Walking With Jesus

How to Build Treasure in Heaven

“Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2 NLT)

How happy would you be if you deposited $10,000 in your bank account, but when you went to take some out, it was all gone? Exasperated you ask: “What happened to my money?” To which the person from the bank says: “We used it to throw a party for our employees.”

You and I would be livid to think someone would have the audacity to use OUR money for THEIR purposes! Yet, we often do the very same thing with the money God gives us to be used for HIS purposes. The Lord gives us 100% of the income we have and, while He expects us to use all of it wisely, He asks us to return a portion back to Him to be used specifically for the accomplishment of His purposes.

Some may object: “Whoa, wait a minute, I earned every dime I’m paid. Where do you get off telling me God provides what I make?” Who do you think got you the job? Where did you get the energy and intellect to do the job? Who engineered the circumstances to put you in the right place to meet the right person at the right time to give you an opportunity to have that job?

One of the frustrations I had when I was actively serving the Lord vocationally, was having to depend on the money the church paid me to live. My dream was to be able to do what Pastor Rick Warren did when he began to receive royalties from his writing. He repaid every penny the church ever paid him and lived on the income the Lord provided through his writing.

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Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21: “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

The word translated “treasure” is the Greek word “thesaurus (thay-sow-ros’)” from which comes our English word “Thesaurus,” which means “treasure or collection.” Our treasure isn’t simply dollars and cents, it’s often what the money can buy or provide for us. And notice, Jesus didn’t say “where your desires are, there your treasure will also be.” Our heart follows the money that purchases what becomes our treasure.

Think of the difference it would make, not only in how we use our money, but how we’d live our lives if Jesus was truly our Treasure. What if every penny we spent was passed through the filter of God’s permission? And hear me, I’m not there yet, but the Lord is laying it on my heart, that just as I don’t waste food, I mustn’t waste money.

What might it look like if Jesus was our Treasure? What is a treasure? Isn’t it what our time, energy, and affection is centered and focused upon? If our house is our treasure, we care for it meticulously. If something breaks, we fix it; if it needs painted, roof repaired, appliances replaced, heating/AC system needs repaired or replaced; whatever it needs, it becomes our top priority. It’s the same with cars, boats, airplanes, vacation homes, and on and on.

We build treasure in heaven by investing our time, money, energy, enthusiasm, and prayers in those in our spheres of influence who aren’t walking with Jesus. We allow what breaks the heart of God to break our heart. We invest hours in prayer for the souls of our family and friends. We make visits, calls, write notes or letters, and make endless invitations for them to meet with us and or attend church with us.

The Lord’s not going to wink at us and say “nice ride” because we put the money, He gave us to reach our loved ones and neighbors, into a car, house, of something else we didn’t need. He’s going to reward us for being wise stewards of everything He made available to us to build treasure in heaven.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Is That You?

“There are ‘friends’ who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24 NLT)

In sharing a quote by Andy Crouch, Dr. David Jeremiah, in a recent Turning Point devotional, wrote: “Our technology has eclipsed our psychology. ‘Is it a coincidence, or just a kind of grand irony, that loneliness has spiked just as our media became “social,” our technology became “personal,” and our machines learned to recognize our faces?’ (Andy Crouch)”

When I was first in ministry, I got a call late one night. This was long before cell phones, so I had to get out of bed, find my way to the big, clunky phone, and answer it. SILENCE! My first inclination was to hang up, but this wasn’t the first time it had happened, so I stayed on the line and listened. I said some version of: “I’m here, I’m listening, and I care, so please speak with me.” I was in Youth Ministry then, so I assumed it was one of the teens in my group, but it turned out to be one of their friends whom I’d only met a time or two. I learned a valuable lesson that night.

Often during our daily lives, we encounter people or circumstances with which we’re not acquainted, and we’re forced to ask: “Lord, is that You? Have you engineered these things? How would You have me respond?” His still, small voice is hard to hear in the loudness of our cell phones, tablets, iPads, and other devices that demand so much of our time each day.

Dr. Jeremiah wrote: “Every morning millions of people check their phones and social media, then go into their day with little true human interaction. They retire at night after checking their phones again and fall to sleep with a hunger in their souls for love and significance. Is that you?”

Are you the one holding in silence, waiting for someone to notice you, listen to you, care about you? While working from home can be a great blessing, it can also be the catalyst for anxiety, loneliness, depression, and worse.

Centuries ago, John Donne wrote the poem “No Man Is an Island,” the first line of which says: “No man is an island, entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” John Donne has been referred to as “The Poet of God’s Love,” so it rightly reminds me of the fellowship of believers that has been, and continues to be, so vital in my life. Certainly, this critical piece of what it means to be a child of God rang in the heart and mind of Donne as he wrote.

Often, while I was a Pastor, people would come to me for “counsel,” and it always baffled me when I’d sit and listen to them for an hour or so, but when they left, they’d tell me how helpful my “counsel” had been, when I hadn’t said 10 words. It causes me to wonder how many lonely people are dying for want of someone to hear them? To see them? To acknowledge their existence, their “part of the main?”

Sometimes it seems to be such a waste of time to be on the phone or in a restaurant with someone who goes on and on about nothing. I’ve been there, but it occurs to me that for them it wasn’t “nothing.” To them it was a lifeline of hope that someone was willing to listen to them, to acknowledge their existence.

Throughout my day I often turn my heart, mind, and voice to the Lord in conversation, yet He never interrupts me or hints in any way that I’m “wasting His time.” Quite to the contrary He says to me: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Would to God that we could be more like Jesus in being available to those in our spheres of influence who so desperately need a listening ear. Is that you?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Heart or Mind?

“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37 NLT)

There are times in all our lives when we do things we don’t want to do. We say or think: “I’ll do this, but my heart’s not in it!” It may be cutting the grass or helping someone move a piano, but our heart and mind just aren’t in sync. How does that work in our walk with Jesus?

According to the verse above there must be an alignment of our heart, soul, and mind, but what does that mean? How do we recognize when that happens? What are some indicators that we’re on the right track?

The plot thickens because, as noted above, there are times when our heart and mind are the proverbial “polar opposites.” Think of Tax Day! Your Accountant calls and says: “I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have your taxes completed and you’ll be able to file on time. The bad news is, you owe $3,767. Your heart sinks and your mind rebels.

R.C. Sproul wrote: “The word of God can be in the mind without being in the heart, but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind.“ Heart, in the verse above is the Greek word “kardia (kar-dee’-ah).” Sound familiar? Have you been to the Cardiologist recently? Ironically, heart and mind are sometimes used interchangeably, but they have separate and distinct meanings.

The heart is the center of physical life. If your heart stops working, you’re likely not going to be around much longer. It’s considered in the Bible to be the center of all physical and spiritual life. According to Strong’s “it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors.” You can think of your heart as being the “cockpit” of your life. It’s essentially the guiding force of who you are and what you do, for good or evil.

The word “soul” is the Greek word “psuche (psoo-khay)” from which comes our English word “psyche.” It can mean virtually the same things “heart” can mean, with one major difference. The soul is that part of us that lives forever, the part of us that God specifically designed and created to survive earth and last throughout eternity. It’s our character, the essence of who we are as human beings. It’s what defines us. When physical life ends, the soul lives on.

Couple that with your mind, which is the center of understanding and imagination. It’s what is reflected in the way we think and feel, our thoughts, either good or bad. Our heart, soul, and mind are inextricably interwoven and are, on many levels, inseparable. What Jesus is saying is that if we’re to love God fully, we must love Him as an integrated being – with every area and dimension of our lives.

Dr. Sproul’s observation is helpful because it alerts us to the possibility of loving God with our mind, apart from loving Him with our heart. What are the implications? We can love, serve, and obey the Lord out of a sense of obligation or duty, but our heart’s not really in it. It’s void of emotion and built on information processed in our mind, without being affected by the heart.

On the other hand, if we love God with our heart, it must engage our mind. Think of a chain on a bicycle. As the feet push the pedals, the chain transfers the energy expended to the rear wheel that activates movement. Your heart can desire God, even love Him on some levels, but it takes the mind to engage the movement of your life to God’s honor and glory.

So, the issue is never heart or mind. It must always be heart and mind devoted fully to fulfilling the Lord’s purposes in and through our life.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Feelings! Can You Trust Them?

“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows everything.” (1 John 3:18-20 NLT)

As human beings we operate a lot of our life based on how we feel. Even as believers in Jesus, much of what we do or don’t do is governed by how we feel – physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually. How many times have you said or heard someone say some version of: “I don’t feel right about this.” Or “This just feels sooooo right!”

It’s one thing if you’re standing on the side of a swimming pool deciding whether to jump in: it’s a completely different thing if you’re pondering committing a crime or violating another person in some way. Feelings themselves aren’t necessarily wrong. Emotions are a part of our makeup as humans, but like with so many other things, it’s not wrong to have them, but it certainly can be wrong to obey them.

Last night I sat with a friend who recently lost someone dear to him. He’s very angry with God and blames Him for the horrible way he feels. At age 55 he believes that God is responsible for his “mistreatment” from the time he was very young to the present. These feelings have built over the years until now they’re literally controlling his every action.

People who are criminals will often say they have “had these feelings” for “x” amount of time, until the feelings just “overpowered” them and “made” them commit the crime, whether a robbery, rape, or murder. Addicts give in to their feelings to do drugs, look at pornography, drink, smoke, overwork, and many other addictive behaviors, often recognizing that they have no power within themselves to stop.

Similarly, many who are gay say they “finally gave in to their feelings.” They could no longer fight their same-sex attractions that they’d felt since they were children. On the surface it seems so logical, so undeniable, but is it?

Can we use the same logic for people who want to hurt others? They may start with hurting insects or small animals when they’re young, but as they get older, they become obsessed with urges to hurt others, usually those who are easy prey: children, women, those who can’t defend themselves for whatever reason.

Will God ignore their actions, or will He hold them accountable? Most of us have had feelings that led us to do what we knew was wrong. That’s why the Bible calls them “temptations.” If I’d followed my lustful feelings when I was young, I could have been a womanizer or worse. Would God have excused that behavior? According to Jesus I didn’t have to act on my “feelings,” the evil thoughts themselves were enough to condemn me in His sight.

So, what am I saying? We will all one day stand before a holy God to give an account of our sins – OUR sins, no one else’s. I can recognize sin in another person, but it doesn’t give me the right to campaign to get them to “clean up their act.” If they’re breaking the law I can report them, but if they’re living a lifestyle of which I don’t approve I don’t alienate myself from them, I seek with all that is within me to love them to Jesus.

The only way to keep negative, wrong, and ungodly feelings in check is to commit them to the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to deal with them on our behalf. It’s not wrong to have feelings that don’t align with God’s will for us, but it is wrong to act on them if they lead to behavior that’s unbecoming of a child of God. You can’t always trust your feelings, that’s why it’s so critical to be a student of God’s Word and learn to hear the voice of God’s Spirit.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What Is the Peace that Passes Understanding?

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)

Worry seems to be the “National Anthem” of America for both saved and lost people. Worry is an equal opportunity provider, it doesn’t care who you are, where you live or work, what your income is, or whether or not you profess faith in Christ. John Piper said: “You’ll never know what prayer is for until you know that life is war.”

There is a war going on in your heart, mind, and soul. Satan is battling the Holy Spirit to defeat and hold you captive. He doesn’t care if you attend church or profess faith in Jesus, as long as it doesn’t change your lifestyle or cause you to do anything “stupid,” like give God your time and money. Satan doesn’t even care if you’re “good,” as long as you don’t get fanatical and start talking to people about Jesus.

What is Satan’s most powerful weapon? Probably discouragement, but what do we most often do when we’re discouraged? We worry! We build cases in our minds causing us to believe negative things about virtually everything. “The kids are going to grow up to be axe murderers;” “The house is going to catch fire while we’re asleep;” “My boss is an axe murderer;” “I married an axe murderer.”

None of it needs to make sense, it just needs to occupy our mind. Why? Because to the degree Satan can get us to think about things that will likely never come to pass, to that degree we’re not pondering or meditating on the goodness of God and His plans for our life.

That’s one of the reasons we need to be students of God’s Word, continually thinking about and meditating upon the words of God. When Satan attacks our mind, we have recourse to immediately turn our thoughts to the truth of Scripture. That’s why Paul wrote the words above urging us not to waste time worrying.

The more quickly we can turn from worry to prayer, telling God exactly what’s on our mind and what we need, the sooner His peace will fill our heart and mind, enabling us to bask in the peace of our Savior’s love.

When I was in elementary school, my friend who lived close by found a whole bag of all kinds of fireworks. Being the budding geniuses that we were we decided to set them off. It didn’t take long for one to go off in my hand, injuring not only my hand, but his eyes. The first thing that came to my mind was: “We’ve got to get to my dad, he will know what to do.”

That needs to be our immediate response when our mind begins to wander into worry. The peace “which exceeds anything we can understand” will fill our heart and mind, allowing us the privilege of not worrying. What might that look like? We have an accident, get a frightening diagnosis, lose our job, a loved one dies, our money runs out, we’re calm in the face of tragedy. It doesn’t really matter the news we get or the scenario in which we find ourselves, it only matters what we allow our mind to do with the news.

To immediately entrust it to the care of our Savior results in a peace that is unexplainable and often incomprehensible to those in our presence. The Greek word from which comes our English word “peace” in the verses above is the word “eirene“ (i-ray-nay) that sounds a lot like our word “irony.”

How ironic when in the face of very disturbing circumstances we’re able to be at peace, in control of our emotions, and reliant upon the Spirit of God to work in and through us to His honor and fame. Wow! What a witness to His peace-filled presence in our lives.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Regrets?

“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT)

What’s your greatest regret? For me it seems the older I get the higher my mountain of regrets. And the irony is, my greatest regrets aren’t because of what I did, but because of what I didn’t do. Yes, of course I have regrets for many things I did wrong, but the consequences of those were usually obvious to everyone. What eats at me are the things I didn’t do, that I knew I should have done, but made excuses for myself until it was too late to do anything about them; the things nobody knew about but me…and God!

Consequences of getting caught are often the world’s prompters behind someone seeking forgiveness or for trying to make things right. But even as believers we too often dabble in sin, convincing ourselves: “I’m not hurting anyone, so why not?” The affair that’s discovered; getting caught looking at porn; cheating on taxes; lying to the boss, spouse, kids, etc.

Satan is a liar. Just as God doesn’t have the capacity to lie, Satan doesn’t have the ability to NOT lie! And where does Satan most often propagate his lies? In our heart and mind! What we think about comes about, so if Satan can get us thinking: “You deserve this new car, new house, new job, new spouse, new ___________,” (and you can fill in the blank), we can roll those thoughts over and over in our mind until it makes perfect sense to us.

With little or no thought of consequences, we free ourselves to follow the enemy’s path to destruction. The “I’m not hurting anyone” becomes, “Oh, God, what have I done?” From there regrets begin to pile up and, if we let them, they will destroy us, eating us alive from the inside out, pushing us ever further from the only One who can heal and help us.

That’s not God’s plan and He has a solution that is the path back to wholeness. It’s called repentance. Repentance means to turn away or turn around. It’s a military term that paints the picture of a soldier making an about face. He’s walking in one direction but turns around and begins marching in the opposite direction.

The picture for us is we’re walking away from God, following the dictates of our sinful desires, but the Holy Spirit puts our heart in check, showing us the error of our ways, prompting us to turn from our sin and turn back to God. He enables us to see our sin and bear the negative emotions that are aroused, but He further gives us strength and insight to see that God will forgive and restore us.

I won’t lie to you, I still wrestle with regret for things I can’t change, but every second I allow the devil to tempt me to look back at what I can’t change, it prevents me from looking forward to the things I can. Worldly sorrow that lacks repentance never leads to salvation, thus, “results in spiritual death.” The only path to salvation and new life in Christ; to freedom from the hamster wheel of regret, shame, and anger over what we have no capacity to change, is repentance.

The Lord will never coerce or seek to force you to come to Him. That’s the beauty of salvation in Christ alone by faith alone – He’s the initiator since He laid down His sinless life in our place. But He’s a gentleman and will never make us do anything against our will. He patiently waits for us to come to Him, then when we do, He releases the resources of heaven to cleanse, fill, empower, and enable us to be all He intended for us to be from before the foundation of the world. There’s no regret in His wonderful forgiveness. Come to Him today! Click on this link if you need guidance in knowing how to do that: The Bridge to God.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What’s the Answer?

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NLT)

A recent Breakpoint article by John Stonestreet and Glenn Sunshine entitled The Quest for Immortality outlines numbers of ways mankind over the years, up to and including the present, has sought to defeat death and the grave. In some ways it boggles my mind why anyone would want to live forever in a human body, but the fact remains that it is appointed unto man once to die, then the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). The death rate for human beings is still 100%.

It would be interesting to know how God enabled humans to live hundreds of years at one point. The Bible says that Methuselah lived 869 years and didn’t have his first child until he was 187, then had more after that. The irony to me is that Jesus promised eternal life to all who would receive it as a gift from Him. Seeking eternal life apart from Jesus is like looking for light in a cave.

God put eternity in the hearts of mankind, so, of course we want to live forever. And the reality is, we will, just not in an earth-bound body and not someplace that we’ll enjoy, without Jesus. Paul contrasted in Ephesians 4:17-24 the confusion and waywardness we face apart from the Lord, and how coming to Him enables us to “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.” And to “Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.”

The answer to how to have eternal life is found in commitment and devotion to Jesus. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:10-11: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and He lives in all of us.”

Note that “all of us” in the above verse refers to all those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus. Paul clearly defines who his audience is in the verses preceding those I used. It’s also affirmed throughout the New Testament that those who repent and believe Christ’s message of salvation by faith, are filled with His Holy Spirit, who becomes our guide and teacher as we learn to walk in ways that are pleasing to the Lord.

The problem is many people want to have their “cake” and eat it too. They want eternal life in heaven without changing their lifestyle. They want to think and act the same carnal, ungodly way, but have a God-honoring result. And that’s a clear definition of insanity! Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Transformation from lost to found is an immediate, yet life-long process. We are immediately forgiven and given eternal life, but that’s only the beginning of learning what that means and how the Spirit wants to work our new life out in practical ways in our everyday life. How to live, love, serve, and follow Jesus in our home, work, play; in the good times and bad; when we have plenty and when we don’t; when our bodies are filled with energy and when we’re dragging; when our spirits are high and when we have to look up to see the bottom.

Loving and serving Jesus is the easiest, yet the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I wouldn’t trade my life in Christ for anything this world offers. No Jesus, no life! Know Jesus, know life! He is the only way to the Father, thus the only way to have eternal life (John 14:6).

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

How to Experience God’s Goodness

“Worship GOD if you want the best; worship opens doors to all his goodness” (Psalm 34:9 The Message)

Many people I’ve met across the years have been disappointed with God, at least that’s what they’ve said. The reality is, they were seeing Him through the stained and clouded lens of their own experiences. Seeing God on the battlefield of a war-torn nation isn’t the same as seeing Him in the eyes of your beautiful baby girl as she’s handed to you for the first time.

Many conclude God isn’t good because “my spouse/child/parent/best friend/___________ wouldn’t have died/left/lost their job/been injured/______________” (and you can fill in the blanks). Life on earth is hard, but it’s even harder without Jesus.

Satan will do anything and everything he can to turn our hearts and minds away from a saving knowledge of Jesus. It’s an eternal mystery why people automatically, almost like a “knee-jerk” reaction, are happy to blame God for the bad that happens in their lives but chalk it up to karma or luck when something they consider good happens.

On some levels it’s how people respond to my Pug. Some love Pugs and make over her like she’s the best dog who ever lived, but far more dismiss her as the annoying brat that she is. And, yes, I know she’s an annoying brat, not because she’s a bad dog, but because I’ve spoiled her and let her get away with things I shouldn’t have.

The bottom line is, no matter what God does in our lives, at our core, we’re spoiled brats who misbehave, not because He’s a bad Father, but because He loves us so much, He’s going to hold us accountable for our misbehavior. Being the loving Father He is, He’s going to tell us the truth, not only about life and living, but about ourselves. And He’s going to give us the choice to choose Him or to go our own way.

And although it breaks His heart when we walk away, He knows when we do, it’s at our peril. Nothing good comes from walking away from our Father’s outstretched arms into the greedy and lust-filled arms of Satan. Of course, he doesn’t let us see him for who he really is. He’s smiling, dressed nicely, driving a new Lamborghini, assuring us we’ll have nothing but the best, until he drugs our drink, then violates us in unspeakable ways.

And the irony is, we walked into his trap willingly and with our eyes wide open, but when all hell breaks loose, as it always does, and we begin to clearly see our miserable fate, who do we blame? Certainly not ourselves! We were just following our hearts. It’s God who draws the short stick. He’s the One who “caused” all this misery. He’s surely to blame. Why didn’t He do something to stop it?

Our vision gets so distorted it literally takes a miracle to correct it, but by God’s grace and because of His great mercy, when we do finally see the Truth and respond by faith, He receives us in love and because of what Jesus did, He treats us as though we’d never left Him. That’s when His goodness becomes crystal clear.

Pastor Rick Warren writes: “The way you experience God’s goodness is through worship—when you praise God and thank him for who he is and what he has promised you. When you believe and understand the goodness of God, it will revolutionize your life and your perspective on your circumstances. You won’t be the same!”

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Listener or Doer? (Part 2)

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT)

*Please note: If you haven’t read yesterday’s post, please do that before you continue.

Life, even apart from being a Jesus follower, was never meant to be lived alone. God said in Genesis 2:18: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Adam needed “a helper.” Think about that for a few seconds. Adam was with God, surrounded by perfection: perfect animals, perfect plants, a perfect environment, but it wasn’t enough. He needed another human being.

There is no such thing as a “Lone Ranger Jesus follower.” The whole purpose for us to follow Jesus is to share Him with others, to expand His eternal Kingdom. That’s not a solo task. Yes, of course, we should witness to others when we’re alone, but if we’re going to build the foundation of our life on the solid Rock of Christ, we need others to help us “dig.”

When I was in my 40’s I got a job with an insurance company that had a workout center in their facility. But to be able to use it I had to have a meeting with the director. They wanted to make sure I didn’t do things that would hurt me, so they tested my strength and agility. While I was lying on my back trying to stretch in ways I was being asked to stretch, the guy had the audacity to say to me that I “had the flexibility of a 2 X 4.” Fast forward 30 years and I now have the flexibility of a light pole.

Photo by alexandre saraiva carniato on Pexels.com

So? I realized if anything was going to change in my physical fitness, I couldn’t do it myself. Too many old farts like me chalk it up to old age, and allow themselves to waste away, ultimately sentencing themselves to a wheelchair, a hospital bed, or worse, a heart attack or stroke. So, I decided to ask the smartest person I know to help me, and, gratefully, my wife was thrilled. I now have a list of fourteen simple stretching exercises that – are you ready for this – she started doing with me in the family room. After a few days I started doing them by myself every day! Add fifteen to twenty minutes on my stationary bike and I might live to 100.

What’s my point? Doer’s lay a strong foundation on Christ by partnering with like-minded people who will hold them accountable and keep them moving in the right direction. The Bible calls it “discipleship,” but I call it just good common sense. If you’re a new believer or someone who is not growing in your faith, it’s time to find another person or a small group of people with whom to do life.

Maybe your church doesn’t have a Small Groups’ ministry. Create one. Depending on your age, gender, marital status, etc., find a few other people in similar circumstances and ask them to meet once a week or as often as makes sense for you, for the express purpose of growing in your faith together.

You could meet with a co-worker(s); a neighbor, or someone at church. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be, but in order for it to work you’ve got to keep your focus on Jesus. He’s the Builder, you’re the “workers.” Choose a book of the Bible, preferably in the New Testament to start (the Gospel of John is a great choice), read and study individually, then come together and talk about what the Lord is teaching you.

Talk about life – what’s going on in your life at work, at home, your health, etc.. Pray together for each other but include other needs as well. Then, as the opportunity presents itself, invite one or two others to join you. Let the Spirit lead you and, as you grow in your faith, you can study Christian books or do video teachings together. Loving Jesus is the greatest opportunity any human being will ever have and doing it together with others just makes it that much better.

Digging deep faith-foundations is so much easier and better when you have others to help you dig!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Listener or Doer?

“So why do you keep calling Me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to Me, listens to My teaching, and then follows it.” (Luke 6:46-47 NLT)

The above story continues with Jesus talking about one person who listens and follows His teaching, so they dig deep and build the house of their life on solid rock. When the storms of life come, they stand firm. On the other hand, the one who listens but doesn’t obey, is like a person who builds their life on the sand. When the inevitable storms come, they “collapse into a heap of ruins.”

Which person do you want to be? Not many people set out to let their life end in ruins, so we have to ask ourselves: “Which person am I? Am I a listener or a doer? Am I someone who attends church or listens to podcasts, agrees with all the right things and the right people, but rarely, if ever, read and study my Bible? Do I devote specific time each day to prayer and to interact with God’s Spirit? Am I digging deep in God or settling for the crumbs of another person’s efforts?”

Photo by Rodolfo Quiru00f3s on Pexels.com

These and a thousand other questions surface as we consider the implications of this story. What did Jesus mean when He spoke about digging deep and laying the foundation of our life on the rock? Of course, Jesus IS the Rock, but how do we dig deep to lay the foundation of our life on Him?

How are foundations laid? If they’re done right, it takes time and effort. Obviously, the type of foundation depends on the type of structure you plan to put on it. You don’t lay the same foundation for a skyscraper as you do for a single-family dwelling. You don’t lay the same foundation for a life of crime as you do for a life of service to the Lord.

Implicit in knowing what kind of foundation to lay is knowing what kind of life you want to build. If you’re looking for “fire insurance,” just enough “commitment” to keep you out of hell; your plan is to be religious enough to fool people, but you really don’t want to give up your ties to the world, sorry friend, it ain’t happenin’! That’s not how Jesus rolls.

Ron Hutchcraft wrote: “Unfortunately, too many of us try to build our relationship with Christ on dirt and stones. We’re event Christians, living from one Christian event to the next. Like a drug addict, we live from high to high with long stretches of spiritual wilderness in between. We depend on other believers to be our strength. We govern our Christian life by our feelings and our surroundings rather than by the words God has spoken to us.”

Is that you? The first question to answer in determining what foundation you’re laying with your life is “Am I being honest with myself?” We may be able to fool ourselves and maybe a few others, at least initially, but one person you’ll never fool is Jesus. He knows your heart and your thoughts. If you’re dishonest with yourself, you’re being dishonest with Him. You’re building on sand and gravel. It’s not a question of whether your life will crumble, it’s only a question of when.

You can listen to teachings about Christ or even read your Bible all day long, but unless and until you begin to obey what you’re hearing and reading, you’re on a very slippery path. May I challenge you to stop trying to have one foot in the world and the other in Jesus? Today, right now, get on your face before the Lord and quit running.

With open hands and heart, give Jesus His rightful place as Owner and Operator of your life. Let Him forgive, heal, and restore you. Allow Him to guide you in becoming the child of God He created you to become. Let Him guide you, step by step in laying the solid foundation on Him that is the answer you’re seeking but haven’t found. Stop just listening and start obeying!

Let’s pick this up in tomorrow’s post!

Blessings, Ed 😊