It's for your own good!

When I was 6 years old, I used to stay at an after school program called "Late-stay".  When school was finished, all of the kids whose parents worked late would stay at "Late-stay" and wait to be picked up from school.  My sister and I would both play on the playground for awhile, and when it was time to be picked up, we would all sit in the hallway underneath our lunch boxes and coats (hung on a hook) and wait for our mothers or fathers to take us home.

One winter afternoon, we were all lined up, side by side, sitting quietly in the hallway.  As we were waiting, I saw a girl from my class walking towards the door with her mother.  This particular girl and I did not get along, and I had the bright idea that I would stick my leg out and try to trip her on the way out the door.  As I did, she stepped over my leg and her mother tripped on my leg instead.  It was awful!  She fell in front of all of the other children, and was extremely embarrassed.  Even though it wasn't my intention to trip her mother, all of the other children laughed at her and I was in serious trouble.

That evening, the principal called my Father at home, and needless to say, it was the worst punishment I ever received as a child.  I had to learn my lesson!  Right before the punishment was being dealt, My Father said "This is for your own good!"

For years, I thought that was insane.  How could something so awful be for my own good?  Hebrews 12 mentions the same thing for us as Christians:

Hebrews 12:7-11

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! ¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Even as adults, we endure hardships.  Some of us have lost our jobs, others have lost our homes.  There are financial setbacks, disappointments and heartache during our life.  As Christians, we are to endure each hardship as discipline.  God uses these events in our lives to bring us closer to Him.

Today, reflect on what you have gone through over the past few years and thank God for loving you enough to discipline you through your hardships.  Our Father knows what is best for us, and uses those events to make us into the Godly men and women He desires us to be.

P.S.  Mrs, Huffman, if you are reading this, I am truly sorry for tripping you!  I can honestly say "I learned my lesson!"  

The heart of the matter!

Over the past few weeks, I have seen a variety of reactions from many different people over one specific topic.  This one thing has stirred emotions in people more than any other “one thing” discussed among friends, family members, fellow brother’s and sister’s in Christ, and complete strangers.  All I have had to do is get this conversation started, and like a forest fire, the different ranges of emotions erupt into flames.  You might be wondering what this “one thing” could be that is so controversial?  The answer is simple:  Money!

I have had the privilege to be involved in a men’s Bible study each Thursday evening.  We meet for an hour or so and discuss different topics that pertain to the Christian walk.  We have covered sexual immorality, over indulgence (food and alcohol), self control, our language, and many other topics over the past few months.  Of all of the ones we have discussed, the one topic that brought on the largest emotional response was “generosity”.  This alarmed me!

This Sunday (at my church) we had a guest Pastor speak on tithing and financially giving back to God.  As I began to speak with different friends of mine after the sermon, I was surprised to see the wide range of emotions and opinions among different Christians.  One person said to me “Tithing isn’t even in the Bible!”  Another person told me “I didn’t like that sermon!  He was bragging on himself and how much he gives!”  These folks are people whom I consider Christ followers, and close personal friends.  So I began to ask myself “Why does money/tithing/giving attract such an emotional response?”

The answer can be found in the Gospel.  While Jesus lived here on earth, He covered a wide variety of things to teach to the people of Israel.  The one thing that He warned us about (some say more than anything) was our love for money.  In Matthew 6:24 we see Jesus draw a line in the sand.  He makes no apologies when He says “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”  That is plain as day. 

In Matthew 19, Jesus is speaking with His disciples and a rich young man came up to Him and said “What must I do to follow you?”  Christ answers “Sell all you own, give it to the poor and follow me!”  The young man walked away and hung his head in shame, because He couldn’t do it.  Jesus told His disciples in verse 24 “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  That is a sobering thought.

Money is a security blanket for all of us.  It provides comfort, security, assurance, and gives us something to fall back on in times of trouble.  God doesn’t want us to rely on money; He wants us to rely on Him.

Here are a few points I would like to address:

• God owns it all.  Many people brag about being “Self made men”.  There is no such thing!  God created you, He gave you everything you own (Your job, house, money, family, health, etc.)  It all belongs to Him, and anything you own can be added to or taken away at a moments notice. 
• A tenth is only a start!  God requires us to give 10% of our first fruits.  (Read Malachi 3)  That is only the minimum.  If you think about all the things that God has given you, that's a small price to pay.  Most folks don’t flinch when paying 20% tax to our local, state and federal governments but balk when the church preaches on tithing.
• Giving and tithing are two totally separate things.  If you are a Christ follower, then tithing is paying 10% back to your local church.  Giving is listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying Him when He lays it on your heart to help someone out (either individually of through organizations such as soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc.)  In my own experience, sometimes this is a small amount, sometimes it is a large amount.  EVERYTIME God has given back this to me and usually doubles and triples the amount that our family was told to give.  That’s not bragging; that is just a fact.  God rewards His people who are obedient.
• God doesn’t need your money!  You are cutting your own throat if you aren’t tithing and giving to God.  He has blessings in store for you.  He desires to build your faith through giving.  If you want a front row seat to God’s ballgame, start giving.  If you don’t, then the only one that stands to lose out is you.  God will move in a different way to funnel His money through someone else if you say no.
• You cannot take it with you.  Your money doesn’t impress God.  Bragging about how much you make or have is ridiculous.  God wants your heart.  If your heart is set on “earthly things” (Colossians 3:2) then your mind isn’t focused on Jesus Christ.  That’s just a fact.
• We will be rewarded in heaven for what we do here on earth.  All throughout the Bible we see that God has a reward in heaven waiting for us.  Some folks don’t agree with that statement but it is true!  We don’t know what that reward is, but I think it’s fair to say that if you decide to be greedy here on earth, your reward in heaven is probably going to be slim pickings!
• Don’t kill the messenger.  If you swell up and pout the next time your Pastor preaches on the blessings received from living an obedient life of tithing and giving, chances are that you have a heart problem.  Grow up, be mature in the Lord and start obeying God with your wallet.

How dare we hold back from God after all He has done for us!  He gave us His only Son to save us from our filthy lives.  How can we hold anything back from Him in return?

An anchor for our soul

Victorian author Samuel Barber has been credited with this quote:  “Oaths are but words, and words but wind.”  When it comes to mankind, most promises that are made are seldom kept.  It’s a way of life, and it has been that way since the beginning of time.  It’s hard to find anyone who will keep their word.

Not so with God.  All throughout scripture, God has proven to man that He keeps His word.  In the Bible Hebrews 6 is a whole chapter about how God followed through on His promises to Abraham.  God told him “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”  He also promises Abraham that “…I will bless both you and your descendants.”  He swears it by His own name because there was nothing more concrete that God could swear by.  In verse 19 we see it say that as Christians, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

As I thought about that statement “…this hope is our anchor for our soul” I began to think of what anchors do:

• Anchors hold ships in one place, no matter what else is going on around it.  God’s word and His promises do the same thing.  Our hope in Jesus and His word keep us grounded no matter what the world is saying or doing around us.
• Anchors keep ships from running aground.  When we hear false teaching (self-help, false religion, humanism, etc) God’s word and His promises keep us from running aground spiritually.
• Anchors are thrown overboard in times of trouble.  Whenever trouble hits a ship and they are in fear of sinking, anchors are used to call a “timeout” in order for them to regroup.  The same is true for God and His word.  God’s promise of being our God and making us His children are the kind of hope we need to keep us grounded when everything around us is falling apart.
• Anchors are firm and secure.  Ultimately God’s promise to Abraham was Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sins.  If you have that promise and hope in Christ as your Savior, it is firm and secure.  It cannot be lost.

Keep God’s promise, His word, and the salvation offered to you through Jesus as an anchor for your soul.  It’s rock solid, and something you can count on 100%.  

Spiritual Schizophrenia (Part 2)

Why break this into two parts?  It's because this is so important for you and I to understand!  In part one, we see Paul distressed over the fact that he wants to do good but keeps on sinning.  The good news is that even though we still have the old man (sin) living inside of us, we also have the new man (Holy Spirit) living there too!

Make no bones about it!  There is a war going on inside of you.  In Romans 7 we see Paul even uses those words in verse 23 “waging war”.  Satan does not want you to become like Christ.  He is going to do everything in his power to keep the old man living and the new man quiet.  That is why God left us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us.  Over time, God begins a good work in his people.  Think about this:  when a promiscuous person accepts Christ, do they still struggle with sexual sin the very next day?  More than likely the answer is yes.  But over time, the Holy Spirit begins to convict that person of their sin and lifestyle, and little by little, they begin to change.  Paul states that during his whole life he had a “thorn” in his side.  Some Christians struggle with individual types of sin their whole life.

Why say this?  For two reasons. 

1. To make sense of what is going on inside of you.  Paul’s teachings aren’t meant to be interpreted as “The devil made me do it.”  We are responsible for our own actions!  The point he is trying to make is that any good we might have inside of us is because of Jesus.  It’s all Jesus!  I had a pastor once say “It’s Christ plus nothing!”  We can’t add to our salvation.
2. The second reason is to keep in mind that we are all on different playing fields.  Some of us have been walking with Christ our entire lives and may be more spiritually mature than a new Christian.  Don’t be so quick to judge others of their sin.  Instead, love them, pray for them and instruct them as Christ has instructed all of us.

How do we produce fruit?  Through prayer and obeying God’s word.  He left us the Bible for a reason.  He wants us to follow His word as a blueprint for our lives.  If we obey God, He begins to remove the old man little by little.

Today, be in tune with the war going on inside of you.  It’s one we have already won through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.  When you sin, ask forgiveness.  Get back up, brush yourself off, and try again tomorrow.  The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. 

Spiritual Schizophrenia (Part 1)

Every now and then, I will hear a sermon that will completely change the way I look at things for the rest of my life.  Recently, I heard a friend of mine by the name of Dale Johnson preach.  He said something that changed the way I view my walk with Christ.  His statement was this:

“When you accept Christ, God doesn’t make you good,   God declares you good through Christ.”

What’s the difference?  Paul knew exactly what this statement meant.  In the book of Romans 7, Paul writes to us as if he is a spiritual schizophrenic (someone with more than one personality living inside of him).  Here, you can plainly see that Paul is struggling with two different people:  the old man (sin) and the new man (his hope in Christ)

Many of us expect a grand transformation once we accept Christ, but it’s not that easy.  We are born in sin, and although we are forgiven of those sins through Jesus’ blood on the cross, WE STILL SIN!  Ergghh.  Isn’t that frustrating!

Paul wrote most of the New Testament and had a “Road to Damascus” conversion.  Even today, the books he wrote are preached every single Sunday in churches worldwide.  And here we see Paul, still struggling with sin.

How does this make sense?  Because we are not good.  We are only declared good through Christ.  Our sin is like Kudzu.  You can burn it, poison it, rip up the roots and it will still come back.  You can’t get rid of it.

So where does that leave us?  Our hope is in Jesus, not ourselves. In verse 15 Paul states that “I want to do good, but do what I hate.”  God changes us and it makes us want to do good, but because of our sin we still do what we don’t want to do.  It’s in our nature.

We are totally depraved.  In verse 18 Paul writes “There is nothing good in me.”  He’s right.  If not for Christ Jesus taking on sin for us, there would be no hope.  There are two people living inside of us.

The good news is we as Christians are bearing fruit.  It’s a slow process called sanctification.  God, over time is slowly changing our hearts to look more and more like Christ.  It won’t be finished until we reach heaven.  The man I am today looks different then the man I was 10 years ago.  Hopefully in 10 more years, I won’t look like I do today.  My hope is that I will look more like Christ.

What is the 23rd Psalm?

I have heard the 23^rd Psalm 1,000 times.  At every grave-side funeral I have ever attended, there is usually a minister who quickly reads it, says a quick prayer and then everyone goes home.

Psalm 23 is so much more than that!  It is for those who find their rest in Christ Jesus.  This portion of scripture is so applicable to our everyday lives.  I have heard it so much that I have almost become immune to how rich it really is.  Imagine if one of your friends called you on the phone and began speaking the 23rd Psalm in normal, everyday conversation.  It might sound something like this:

• The Lord really takes care of me.  He looks after me all of the time, even when I stray.  He gives me everything I need.  I really don’t want for a single thing! 

• Many times, He makes me slow down.  He gets my attention by making me be still.  That’s when  I hear what He is trying to say.  God restores my soul and gives me the encouragement that I desperately need!  Through His word, He helps me put one foot in front of the other and stay on the right path, the path of Righteousness.  He gets all of the glory from this!  What in the world can scare me?  Even if I am on death’s doorstep, I won’t be afraid of Satan because I belong to God!  He is always with me!

• Sometimes I feel like a helpless lamb.  Every time His rod and staff comfort me.  His word is always there to help me along.  Even when bad things are all around me, He has prepared a place for me at His table to be with Him.  Because of Christ Jesus, I am adopted and anointed as His child.  I am blessed beyond my wildest imagination! 

• Surely God's goodness and His love will be a part of my life for the rest of eternity, because I belong to Him.  On this earth and in heaven someday, I live with Almighty God!

Take a second and read Psalm 23 this week.  LISTEN CLOSE!  It's what we need to hear from a living God who loves His Children.