Tag Archives: Christian

November 29, 2012 · 7:53 AM

Risk Your Gift

A few months ago I had my nephew read the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. After he read it, we went to dinner to discuss it. He explained to me how the king had given servants silver and asked them to invest it while he was gone. When he came back for his money, one servant made ten times the original, another made five times and a third just buried it in the ground. The king was happy with the first two, but furious with the third.

After he explained it to me, I pulled out a hundred dollar bill. His eyes lit up. I slid it across the table to him and told him to invest it for me. I told I wanted him to think of a ministry he wanted to support with it. He quickly named a missionary in Kenya who had made an impact on him. I then told him when I come back for the money, we’ll give it to the missionary. He ended turning that $100 into nearly $500 in three months. Not bad for a 12 year old.

It got me to thinking about what am I doing with the talents God has given me. Am I using them? Am I growing them? Have I invested them so that when He comes to me and asks I can show a profit? Yes, the story is about money, but I’m talking about gifts God has enabled me with. Each of us has been given certain gifts and talents. Not one of us is talentless. Sure, some have more talent and gifts than others, but that doesn’t give us the right to bury ours in the sand.

What has God given you the ability to do? Some of us are good at growing and making money. Some of us are good at helping others in need. Some of us are good at meeting strangers and talking to them. Some of us are good at building and rebuilding things. Each of us have something that we love doing and are good at. How can you use that to honor God and grow His Kingdom?

Romans 12: 6-8, Paul tells us that no matter what gift God has given you, you should do it well. And in I Corinthians 12:7, he says that a spiritual gift has been given to each one of us so we can help each other. That means that God has given you a gift! He gave each one of us a gift. What would happen if you got your gift at Christmas, but refused to open it? Someone put thought and effort into getting a gift just for you, but you refused to open it. That’s not right.

There are many who do that with the gift God has given them. They refuse to open it and share it with the world. I think that is like the third servant who buried his talent in the ground. He told the king, “I hid your talent and kept it safe.” The king was displeased with this response. He didn’t ask him to keep it safe. He asked him to risk it. How are you taking a risk with what God has given you? What can you do to take a greater risk? There’s a saying in business that says, “No risk. No reward.” Don’t be afraid to take a risk today with your gift.

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November 27, 2012 · 7:23 AM

Come Home

I’ve always loved the parable of the Prodigal Son. I’ve been able to identify with so many parts of that story throughout my life. I’ve taken my spiritual inheritance, ran off and squandered it before. I’ve come to the end of my rope and realized that the Father still has enough grace to call me His son even when I didn’t deserve it. I’ve even been the son who stayed home and was upset at how those who’ve returned home have flourished and been blessed.

When we read that, I think many of us are somewhere in that story. Some of us are on that journey away from home. All we have known is a Christian life and we somehow think we will find true happiness outside the confines of Christianity. We take what we’ve been given and throw it away. We live how we want to live. How we think we’re supposed to live. I can tell you just like the Prodigal Son could, it comes to an end at some point. There comes a time when all of that catches up and it’s not fun anymore. What was once freedom becomes a cage.

I know. I know. It’s not going to happen to you. Somehow you are different. You can do this on your own. Since the beginning, that is the lie we have all believed. Adam and Eve believed they could do it without God. Genesis 3:6 says that Eve was convinced and she wanted the wisdom that the fruit could give her. She wanted to get it on her own without God. Everything that God had given them was taken away for believing that lie.

The Prodigal believed it too. He figured he could take what was rightfully his and do better with it than his father could. As soon as it was all gone, there was a famine. Pride kept him from going home. He tried to stick it out as long as he could. He finally got so miserable that he had no pride left. He didn’t even see himself as a son anymore. There have been times where I haven’t seen myself as a son either. Where I did what I could to survive. It was miserable.

Thank God for His grace. He, like the father in the story, is patiently waiting for our return. He isn’t there to say, “I told you so.” No. He’s there to say, “I love you and I’ve missed you. Welcome home, child.” That’s the heart of the God we serve. He doesn’t sit and plot revenge on you for leaving. He sits and looks for your return so He can embrace you and call you His once again. He wants you safely in His arms where you belong.

So, where are you in this story? Have you left? Are you out having the time of your life not realizing what’s coming? Are you in that desperate place trying to figure out a way home so that you will be accepted again? Maybe you’re home now contemplating leaving. I can tell you that wherever you are in this story, God sees you. He knows where you are. Don’t believe the lies that take you away or keep you away. There is freedom in Him. There is joy in Him. There is security in Him. It’s time to come home and be His child once again.

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November 7, 2012 · 8:30 AM

Today’s Doubting Thomas’

Most of us know the story of Thomas after Jesus was resurrected. Other disciples had seen Jesus but he had not. They kept telling him that Jesus was alive, but he knew what he had seen. He watched as they beat Jesus with a whip that had 9 strands on it with chunks of glass. He saw them put the crown of thorns on His head and then nailed His hands and feet to that splintered wood. He was even there when the soldier took a sword and rammed it through the ribs of Jesus. He heard Jesus say, “It is finished.” You couldn’t tell him that Jesus was alive after that.

Can you blame him? It’s easy to sit here two millenniums away and call him “Doubting Thomas”. Would you or I have been any different? Are we any different now? Thomas allowed circumstances to dictate his faith. He had also walked with Jesus and watched as He healed people with leprosy, issues of blood, lameness, mutism, deafness and all kinds of incurable diseases. He even watched on a few occasions as Jesus raised people from the dead. Yet here he was listening to others as they said they had seen Jesus.

Many of us have walked with Jesus too. We have seen what He has done in our lives, can point to healings that we’ve witnessed and watched as The Lord touches the hearts of the worst among us yet we still don’t fully trust in Him. We allow circumstances and things going on in this world to rob us of our joy, hope and faith. Our faith rises and falls on what happens around us. It is far too easy to forget what God has done in the past when there is a mountain ahead.

It’s no wonder that Thomas uttered the famous words, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in His hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in His side.” We do the same. We just say it different. “God if you’re really there and if you can really hear me, I need you to do…” It’s a good thing that God is patient with us. When Jesus saw Thomas, He didn’t mock him or ask why he didn’t believe. Instead, Jesus walked up to Thomas and gently said, “Thomas, put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

I think that’s what Jesus would say to us today. Don’t be faithless any longer. Don’t allow what you’re going through cause you to forget what He’s done for you in the past. He is patient and kind. Slow to anger. He is talking to you this morning and is inviting you to trust Him. He is in control even when it doesn’t feel like. He sees you where you are and knows your fear. He is deeply concerned about you and wants to show Himself to you and to provide the opportunity for you to touch Him. Thomas had to reach out and touch Him to believe again. Will you reach out today to touch Him in order to believe again?

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November 5, 2012 · 7:48 AM

Swimming in the Nile

The Nile river holds the title of the longest river in the world. It starts in Lake Victoria down in Uganda and flows northward to Egypt until it releases into the Mediterranean Sea. By the time the Nile gets to Egypt, it’s pretty nasty and dirty. The expats there often warn of the dangers of touching the water because of amoebas. After a year of hearing all the warnings, I decided that I couldn’t live the rest of my life telling people I never swam in the Nile. So two friends and I rented a felucca (sail boat) and told the hired captain to take us to the middle where the water flow was the fastest.

After arriving in the middle we laughed at the thought of what we were about to do. “You go first,” one of us shouted. “No. You go first.” Somehow it was decided that I would go first while one of the others filmed our journey into the depths of the Nile. Sitting on the edge of the boat, looking into the Nile, I couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity of what I was about to do. I finally slid off the side of the boat into the murky water. It was cold and dirt. After the other two joined me in the water, we quickly got out, toweled dry and had the captain take us back to shore so we could run to our homes and shower.

As Christians, many of us try to get through this world without getting in the water and we do our best to keep from getting splashed on. The fear of that paralyzes a lot of people and even pushes them to the center of the boat away from the edges. The problem is that if we are to bring people into the boat, we have to be where we can get splashed on. We sometimes have to get out of the boat and down into the water where people are in order to bring them back.

Jesus had no problem doing this. He often went into the homes of known sinners. He was even splashed on by the tears of a prostitute. The religious leaders around him said, “If you were really a prophet, you’d know what kind of woman that is who is touching you.” Jesus knew exactly who she was and what she had done yet He still allowed her to wash His feet with her tears. He forgave her sins and told her to go in peace.

If we aren’t willing to get out of the boat and to get dirty we will never reach others for Christ. Our lives weren’t meant to be lived completely encapsulated by the boat away from the water. Yes it’s dirty. Yes it can be dangerous, but I don’t want to get to Heaven one day and have this conversation:
Me: Jesus, I made it.
Jesus: Who did you bring with you?
Me: You know, Lord, that water was murky and nasty. I didn’t want to risk getting dirty by getting in it to help someone else. I figured you wanted me to be nice and clean when I got here.
Jesus: Have you ever met a fisherman who smelled good or had clean hands? Fishing requires you to get in the murky water. It requires you to get your hands dirty. You were called to be a fisher of men.

We are each called to be fishers of men. Any good fisherman will tell you to fish where the fish are. It just makes sense. In Luke 14:21, Jesus said we should go to the streets and the alleys and invite the poor, crippled, the blind and the lame. Then He said to go into the country roads and behind the hedges to urge anyone you find to come so that His house may be full. Where have you been called to go that you’ve been afraid of? Don’t let what others think keep you from getting your hands dirty to reach others. Be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.

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October 25, 2012 · 7:05 AM

Perception or God’s Reality

It has been my experience that each of us go through times of low self esteem. We begin to see ourselves the way we perceive others see us. Thoughts creep in if how inadequate we are, how ugly, fat or skinny we are. We begin to dwell on those things and we end up believing them. Once we begin to believe them, we begin acting in a manner as if it were true. We begin to shut out others in our lives and isolate ourselves until we are lonely and depressed.

That is not God’s will for you. Quit imaging what you think others see when they look at you and find out what God says about you. In Psalm 139, David records how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God made you just who you are and accepts you for that. He loves you more than any human ever could. Verse 17 says, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered.” God is so crazy about you and thinks about you so much that you can’t even put a number to the amount of times He think of you.

Who God says you are is more important that who anyone else says you are. Quit placing value on the words of men and place it on what God says. Ultimately what He says matters. He says in Ephesians 2:10 that you are His workmanship and in I Corinthians 3:16 that you are His temple. God created you to be who you are for a reason. You were made for His purpose as His temple. God doesn’t create junk and because He chose to make you His temple, He is telling you that you are beautiful to Him. Until you see yourself through His eyes, you will be disappointed by what you think others see.

Once you begin to see yourself through God’s eyes and you accept that you are who He says you are, you need to change your thoughts about yourself. This is the hard part. Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” We often hold on to those thoughts and fail to transform into who He created us to be. Here, Paul says to let go of those thoughts and let God change how you think so you can be transformed into that new person.

Our thoughts are very powerful. Thinking right things goes a long way to changing our behaviors. Philippians 4:8 tells us to fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable. I love the first one: think on things that are true. Don’t believe the lies that you are worthless, ugly, fat, skinny, beyond help, alone, a failure or unworthy. Those are not true. God says you are a royalty through Him. You are His child that He is crazy in love with. Think about that and let God transform how you see yourself into how He sees you. When you do that, everything will change.

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October 24, 2012 · 7:02 AM

God’s Love Language

If you’ve ever read “The Five Love Languages” by Gary chapman then you know we each give and receive love in different ways. The ways described in this book that we each receive love are words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch. While you can have several, you typically have a main one. After reading this book, we found that my wife’s love language is quality time. For her to have her “love tank” full, I need to spend quality time with her.

With busy schedules, a kid and life’s distractions it can be hard to carve out quality time. Every once in a while she says, “You’re taking me on a date.” The translation of that is, “We’ve had no quality time together. It’s time to shut everything out and go somewhere where we can be alone and spend time together without distractions.” If we don’t spend that time together, our relationship suffers.

I think one of God’s main love languages is quality time too. He desires to spend quality time with us, but we get busy with life, work, family and obligations. We throw quick prayers up to heaven every so often when we really need something and rarely carve out that time that He desires with us. We then wonder why God feels so distant. We can’t figure out why we stumble in our daily walk. When we fail to show God love, we fail to fulfill our purpose.

Jesus was very busy when He walked the earth. Everywhere He went, people followed Him. They pressed in on Him. They wouldn’t leave Him alone. While He was down here showing us God’s love, He still had to go away and spend quality time with the Father. In Mark 1:35, it says that in the early morning Jesus got up, left the house and went to a secluded place to pray. He did this often because He knew the importance of spending quality time with the Father.

God asks the same of you and me. He wants us to find that time to put away the distractions of this life and to go be with Him. He wants us to turn off our cell phones, to turn off the TV, to get away from anything that would distract us and to pray. He doesn’t need it all the time, but He does need it. He needs those moments where He has your undivided attention where He can speak to you and you can speak with Him.

In Matthew 6:6, Jesus said, “When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private.” He wants to be alone with you so you can have an intimate conversation. He said to shut the door behind you so you can shut out all distractions. Build a perimeter around your prayer time so that you won’t be distracted by other things. Shutting the door keeps the things that would like to barge in on your time together outside. They’ll be there when you’re done praying and you can handle them then.

If you want to show God love in His love language, spend some alone time with Him. If you are feeling distant from God, carve out some time where the two of you can be together without distractions. As an example, I’ve given Him my commute time. I turn off the radio and put the phone on vibrate. Each morning and afternoon, I set that time aside to pray and to spend time with Him. Where and when do you have time in your schedule for God? What can you do to spend consistent quality time with Him? If you make the time, He’ll show up and you’ll be thankful you made the time.

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October 18, 2012 · 7:10 AM

Is God your everything?

There have been times when I’ve faced things that didn’t make sense. There have been times when I didn’t understand why I was going through something. I’ve had those moments when I’ve cried, “Make it stop.” I’ve been to the dark places where you question everything. There’s a place where I’ve questioned my faith, God’s existence and life itself. It’s scary to be at the end of your rope and to question letting go. I found that even in those places and moments God is there.

He is not afraid of you asking the hard questions. He is not scared to go there with you. When it seems everyone else has abandoned you and you are all alone, He is there. When life has broken apart and all is lost, He is there. He is an ever present help in your time of need. He is shelter from the storm that won’t stop beating you down. He is strength when the bottom falls out again. He never fails.

I’ve learned that when I’ve come to the end of my rope, when my strength gives out, His grace and strength are sufficient. I don’t think most people get to experience God this way. Most don’t want to. It’s a high price to pay in your life to get to that point. When you’ve lost all, He becomes everything. When He becomes your everything, you are never the same. You don’t look the same. You don’t act the same. You don’t think the same.

Once you hit that point in your life, God quits being a convenience and He becomes a necessity. I’ve lived my life both ways. I know what it’s like to have Him around and use Him when it was convenient. But I’ve also been to the point when there was nothing but me, Him and a whole lot of darkness. I’ve been to the point where He became so real it was as if I could reach out and touch Him. It took me getting to the point of desperation before that happened though.

I know that’s how it happened for me, but I don’t think God wants to wait until we get to that point to become our everything. I think He would rather hold that position in our lives even when things are going fine. Whether we are riding high on the mountain tops, struggling with the climb up, falling down or stuck in the valleys of life, God is there and He wants to be a necessity in your life. He wants to be your strength. He wants to be more important to you than your next breath.

Yes, more important than your next breath. You rely on your next breath for life, but do you rely on God for your next breath? When God takes that place in your life, He is no longer a convenience. He is your everything. He is your life. He is your strength. He is where He wants to be in your life. I’ve had moments where He was there. Keeping Him there is the hard part. Paul got to that point too. In Philipians 1:21-22 he said, “For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity]. If, however, it is to be life in the flesh and I am to live on here, that means fruitful service for me; so I can say nothing as to my personal preference [I cannot choose] (AMP).”

When God has become your everything, your next breath doesn’t mean very much. If it doesn’t come, I’ll be ok because I’ll be standing in His presence in the next second. If He grants it, then I’m here to do His will and to be fruitful. God’s power and presence in your life can be so powerful and so real, but you have to learn to trust Him with your everything. For me, it took getting to that dark lonely place where I was hanging by a thread. You don’t have to wait until that point though. Wherever you are, reach out to Him and make Him your everything today.

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October 16, 2012 · 6:36 AM

Potatoes or Mangos?

The other day I opened the pantry door looking for something to eat. While I was looking at the snack shelf, my son walked in and was looking at the lower shelves. He saw a sack of potatoes and grabbed one. I heard him say, “Mmm mango.” I looked down to see him try to bite the raw potato. You can imagine the look on his face when he tasted a hard, dirty potato instead of a soft, sweet mango. I laughed and took it from him and reminded him it was a potato, not a mango.

I don’t think many of us make that same mistake and I don’t think he’ll make it again either. When it comes to spiritual food, we often make that mistake though. We bite into something thinking it’s one thing and then find out it’s another. Our spirit needs to be fed as much as our physical body. It requires water from God’s word and food as well. Jesus Himself said, “Man shall not live by bread alone” in Matthew 4:4. He was referring to spiritual food and feeding your spirit.

How hard would it be to function if you ate one or two meals a week? How would that affect your work? How would that affect your daily routines? For many of us, that is all we feed our spirit. We go to church on Sunday and sometimes Wednesday. Other than that, we don’t think much about God, we don’t read christian books or the Bible daily and we rarely pray. These are all ways that we can feed our spirit.

When someone is physically starving, we can clearly see it in them. They first begin to lose weight and then they lose strength. It isn’t so easy to see when someone is spiritually starving, but the same thing happens. We need our spiritual strength to fight off temptation and other attacks. Ephesians 6:10, 11 in the Amplified says, “Be strong in The Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him… Put on God’s whole armor [the heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able to successfully stand up against all strategies and all the deceits of the devil.”

Being strong in The Lord requires that you spend time with Him and to build yourself up in Him so you can draw your strength from Him. Putting on heavy armor also requires strength. When our spirit is weak, it can’t handle that heavy armor. We look like David did when Saul tried to make him wear his armor. We need to armor on so we can successfully stand up against the attacks of the enemy. Without being able to bear that armor, we open ourselves to being deceived and to falling for temptations.

Are you facing attacks right now without armor? Are you being easily defeated in life? Do you keep falling into the same temptation over and over again? Those are signs that you need to strengthen your spiritual man? We need good food to feed our spirit man. Spend time praying each day, carve out a few minutes to read a verse or two from the Bible and then think about that verse, what it means and how you can apply it to your life. Read books that equip you to be a better Christian and help you to grow. Spend time with other believers and talk about spiritual things too. Don’t settle for potatoes when God has mangos for you!

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October 10, 2012 · 7:43 AM

Beauty for Ashes

We traveled recently to northeast Texas to property that my sister in law’s family owns. As we drove near the property and even onto the property, we noticed the devastation that the wildfires of 2011 left behind. At first we were saddened as we tried to imagine what it had looked like before. What we saw now were blackened trees standing naked in acres of fields with a grey sky as a backdrop.

As we stood outside and stared at what was compared with our imaginations of what had been, I began to notice all of the green bushes that were growing at the base of the trees. My wife mentioned that in a strange way, it was kind of beautiful. My brother said that periodically, fire is actually good for the forest. It’s just hard when the period you own it coincides with the period of fires.

As I looked at it, with my wife’s words echoing in my mind, I remembered the scripture in Isaiah 61:3 that said God will give beauty for ashes. I then thought of my life and others I know whose lives had been burned. I remember standing there in shock after my life burned to the ground. I spent a lot of time remembering the way life was before and often wishing I could go back. I spent almost a year in a daily rut of trying to remember the good old days and trying to forget the pain.

My brother was right. Fire can be a good thing. I remembered seeing a billboard with the web address of goodfires.org once. I looked it up to see how a fire can be good. It said that through controlled burning they can increase healthy habitats in the forest, they can promote a varied population and it provides nutrients to the soil that creates quality increases in plant life. The devastation that fire brings increases life.

I think the same holds true in our lives. You may be where I once was. You may be looking at the charred remains of what was your life wondering why God allowed this to happen. I know the feeling. What I’ve learned is that God will replace those ashes with beauty. He can use the fire that burned you to create new life in you. You can’t see it right away and certainly not while you are looking at the remains of the past. You have to search for it. Find that new life. It’s there. It may be just budding, but it’s there.

I remember someone speaking to me a word that they felt God had given them for me after everything I had was burned. They said, “What seems like an end is only a beginning. I have not left you, nor have I forsaken you. I am here by your side. I’m not in front of you or behind you, but here by your side. Where I am taking you, you will experience joy like you’ve never known. Trust in me.” I believe that holds true today.

You may be looking at what seems to be an end. All might seem lost, but it’s not. The fires burned away what was temporary in your life. God wants to create a new beginning in you. He wants to bring you life. He holds to His promise that He will never leave you or forsake you. He knows and sees the pain you have for now. Hang in there, He will create beauty from the ashes in your life.

Here is a song by Crystal Lewis and Ron Kenole that came to mind this morning.

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October 8, 2012 · 7:56 AM

Back Seat Drivers

My wife and I took a road trip this weekend. The two of us were in the front seat and our toddler was in the back seat. All throughout the trip she would talk to him, play with him and occupy him while I drove. There were a couple of times when she was playing with him when a car in front of me had braked. I too applied my break. When I did, she would look up or turn around to see a car in front of me with their brake lights on and she would let out a yelp and brace herself with the dashboard. We laughed because it was unusual for her to do that.

After doing this a couple of times, I told her, “I got this. Trust me. I knew he was going to brake and I was prepared.” I explained that I had taken defensive driving classes plenty of times (don’t ask why) and that they taught me to look 10-20 seconds ahead to where I was going. As a passenger though, she wasn’t occupied with what was ahead. She kept getting startled and scared by what kept popping up in our path because she wasn’t looking ahead. She was looking behind mostly or right in front of us.

I think a lot of us live life that way. We are either constantly looking back while our lives are moving forward or we are so concentrated on what is right ahead of us that we fail to look ahead. We get caught up when something pops up that we didn’t expect and let out a yelp. We see brake lights in our path and grab our dashboard in fear. We get preoccupied with everything around us without looking ahead to where we are going.

When we do that, I can hear God say, “I got this. Trust me. I knew this was going to happen.” Instead of trusting Him though, we become a backseat driver to Him. We tell Him He should have braked earlier. He should have warned us. We question why He’s taking this road instead of that one. We tell Him to slow down or to speed up. Our lack of trust in who He is and in the plan for our lives begins to show up when we do this.

It kind of reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. The son who had left was returning home after he squandered all that was given to him. While he was walking, he was so concentrated on what he would say. He worried if he would be received and was practicing over and over what he would tell his dad when he got home. He was doing this so much, that he wasn’t even looking ahead. He didn’t know where he was, but his dad did. He was still a long way off when his father saw him and ran to him.

God is always looking far off ahead of us. He knows our path and His plan for our lives. While we are looking down or behind, He is looking ahead and preparing. When things happen suddenly, it may cause you to grab the dashboard and scream because you are unprepared for it, but He is not. Trust Him to do the driving His way. Just because where He is taking you doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t mean He has fallen asleep at the wheel. Trust Him with your life and try not to be a backseat driver.

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