And the Truth Shall Make You Free

I’ve become pretty impressed with the genuine hunger for God I’m seeing in today’s teenagers. Uncompromising, humble, and filled with wisdom. The other day I was involved in a conversation where one individual was struggling with the correct path to take, while the other party (a teenager) saw the simple solution as if there was really no other option.

They said something to the effect of, “For any problem you have, God has a simple solution. He’s not trying to confuse us. It’s not that hard….The solution here is to go tell the person the truth.”

Isn’t it amazing how a Word from God through another person can bring such complete clarity to a situation that we almost feel silly that we had toyed with the idea of something different. That’s how simple the good news of the Gospel is. Sometimes we just need to be reminded. Read more

Integrity…Walking it Out

Integrity. The dictionary defines integrity as possession of firm principles, steadfastly adhering to high moral principles, the state of being complete or undivided, whole, and honest.

In Christianity, integrity is one of the most important virtues that should influence our decisions, our actions, and steer our everyday lives.

In Philippians 1: 27-30, the apostle Paul urges the church to walk in integrity,

“Whatsoever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ…being steadfast and firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel without being frightened of those who oppose you…For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and that I still have.”

This dictionary definition is a good starting point, but the Biblical picture Paul paints tells me two things. First, it says “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” The phrase “whatever happens” lets me know that we can be sure, something is going to happen. We are going to be faced with numerous opportunities throughout our Christianity to make choices to walk in integrity. We may even be faced with these decisions daily. Read more

The Inner Judge…Are You on the Throne?

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7: 1-2

Seems pretty simple doesn’t it. I mean, read it again…slowly. Especially the part that says, “for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.” Ouch. That’s serious business. But don’t we all battle with some form of judgmentalism from time to time.

I find that a judgmental spirit often likes to run around with a “comparing yourselves among yourselves” spirit. First we tend to excuse our own sin, character defects, and problem areas by comparing ourselves to others and saying, “Hey, I’m not that bad…I don’t do what that person does.” Once we effectively excuse ourselves to the point of inner content and smugness, then the judge sits down on our inner throne. We think to ourselves, “Geez, didn’t I hear that Harry cheated on his wife a while ago? I wonder if they are going to counseling. I’d never do that. I mean, I’ve done some things in my day, but I’d never do that.” Did you see that? The two of them just sat down and had a conversation about poor Harry. Isn’t he struggling enough? He’s most likely going through some severe mental torment right now. He’s filled with guilt and remorse over the pain he’s caused. Possibly, he’s going through a divorce. It’s pretty easy to just sit on that smug seat and think thoughts like that without even realizing it. Read more

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

I have one quick, possibly life changing question for you this morning. Are you your own worst enemy? Before you answer, let me qualify this question with a quick story from the Word, along with a few more heart-seeking questions.

The Story of Martha and Mary

Most of us are well acquainted with the Biblical story of Martha, Mary, and Jesus. If you are not, here’s the quick overview:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” — Luke 10:38-42

The story seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Martha was a doer, and basically a good person. Nothing wrong with that, right? Read more

How to Simplify Your Christianity

“Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life.” — Katherine Gerould (1879 – 1944)

If you’ve been keeping up to date with the latest trends, I’m sure you’ve noticed the move toward simplifying our lives. Countless websites and magazine articles teach on the art of decluttering our homes, downsizing, and living sustainable, manageable lives that are not filled with “things to take care of,” and “things to maintain.”

The act of decluttering our physical lives is an important one that can remove a huge amount of unnecessary stress and remind us of the things that are truly important. As a country, we were moving so quickly for so long at acquiring more stuff, more toys, and more gadgets that we hardly had time to live our lives. Now, in an attempt to regroup and create balance, we see a renewal of the desire to simplify.

As believers, we can also take this wave of interest one step further by simplifying our Christianity. Read more

Connecting with the Right People

Before we came to have a relationship with God, we chose our friends for a variety of personal reasons. Some of us even had different categories of friendships, to cover our different interests. Let’s take a look at our possible friendship roster:

• We may have had the Friday night partying friends who were always there to share one too many drinks and a night on the town.
• We had the business friends, those who could help us to achieve the level of success we wanted, because they knew all the important people (or so we thought).
• Some of us even had a friend or two who we considered “laid back”. Our so-called laid back friends were the ones who were perfectly content to listen to us gossip, watch us get ourselves into terrible relationships without saying a word, and agree with us when we complained about our situations, our spouse, our employer…you get the idea.

That Was Then…This is Now Read more

Are You Feeding Weeds Today?

The wonderful thing about operating according to spiritual principles is the absolute simplicity of them. Sure, we can take the simple principles of God’s kingdom and twist them all up until they seem completely impossible, but that’s not what God desires for us.

One thing that God has been speaking to me about lately, involves taking a good look at what I am watering and nurturing in my life.

God compares His Word to seed. Any farmer or gardener knows that if you plant a seed in the ground and do absolutely nothing to nurture it, reaping a healthy harvest is highly unlikely.

If you take the time to read Matthew chapter 13, you’ll learn what God has to say about planting, watering, and nurturing the seed (or the Word of God) in your life. The chapter also explains the different types of soil that a seed can be sown into and what the results will be. In this chapter, the soil represents our heart.

Planting a seed into a stony or hard, unbending heart isn’t going to produce a positive harvest, neither is planting a seed into ground that is ridden with weeds. Weeds will choke the life potential out of even the finest seeds.

What does that mean to us as believers? Read more

Patient Endurance Will Finish the Race: Do You Lack Endurance?

What kind of goals have you set for yourself lately? Whether you’ve got  long term goals, like becoming debt free by 2015, or short term goals; losing 5 pounds in the next 30 days, they both have one thing in common….they require endurance.

Endurance, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially : the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity. It is the ability to undergo a task without giving in.

Whether your goals are long term or relatively short, you will still need a certain amount of endurance to reach each one.

If you are anything like the average person, endurance may not be your strongest character trait. This is evident just by taking note of the majority of advertising and television commercials today. As a generation, we want it fast and we want it now. We are constantly bombarded by “quick weight loss” programs, and even pills that promise to allow us to consume any food we want, without the consequence of gaining weight.

We want “fast career training,” instead of 4 or 7 year degrees. We are even willing to pay extra at amusement parks in order to be the proud holder of a “fast pass” which will allow us to cut in front of the rest of the line. Almost anything we can think of involves some sort of quick alternative. Fortunately for us, God doesn’t change. He’s not moved or concerned by our ever increasing impatience. He still desires to develop and build a strong, enduring character in us. Possessing the ability to “endure” will get us through the important things in life. Here’s what God has to say about patient endurance. Read more

You’ll Have to Pay Extra if You Want to Check Your Baggage

If you’ve ever traveled on an airline, you’re quite aware that packing light is the smartest choice. Airlines are demanding beefy fees for heavy baggage. If your bag weighs over 50 pounds, you could find yourself paying anywhere from $90-$300 per piece according to the rules of Delta and Continental Airlines.

Bottom line? If you want to bring your baggage along, you’re going to have to pay.

The same is true with Christians. If you’re determined to carry around emotional and spiritual baggage, you’ll be paying the price. That’s why the Word tells us in Hebrews 12:1 to “throw off everything that hinders us, and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us.”

If a plane is carrying too much baggage, it can crash. The same is true with us. We can’t run with perseverance when we try to strap a heavy load to our backs. Anger, bitterness, jealousy, hurt, rejection…You can label all of these “heavy baggage.” Hanging onto them will weigh us down, at best, and completely cripple us emotionally and spiritually, at worst. Read more

What’s in Your Spiritual Junk Drawer?

If you are like the average American, one of the drawers in your kitchen is most likely the designated “junk drawer.” This is the drawer that you conveniently use to hide…err, I mean store miscellaneous items that you aren’t really sure what to do with. My junk drawer contains recent bill receipts, a burned out light bulb from the bathroom vanity (so I can take it with me when I purchase another one instead of just guessing which one to buy), an extension cord, scotch tape, scissors…no wait, the scissors are always missing, random screws that have fallen out of things, buttons, coupons I think I might use, address labels that I’ve torn off of envelopes….well, you get the point. Read more

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