Tag: Love

Vanity and pride


The two most destructive and seductive sins in the world are vanity and pride. Why? Because they are tied together and they form the foundation for almost all sins in our world today. These two are also responsible for Lucifer’s sin and his rebellion against God’s authority above all. You would think that writing about these might be easy, but it really isn’t. Because I don’t wish to offend my followers nor anyone else who might come upon this site.

These two emotions cause sinful feelings toward oneself and toward others because they tend to make us feel more important than we really are. The problem with that is when we consider those feelings of superiority to others, Satan comes to us and we begin to believe that we truly are better or more important. This is not a phenomenon which affects us before we become Christians it also affects our church leadership sometimes.

Can these be overcome? Yes, with much Bible study and prayer hopefully before these feelings get out of hand in your life or in the life of someone you know or love. God has a plan for each of us and if we don’t seek out that plan through the study of His Word and prayer, then we won’t know what that plan may be. The sins of vanity and pride are such that they have brought down rulers of many kingdoms in the past and they bring the careers of many today to a halt.

Learning about God’s love for us through His Word and by studying it is the only real way to know what His Will for your life is. Prayer along with that study keeps us in contact with God, not only at the time of our study, but all during our daily life walking with Him.

While it is true that there is a good type of pride there is also a pride which leads to destruction which is where vanity comes in. Essentially, vanity and pride are two different sides of the same coin. They aren’t separate just different. Like light and dark, one is the presence of light and the other is the absence of it. You can’t make a dark lamp because light drives away the darkness. Pride in your accomplishments or your children’s accomplishments is fine but when you think of yourself or of your child as being better than others then you are straying into the vain area of pride.

Humble

Pride goes before a fall. God has given us a glimpse of His Wisdom in our Bibles, His Word which we have access to in our world today, don’t ignore it or turn away from it. Because God loves you more dearly than you can imagine and it is in your best interest that He has placed the knowledge needed for your life and mine in His Word. All you should do in this life is covered there so learn from it and seek Him while you read it. Amen.

Differences between truth and ?


Pilate asked Jesus, “What is Veritas?” The word means truth, but he had the Truth standing in front of him at the time. Our world today defines truth as whatever you decide is your truth. No one wants to acknowledge the possibility of a Truth which can’t be questioned. But, the reality of truth is that God’s love is also an absolute truth as well.

In fact, truth and love could be classed as the same in the economy of God’s eternity! So which life would you truly enjoy? One that is based on God’s love and truth of salvation or one that is defined by your idea of truth? A life where mankind is the defining element of love and truth and their place in the world is flawed.

We try to define our world today by our individual ideas and “truths” which are only relevant to us as individuals. So, how can our world survive when there are millions or billions of truths which are conflicting with and against each other? Actually, our society can’t survive on individual truths which can’t possibly align with one another. We also have many different cultures within cities, let alone the cultures in a nation. With so many perceived differences between us like skin color and cultures and religious too, how can we get along?

Why can’t we get along in this world where people are connected through cell towers and the Internet? The connections between people don’t work well through the distance in between us, especially relational connections such as friends and family and loved ones. Even when we have phones capable of letting us talk face to face there is still distance and the connection just doesn’t make up for that.

Even when the letters were written and sent to us or to our family, it still doesn’t feel quite right. The problem today is that we are so used to distant relationships and texting and messages until when we are together, face to face, we don’t know what to say. It is easier to text than it is to actually talk…and that is sad. We can type in a browser or a message box many words to say to each other but when we are in the same room…talking is awkward. It is almost like we have forgotten how to have a real conversation face to face.

Technology in our world has made the world much smaller compared to the speed of the old style of mail or reading the newspaper. Although technology has done this in the past twenty-five years or so the world is the same, the people are the same, but we don’t actually SEE each other the way our parents or grandparents did. We don’t sit down at the table to eat with the family, we may sit together in a restaurant but we each have a phone screen lit up in our face. But…do you see people talking TO each other in that scenario or is it just one or two talking and the rest are texting others or maybe each other?

The TRUTH is that we are not made to live this way. Apart even when we are together, separate but living in the same house, nervous in a room with family and friends, does any of this sound familiar? Even Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, said in many of his letters that he would rather be there in person. Personal contact between him and his children in the churches was more important to be spoken to face to face. Even he was apologetic about the way that he had to advise them.

Please, try to get to the truth of your relationships and be personal with your family and friends because life will be so much more enjoyable if you have relationships with them rather than the phone and the messages.

Which gift do you have?


When we become Christians and allow the Holy Spirit into our hearts to change us from the inside out, God grants us each at least one gift and possibly more. So, which gift do you have? In the Bible they are called the fruit of the Spirit but we all exhibit at least one of these nine gifts: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul said that “against these there is no law”, so which fruit do you have?

In truth, we should all exhibit each of these to a certain extent. If you have truly given your heart to Jesus and allowed the Spirit to come into your heart and change you into the child of God that you are supposed to be, then at some point in your life, whether it is daily or weekly, you should express at least one or two of these. Yes, the world around us does not like Christians today and many of them don’t want to hear about Jesus or see any expression of these gifts, but that shouldn’t keep you from using them.

These gifts are, many times, the evidence which separates believers from non believers. I don’t mean to imply that people of other faiths can’t be loving or joyful or kind because anyone can exhibit those traits in their life, they are not unique to Christians. The difference is that we can do so even in trials and heartache because we have hope in Jesus! He went through many heartaches in the time that He lived on Earth so our Savior knows what it feels like and He cares for you and me!

The spiritual gifts which Christians have is part of our salvation through Jesus, what we use them for and how we express them is part of our service to Him. Pray about your life in Jesus and ask Him what you are to do with your gifts.

The wonder of Joy


joyIn many ways when we come to know Jesus, we are joyful in that knowledge that we have our salvation granted through Jesus our Savior. We are very much like a small child, giddy and so happy that our Savior loves us enough to grant us our salvation through His blood, His death and resurrection! So…what happens after you find that you need to learn more about Him and learn to listen to Him every day?

It seems that many people don’t experience that joyous wonder like a child. They understand that they need Him and they ask Him into their hearts. But sometimes our church or others in the church who should shepherd them toward their Savior drop the ball. Many people end up just standing in ankle-deep salvation for many years and some never get past that point.

The joy of knowing Jesus and knowing that you have been saved through His sacrifice in your place should carry you through for many months until you begin to mature as a Christian. But how do you do that? The same way you get through any learning situation, by study, prayer and by seeking His advice for your life every day. It is a daily walk with Him after all, and just as any relationship…it needs to be cultivated and nurtured.

He is your Creator and your Savior and that relationship should be one that continues all through your life, day in and day out. Sounds boring, but think about Who you are having a relationship with! He is the Creator, the Son of God, your Savior and the second Person of the Trinity! Could there be anyone in the universe who could possibly be more interesting?

If you are wondering how you could get to know Him, READ the Bible! God inspired the writers and disciples to tell you about Himself and His personality. Yes, sometimes He is demanding but it’s because He expects us to obey Him, just as we expect our children to obey when they learn the rules about being in your house! Life, as a child of God, is a learning process and it is one that takes a lifetime! You can’t get a version of it which is a digest version, it is a day by day, week by week learning process which is very much like our own lives.

The joy of knowing Jesus is like the joy of bringing home your newborn son or daughter. It or rather they are new in your life, you are new at learning how to handle your relationship with them or Him. As time goes on and you learn more about Him, the joy should grow into a deeper love and a deeper relationship…but there should always be a bit of joy in it from day-to-day!

 

The wrong road home


Sometimes we think that we are on the right road or path when we are really on the wrong road. So, how can you find out which road you are on? The first clue is finding out how many actual friends of yours are on it too. If you are alone or have found new friends then you are very likely on the right road. If most of your old friends are with you and you are still going to the places that you always have, then you are on the wrong road.

Many people think that the path which leads to Heaven is one which is traveled heavily, but Jesus said that the road to Heaven is a narrow one and there are few who find it. The broad road may lead upward for a while but in the end it leads to hell. The world is on that broad road which so many seem to truly enjoy walking on. Why? Because it is easy and carefree with no thorns or rocks and it isn’t very steep. Satan makes it easy to believe that you are on the right path and it is so fulfilling in this life to walk on it because of the rewards you have in this life.

When it seems too good to be true, it is. Money, fame and fortune are all available on this wide road and sometimes they come to you very easily but there is a price to be paid. Some people think that they will give up all of their freedom and fun in order to become a Christian which is not true at all. I don’t miss waking up with a hangover or wondering where I was last night or who I was with (or in some cases what happened during that time).

When your heart is changed your life will be too. Your friends will either follow you in your walk with Jesus or they won’t. If they can’t follow you then you will make new friends in Christ. Living your life for Him is far more rewarding than many people think it is. I have never seen a street paved with pure gold in Hollywood or anywhere else, so eternity is going to be far more rewarding than anything could be here.

While it is true that your life on Earth has to end before your eternity begins, for me that is not such a big deal. I mean, there isn’t much here besides my family that I would rather stay here for anyway. One day, they will be with me in Heaven too, so my time will be short without them. It sounds as if I am ready to go and I am really, but I am going to wait until God decides on the day and time.

The title of this piece almost sounds like “the long road home” and for some it may be. Some days it feels that way to me as well, but if you look at how short our life really is compared to eternity then it is easily put up with. I mean, our life at best can last say one hundred years. When you compare that to ten thousand or one million years, it is just a small speck like the period at the end of a sentence.

Granted, time won’t be measured in hours or days or years in Heaven. Really, time won’t be measuredroad2eternity at all, so you won’t even know how long you have been there. And…it won’t matter. No more death, disease, pain, or suffering of any kind. No more sunrise or set. Days and years won’t have a measure to stand anymore. The pathway which is wide and easy leads to eternity too but it is a different one than that in Heaven. It is the punishment for denying God and denial of His Grace and His Son’s sacrifice for your sins. Consider this before your life ends because the time to make that decision is today because you don’t have tomorrow…yet.

There is no gray area…


DarkorLightOur life is sometimes ruled by black and white, good or bad, choices that we make sometimes on a daily basis. Many of our decisions are based upon what will this do to change my life or the life of someone that I care for. Will it make some part of their life or mine better or worse? This is still a decision based on Darkness or Light, Death or Life, Love or Hate, nearly everything that happens in our world falls on one side or the other. So, which side will you choose?

Read and study the Bible


Here are eleven excellent reasons you should read the word of God everyday:

  1. It tells you how to be genuinely saved and how to grow in your faith. John 3:16, Psalm 119:105, Romans 12:1, 2, and Phil. 4:6; 7

  2. It gives you clear guidance and direction for your life. Psalm 119:105

  3. It empowers your prayer life. Phil. 4:61 7

  4. It sharpens your ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more and more clearly. I Corinthians 1:5

  5. It ministers to your mind, body, and spirit. Proverbs 4:20 – 22

  6. It helps you to maintain your mental health, (according to Dr. Paul Meier) Prov. 4.

  7. It increases the anointing on every area of your life. I Corinthians 1:5

  8. It increases your wisdom in every area of your life. Proverbs 1 – 4

  9. It enhances your intellect and your personality. (It can literally increase your I.Q.) I Corinthians 1:5

  10. It pours grace, joy, and peace into your spirit, your mind and your life. II Cor. 1:2, I Timothy 1:2, and II Timothy 1:2, and Galatians 5: direction 22

  11. In direct statement or in principle, it gives you guidance and/or direction about every issue or topic in life. Psalm 119:105

What then is the best translation of the Bible? I agree with Dr. Kroll. The best translation of the Bible is the accurate translation of the Word of God that you will read and obey.

Reading and studying the Bible does you no good at all IF you don’t obey God’s Word in the things which it tells you to do. Some people think that the Bible is a book of “do’s and don’ts” but it isn’t. Yes, there are the Ten Commandments and they tell you the things which you are supposed to do and some tell you not to do others. The point is this: when your heart belongs to Jesus and the Spirit lives inside you…you won’t WANT to do those things which are the “not do’s”!

God loves each of us more deeply than we can understand, even when we are in His presence we will be overwhelmed by His Love and the depth of it!

Don’t turn away from a love that is so awesome and joyful until it feels like a warm blanket that never gets cold and you just want to snuggle in it forever! That is the best description that I can give you of the love that I have felt here. I can’t even imagine what it will be like to sit with the Father and feel the waves of joy and love flowing from Him!

Seek Him out and we can experience it together in eternity!

Is your life broken?


We hear about people who are broken in spirit and in their lives too. Broken is, sometimes, a state of mind but occasionally it is a state of being. We feel as if life and the things which we are doing just don’t work anymore, so it feels broken and cracked. Sometimes the brokenness is felt spiritually, like our prayer life and our connection to God just doesn’t seem to be working anymore.

Breaking news! It isn’t God Who broke the connection, it is something in your life and mine which does that. Something that we have said or thought about or maybe even something that we did that is a…sin. It puts a wall up around us and our daily living until we confess it, ask forgiveness for it and then get back into our relationship with God. That is when the mending begins. Sometimes the cracks in our life appear as sorrow for something that we can’t put our finger on. Occasionally, those cracks come to us in the form of depression which can make them seem even bigger than they really are.

A state of brokenness is survivable, whether it feels like you can get through it or not is your own perception. God can help you to get through it and you will be stronger in your faith and your connection to Him for going through it. It isn’t fun, but it is necessary sometimes. We get to a point and feel like things aren’t going our way anymore, and we don’t know why. We can’t pinpoint it, particularly the cause of the “not right” point, it is just elusive and out there like a feeling that we have and we just don’t know what it is.

God can give you the peace that you seek in this circumstance, but you have to seek Him first. His position hasn’t moved but ours is all over the place at times. There are days when we aren’t very far from Him and then we have days where we don’t even feel His presence at all in our lives. Those are the days where we feel as if we have fallen through one of those cracks in our lives, and sometimes it feels like it is over a mile deep. We may survive the fall, but when we hit the bottom it seems that there just isn’t a way out. Like we have nothing to hold onto.

We do have God, even in those dark places. He is there and His Word is always available if we will just cling to it and read it, study it, meditate on its wisdom and pray, PRAY, PRAY!!!

Is it broken? Can it be fixed? Your life and all of the parts of it that seem to be broken can be fixed, but not by you. God can fix it. I know the newspapers and magazines say that He hasn’t fixed it yet, but He will and He can. He hasn’t fixed our world because there are so many people who don’t care to know Him and aren’t listening to Him and His messengers. Life is broken to an extent because of the fall in Eden, but also because of our disobedience to God’s laws and His Word. God did not break your life or mine, we have done that.

We go through our days and weeks thinking that everything will be OK, regardless of what we do but God is still in control, especially when we aren’t. If you are not a Christian then your life is your own or it belongs to the worldly lusts and whims that you pursue. Most people don’t want to hear about or know that Satan is alive and well on Earth and he is completely happy with you not knowing God. As a matter of fact, that is his job…to keep you from knowing and giving your life to the service of God and Jesus. Your life goes right along like it should for the most part, but there is always that little bit of tension.

At some point that little bit of tension breaks, and causes an argument or a shooting which will blow your life completely out of the water. This is exactly what the world wants and it’s what Satan wants. To bring your life down around you so that your witness won’t matter, your ministry won’t matter because your life, your family, your health is gone. This is what happens when you get on the list and when Satan targets you and your family…something breaks and becomes broken. The only fix for it is to trust in and turn to God. Amen.

Faith, belief, love…


All of these are great concepts which point toward our savior and the best of humanity but are they being shown in our daily lives? Does every religion have these in common? I am sure that most of them do since they claim to believe in these three doctrines for lack of a better word. Are they universal to all of the world’s religions? I don’t know.

Judaism believes in faith and love and their patriarch “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness” so that is one of the world’s religions. Christians also have these three in common in their religion, that is two of the world’s religions. How many more have all of these in common?

I am not sure and I am not in the habit of speculation or guessing, so I am not going in that direction. I must admit that I don’t know much about the world’s religions outside of my own. I have read the Koran enough to know that their religion does have some admirable traits even though the ones which we see on the television are not the most flattering. I am not going to bash a religion based upon the actions of a few people.

In doing that all that we do is show how small we are and that is wrong. The media takes the actions of a few people who decide to shoot people and characterizes every person who owns a gun as a nutcase. Why? My guns have never been responsible for killing anyone and I don’t have any grudges to take out on anyone with a belief which is different from mine.

In this world, everyone has a different culture or belief in the God that they choose to worship or not. Nearly every person in America has an opinion on one thing or another which is different from what I believe. So, why should I get all bent out of shape because of it? Shooting people for having an opinion or a belief different from my own would just confirm that I am the crazy one. I don’t have enough ammunition to shoot that many people!

Jesus Christ told us to love one another, care for each other and to tell others of the good news of the Kingdom of God. So, why aren’t we doing this more? Why does the church, regardless of denomination, have services on Sunday morning and maybe that evening and again on Wednesday night or whatever night they choose and then everyone just goes home with nothing being done? What good is that doing?

Jesus said to Peter, “Feed my sheep”, and that is what our services do but at some point a child needs to learn to feet itself! Spiritual milk is great for newborn Christians but until you put some action behind the words and some meat in the sermon this child, this babe in Christ will never mature! God loves us all, it is true, but Heaven is not for babies! We are not supposed to be “little children” until we die!

A calf or a kid will not grow on just milk alone. At some point a child, even one that is just a few months old, has to begin to eat solid food. It is the same with churches and the people in them, if they are not fed solid food from God’s Word then sooner or later the church itself will die.

Live…Love…and Joy!


In times of trouble and strife,

Things which come into all of our lives,

Open your heart and your mind,

To be especially kind,

To those less fortunate or maybe who are just hurting.

These are the times when God’s Wisdom has to come in,

but it can’t enter into a closed mind and heart. You have to

be able to take it into yourself and allow it to change you,

so that others may see His Strength, His Love and His mercy

in you and me.