Tag Archives: Christianity

May 1, 2017 · 5:37 AM

The New Commandment 


In Matthew 22, some Pharisees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. In verses 37-39 Jesus responded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (GNT). Jesus was very clear that we should love God first and then our neighbor. 

On the night before the crucifixion, at the Last Supper, Jesus gathered His disciples around for one final teaching. In John 13:34 Jesus said, “And now i give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.” Jesus was adding that now we have to love other believers as well.

Sometimes the hardest people to love are within the walls of our churches. We find it easy to go out and love the homeless, the orphan, the destitute and the broken, but that’s not how Jesus said they would know we are Christians. Are those things necessary? Yes! Those are our neighbors. What’s difficult for so many of us is to love the person on the pew next to us or in the church across town. And that’s who Jesus commanded us to love on His last night. He knew we would struggle with this.

Jesus once said, “A house divided can’t stand.” Since that time, the enemy has tried to divide the Church. We’re divided into denominations and now we split churches because we grow to hate our brothers. If we’re going to be effective in loving our neighbors, we’ve got to love each other first. We need to put down our grudges and love each other instead. Until we get that right, how will the world know we are truly His disciples? If you’re holding a grudge, slandering or angry against another believer, you’ll find it’s difficult to obey the first two commandments effectively. Learn to love your brother (or sister) in Christ whether you think they deserve it or not.

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April 27, 2017 · 5:28 AM

God Actively Listens 


Have you ever been in a situation where you were pouring your heart out to someone and then noticed they weren’t listening? I’ve learned from experience that it’s pretty hurtful and rude. I’ve been accused of not listening on more than one occasion. I even went to a training once to teach me how to be an active listener. They taught me that I need to make eye contact, lean in to the conversation, nod my head and make some noises to suggest that I agree. It turns out that it takes a lot of work to listen.

What I’ve found out is that when people think you’re not listening to them, they quit telling you things. They quit having deep discussions, and sometimes they quit talking to you all together. Imagine if you had those feelings toward God. There are times where we are in a deep struggle, and we’re pouring out our heart to Him, but it feels like He’s not listening. Our prayers seem to fall flat and never get past the ceiling. It happens to all of us.

David was one who constantly cried out to God for help and told Him everything on his mind. In Psalm 116:2 he reminds us, “Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” (NLT) He found out that God is an active listener who leans into our prayers to listen. He gives us His undivided attention when we cry out to Him. We no longer have to worry that He isn’t listening or doesn’t hear us.

When you pour out your heart to God, He’s actively listening to you. He doesn’t get distracted or zone out. Even if it doesn’t feel your prayers are going past the ceiling, God is there in the room with you. As the Psalmist wrote, He bends down to hear you. He leans into the space where you are so you can feel His presence and know He’s there hearing every word. Where man fails to pay attention, God never does. You can pray as long as you have breath knowing that God hears every word and intent of the heart. 

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April 26, 2017 · 5:32 AM

An Encouraging Friend


We’ve all got that friend who we get into trouble with. We’ve also got that friend who’s got our back no matter what. But do you have that friend who will seek you out and encourage you while you’re down? In my darkest times, when most friends deserted me, I had a handful of people who wouldn’t let me give up. I had a brother who called every day, a coworker who made me go to work each day and another friend who would just hang out so I’d have company. 

It’s good to have friends, but we all need those friends who won’t leave us when the going gets tough. We need a friend like Jonathon was to David. Jonathon’s dad, Saul, was out to kill David, so he was hiding in the wilderness with about 600 warriors. Not one of those 600 did for David what Jonathon did. They would have given their life for him, but they weren’t able to encourage him when he needed it most.

In I Samuel 23:16 it says, “Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God” (NLT). Jonathon risked his own life to encourage his friend and to help him stay strong in his faith. That’s the kind of friend we all need. There aren’t just times when we need encouragement. There are times when we all struggle in our faith. When our world is crashing and we don’t see how God will keep His promise, we need that friend who will remind us of all God has done for us.

Not only do we need that friend in our life, we need to be that friend to others. We need to get attentive to the needs of those around us. We need to be the ones who go to them in their hour of need. It’s not their responsibility to come to you when they need encouragement. Often they don’t have the strength or their pride holds them back. We each need to be the friend that we will need at some point in our life. We need to be a friend that encourages. 

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April 25, 2017 · 5:39 AM

Amazing Grace


One of the most popular and well known hymns of all time has to be “Amazing Grace”. Each of us has heard it at least once in our lives. Even my sins year old son knows it. He was singing it recently when he stopped mid verse. He asked, “What does that mean? ‘Was blind, but now I see’?” I explained that the man who wrote it had been very bad in his life, and he couldn’t see how what he had been doing (slave trading) was wrong. When he became a Christian, his spiritual eyes were opened and he could see right from wrong.”

The author wasn’t describing a physical healing and having his physical sight restored. The song is about how he came to know Jesus. It resonates with us because we were once spiritually blind ourselves. We once were blind to the sins in our lives, but when we gave our heart to Jesus, our spiritual eyes were opened. 

In John 9, there was a physically and spiritually blind man looking for money. Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud, put it on the man’s eyes and told him. “Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam” (GNT). The man went to the pool, washed his face and came back seeing. Everyone was amazed that a man who had been born blind could see. They took him to the religious leaders who asked him how he could see. They didn’t like his answer that Jesus healed him.

After questioning his parents, they brought him back and asked again. In verse 25, He said, “One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.” He was talking about his physical sight, but when he went back to meet Jesus, he found out that Jesus wanted to heal his spiritual eyes too. He came into this world that you and I could truly see. The amazing part of God’s grace isn’t that it just covers our sins. It’s also that it opens our blind eyes to truly see for the first time. We need to look at our life with those eyes so we can see where we’re wrong, and dive deeper into that amazing grace.

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April 10, 2017 · 5:00 AM

A Life Of Integrity


I’ve always heard it said that integrity isn’t what you do in front of others, it’s what you do when no one else is around. Many times we are one person at work, another person at church, another person with our friends, and another person at home. In fact, when doing a DISC personality assessment, we tell people to pick their environment. Some more comprehensive ones actually show you the differences in your personality type between the environments.

When it comes to being a Christian, it’s important that we always live with integrity no matter what environment we are in. We don’t have to pretend that we aren’t human and that we are perfect because we’re not. We can live real lives, admit our struggles, show our brokenness and still live with integrity. It’s by our love that they will know we are His disciples, not by our pretending to be perfect. 

I love the book of Psalms because David, who was a man after God’s own heart, is vulnerable enough to share and show his true self. He was a man of doubts, sins, fears, and worries. I think that’s why so many of us soak up the Psalms and why they resonate with us. David was a man of integrity and didn’t pretend to be anyone other than who he was. He was honest in his prayers and his praise. He was the same man in public and in private.

In Psalm 101:2, he vowed to God, “I will lead a life of integrity in my own home” (NLT). He understood the importance of integrity and knew that it started at home when no one was looking. Each of us can learn from his example. Being a person after God’s own heart isn’t about being perfect. It’s about having integrity, being able to admit it when we’ve sinned, and following after God matter what. If we have integrity at home, it’ll bleed into all the other areas of our lives. 

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April 4, 2017 · 5:48 AM

Eager vs Anxious


My high school English teacher used to try to drill home with us the difference between eager and anxious. Being eager was to be excited about an opportunity or an upcoming event. Being anxious was to be nervous or worried about the upcoming event. “If you’re excited about what’s coming,” she would say, “don’t say you’re anxious to go.” She wanted to make sure we knew the difference because they have two very different meanings and we often interchange them incorrectly. 

I want us to understand their differences as well as we read Scripture. Psalm 94:19 says, “Whenever I am anxious and worried, you comfort me and make me glad” (GNT). God can take something that we are anxious about and make us eager about it, but we have to let Him. The problem is many of us get addicted to being anxious and we live in the land of worry instead of expectation. God’s desire is that we be eager instead of anxious.

Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart.” The version I learned this verse in used the words “be anxious” instead of “worry”. Either way, God’s message to us is the same. Don’t be anxious about anything, but if you are, let those feelings drive you to prayer where you can eagerly expect what God will do for you instead of anxiously awaiting the outcome of the situation.

Worry robs you of energy, sleep, and life, but eagerness gives you energy. Being anxious won’t change the outcome, but prayer will. God can comfort our anxious spirit, give us an eagerness to see what He will do, and make us glad. We need to quit trusting in what we believe will happen, and let our faith dictate prayers that will change the future to one we can be eager to receive. Even if the worst happens, God can use it for our good. That’s something to be eager about. 

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April 3, 2017 · 5:32 AM

Living Intentionally 


When it comes to getting things done, my son can be slow at times. I’ve tried hurrying him up by using words, clapping, and singing. Sometimes they work, but usually it’s only for a short time. Ive learned to use a timer with him. When he sees the clock and how much time he has left, he focuses and gets the job done. All of a sudden, he gets an urgency to make things happen. By the way, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I often need something like that to give me an urgency to get things done.

My middle initial is “P”. When people ask what it stands for, my go to response is, “Procrastinator”. If something isn’t urgent and important to me, it can fall into my “I’ll get it done later” list. That just means I’ll keep putting it off until it becomes urgent and important. That’s not the best way to do things though. If we constantly focus only on what’s urgent and important, we are failing to live our lives with intentionality. We do need an urgency to get things done, but if we are intentional about doing the right things, our lives won’t be a constant fire drill.

The writer of Psalm 90:12 wrote a prayer to God that says, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (NLT). He was praying, “God, give me a timer to help me get things done. Help me to grow in wisdom so I can be intentional about getting the right things done.” He was probably a lot like many of us who struggles with procrastination and focusing on what’s important. He wanted God to remind him how short life is and to help him grow in wisdom so he could be intentional.

What is it that we pray for? Is it more time to get things done? We could be praying for wisdom to get the right things done on time. God doesn’t need us to be in a constant fire drill. That only burns people out and doesn’t guarantee that the right things get done. He wants us to have wisdom so we can be urgent about the things that matter. If you’ve been praying the first prayer above, let me encourage you to change that prayer. Ask God for wisdom and to help you live intentionally. Watch what a difference that makes in your life. 

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March 28, 2017 · 5:36 AM

Driving God Crazy


I love how Luke 18 starts out. “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up” (NLT). Jesus knew that not only they would give up after praying for something for awhile, but so would we. He didn’t want us to stop asking just because it’s been a while. I wish I understood why some prayers are answered immediately, some take a while, and others are never answered. No matter what though, Jesus didn’t want us to give up.

He told the story of a widow who was suffering injustice from someone. She went to a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people. When she didn’t get her justice, she went back to court begging him fir it over and over. Finally, in verse 6 the judge says, “This woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!”

When our answers come slowly, we can take courage from this story. We can bombard Heaven with our requests until we drive God crazy. I heard the story recently where Leonard Ravenhill told a friend of mine, “God doesn’t answer prayers. He answers desperate prayers!” When we seek God desperately for an answer, the way this widow did, we can expect answers. And just as the woman believed that the judge would respond, we need to believe that God I’ll respond.

Jesus finishes this parable out just as strongly as He opens it. In verse 8 of The Message, Jesus asked, “But how much of that persistent faith will the Son of Man find on earth when He returns?” That’s our challenge. We live in a world where we can get same day deliveries on things we buy online, but God is looking for a persistent faith. He’s looking for people who will call to Him in prayer the way they would to Amazon if they didn’t deliver their package. He wants us to drive Him crazy.  

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March 27, 2017 · 5:14 AM

Doing The Basics


In the late 90’s, I worked for an oil tool company. I was pretty inexperienced at management and was running into several issues. I found myself chasing my tail and having to put out fires all the time. The owner pulled me aside one day to give me some advice. He said, “I’m going to tell you what Zig Ziegler says. ‘If you take care of the small things, the big things will take care of themselves.'” If I wanted to be a better manager, then I needed to focus on the details. 

The same principle holds true in our Christian walk with the Lord. In my own life, I found that I seemed to be going from one problem to the next. Bad things Kent happening successively. When I evaluated my life, most of the things that were happening were a result of my own actions or inactions. I had been failing to do the small things like daily prayer, reading the Bible, or living my life according to Scripture. 

In Luke 16:10, Jesus said, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities” (NLT). Jesus didn’t just provide the basis for what Ziegler said, He added that how we treat the little things is how we will treat the big things. If He couldn’t trust us with the little things, how could He ever trust us with bigger things?

Today, take an honest evaluation of your life. Are you being faithful in the little things? Are you taking time to read the Bible, to pray, or to have simple obedience? If you’re going from one problem to the next, chances are that you’re skipping on some details. Get back to the basics, do the things that matter, and the big things will be entrusted to you and they’ll take care of themselves. Your success lies in the details. 

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March 23, 2017 · 5:26 AM

People’s Potential 


Years ago I knew a man who made his living on dumpster diving. During the day, and often at night, he would drive around looking in dumpsters for things people had thrown away. He would then take them home, repair them, refinish them, and then sell them. He had an eye for breathing life into things that had been discarded, and he wasn’t too proud to go into dumpsters to get those things.

He reminded me of the gardener that Jesus told a parable about in Luke 13:6-9. The master had purchased a fig tree, and year after year, he had come to it to get figs. After a few years, he became upset. He told the gardener to chop it down because it was a waste of soil space. But the gardener replied, “Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig around it and put in some fertilizer. Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down’” (GNT).

Out the gardener and my friend had an ability to see potential where others saw none. They both understood that it would take work to bring about restoration, but they were both willing to do it. It makes me question how I see people. Am I like the gardener or the master? Am I looking for the potential in others, or my self? Or am I quick to discard them as useless? I think if we truly looked in the mirror, most of us are like the master, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

When I was a kid there was a song about an auction. At this auction the auctioneer held up on old, dusty broken looking violin. He asked who would give him a dollar for it. Then a man walked up, dusted it off, tuned it, and began to play. When he finished playing, the auction asked, “One give me one thousand. Who’ll make it two?” The people asked what made the change, and he answered, “It was the tough of the master’s hand.” There’s no one that God can’t touch, repair, use and increase their value to others. 

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