What do you stand for?

Virtue is a positive quality developed by taking a firm stand for the right in temptation, or by the suffering endured in consequence of wrongdoing. (Max Heindel)

I cannot help but think there are some who think bearing any consequences for wrongdoing is just 'not fair'. It is like they expect to do something against moral or ethical standards and just go on as though nothing bad happened. The consequences for bad choices should always be there - even when we think otherwise. If nothing else, I have felt the very guilty conscience for some of my wrong actions in life - a feeling that led me straight to my knees and into pretty deep conversation with my Maker! Why? I don't want to live by the violation of any moral or ethical standard, but I make wrong choices that require me to make course adjustments in life. Sometimes I bear the real and tough consequences for my actions, while at others I know God has spared me some painful ones that are merely because of his extreme love and mercy. If we want to stand for anything in this lifetime, we need to stand for what is right - and that may include us bearing up under some pretty tough consequences that we probably would have rather avoided.

A man will not stand by doing what is wrong, but the root of those who are right with God will not be moved. (Proverbs 12:3)

We all 'stand for' something in this lifetime. I want us to take a little inventory this morning to really ask ourselves what it is our lives are telling others that we 'stand for' today. Not what we tell ourselves that we stand for, but what others observe in our lives as the things we genuinely 'stand for' by our life actions. We will make our list and if we were bold enough to ask someone else to make a list of what they see us standing for in life, I wonder if those lists would be remotely similar? Oh, some of the points will probably match up very closely, but there may be others that are on our list (the things we think we stand for), but they don't even show up on the other person's list. Why is that? Have you ever heard that old saying, "We talk the walk, but we don't always walk the talk"? We have a lot of things we think we 'stand for' in this life we walk, but in truth, it is merely talk.

Nothing is harder than getting our 'walk' and 'talk' to align. It is quite easy to 'commit' to one thing, but as soon as something more appealing comes along, we find ourselves bailing on our commitment. Don't believe me? Drive by some garage sales this Saturday and observe just how many weight benches, treadmills, and exercise bikes are for sale! It isn't because they upgraded - those things were gathering dust and it was time for them to go! The commitment was there at one time, but it waxed and waned until the thing that meant so much to them just didn't matter anymore. It may be time for us to look at the things in our life that we have taken a 'stand for' and just how much of that 'stand' really remains today. If we find there is any disconnect between what we say we stand for and what we manifest, it is time for an adjustment. Either the stand was wrong, or the commitment isn't there. Just sayin!

What did obedience cost Mary and Joseph?

As we have looked at the birth of Christ, we have considered the fact he was born of a virgin, with an earthly father so willing to honor God with his life that he married a woman who was already pregnant. In that day and time, a very taboo thing. We also saw how the mother of Christ was chosen by God and given the dramatic news that she would carry the Son of God. Imagine her awe, but also see her tremendous amount of fear as she would have received this announcement, knowing all she knew about the time in which she lived about how a woman out of wedlock showing up pregnant would be treated. We also explored the lowly birth of Jesus in a stable of sorts, surrounded by animals, visited by shepherds, and then honored by magi from afar. The announcement of his birth was by angels - start to finish. Mary heard from an angel (a messenger from God), while Joseph was set at ease by a messenger from God on another occasion - assuring him the thing he was about to do in marrying Mary wa

A brilliant display indeed

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,

Do me a favor

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-4) Has God's love made ANY difference in your life? What is that difference? Most of us will likely say that our lives were changed for the good, while others will say there was a dramatic change. Some left behind lifestyles marked by all manner of outward sin - like drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, or even thievery. There are many that will admit the things they left behind were just a bit subtler - what we can call inward sin - things like jealousy,

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