Donkeys and Elephants

Here in the United States, the time has come for political canidates to throw their proverbial hat into the ring and announce that they are running for President.  The hustle and bustle from news organizations are gearing up for the war of words that will take place between opponents over the next year.  A lot is at stake, and one by one, they will fall by the wayside until a candidate is chosen by the citizens of our country.

Along with the rhetoric, people begin placing their hope in a certain person who will lower their taxes, help the economy get back on track, meet their needs or give them something to believe in by what they say.

As Christians, we are called to look at things a different way.  Our way should always be God’s way.  If we put our hope in a person or political party, the Bible reassures us that we will be 100% disappointed.

Isaiah 2:22 states:

“Stop trusting in man,
   who has but a breath in his nostrils.
Of what account is he?”

In other words, our hope is in the Lord.  He holds it all in His hands.  God is the only candidate we should trust.  He is the only one that provides, the only one that is holy, the only one where you can fully believe His promises.

This political season, keep this in mind:  exercise your vote, pull for your candidate/party, but put your hope in the Lord.

Sterilized

In my previous job, I sold medical and surgical supplies to hospitals, particularly the operating room.  One of the privileges that I had was to sit in and watch all different types of surgeries while they were being performed.

Before surgery, each patient is “prepped” (prepared) for surgery.  Betadine solution is poured all over the patient, and then drapes are laid over the area where surgery will be taking place.  The surgeons spend several minutes scrubbing their arms and hands with a powerful antimicrobial soap to insure that no germs will enter the patient.  After they have “scrubbed in”, they wear a surgeons gown to provide a germ-free barrier between them and the patient.  Finally, they put on thick surgeons gloves to cover the hands that they just scrubbed for several minutes as an extra precaution.

The room is set up for surgery in a manner that will provide a germ-free environment.  There is a “back table” that is set up away from the patient that carries everything that will be needed for surgery including drapes, gowns, gloves, surgical instruments, suction tubing, blades, syringes, etc.  Everything on that table is 100% sterile. 

When I went through training on what to do during surgery, the first and most important rule was “don’t break the sterile field!”  In other words, don’t touch anything, especially the back table.  I was dirty.  I had germs and the back table was not only clean, it was sterile.  If I were to have accidentally touched it, the entire surgery would have to be rescheduled, everything on the table would have to be thrown away, and the whole expensive process would have to start over again.  Needless to say, I stayed away from the back table.

The reason that I say all of this is to make a very important point:  there is a huge difference between “clean” and “sterile”.  Our lives are the same in the eyes of a Holy God.

Before I met Christ, I did my best to be clean.  No matter what I did to erase my sin, I was still dirty in the eyes of God because of my sin.  When I surrendered my life to Jesus, my sin was sterilized.  My sin was like the germs on the back table, they were 100% taken away.  

Many times I still view myself as clean or dirty as I walk with Christ, but God doesn’t look at me that way.  He sees me as sterilized.  100% clean.  He sees Jesus, my King, my sacrifice.  In God’s eyes, through the saving grace of Jesus, He sees perfection.

Romans 8:1 states that “therefore, there is NO condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ!”  We are a new creation!  We are taken out of the dirty, soiled laundry bin and placed on the back table.

• If you know Christ as your Savior, thank him for sterilizing you from your sin.  Walk in the assurance that no matter what you have done, you are 100% sin-free in the eyes of our heavenly Father.  

• If you haven’t surrendered your life to Christ, ask Him to save you from your sin.  Pray and ask Him to place you on the back table.  Give your life to Him and surrender yourself to His grace.  From that moment on, you will be a new creation.  The old will die, and the new will grow.  You will be free, 100% clean!

Faithfulness vs. Feelings

Every week, I go through an array of emotions.  Even in a day’s time, I can go from happiness to anger, sadness to disappointment (sometimes very quickly).  Our lives are surrounded with events and situations that change at a moments notice.  Our emotions and feelings change with them.

Many times in our relationship with Jesus, we bring our emotions along with our walk with Him.  It is natural!  God made us that way, and it is nothing in which we should feel ashamed.  God made us in His image, and we have feelings just like He does. 

The problem occurs when we confuse how we feel vs. God’s faithfulness.  In other words, no matter how we feel, if we have given our lives to Christ Jesus then we are His.  PERIOD!  God is faithful to call us His children, and He doesn’t change.

1 John 1:9 says “⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Sin is attached in our spiritual DNA, passed on from our parents Adam & Eve.  Each time we sin, we wrestle with guilt.  I do it,you do it, we all do it!  There have been times where I have left Church on a Sunday morning on an emotional high!  I have had a great time singing to God, hearing a great sermon, and seeing all of my brothers and sisters in Christ!  A few days later, I will be wrestling with the guilt of a sin that I have committed against God, and be saying to myself “There is no way God loves me anymore!!”  Even though I have felt that way before, God’s faithfulness never changed.  He is still there, He still loves us, and we are forgiven.

Don’t confuse what I am saying about sin:  God (through the Holy Spirit) is going to work on us our whole lives.  His goal is to sanctify us (make us better) and continue to whittle the rough sinful edges away so that we can look and act more like Jesus.  That is a painful process.  It takes time….a lifetime!  

What I am saying is that God doesn’t love you more or less today than He did yesterday.  He loves you consistently, and has loved you since before the creation of the world.  He knew you, he called you to salvation, and you belong to him through Jesus.  It can’t be thrown away.

Today, no matter how you feel, remember God is faithful!

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been studying the book of John.  One of the interesting things that stood out to me was what Jesus had to say about Satan.

In John 8:42-44, Jesus confronts the Pharisees about their Father, the devil:

“⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. ⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

The Pharisees are questioning whether or not Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  Jesus says to them that they don’t know his father, because they are children of the devil.  A few points stood out to me as I read this passage:

• You will never understand God until you understand and accept His Son, Jesus.  He is the only way to God, who is His Father.

• The devil was a murderer from the very beginning.  In the garden of Eden, he sent Adam & Eve (and essentially all of us) to our earthly death by deceiving them into thinking that equality with God is something to be grasped.  He knew this wasn’t the case, and did whatever he could to bring us down.

• The devil cannot tell the truth.  He is the father of lies.  His soul purpose on this earth is to destroy everyone.  PERIOD!  Jesus says “….that there is no truth in him…”  Keep this in mind the next time you are tempted to sin.  It is satan lying to you, because that is what he does.

• Satan is a liar.  When he speaks, he lies.  It is his “native language”.  

• Satan is not only a liar, but “the father of lies”.  All lies start with him, and are conjured up to lead to any destruction possible.

What is satan lying about to you?  Is he telling you money can buy you happiness?  Is he telling you that your wife or husband won’t make you happy?  Is he using drugs or alcohol to tell you it’s what you need to nub the pain or find comfort?  Do an inventory of your heart and soul and seek out whatever is out of control in your own life.  Chances are this area of your life is some lie that satan has talked you into believing.

Jesus is the exact opposite of satan.  He cannot lie.  Every word that came from his mouth while He was on this earth was the truth.  Every word that God has left us in His scriptures (The Bible) is truth.  Hold fast to the truth.  Everything else is just a lie, set up by design from the grand liar himself to lead you to death and destruction.