to Him is the greatest thing any one of us can do because that’s when we place it in the Master’s Hands.

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