Stop bullying me!

Has it been one of those seasons where no matter how hard you try to move one step forward, you feel like you are taking two steps backward? No matter what you do, you just cannot seem to break free of whatever it is that is keeping you in the muddle and trials you are in. Sometimes I think this 'muddle' is just my own doing - because I have bitten off way more than I can chew. My plate is overloaded and the only way to be clear of the pressure is to get some of the stuff off my plate which really doesn't belong there in the first place. There are other times when I just cannot tell you why I am feeling a little oppressed and pushed down, but it happens more than I'd like to admit. I think those times might just be when the enemy of my soul wants me to get distracted from what is important in life - adding muddle and mess wherever he can. How about you? Sometimes you just need to push some of the stuff back off your plate, other times you might just need to push back against the one who is "bullying" your soul!

God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6:10-12)

The devil beats us up unnecessarily for he is already defeated - he is just doing his best to convince us otherwise! If we'd learn to put on the full armor we are given and actually use it to resist the attacks of the enemy of our souls, we might just be able to hold our ground against his attacks! Lest we think he doesn't know where to attack us in our lives, be assured of this - there is nothing "uncommon" in our struggles that others have not already struggled with. He just knows how we ALL struggle - so he uses these "common" areas as a means to get us focused on the stuff that gets us down and under the weight of life in general. Lest we think our enemy has no plan of attack - let me assure you, we probably give him some "hints" about how it is we can be attacked! Hints like us not being very kind in our responses when we are tired, or like when we don't plan ahead well and leave late for a specific appointment, then get all bogged down in traffic. We sometimes like to blame him for these events, but in actuality, these are common struggles for all of us, so if he can use them to his benefit, he will! He doesn't necessarily make us tired, nor does he send the traffic - but he will use them to get us to take our eyes off what really matters.

He will often get us to focus on what more can be added into our day, and this gets us into our trouble. If someone does something that we may not normally react to, but in our tiredness, we somehow "read more into it" than we should, we might respond with the feeling a bit of stress added to our day. We "add into" the situation because of our own interpretation of the circumstances viewed through already overextended and over-tired eyes! We know we need to spend time within our relationships - "quality time" - while not being distracted and focused intentionally on each other. Then we get this genius idea to just combine a little work with the pleasure and we somehow no longer have this non-distracted, intentional focus in the "quality time". He will get us to considering the "alternatives" to the way we know we should go, and we get duped again. We could do something this way, OR we could do it another way, often presented as the easier way. We could sweep the floor, or just kick the crumbs under the throw rug! The alternative which seems so much easier is presented to us, usually in such a way that suggests we were entitled to have it be this easy in the first place. Just a little advice here - what appears too easily accomplished or obtained is usually not the best plan!

Adding things into our day adds complications we didn't need. Taking the easy way presents short-cuts which really do little to simplify our lives and usually just delay the original plan. Since the Garden of Eden, our enemy has been using the same two tactics. If we become aware of how he operates, we might just be able to resist his attacks a little easier. God is strong and he wants us strong. What we do with the wisdom we are given will ultimately determine how strong we will stand. What are we given? "Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out." (Ephesians 6:13-18)

Be prepared. The only attacks which are successful in our lives are when we don't prepare well. If we did a little "up front" consideration of what we put on our plate, or what will impact our ability to finish well, we might take a little less into our grasp! We cannot handle this alone. We need others who will come along side, especially the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We want relationship, but we don't take the time to invest in it. We are robbed of one of our greatest weapons against his attacks whenever we attempt to stand alone. The value of well-developed relationships is best understood in the times of our deepest personal need. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation - weapons in their own right. Truth sets us straight, so we aren't duped into believing our own vain imaginations. Righteousness helps us stand upright when all of our enemy's hosts would want us to look backward at our failures. Peace determines the steadiness of our walk and gives us the assurance we don't walk alone. Faith keeps us directed on what we cannot see, but what we have come to accept and stand on as true in our live. Salvation is the anchor which holds us when we might want to drift.

We need to talk WITH God. Prayer is more than talking TO God - it is talking WITH God. Two-way conversation - open to receive what he gives. We sell ourselves short when all we come to do is TELL God and never stop to LISTEN TO God. Most of the time, it is in these listening times where we discover we have been giving into the "AND" and the "OR" tactics of our enemy. In these moments of being WITH Jesus, we discover we didn't need the "AND" and we cannot count on the "OR". Time to stop being 'bullied' into believing otherwise! Just sayin!

Stupid sins and grimy messes

There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar. (Psalm 19:11-14)

If you have ever found hidden treasure, you know exactly how it feels! Why? What was once hidden was no longer - that which is exposed becomes a thing of interest to more than just you! I wonder how many times God cleverly places something of great worth just beneath the surface in our lives, begging for exposure and promising great delight when it is finally out in the open? Maybe more than we think! Exposure brings into view what once was hidden. Anything which remains in hiding is something which will not be affected by the advances of love. For love to affect us, there is much which must come out of hiding in our lives - so we can experience his tender touch and his healing embrace. A surgeon carefully dissects "surface" tissue, not because he wants to cause pain, but because what is exposed in the process is finally at the disposal of his healing touch. The same is true with Christ - he never asks for anything hidden to come to the surface if he doesn't also stand ready to take what is exposed and touch it in his healing love.

When we uncover who we really are under the surface, there may be some "rough" areas which will require the skilled hand of a craftsman to smooth out. As I have said on many occasions - our part is to be who we are "in reality" - God's part is to do the work of smoothing out those rough areas. God died for the "real us", not the made up or cleverly masked us. He died for us as we really are - so we could become what he really is! In warfare, a soldier digs in, wears camouflage, and erects "blinds" to hide within so the enemy will not be able to see his location. In abandoning this "cover", he is really putting everything on the line. God never asks for us to put something on the line unless what he has planned for us is much greater than what we could ever experience without that abandoning of our place of safety. When we abandon a place of safety, it opens us to his inspection. This may be the most uncomfortable part of the whole abandonment process. Nothing makes us feel more vulnerable than being seen as we really are. To be seen in this manner is to be "under scrutiny" by some - but when the exposure is to his grace-filled eyes, there is no "scrutiny", only grace.

It opens us to his acceptance. Not acceptance of what is on the surface, but acceptance of what needs his divine touch on the inside. Like the skilled hand of the surgeon, he is thrilled to not only help us identify what needs his touch, but to put to use his skill to transform that area. He accepted us just as we are, but he also promises us so much more than we ever could be alone. It is a double blessing indeed. Abandonment opens us to his touch. No touch is so gentle, and also so thorough. We need to get the idea of what it is like to be touched by Jesus - gentle, yet thorough; skilled, yet care-filled; cutting, yet totally healing. As we are touched, we begin to be open to his voice. If you have ever not been paying close attention to someone else around you, you know the power of a gentle nudge to get your attention once again. That little nudge refocuses you, but guess what it speaks to the one who had to nudge you? You weren't listening! When we are open to his nudges - we get to a place where we listen to what we need to hear the most.

Be open to his revelation. Part of hearing his voice is heeding its direction. Abandoning our position of self-made security often brings us into a greater place of seeing our enemy for what he really is - it exposes the truth about what has been hidden. Maybe this seems a little frightening to some, but when we can truthfully see what we are dealing with, that is half the battle! God teaches us to be open, to be passionate, and to be available to him. To be desirous of the intimacy of his presence and the liberty of his touch is the starting point for freedom in our lives. Bring the stupid sins and grimy messes to him - they aren't beyond his grace. Then just begin to abandon yourself in his presence. His grace will meet you there.  Just sayin!

Idling on purpose

Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:21-26)

Everything around us may be collapsing, kind of going amiss in all kinds of different ways, but as Jeremiah declared: "Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends." Take heart - God hasn't abandoned you to the catastrophe of the day. He hasn't brought calamity upon you - but he stands at the ready to deliver you from that which has come!

One important thing I like within this passage is the part about his loving-kindness beginning afresh each day. That means his grace in our lives is as fresh as today - we don't have to rely upon 'old, stale grace' - we have new grace each breath we take. Grace is renewed moment-by-moment, but it also renews US moment-by-moment. What else can give us that kind of hope? I daresay nothing at all.

Wait upon God and you will never go away disappointed. That was the hardest lesson for me to learn because I am a 'doer'. I like to get things done NOW - waiting wasn't really in my vocabulary. I didn't do 'idleness' very well. I am learning that trusting God means I might just need to put things on 'idle' a bit in my life and take that required 'idle time' to just get alone with him. It is what brings clarity, refreshes my spirit, and renews my mind.

Does our deliverance always come the way we desired it to come? If your life is anything like mine, the answer to that one is that it seldom comes in the manner I predicted or desired it would come. In fact, God often surprises me with how 'fresh' his mercies are in my life. How about you? Has God surprised you with the freshness of his mercies this week? Revel in the newness of his grace - for his mercies are never stale or stagnant! Just sayin!

Dad used to say, "Use it or lose it"

Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose. (Philippians 1:21)

You never know what your 'platform' will be, do you? You might envision one thing, but God has a different avenue for you to explore and use as the platform by which he is glorified through your life. Paul was in prison and those who had grown close to him in his ministry were concerned that he would no longer have a 'platform' for ministry. He turns that fear around with these words: "...they gave me a platform!" Christ's messenger in life - his prize in death - no losing there, is there?

What we may not realize is that God's message within us cannot be shut off by anything man can do to us. Everything God wants to do in and through us will be done - no matter the 'platform' we may be given. The 'audience' may change. The 'method' may need a little different approach. BUT...the 'message' is still the same! There is no denying the power of Christ in a person's life when the 'platform' changes and the commitment to the message remains as steadfast and solid as ever, is there?

I wonder what 'platform' you have today and how it differs from mine. It could be you are younger, in the workforce, and 'out there' with tons of people each day, influencing and challenging each other. It could be you are retired, free to go as you please, seeing far less people, but still able to make an impact. The important thing is that we use the 'platform' we have been given. We use the power Christ brings into our lives - allowing his message to be seen and experienced through us.

What seems to get you excited and moving in life? Chances are that could be the beginning of your 'platform'. It doesn't take a license to preach and a pulpit to make an impact in this world for Jesus. It takes a commitment to his commandments, a willingness to get to know his Word, and a desire to see others find his grace. The 'platform' is up to God - we just need to be willing to be used wherever that 'platform' may be! Just sayin!

Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

What you say about yourself means nothing in God’s work. It’s what God says about you that makes the difference. (2 Corinthians 10:18)

Paul had been speaking with the Corinthian believers and he shares the importance of not claiming credit for the work of others. Perhaps some had accused him of trying to 'step in' and take over the church there, we don't really know. What we do know is that he had written letters to the church in Corinth, attempting to correct some wrong behavior on the part of some believers there. In turn, he was criticized. Isn't that just the way we act at times - getting ourselves into some compromising position and then wanting to turn the attention from ourselves to those who actually notice that behavior? Whenever sin is confronted, criticism is not too far behind. It is second nature for us to point the finger at another when we feel confronted - we call it 'cover-up'. We humans have been doing this since the beginning of time.

The point Paul wants to make is that we can criticize, or we can embrace discipline. When discipline is embraced, it lends to the work God is doing in his church. Life before Christ might have led to some 'not so good' choices and those choices need some correction now that we have made a decision to follow Christ. This is what it means to be 'disciplined' - to embrace change where it is needed and allow Christ to transform us where we most need that transformation to occur. Rather than put up defenses, we might do well to embrace what we hear as truth regardless of the messenger who brings it!

What we say about ourselves - that is an interesting consideration this morning. What is it we say about ourselves? How is it we see our circumstances - the sum of our choices? We might boast that our life is 'pretty good', but in reality, there are things we don't want others to really get wind of anytime soon. Choices we have made that we aren't all that proud of at times. We've all been there - making choices, realizing they weren't the best ones, then attempting to get away from them before anyone else realizes we have made them. If someone happens to confront us about one of them, what do we do? Do we put up our defenses, or do we embrace the discipline that comes as a result of being 'uncovered'?

Man might see the outward manifestation of inward choices, but God sees both. He knows where we struggle, and he wants to deliver us from that struggle. He knows we don't always make the best choices - especially when tired, weak, or distracted from attentiveness to him. Sometimes he brings discipline - in varying forms - not to hurt us, but to heal us. This might seem hard for a time, but as with the Corinthian believers who had made poor choices, there is full restoration. In fact, that restoration brings a new understanding of the depth and breadth of God's grace. Isn't that a good thing? I think so. Just sayin!

Let Go - Let God - it is a real thing!

With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

What might these 'promises' be that are 'pulling us on'? We need only go back one chapter and read these verses: “I’ll live in them, move into them; I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people. So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God. “Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself. I’ll be a Father to you; you’ll be sons and daughters to me.” Now those are some pretty good words if you ask me! When we choose to 'leave for good' the things that corrupt our lives, leading us into compromise, we will find that the 'link' to those things begins to break. The more we 'lean into' that commitment, the greater the pull AWAY those things will be, and the link will eventually be broken for good.

What 'pulls' us away from those things and into new choices that lead to right living? It's God's Spirit living in us - moving us from what is damaging to our spirit into the things that will renew and replenish our lives emotionally, physically, and spiritually. In order to make a 'clean break' from whatever it is that defiles (pollutes, debases, or taunts us to do evil) or distracts (draws us away, diverts our attention), we must LEAVE the places or practices that defile and distract. There is a principle taught in scripture about 'leaving' and 'cleaving'. When we 'leave' something, we make a break - it no longer is what we serve. We choose to serve another. God is saying we need to choose a different 'master' over our lives - HIM. I know I speak a lot about 'choices', but the truth of the matter is that we never stop making choices. Even the choice to allow someone else to choose for us is a choice. The moment we choose to break the link with our past habits or sins, there will be a challenge inside of us. Our emotions will escalate, making us think this choice to live differently will be 'hard' or 'demanding' and we won't be able to do it. Our minds will recall all the 'other times' we said we were going to change, but then we fell back into the same old pattern again and again. This time, choose to 'break the link' - by being pulled by Jesus. We don't break the link because we pull ourselves out of the mire - we are pulled out of the mire by the hands of Jesus. What gets the muck off of us once we are unfettered from that mire? The Word of God and the Spirit of God within.

There is much to be said about 'breaking the link', but I think we overthink this way too much. We make it hard when Jesus says it is a matter of actively choosing. Not once, but actively making the choice to live free of the mire each and every moment - not by looking back at what had us bound, but by looking ahead at what frees us totally. Don't link up with those that pollute - did you catch that in the passage? This means we learn to live free with a change in the company we keep. The past has ties that must be broken, and this might just be why we aren't seeing those ties broken. We hold onto those ties - forgetting that Jesus says we need to let them go. Resentment is a tie - the person may no longer be in our present, but resentment keeps them front and center. Mistrust is a tie - the event that led to us no longer trusting isn't part of our walk now, but when we super-impose that mistrust on everyone and every circumstance of the present, we are tied to that past reaction. The link is broken when we let go - letting go of the rope might make us feel like we are falling, but the one behind us when we do will lift us to greater heights. Just sayin!

Dogma matters, but...

What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other. (Romans 14:8)

Okay, so I know the original translation of this passage doesn't tell us to eat prime rib and broccoli, but it is there to make a point. We are to stand by our commitments - our beliefs, values, and even our dogma - but we are not to look down on others because of theirs. If their dogma, beliefs, or values are not according to scripture - we are to hold them up in prayer, not argue with them. Way too many arguments have ensued in the past couple of years over things like which political party is the 'best' or 'right one', but in truth, there is but one ruler over all mankind and that is Christ Jesus. God turns the head of the king where he wills, not the other way around. We argue over which type of song to sing in church, all the while forgetting we could just do two 'kinds' of worship services - one more traditional and one more 'modern'. The silliness of arguing over some of the things we take issue with is just sheer folly - proving that mankind can get pretty wigged out over the stuff God doesn't really take issue with in the first place.

The important part of this passage is the final sentence. Jesus lived, died, and lives again - so HE can be our Master, setting us free from the petty stuff we get all wigged out about in this lifetime. What are some of the petty things you have chosen to wig out about just in the past week? Don't tell me there wasn't even one thing, because I bet that even if you didn't voice it, something someone did, said, put up on a billboard, or advertised on social media rubbed you the wrong way. God is the one we are answerable to - so when something or someone sets you on edge, take them or the subject of your 'rub' to Jesus. He will take care of it - but don't be surprised if he begins to work on your heart first! It isn't that he is trying to change your beliefs (he may be, but not always), but rather he is attempting to help you see the individuals he loved enough to die for. 

While accountability amongst our brethren (those who are serving Christ Jesus) is quite important, we are ultimately accountable to God above all others. He is the one to clarify our beliefs, align our dogma with his Word, and create solid values in place of wishy-washy character. Unfortunately, as hard as we may try, we cannot do this for one another. We can set good examples, but we cannot change a man's character. We can live out our beliefs, but we cannot fill the empty spirit of a man. These areas belong to God. We can spend lots of time and energy arguing our point with each other, or we can agree to take all matters to Christ, asking for his Spirit and the Word of God to help us in our relationships with one another. I choose the latter. How about you? Just askin....

Passionately Expressed for HIS Honor

Creative lives are productive lives. When we stop to think about this, we find there is something quite powerful in creativity - we bring into existence something which would otherwise not really be there. My grandsons are so creative, one is a gifted welder and the other can sketch, carve wood, and see things in things that others may miss. My son can 'MacGyver' anything from almost nothing - especially when his mom needs a suggestion on how something might come together. My daughter is exceptionally creative and has her own blog which is gaining more and more popularity all the time. What amazes me most is when she is given opportunities to bless others with her creativity. This is what life is supposed to be about - creative lives being productive lives - both in our own lives and then in reaching out to touch others through your creativity.

Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. (Galatians 6:1-5)

Creative living might actually us learning how to overlook an offense. You know how extremely difficult this can be at times. Forgiveness often requires "original thought" - the very definition of creativity. We have to learn to think differently about the offense and the offender. It is more than just "writing it off" - it is purposefully choosing to not think of the behavior as something we will keep an account of AND learning to think "outside the box" as it applies to the other person's behavior. Creativity is a form of productivity - the "original thought" begins to produce something within the relationship which becomes stronger and stronger each time we choose to overlook the offense. It keeps the relationship as the focus and doesn't let the trivial slights interlope. To pardon another and then to give up our claim to requital is tough work - it requires "original thought". The "norm" would be to just feel slighted and to hold onto the slight until it forms a little root of resentment within. The creative and productive thing to do is to renew, restore, and rebuild. All three are words requiring creativity and involving productive action.

Creative living implies that something would not be in existence if you did not take some action to ensure it was. It would not naturally evolve - it requires your intervention. Crushed and burdened people need creative people in their lives, for it is often your God-given creativity which actually helps to unpack the burden for another. In essence, you are bringing into existence what would not naturally evolve if that individual were to just deal with their burden themselves. Creative individuals work at a pace much different than most others. God put you into the lives of others because you might just be able to see the raw materials of their circumstances in a way they would never be able to by considering it on their own. They need your willingness to stop long enough to consider the possibilities and then your help in arranging all the pieces so the burden they carry is finally unloaded in such a way that something creative comes out of the burden.

We all need to begin to make a careful exploration of who we are and the work we have been given. It is a creative work and we have much "creative" energy to lend in this hurting world. Careful exploration requires more than a casual glance in the direction of others - and it also requires more than a casual glance in God's direction. We need to invest time and talent if we are to see creativity take hold in our lives. We experience the creative surges within, but don't share what we have the power to bring into existence with others. God never intended for us to just keep our creative energies all bottled up - he gave us those energies so we might position ourselves to share the creative work he has done within us. In so doing, we give hope to those who see only the "pieces" they have been given, but don't quite see how they might fit together to make a finished work of art. God often uses us to help with the "arranging of pieces" so the one who is unable to see their significance can begin to appreciate these pieces of their lives as tremendously valuable "ingredients".

Many of us just need to learn to work with what we have been given. We need to stop allowing the talents and abilities we have been given to lay dormant in our lives. Their purpose from the beginning was to be creatively expressed. They have a purpose far outside our own appreciation - but once we begin to use what we have been given to bless the lives of another, we begin to see the creative purpose of God in blessing us with those gifts and talents. Sink yourself into what God blessed you to do - jump in with both feet. Don't be timid in your creativity - for God gave you these talents not for your own use, but to be passionately expressed for his honor. Just sayin!

Rewired?

Some of us have a tendency to deal too much in the "past tense" of our lives. There is this intense focus on the "what ifs" and the "should haves" instead of the stuff that actually makes up our current picture. Maybe it is because our minds have this way of capturing those moments in living memory - "scrapbooking" the sadness of our past and continually dragging it out to dredge up those old memories. There is one part of "past tense" we don't realize - what has been done doesn't need to be done or rehashed again! Perhaps this is why God thought it so important for us to recognize the futility of continually living in sin when we have ALREADY died to it!

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin. (Romans 6:1-7)

Since we died to sin...this is not present tense, it is past tense. What we once were is no longer what we are now. As death occurs, the very life-giving source is cut off. When we died to sin, the life-giving source was cut off - we stopped feeding what only could produce decay and destruction in our lives. Since really means "in view of the fact that" - it is an established fact, already having been established, and is now inarguable. Once you spread butter on a piece of toast, it is on there. SINCE you spread butter on there, you cannot now "go back" on the decision to have butter on the toast - it is an established fact that butter is now in union with the bread! SINCE we died to sin, it is an established fact that this is no longer the present condition of our heart or mind!

How can we continue to live in it...this is not a casual question, but rather a restatement of the SINCE statement. Our condition has changed. When a mother gives birth to her newborn, she is no longer pregnant, but she remains a mother. She is known as a mother, but she no longer carries around this growing, breathing life within. In terms of our own sin nature, we no longer carry around this sin within us as a growing thing, but we do still have the "nature" which we are known by. It is this "nature" which seems to give us our mental and heart "tie" with the past way of living. We have to recognize that sin is no longer being "fed" from within - it may still beckon to us from without, but it is no longer connected to a life source within! We died with him...our "past" is no longer in existence. Our old man and those ways of doing business have ceased to exist as they once were. I have said it before, but it bears repeating - what is dead is dead - it develops a certain characteristic which makes it quite plain it is dead! Today, with modern science being what it is, we often make what is dead look very much alive! The entire embalming process was designed to slow the process of decay so families could have a few extra days to dress up the dead corpse and say their good-byes. Don't think me crass here, but I think we might just try to dress up our dead corpses of sin so that we can stay connected with them just a little longer!

We also may live new lives...note it is not OLD lives we are to live, but the new. There is no need to return to that which is dead - we don't dig up, wallow around in, and become familiar with that which is physically dead, so why do we do it with the stuff we had a connection with in our past? Why is it so hard to cut ourselves off from the past? Living is a choice. We must determine to take on our new identity and not continue to connect with the old. If we hold onto the old when it was declared to be "dead", wouldn't we be declared a bit foolish? The "old" is dead and the "new" is what we have to live in today. Since we have been united with him...we are now living in agreement with him - adhered so as to be only ONE unit. We no longer function independently from Christ - therefore, he is there to walk us through the choice to sin or live rightly. What we determine to connect to becomes that which is our source for every movement or continued action in our lives. 

Sin has lost its power...at the Cross nothing remains the same. We are no longer subject to it. When something exerts power over something else, there is a dominating influence which must constantly be countered. Since this dominating influence has been broken by the work of the cross, it has been rendered powerless over us. It is what we submit to which determines what we will produce. When power is cut off from one source and connected to another, the potential to live differently occurs. It is a matter of where we stay connected! Just sayin!

A revisit is worth it

How can a young person live a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word. I’m single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted. I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt. Be blessed, God; train me in your ways of wise living. I’ll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth; I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches. I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you’ve done it. I relish everything you’ve told me of life, I won’t forget a word of it. (Psalm 119:14)

I frequently go back to this verse to study it a bit more because it is rich in wisdom for living a good life that is honoring to God. How can a person actually live a 'good life' that is consistently honoring to God? In truth, it is hard at times, but there are some things we can do to make it just a bit easier. God gave us a 'map' of sorts when he gave us his Word - truth to set us free, keep us traveling in the correct direction, and wisdom to correct us when we veer a bit off track.

Road signs - the Word is more than just 'good reading' in our lives - it actually points out various twists and turns in the roadway of life, making it less likely that we will miss the things we are supposed to be taking in along the way.

Banked promises - time in the Word of God is one of the soundest investments of your time that you can ever make - because its effect multiplies when you take it in with regularity. The more you allow it to get into the fibers of your being, affecting your choices, and changing your character, the more truth is 'banked' for those times when you may not actually know how to respond.

Trained in his ways - I guess this is the one point we all need to actually remember as we consider the Word of God. It isn't just the 'Good Book' - doctrine, dogma, or rituals. It is living truth. We need to be 'trained' in the right choices and this isn't done by 'hitting God's gym' once a week at church! Training must be regular, frequent, and with increasing longevity.

Ponder the morsels - it is like allowing a smooth, rich, creamy piece of milk chocolate melt on your tongue, stimulating your senses and bringing great delight to your body. Why does chocolate do that? It stimulates a hormonal response that makes us feel 'good'. Pondering God's morsels might just stimulate more than a 'feel good' hormonal response!

Attentively watch how God works - because we might just miss it if we aren't actually paying attention. When we see how God works, we are less likely to do things 'our way' or with stubborn pride. We will attempt to 'move inside' his plans and allow him to work in and through us.

Relish the Word - take pleasure in it - this isn't done by casual contact with it - it comes as we take it in, allow it to wash over us, and then bask in what his Word actually produces when we do. Just sayin!

Self-care beware

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up. (John C. Maxwell)

Romans 8:5-8 reminds us that, "Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored." What 'moral muscle' have you been attempting to exercise lately? When it comes down to examining the outcome of that 'exercise', do you find that 'moral muscle' had a consistently positive outcome, or did it leave a little to be desired?

Obsession with self is overrated, but it seems that society wants to further that obsession at every turn. Self-help, self-actualization, self-care - all of these are trends that might just indicate how much time and energy we put into taking care of 'self'. I did a search this morning to see how much is out there on the web as it related to 'self-care' - you might be surprised to know there are topics from self-care for women in the workplace, in a dating relationship, as a minority, and even for children. While I am all for destressing and taking care of one's body, mind, and spirit, we can over-indulge our 'self' sometimes - at the expense of others, our relationship with God, and even with our responsibilities in life. 

Most of what we see portrayed as 'self-care' is not all that bad. We need time to refresh our minds and bodies. We should take time to refresh our spirits in prayer and study in God's Word. We should not do this at the expense of others, though. Nor do we do whatever actions we will do for 'self-care' in order to boost our confidence, affirm our ego, or exalt our opinion of ourselves. That flies in the face of what God tells us about how we are to live our lives. We are to focus on God, allowing his Spirit to come through in all our actions, and trust him to renew what needs that deep refreshing within us.

Attention to God first does more to renew our minds, re-energize our bodies, and get us on track with where we should go with our day. Don't neglect this most important step as you consider 'self-care' each day. It will do more for you than any other pursuit of 'self-care' you can undertake. Just sayin!

The two wings

Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven. (Michelangelo)

Michelangelo may have a portion of this 'going to heaven' thing correct, but I know the only death that really mattered was Christ's. The only thing that draws us all into his arms is his intense love for each of us. So, it is indeed a death and some pretty amazing love that bears us to heaven...but...none of us are 'good men' or 'good women' without Christ. So, even the goodness of mankind is reliant upon the love of God!

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. (John 3:16-18)

God didn't send Christ to earth just to have him experience all the things we experience in our lifetime, but it certainly made the connection a little more 'real' to some of us, didn't it? God didn't reach out to a hurting and mixed-up group of sinners just out of curiosity - as an experiment in human nature designed to see how we'd respond to his intense love. God knew his love would be a little foreign to us - because we don't actually fully understand love without conditions. 

The good news is that he came. He lived his life on this earth, making that earthly connection with us, and now he sits at the right hand of his heavenly Father, carefully drawing each and every one of us into his loving arms. Can we resist his love? You betcha! Have we probably done that on occasion? Likely so, but hopefully we don't do it too often, or for too long. Is his love drawing us closer to our heavenly home? Yes, and as we feel his arms bear us up each day, we are drawn closer and closer into his presence. We may not need to experience death to experience life. Just sayin!

Time for a celebration

Hallelujah! Sing to God a brand-new song, praise him in the company of all who love him. Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator, Zion’s children exult in their King. Let them praise his name in dance; strike up the band and make great music! And why? Because God delights in his people, adorns plain folk with salvation garlands! (Psalm 149:4)

If God were to hear you sing to him - just to him - what would that song be today? Would it be a lamenting tune, focusing on all the woes of the world around you? Would it be a cheerful, warm, and happy tune, focusing on all God is doing to take care of you at this very moment? Would it be a worshipful song - one in which the focus is not so much what God is or has been doing, but on who he is? His name is worthy of praise. He is to be exalted - not for what he does, but for who he is - our Savior.

Celebrating God may seem foreign to some who have not grown up in a home where God was in the center of all that transpired. It may not be the easiest for those who have come through life challenges too innumerable and disgusting to admit have occurred. It may not be foremost in the mind of the one so consumed with the 'why me' questions that they fail to see God in the midst of the present calamity. That doesn't change the fact that God should be celebrated. Nothing will elevate our fallen and broken spirit or emotions more than raising our hands and voices in worship.

God has adorned us with all manner of beauty - even though we may not feel very beautiful at times. He has outfitted us with 'salvation garments' - the best fitting garments to be found. Think of them as 'grace garments' - one fitting so well upon the other until we are totally covered by his grace. That alone should cause us to exalt his name! Nothing 'ugly' or 'unbecoming' is left uncovered - it is transformed by the garment of grace. Celebrate grace today and in so doing, you will be celebrating God himself. Just sayin!

God running this place?

There was one day when the Prophet Isaiah was speaking with the people, reporting on how Israel was finally at rest in the Promised Land, enjoying their feasts and festivals. There was worship in the land. They were finally 'settled' - no longer wandering hither and yon. The land was a blessing - providing for their needs in a great way. They were protected from attack - secure in their new homes. One of the best parts of the report was these words: "God runs this place and he'll keep us safe." When God is in control of our lives, we will be safe. If we take back that control, or just 'let it go' because we aren't paying attention, we will open the gates wide to disaster and destruction.

Just take a look at Zion, will you? Centering our worship in festival feasts! Feast your eyes on Jerusalem, a quiet and permanent place to live. No more pulling up stakes and moving on, no more patched-together lean-tos. Instead, God! God majestic, God himself the place in a country of broad rivers and streams, but rivers blocked to invading ships, off-limits to predatory pirates. For God makes all the decisions here. God is our king. God runs this place and he’ll keep us safe. (Isaiah 33:22)

We are often guilty of not continuing in the things God has provided within our lives. We read the Word, but do we take time to allow it to actually speak to us? We pray on occasion, but do we take time to listen to things he tells us throughout the day in those tiny prompts, lifting up prayers for him to be in control of those things? We hang out with friends, but do we invest in these relationships so they grow in Christ? Festivals and feasts are a good thing, but if they have become the center of our 'worship' relationship with Jesus, we are a bit out of sync with what God desires in the form of intimate relationship with us.

Does God 'run this place' and is he keeping it safe? The place? Your heart - your mind, will, and emotions. Your spirit - the place of our connection with Jesus. Is it possible to be a Christian and not have our mind surrendered to Jesus? Absolutely, and many of us actually hold onto thoughts that we know aren't right - they actually dishonor God and show how much we don't trust him. Can we determine to serve Christ and still have a struggle of the will? You betcha! The will is influenced by the mind and played upon by the emotions. Why do you think God put that scripture in his Word that reminds us the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak? (Matthew 26:41)

If God is truly 'running this place' (your heart, will, emotions), there will be a continual stirring within. You might think becoming a Christian means we will always know peace and contentment. God keeps us safe - but safety doesn't mean inactivity. When God is in control, maybe we will be stirred into activity when we'd rather be at rest. Obedience isn't always convenient, but when God is 'running this place', there will be a strength and security like no other. It is time to really 'be safe' - to go all in for Jesus once again. Just sayin!

Winning every time

Your mercies, God, run into the billions; following your guidelines, revive me. My antagonists are too many to count, but I don’t swerve from the directions you gave...Your words all add up to the sum total: Truth. (Psalm 119:160)

An "antagonist" is something that competes with something or someone so as to counteract the actions of the thing it is competing against. For example, when we give an antibiotic, the purpose is to counteract the 'hostile biologic organism' that is attacking your body and bringing illness to it. The antibiotic launches a counterattack against the bacteria that has multiplied within your body. The result is noticed when the bacteria begin to die, and the effects of its attack are no longer observed. Some antagonists are good - others can actually be quite harmful when left to their own devices, though. It might just do us well to actually understand some of the harmful antagonists in our lives if we are ever to launch a good fight against them. We must recognize them if we are to counteract them with our own defensive strike.

Antagonistic influences are all around us - acting as triggers for some particular reaction from us. Just as the invading bacteria begins to affect our bodies, the 'invading influences' we allow to go unchecked in our lives can get out of control, leaving us weak and wounded. "Invading influences" are really those things that 'trigger' us into doing something we know isn't the best thing for us to be doing. For example, if viewing certain things on the television stir up thoughts about how 'hum-drum' your relationship is with your spouse, the next thought might be to consider what it would be like to be with that handsome guy or beautiful girl you work with. In time, those 'unchecked' influences you continue to entertain may actually lead you to make a choice to cheat on your spouse. Did you purposefully set out to do that? Not likely, but those 'unchecked influences' that seek to invade our thoughts and hearts can lead to some pretty dumb mistakes.

The antagonistic influences we experience are not without God's 'counteractive measures'. Why do you think God tells us to get his Word 'inside' of us? When we are bombarded by antagonistic influences, we can counteract them with the TRUTH. Truth is the 'antidote' to any lie from the enemy of our souls. Truth is the foundation upon which we launch all our counterattacks against the antagonistic influences in our lives. This might seem a little too simple for some - believing there must be some other thing needed to fight off temptation within their lives. The more TRUTH we put into our lives, allowing it to actually take root and create a solid foundation upon which we make decisions, the less the antagonistic forces will have an inroad into our lives. If you don't believe me, begin to put the TRUTH into your life and see for yourself. Truth is not negotiable - it wins every time! Just sayin!

Custom Edition

By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. I’ve committed myself and I’ll never turn back from living by your righteous order. Everything’s falling apart on me, God; put me together again with your Word. Festoon me with your finest sayings, God; teach me your holy rules. (Psalm 119:105-108)

How is your life going? You might be living by default rather than by any particular design. When you buy a new electronic device, there is a "factory preset" for how the system should work. It is called the "default" operating system. As time goes on and you become more familiar with what the device can actually do when it gets off the "default" mode, you might actually find you can do some pretty handy things with the device. "Default" is only a beginning spot - it isn't where we are designed to live. When we settle for "default", we negate the purpose of being created with the various abilities God has worked into our temperament and character. Whenever we settle for living in the "default" mode, we are simply saying we are content with following a script. From the beginning of time, God's intent has been for us to live by "design" rather than "default" - this is why he gave us the right to make choices. We have a free-will - how much we choose to use our free-will to move closer to him, or further away from him is all up to us.

Each of us is created with a "default" operating system - body, soul, and spirit. The body is animated by the spirit, the soul is what gives us the uniqueness of connection with one another. The body gives a framework - the soul is what allows us to rationalize, make choices, and respond with any range of emotions. The spirit is the place where we either embrace a closeness with God as our Lord and Savior, or we live with a void here. By default, we have this void - the place of connection. We either "fill the slot" with him, or we fill it with whatever seems to matter MORE than him. By default, we are empty in this space - by choice the space is filled. Oftentimes, the choices we make kind of "override" the intentions of our heart. We might think we will get to the place we desire in our heart, but the choices we make don't actually make it possible for us to actually see those desires met in the manner God intended for us.

God grants good sense to all of us - it is a choice to use it! People tell me they don't know what God's will is for their lives. I have to go back to the "owner's manual" to help them frame their understanding of what God's will actually is. God's will becomes clear when we understand the three parts of our "default operating system" and see how they are interrelated. When we do something which will not benefit our body, it is not going to provide a good framework for our soul or spirit any longer - so it is likely not God's will. When we want to embrace things which will fill our minds with confusion, challenge the things we know to be true, or allow idleness in our thought processes, this is definitely not going to benefit either our body or soul. If we choose to fill the place where God's Spirit desires to be "plugged in" within us with anything other than his Spirit, we will fall short of being animated as he would desire.

Learn the power of asking the right questions. You can go through life asking questions, but if they aren't the right ones, you tend to lean toward the "default" answers. When we begin to ask the right questions, such as "How will this impact my relationship with ..." or perhaps "What will this decision cost me in time which I should be directing into my relationship with Jesus", then we are going to find a different set of answers to help us live by design, not default. It is amazing to see how the right questions produce different outcomes from questions which are superficial or just don't really require any effort to answer. When my teacher asked, "How did you get to that answer?" He was asking me to form the right sequence of thought which consistently produced the right answer. Often, we "got to" the right answer, but in the next set of problems we would be given, using that same "train of thought" would not produce the same results. Why? We weren't asking the right questions to help us consistently solve the problem at hand.

Ask whether this current decision you are faced with is congruent with God's "design" for your life. If you have never asked God to reveal his "design" and have always just been content to live by "default", you might be surprised what you will learn if you actually stop long enough to consider his design. Living by default allows us to have moments of indiscretion - times when we choose to go one way, because we think we will get the same results with our choice as we got the last time. When we are not clear as to what God's plan is for our lives, we tend to make a lot of attempts at "solving the issues" in our lives, but never quite doing it with any consistency. We end up living by "trial and error". Trial and error are two "defaults" I am trying to avoid! We have been given the "owner's manual" (the Bible) to help guide our choices. As long as we follow the principles displayed there, solutions are much more consistent! We don't need to understand how the whole "system" works to understand there is an opportunity to live a "customized" life. "Customized" doesn't mean we do the choosing and hope for the best. In fact, the best customization comes when we have a skilled craftsman actually helping us to understand the best use of what it is we have at our disposal. Just sayin!

Inside the box?

Let's be frank here - we need to learn to walk together in unity. I think we all know how truly difficult it is to actually be and stay in unity. Deep, intimate relationships require a different commitment than mere acquaintances. Friendships help to sustain us and keep us on track. How we view each relationship tells us a little bit about what we may actually invest into and take away from those relationships. We may find some actually are an ordeal for us because they demand more than we want to really put into them, but does that make them unnecessary relationships? Some may seem like a big deal to us, but does that make them worthy of special attention while neglecting others? Other relationships seem like they are kind of ideal, almost making us want to be exclusionary within those relationships, but doesn't that isolate us from the other types of relationships which might actually help us chip away some of the rough edges in our character? I think we might just need all three!

You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17 MSG)

While connection is important, reconnection is sometimes more important! I don't believe God wants us to isolate ourselves from those relationships which are kind of an ordeal for us - because they have something within them we need to learn. Relationships which we might classify as an "ordeal" are those which seem to always be extremely severe in their ability to "test" us in some fashion. We actually need this "testing" in order to develop some trait we might not have developed any other way. To neglect these "severe" relationships is to cut ourselves us from the very thing we need for our growth. How do we "reconnect" with someone whose relationship with us has become a big ordeal and with whom we may have chosen to just pull away rather than make the effort to stay connected?

It takes some real courage to even admit you have pulled away. When two people deal with the "hard" parts of relationship by saying it is too big of an ordeal to actually work on the things pulling them apart, there is an opportunity to allow those "hard parts" to actually smooth off some rough edges in our character. One of the things which drives a wedge between two people quicker than you might imagine is when either of us become defensive in the relationship. When stuff is too hard to deal with at the moment, it is very easy to get a little defensive about our behavior and choics. We might imagine another's focus on something in our lives as a little too intrusive and even a little "nit-picky". Regardless, defenses go up and we get nowhere when these walls just remain in place.

If we don't recognize the "walls" quickly, we will allow them to be reinforced by future actions and responses to behaviors within the relationship. Fear causes us to become defensive - we don't like being exposed, so we build up what we believe will "cover over" the area we feel the most exposed within. Walls might be manifest by being overtly sarcastic with another - allowing the sarcasm to take the focus off the area for just a little bit. Another method of wall-erecting is when we push others away with our anger. A wall drives people away - most will not choose to "scale the wall", but will be turned away by it! It is the rare friend who will actually make the effort to scale the wall and a real friend who will help you dismantle it once they get on the other side of that huge wall!

Dealing with others in relationship requires the ability to see things as the other person sees them. This is why I like the idea of using a friend as a "sounding board" of sorts. I bounce ideas off a friend because the friend actually might just not be seeing things quite the way I do at the moment. Some of us need someone outside of our "box" to help us see there are choices outside of the box we have been confined within. All we can see is the inside of the box, we will never know what the outside holds for us. A friend can help us see things from the outside of the box - giving us perspective we do not possess on our own. Some of the toughest relationships require us to see things outside of our box. If you stop to think about it, a box is really just another set of walls we have established. The walls of a box only serve to confine us - the ability to break free from the confines of seeing things only from your limited perspective is not just healthy, it is wise!

When you actually can see things another sees and the way they see them, you are breaking down walls which would have otherwise torn you apart. Part of seeing things the way another sees them is the ability to allow the things which have become "wedge drivers" within the relationship to be removed. Where there is no wedge, the distance between two objects is free to return to being joined again. Just sayin!

Sometimes being 'grounded' isn't all that bad!

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. (Isaiah 40:27-31)

Complaining that God seems to be looking the other way when you need his attention right now? Do you think he has abandoned you to some state of misery or woe that you won't be able to overcome? We all have been there at least once, and if we were honest, we'd admit we come to this place a little too often before we realize God never abandons us. We may not hear him as clearly, see how he is moving in the muddle we are in, or be strong in our faith that he is right there beside us, but he never lets us walk through stuff alone. There were times when my kids were little that I'd suddenly realize I couldn't hear them anymore, and I just knew they were likely into some type of mischief! In my losing track of what they were doing, they took full advantage of getting into something they knew they weren't supposed to be into - like pulling the toilet paper all off the roll in a huge pile around them on the floor or dumping out all the baby powder and then proceeding to paint themselves with it! Good news - God doesn't "lose track" of his kids! If we wander into places of "mischief" in our lives, he is right there ready to correct us, redirect us, or recommission us.

There is power in waiting on the Lord to renew our souls, yet so many of us just wander around without the power we could tap into if we'd just take a few moments to wait upon him. It is in "waiting upon" him that we find the "energizing" for the task which lies ahead. Maybe if we learned how to "wait upon" a little better, we might not feel like we are "out on our own" in so many of life's circumstances. To wait means to exchange - we exchange our strength for his, our wisdom for his, our energy for his. The knowledge to do it his way rather than our own is only found in the waiting. The strength to do what is just ahead is only found in the moment of exchange. If this is where the "exchange" happens, we need to learn how to "wait upon" as our "first option" rather than our "bail out" option! There is wisdom in waiting just a little bit before you take your first step, isn't there? What probably should have occurred to us by now is that we don't survive alone! Like it or not, we are not designed to live alone - we are designed for relationship. We are "relational" creatures. So many of us try to walk out this daily existence of our Christian faith alone and wonder why we find ourselves feeling lonely, abandoned, and without a shred of hope to hang onto. 

In the place of feeling kind of abandoned, we veer away from the principles we know to be true. We try something completely different from what we know is reliable, trustworthy, and upright. Whenever I have veered from the principles I have learned through scripture, I've been burned! We can live by all kinds of "good philosophy", but philosophy is just not going to cut it because the basic premise of any philosophy is to improve upon it. God's Word cannot be improved upon! It is more than philosophy - it is tried and true - nothing can be added, nothing taken away. When we gravitate toward living by some type of "philosophy" in our lives, we are more susceptible to living by the culture of the day in which we live. Society says if it feels good, doesn't appear to hurt anyone, and seems to carry some sense of reward for the one doing it, then it is okay to pursue. Just because it feels good to eat a chocolate bar each day doesn't make it good for a person who is struggling with their weight! Just because my actions don't seem to outwardly hurt another, I cannot overlook the fact that someone is watching, and they may be affected by those actions without my even knowing it! 

Allow God's words to get "worked into" the fibers of our lives, then we will have something upon we can rely upon when we are faced with those moments of decision in life. We are only able to stand - or withstand - when we have the right foundation. The right foundation is never based upon something which needs improvement! It is based upon that which cannot be improved upon! This is why we need to get the Word of God into us - it gives us the stability of standing upon what cannot be improved upon! Too many times we "improvise" in this life. To really learn what it is we are designed to live by, we need time to wait upon God. In seeking God, you find yourself - for he designed you! In seeking him, you are free to be who he made you to be. Discovery comes in waiting upon - not just in waiting, but in waiting upon. In the most literal sense, the difference is in the activity level of each. Waiting bespeaks inactivity - waiting upon refers to a level of activity or involvement. When we wait upon God, we aren't just passively standing by until he says move. We are engaging in what we know to do - like prayer, time in the Word, taking the steps of faith we know to take, then patiently listening for the wisdom about the steps we don't know how to take yet. When we engage with him, he engages with us. It is active waiting God is directing us toward, not passivity. Just sayin!

This no longer 'fits'

A solid reputation requires a commitment to being honest. Deceitful people walk a treacherous, thorny path. Mom always said that my lies would "snowball". In other words, it was like rolling the tiny snowball into the bigger one which eventually became the biggest part of the snowman's body! The more you "roll around" in the lie, the more lies you attract and use to cover up the original one. Eventually, there is more effort in being dishonest than there ever would have been in maintaining your integrity and just coming clean about what it is you wanted to cover up in the first place. At the moment, a lie seems like an easy fix to a miserable situation, but in the end, the situation is made more miserable by the lies. No amount of "cover-up" actually stays covered up very long. Eventually some form of "heat" will cause the truth to surface - and when it does, the damage the lies have done to your reputation leave a bigger "hole" to fix.

We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives. Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to God than religious performance. Arrogance and pride—distinguishing marks in the wicked—are just plain sin. (Proverbs 21:2-4)

Consider how we treat the poor or those who seem to have injustices done to them all the time. We could all probably forget that the "beggar" is really a person behind the sign. We see the "outward" but forget about the person behind the outward display. I think God wants us to consider the person and not only their "display" - for the person is the one with the true need for our touch, consideration, and empathy. Injustice is any event or circumstance which inflicts undeserved hurt. See beyond the "sign" in another's life and look for the ways we can turn-around the "hurts" they have experienced. The foolish man is really exhibiting some 'not so good' behavior which affects those around him. Fighting, quarrels, and insults leave their devastation behind wherever the fool has had his influence. The fool defies and challenges just for the sake of an argument without regard to the outcome or the cost. We have to guard against maintaining company with the fool - because they do damage without any concern for the damage inflicted. If you find yourself "downing" the hopes of another, you might just be venturing into the realm of the fool. Check yourself if this occurs, for you are not only damaging the delight of another but developing a bad reputation for yourself.

Reputation is both gained and maintained. What we might not realize is how it can also be "re-gained". It is through the work of Christ in our lives, taking apart the pieces which don't "fit" any longer after we give him control. In turn, he replaces these pieces with the type of actions which "fit". It is this "refitting" operation which reveals new evidence consistent with a change in character. This change in character is what gives us a renewed or new reputation in the eyes of others. If you have found yourself in the place of living with a damaged reputation because of past actions on your part, don't be discouraged. God's plan is to restore in ways you would never dream possible. You just need to give him the damaged parts and let him have his way in taking away what no longer "befits" the child of God and "outfitting" you with his character in turn. Just sayin!

What a character!

A good reputation is better than much wealth; high esteem is better than silver and gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord made them both. Prudent people see trouble and hide, while the simpleminded go right to it and get punished. The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord is wealth, honor, and life. Thorns and nets are in the path of the crooked; those who guard their lives keep their distance. Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it. The wealthy rule over the poor; a borrower is a slave to a lender. Those who sow injustice will harvest evil; the rod of their fury will come to an end. Happy are generous people, because they give some of their food to the poor. Remove the mocker and conflict disappears; judgment and shame also stop. (Proverbs 21:1-10)

The overall quality of character is what determines if a man or woman will be known in a favorable light. We call this "reputation" - something which "precedes" us into every venture in life. Get a "bad rep" and we might just have to "start over" in a new "life" in order to escape the "unfavorable" reputation we have acquired. People try to do this by moving to a new location, starting a new job, or entering into a new relationship. Until we deal with whatever got us the "bad rep" in the first place, we will just redo the same things wherever we start anew. I know this because I speak from personal experience. I was a little bit of a troublemaker as a teenager, and there were times when my reputation preceded me wherever I went. Despite the attempts to convince others I had "started over", the bad events of my past just followed me. What I failed to recognize it that others looked for evidence in the actions I exhibited, not in the words I spoke. The "convincing" only came once God fully got hold of my life and my "reputation" began to change because my CHARACTER began to change!

Character is the basis of everything others might come to believe about us. We can determine to "show" one thing, but if the character is not there behind what it is we are "showing", it won't hold up to the test of time or the scrutiny of the observant eye. God asks for us to "guard" the "clean" reputation that comes from simply serving him. We need to "protect" it - not because we need to "shine it up" to make it appear good, but because there are lots of opportunities for it to get "dings" and "gouges" along the way. All we respond to in life provides opportunity for getting a few dings or gouges in our reputation - it is the responses we give in the moment of testing which often need our greatest attention. A prudent person "foresees" the dangers ahead and as a result, he takes the necessary actions to avoid those dangers. This is where I went wrong in my teenage years - I thought I could just trudge ahead, unconcerned about the consequences of my questionable and even bad decisions. I forgot to consider my actions producing certain consequences - some of which damaged my reputation. This is where a good many of us fail in life - not considering the dangers ahead by giving full-steam to the actions we take in the moment. When God reminds us to "guard" our reputation, I think he is telling us to think about the actions before we take them - considering well the consequences which could come as a result of certain actions. Just sayin!

Credibility is earned

God loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken; good leaders also delight in their friendship. God guards knowledge with a passion, but he’ll have nothing to do with deception. Young people are prone to foolishness and fads; the cure comes through tough-minded discipline. (Proverbs 22:11-12, 15)

A pure heart speaks of purity of emotions and intellect. Many of us struggle with this just because of all the "influence" we experience from the stuff working overtime to bombard our brains with "urgent" input. Guarding what gets IN affects what will indeed eventually come OUT. Gracious speech are the words which some might call "tactful" - marked by kindness, courtesy, and mercy. They reveal genuine compassion - pleasing and bringing "satisfaction" to the ears of the one hearing them. We see God speak often of the condition of the heart and the outflow of the mouth - linking the outflow to what has first been cultivated by what we take in. God gives the frequent warnings against laziness. To "guard" means we have to pay attention, on purpose, all of the time. Any form of laziness on our part will provide an opportunity for either an attack on our emotions, a wandering of our minds, or the relationship disasters caused by words spoken in haste or out of season. Laziness is any form of inactivity which has a negative outcome in our lives. You can judge if you are being "lazy" by the excuses you find yourself making when something happens, or when you are standing there empty-handed.

It is part of human nature to make excuses for our inactivity, especially when it is revealed by what we lack in some regard. Excuses have a way of making us look good in our own eyes, but they seldom change the opinion of the one hearing them. Excuses are just a subtle way of trying to shift the blame - or even remove it totally. Anytime we offer an excuse for our laziness, we are just trying to shift the blame for our lack of progress to someone else - or some circumstance "beyond our control". Excuses are just a way of revealing a lack of good judgment. When a life lacks prudence or good judgment, instruction and correction are needed in order to get that life back on course. Discipline actually assists us in moving away from a posture of laziness and into a posture of positive action once again. Folly is fun for a while, but eventually there is very little to show for our squandered time, talent, and treasure. It becomes excessively costly to make excuses for any length of time, because what is lost may never be able to be made up again.

The wise have learned the importance of living BEYOND excuses. Their life has found a path of consistency - consistent people reveal a credibility in their actions and speech. The wise have learned the importance of having God's word close at hand. This is accomplished by consistent study and exposure to the truths which begin to settle deep within - taking root where excuses once held ground. The word is not only instructional in nature, but it is "prodding". By it, we are moved into action when inactivity beckons us. They recognize the ability of God's word to bring us to a place of trust. Inactivity will produce nothing of this sort in our lives, for we cannot trust a crumbling foundation. That which is maintained will remain strong - that which is allowed to just "coast" or "be on auto-pilot" will eventually crumble. The word is filled with all kinds of advice and knowledge - but it must be mined. This is where the rub comes for the lazy - there is work involved in mining. Effort has to be expended to both lay a good foundation and to maintain it. As long as we make excuses and complain about the effort, we will never be developing deeper trust. Trust is based on truth - truth is mined from God's word.

Listen carefully to my wisdom; take to heart what I can teach you. You’ll treasure its sweetness deep within; you’ll give it bold expression in your speech. To make sure your foundation is trust in God, I’m laying it all out right now just for you. I’m giving you thirty sterling principles—tested guidelines to live by. Believe me—these are truths that work and will keep you accountable... (Proverbs 22:17-21) Listening requires being attentive - on purpose, in the moment. Taking teaching to heart requires getting up off our fannies and doing what the word says. The promise to those who are willing to move beyond excuses - a bold expression in what we proclaim with our mouths - because what comes out has first been purposefully put in! When we stop making excuses for how "tough" it is to understand God's word, truthfully beginning to explore what we can understand right now, allowing God to unfold what we just "don't get", we will be developing a foundation by which our actions begin to change. We come to a place of realizing the truths contained in the Word are actually reliable - they are tested and can be counted on to produce what they are intended to produce. Some will build our faith; others will challenge us to lay down our pride, while others will hold us accountable for either our inaction or our improper action. This is probably the biggest reason why we avoid the word of God - we don't want to be held accountable. It is also the reason we need to make a beeline to it without haste! Just sayin!

Continual, Consistent, and Communicative

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. (Hebrews 11:1)

If something is 'fundamental', it is an essential part - the foundation upon which everything else is built - underlying anything else in our lives. If the foundation of our lives is to be our 'trust in God' then how are we doing on keeping that foundation firm and without any breeches? If we want to see things of great 'value' and 'worth' built into our lives, it all begins with this fundamental trust in God. We cannot build upon a 'half-trust' - it must be continual, consistent, and communicative trust.

Continual faith means we don't allow any interruption in this foundation. I have a few cracks in the foundation of my home - they were apparent when I changed the carpeting. This is 'normal' with the settling of homes over the years, but too big of a gap could indicate greater problems exist that could end up costing me much over the years. If the gap gets too big, the home can even become 'unstable' and it would be deemed unsafe to reside in. The same is true in our 'faith life' - allow small 'cracks' to go unchecked and you may eventually allow a huge fissure that makes your life very unstable.

Consistent faith requires us to understand and adhere to the same principles or course day after day. We don't waver, creating opportunity for compromise. Consistent faith means there is a 'coherency' between what we say and do - something we frequently struggle to develop in our lives. How many times have we said one thing, then gone off and done exactly the opposite? If you are like me, those times are too innumerable to count. Trust in God doesn't leave scripture 'open to interpretation' in our lives - God says it, we are to believe it, act upon it, and trust in it.

Communicative trust is something I will liken to having a good conversation with your best friend. God needs to hear our heart's concerns and then have the freedom to show us what we may not always want to hear. This isn't God 'schooling' us, making us feel 'bad' about some 'cracks' in our foundation, but rather ensuring we allow repairs before they get any bigger. I don't talk to my BFF 'hoping' she will hear me - I know she is listening! Why would I approach God any differently? I share my heart - he hears me - then he answers in the most loving way he can. Sometimes love guides us into places of correction, but that only builds up our faith. Just sayin!

Obedience doesn't come with options

Because you have satisfied me, God, I promise to do everything you say. I beg you from the bottom of my heart: smile, be gracious to me just as you promised. When I took a long, careful look at your ways, I got my feet back on the trail you blazed. I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet, was quick to follow your orders. The wicked hemmed me in—there was no way out— but not for a minute did I forget your plan for me. I get up in the middle of the night to thank you; your decisions are so right, so true—I can’t wait till morning! I’m a friend and companion of all who fear you, of those committed to living by your rules. Your love, God, fills the earth! Train me to live by your counsel. (Psalm 119:60)

If you are like me, you have probably made a promise or two to God in some moment of great need, then as things got a little less 'intense' in your life, you found yourself wavering a bit on the obedience part of those promises. Just as with King David, I needed to take a long, careful look at my ways - realizing I was not staying on the path God and I had discussed. In short, we call that disobedience. Those long and careful looks at life are not accidental - they are orchestrated by a loving God who desires to see us continuing to take the right steps in the right direction with a right purpose and a right heart-set. What we do next is totally within our control. We can bury the promise, or we can get back up on our feet and be heading down the trail God has blazed for us.

My only hope is that every moment God takes to help me examine my steps is followed with a determined 'step-taking' in the right direction - no feet dragging, no stubborn digging in. This is the key to God's grace. We need to be back on the right path, but anytime we drag our feet, we are in danger of choosing to remain slightly or completely off course. As with David, we need to recognize God's direction is always right for our lives. We can spend a whole lot of time debating that with God but take it from me - it isn't going to change the fact God has determined the best path for us to follow. I may have a thousand other 'options' to that path, some of them quite 'close' to the same path, but none of them will be the path he has determined to be the BEST for me.

Where there are any 'rules', there are also multiple 'commitments' that must be made and kept. Speed limit signs require a commitment to travel at that speed no matter how late we are to our destination. Failure to do so could result in anything from a blown-out tire to the loss of a life. Those 'rules' are there for our safety - we are supposed to 'commit' to them. The truth is 'life's rules' are not just for us - we travel with a whole lot of others committed to the same path. If we fail to commit to follow the desired actions God puts forth for us, we can actually be placing others in danger. If you have ever been on the highway, traveling along at a speed that 'everyone else' is travelling, then looked down at the speedometer only to realize you are posting a speed well in excess of the limit, you have been placed in danger by two things - the influence of others and your inattention to your own actions.

If we are to live in community with each other, we need to realize we all influence each other to some extent AND our inattention to the steps of obedience we have committed to follow could place others in danger. We need each other to remain consistent - one spurring on the other. We need each other to realize when we are drifting off course - one realizing there is a distance beginning to occur that could suggest one of us is not quite on the right course. Commitment to God's purposes can be made in the spur of the moment, but when we start to travel that 'commitment highway', it can be hard to stay within the boundaries that will keep us safe without each other, God's constant care, and the Holy Spirit to remind us of each step of obedience we need to take. Obedience doesn't come with options - it comes with protections. Just sayin!

Large and In Charge!

God is in charge of human life, watching and examining us inside and out. We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives. Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to God than religious performance. 

(Proverbs 20:27; 21:2-3)

Has the thought ever occurred to you to consider carefully who might just be "in charge" of your life? Most of us would say we believe God is in charge of our lives - and we'd be correct in this assumption - yet most of us live as though WE were in charge of our lives! We don't consult God with our daily decisions - we make them and then look to him to "back us up". We get ourselves into "binds" and expect him to bail us out. At those moments when we are struggling to hold our head above water, we even get to thinking God may have just abandoned us. Our reality isn't that he abandoned us, but that we totally missed out on the fact of his watchful protection over our lives even when WE insisted on being "in charge". After wallowing for a while in our self-pity because we recognize our "plans" were not all that good, we find ourselves a little "exposed" by our folly, don't we? Exposure often results in us wanting to "cover up" - we don't want to honestly admit the mess we have made of things, but it is hard not to!

God has an amazing way of penetrating our hearts. The "power" of this penetrating light actually allows discovery where there is resistance. This is what "penetration" means - something exerts enough force or strength so as to overcome the resistance it faces. God has a way of doing exactly that - not settling for a glossing over of our inner character just because we are resistant to change. In fact, God not only "sees into" us - he sees "through us". This is a good thing since so many of us still like to hide behind our "masks" thinking no one will ever be able to uncover the reality of our shame, guilt, or pride. Motives are the things which actually cause us to act a certain way. When our motives are not self-serving, we see the actions as being sacrificial and directed toward the best for another. When we see our motives are inwardly directed, we might just see all the actions as a little self-seeking or selfish in nature - the actions serve to satisfy self. This is why God needs a spotlight - to expose the motives which influence or direct our actions. Motives are "internal" and there is the need to "unmask" them in order to really get at the heart of what makes us act as we do.

We cannot escape his examination - because without it, he cannot get at what motivates us to act as we do. Until he gets past our rebellious "crust", he cannot impact our inner character. When we finally admit we have been in charge - he is free to begin to take control. He moves from just "bailing us out" all the time to actually keeping us out of the position of being over our heads in mucky stuff in the first place! When we are young, we rely a lot upon our strength. When we begin to get a little older, we rely not so much upon our strength, but upon our wisdom. We have learned a few lessons along the way which help us to "work smarter" instead of "work harder". We may think our ways are right, but God is the best judge of this, not us. We see things with "blinders" on - only allowing a cursory view of what is immediately in front of us. God has a way of seeing things without the blinders - he knows the peripheral effect of every action and has the greatest opportunity to help us avoid the harmful hazards. The Christian walk is not about a lifetime of bringing God sacrifices - what it is we DO for him. It is about a lifetime of what God DOES for us, because even the purity of our heart and motives is all because he intervenes to DO the clean-up for us!

Our mode of operation is to make hasty decisions - not thought out well, kind of self-centered, and a little bit too close to the edge. God's mode of operation is to help us learn to wait on his movements - taking the time to plan well, moving beyond our secret rebellion of always wanting to be in control, and then moving further away from the edge and more to the center of where he wants to keep us - right next to his heart. Just sayin!

Just sayin!

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. (George Eliot)

Have you ever been guilty of having 'too much to say' on a topic? It is like you cannot wait to get your turn to bring up a point. You are chatting at the bit to just get your opinion heard. Too many times we have much to say on a subject not worth saying that much about!

The more talk, the less truth; the wise measure their words. (Proverbs 10:19)

This won't be a long lesson today, but rather a few points to ponder about the words we choose to speak. Words aren't always the problem - it is frequently the motivation or spirit behind the words that make the greatest impact. You can say one thing, but your attitude speaks something quite different.

Words have an impact - so we must choose them wisely. It isn't just the choice of words it is also the timing of those words. We can have all the right things to say - the point we are about to make is 'right on' and 'truth', but the timing is terrible. The words will have just the opposite impact because the timing was off.

Not everything we say needs to be said - there are just some moments when the things we are thinking are to be kept to ourselves. If we need to talk them over with anyone, it will likely be God, not the people within hearing distance at the moment. The more we lean upon the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts, the more he will guide our words, as well.

Wisdom isn't always lengthy. Sometimes it is to the point, but always spoken in love. We may be a little 'timid' at times when sharing the wisdom God gives us, not so much because it is hard to share, but because we don't always believe we should. We tend to give a 'long lead in' when we are nervous about sharing truth. Truth doesn't require a 'lead in' - it requires obedience. Just sayin!