Walking With Jesus

Practical Atheism

“I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god, but Me.” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7 NLT)

Atheism is essentially denying the existence of God or any god, yet there are many professing believers in Jesus who for all intent and purpose are practical atheists. What does that mean? It means belief isn’t what’s between your ears, it’s what’s lived out in your life day after day. If you profess to love your spouse, but you never think of them, spend any time with them, or have conversations with them, of what value is your marriage?

Similarly, to profess a relationship with Jesus but never pray (converse with Him), read His Word (the Bible), attend church to spend time with other believers, spend time in His service or in developing patterns of behavior that reflect His life being lived out through you, you’re likely living a lie.

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Meaningful, lasting relationships demand time, energy, commitment, and devotion. As I mentioned in a recent post, “We worship what we love,” so, if we love Jesus, we’re going to treat our relationship with Him as primary, first, most vital. It’s taken me a long time, but the Lord is nearly constantly on my mind, and most certainly, in my heart and life, but that’s clearly not the norm for mankind.

John Stonestreet wrote in a BreakPoint article: (“Signals of Transcendence” in a World of Practical Atheism // Judge Deems Human Embryos “Chattel” – 03-29-23) “…we live in a world where the assumptions that govern how we think and what we do are almost always secular ones. For many in the modern West, life proceeds without even considering God. Good things come from our hard work and planning, not from the gracious hands of our loving Father.

Practical atheists are, in this way, at constant risk of idolatry. As John Calvin said, humans are incurably religious creatures, and a secular age offers all kinds of God-replacements: sex, self, stuff, state, and science. A secular age is, ironically, filled with faith … just in all the wrong gods.”

The irony in atheism is that EVERY person is faith driven. How so? We eat food we have faith will nourish us; take medicine we have faith will cure us; sit on chairs we have faith will hold us up; plan golf days on which the forecast says it won’t rain; and on and on we exercise faith, but as Stonestreet wrote: “just all in the wrong gods.”

My heart is for everyone to know Jesus, but my concern today is to help those of us who profess faith in Christ yet aren’t exhibiting any evidence of that faith in the way we live. Walking with Jesus is the love, desire, and delight of my life. When I began my journey more than 60 years ago, I didn’t have the capacity to understand how close, rich, and satisfying my life with Him could become, but now there’s rarely a second that passes that I’m not keenly aware of His presence.

Loving Jesus, on many levels, is like loving anyone else – He’s a Person who happens to be invisible, yet the closer we get to Him the more “visible” He becomes. He smiles, laughs, speaks, comforts, listens, embraces, sings, leads, informs, encourages, teaches, helps, forgives – the list is virtually endless of the ways He’s willing to make Himself known to us if we’re willing to let Him.

Here’s my word from the Lord for you today. If you’re tip toeing around making a full commitment to Jesus, in the words of a famous redneck – “Git ur done!” Nuff said!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Removing the Darkness

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” (Matthew 6:22-23 NLT)

The eye of your heart is illuminated by the life of the Lord Jesus who lives there in the person of His Holy Spirit. When your “eye” is good, in other words, when the Lord Jesus is reigning supreme in your heart, there is no darkness that can defeat you. However, if you think the Lord lives in your heart when in fact He doesn’t, there’s no greater darkness.

Darkness is essentially a state of mind. Our mind feeds our heart, in the sense that what fills our mind will fill our heart. What we think about comes about. Feed your mind filth and the light in your heart will be extinguished. Your effectiveness for the Lord will be null and void. That’s why repentance begins in the mind.

When we’re driving, we turn on our turn signal to indicate we’re anticipating a change of direction. In conversion to Christ, when we’re ready to change our direction, or in other words, when we’re ready to allow the Lord to remove the darkness in our heart and life, we must first change our mind, allowing our thoughts to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. What does that look like? It looks like confessing our sin, our inability to forgive ourselves. To confess means to agree with God’s estimation of something.

For example, Jesus taught that to lust after a woman is to commit adultery with her in our heart; to think the act is to perform the act. So, to confess is to agree that God said it was wrong; therefore, it IS wrong and needs to be forgiven. To believe we can ignore the clear teaching of the Bible and have a right relationship with God is like driving 90 mph on the freeway in rush hour traffic believing we won’t have or cause an accident.

Repentance is not our attempt to clean up our own act. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Removing the darkness from our life requires an act of God, not a new determination to be a good person.

If we could be good enough to get to heaven on our own, then Jesus didn’t need to die. If we had the capacity to remove the darkness from our own lives, we wouldn’t need to be cleansed by the life-giving blood of our Savior. That’s why Jesus used such strong language when He said in Mark 3:28: “I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.”

The role of the Holy Spirit is to reveal God’s Truth, then, secondly, to enable a person to recognize God’s truth when He enters their lives. The reason this sin can’t be forgiven is essentially because its origin isn’t human, but satanic. It’s following the ways of Satan so long that his lies become truth to a person. I believe that’s what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 7:6 when He said: “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs!”

Before a person’s darkness can be removed, they first must recognize that it is indeed darkness.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Becoming the Right Person

“Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:20-21 NLT)

In nearly every situation in which we find ourselves, especially as it relates to learning to get along with another person(s), our mind seems locked on the idea that things would be a lot better if that other person would only change. Rarely, if ever, do we immediately see OUR need to change. Why is that? Largely because that’s the way we’re wired.

It’s so much easier to assign blame to someone else. “That’s YOUR problem” becomes our go to explanation whether in marriage, family, work, church, or neighbors. What’s the implication? “I’m perfect the way I am!” And the irony is, we know that’s not true and we’ll be the first to admit it, but when there’s conflict or a disagreement with someone, it seems we’re blinded to our own need to grow, mature, or improve.

What might that look like? What does becoming the right person look like in practical terms? Some possibilities would be things like taking a good look at ourselves. Admitting we all have weaknesses and blind spots, so, we seek to determine what and where they are. Ask questions like: “Why am I so defensive? Why is it so hard for me to be wrong? Why is it so difficult for me to stand up for myself? What is it about that other person that grates on my nerves? Why do I get so sensitive when someone brings up my job, kind of car I drive, where I work, where I live, where my kids go to school, etc.?

Part of it is personality, just the way God wired us, but some of it, likely most of it, is how we have learned to survive life being us. I’m not easily offended, but I used to be very interested in other’s opinions after I had given a message, especially when I was young. I didn’t see myself as a great preacher, not even a good preacher most of the time, but nonetheless, I didn’t like to be criticized.

Being an introvert, it was hard just to stand in front of people, but to feel like I was being judged with every word didn’t make it any easier. Then there was the issue of constantly doubting whether or not I even deserved to be talking to other people about how they should live; what makes me think I had any right to instruct others when I had plenty of issues of my own? There’s really only one reason.

Because that’s what God called me to do. So, the bottom line for each of us should become – what has the Lord called and equipped me to do? Then seeking with all that is within us to become the best us that we can possibly be. How will we know when we’re making progress? The Lord will affirm in undeniable ways when we’re moving in the right direction, but also when we’re not.

It’s humanly impossible to please everyone and is an act of futility to try, but there’s one Person we must prioritize in terms of pleasing. If there’s anyone we should seek to please, it’s Jesus. And my experience has been, when we’re living in a manner that pleases Him, we’re usually doing okay in getting along with others.

Yet, living closely to the Lord in the climate in which we live today, will automatically put us at odds with others, so, what are we to do? Put them in the Lord’s hands and move on. We shouldn’t purposely seek to be offensive to others, but when someone is offended because we belong to Jesus, that’s their problem, not ours.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Love and Respect

“So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33 NLT)

“Respect,” as it’s used in the verse above, is the word from which comes our English word “phobia.” It can mean to be terrified, startled, to be afraid/frightened, and can also be translated reverence. Almost none of those definitions come close to how most women see their husbands today. For some it’s laughable. What wife today would describe how they think or feel about their husband in that way?

The Lord made men and women so different, but it rarely comes out with such power and conviction than in marriage. I love what Ashley Mercier wrote in a Family Life devotional (See Family Life I Do Every Day: The Day I Bullied My Husband – 2022)

“Chris grew up deeply Southern, around sweet tea and even sweeter women. I admire his female relatives for many virtues, but one in particular: They handwash dishes. That being the case, he had literally never loaded a dishwasher in his life when we got married. Hardly a week into my husband’s loving new habit of cleaning our kitchen, he mentioned us needing more ‘blue stuff.’ In his hand, he held a tiny blue bottle. My laughter bubbled over like suds in a dishwasher. He had been using our teeny bottle of rinse aid as the dishwasher detergent! I cackled until I realized I was the only one laughing.

My husband was silent … and mad. Halt laughter. He was hurt. I was confused. This was funny, right? Later, a wise friend gently revealed the problem: ‘You hurt his feelings and his pride. You disrespected him.’ I saw the scene all over again in my head, through different eyes. My husband learning something new, kindly and tenderly doing a household chore I detest. Then me laughing … like a bully. I back ended my way into a lesson about how love and respect work. Biblically, I understood men desire respect and women crave love. Laughing with my husband bonds us. Laughing at him destroys our connection.”

The value of that story heightens when we realize it has much greater implications than just marriage. We make assumptions about others in almost any setting: extended family, work, neighbors, people at church and on and on it goes. We’re so prone to speak out of the context of our familiar environment we can inadvertently insult, hurt, dismiss, or disrespect someone without ever realizing what we’ve done.

On some levels love and respect are almost interchangeable, but in other ways they can be very different. I believe Gary Chapman was onto something important when he wrote the book The Five Love Languages. Just because another person speaks the same language as I speak, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to understand how I use certain words.

Loving someone well involves learning how to respect them for who they are, especially as a brother or sister in Christ. That is never more important than in the way we approach God’s throne. Loving God involves respecting His position as King of kings and Lord of lords. To reverence His name is to speak with respect and honor, exalting Him with our attitude and posture as well as our words.

My sense is I/we tend to approach our holy God and those our holy God has created, with a much too casual attitude, especially when we’re meeting them for the first time. Yes, of course, it’s mandatory we speak to our spouse, parents, grandparents, and other adults with respect – yes, even when we don’t think they deserve it, not so much to honor them, but to honor the Savior we represent.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Be Specific When You Pray

“When Jesus heard them, He stopped and called, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’” (Matthew 20:32 NLT)

Too often we conclude the Lord hasn’t answered our prayer when the problem may be that our request was asked too generally. We’re prone to ask “globally,” rather than specifically. For example, we may be having a migraine headache, but instead of asking the Lord to “please relieve this unbearable pain in my head,” we say, “Lord, bless me in my time of need” or something similarly generic.

In the verse above Jesus is asking two blind men what they wanted Him to do for them. If there was ever an obvious need it was then, but Jesus takes nothing for granted – with them or with us. I love what Pastor Rick Warren wrote (See Daily Hope When You Ask God for a Reset, Be Specific – 03-24-23): “Nothing becomes transforming until it becomes specific. You can ask God anytime for a fresh start in your life. But you don’t just say, ‘God, I want you to change me.’ He wants to know what you have in mind! You cannot solve any problem until you first identify it as a problem—and that means you have to admit that there are problems in your life. The more specific you are about what you want God to change in your life, the sooner it’s going to happen.”

What do you want the Lord to do for you today? I realize a lot of people today don’t write checks but humor me and think of a time when you did. Think of the check as your prayer. Who will you make it payable to and for what “amount.”

When you write the proverbial check to heaven, have something specific in mind. If your marriage is in trouble, rather than asking the Lord to “bless my marriage,” ask Him to give you wisdom, insight, understanding to enable you to be a better husband/wife; or to give you insight into why you have such a short fuse and are so easily angered; or ask Him: “Lord, I’ve been so impatient and unkind to my spouse/kids/others, thank You for enabling me to trust You to show me how to be more patient, loving, kind, and caring.”

You may be interested to know I haven’t asked the Lord to heal me from Alzheimer’s. Instead I’ve asked Him to have His way in my life and to allow me to use the opportunities He will give me to meet and interact with new people as divine appointments. He always has a plan and He wouldn’t have allowed this disease to attack my life unless He intended it for my good and His glory.

In my mind there’s no greater good than to be used to point someone to Him. Think of the heartache, fear, and uncertainty that fills someone with such a dreadful diagnosis. And how much more willing will they be to listen to someone who also shares their diagnosis? I’m actually excited to walk this new pathway with the Lord. I’m looking forward to how He will allow me to be used to share His love and faithfulness with those who are struggling to make it through.

Whatever you’re having to deal with in this season of your life, if you know Jesus ask Him specifically to help you address it and to guide you through it to His honor and fame. Fear is not necessary when you know whose hand you’re holding on the journey.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are We Loving Like Jesus?

“You have heard the law that says, ‘love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-45a NLT)

Jesus asks a very revealing question a few verses after the ones above. In verse 47 He asks: “If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.” There are differing views as to how Galatians 5:22 should be translated. My sense is that rather than love being a fruit among the others, I believe the fruit of love is being described as “joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Love is an all-encompassing virtue. The Lord Jesus doesn’t pick and choose whom He will love, He loves all of us the same, both saved and unsaved. How is that? He tells us in John 15:9: “I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me.” We like to decide for ourselves who we will love and those from whom we will withhold our love, but there’s no reward in that (Matthew 5:46).

Loving like Jesus begins, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, in our homes. By extension that can and should include our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, churches, grocery stores, and any place else the Lord leads us in the course of our day. A few days ago I went to the grocery and an elderly little person, I’m not sure if it was a man or a woman, but they asked me if I could help them: “Any amount will help” they said to me.

So, I dug into my pocket and gave them everything I had, which on that day was $4.00. There have been other days I’ve had more, but the point is, I could help, so I did. Did that express love? The little person seemed very appreciative, but in reality, that gesture cost me nothing. I’m not rolling in money, but I could have given them more had I had more, but the point is not the amount of money I gave, but the spirit in which I gave what I had.

Loving always involves giving – not necessarily in dollars and cents, but from the heart and with an attitude that what we give is as unto the Lord. In retrospect I wish when I handed the money to them, I’d asked them their name and prayed for them – that would have cost me! How so? I would have given more than money; I’d have given them the most valuable commodity known to man – my time!

John Wesley made a revealing statement when he wrote: “Worst of all my foes, I fear the enemy within.” It’s often difficult to discern what love will look like in any given situation. There’s a young man at my church who often goes around looking like he’s lost his last friend. I rarely see him smiling and my sense is, he doesn’t feel very loved.

One Sunday we had a brief conversation, but then I put my arm around his shoulder and asked if I could pray for him. He said I could, so I prayed for him like I would liked to have had someone pray for me when I felt hopeless and alone. When I said “Amen!” it was like someone plugged him in. He smiled, not a fake, pretend smile, but a genuine, heart felt smile.

God showed up in those precious moments because I heard God’s voice, and I responded in faith. It was a win-win, because I felt the Lord’s approval, but I also sensed I’d loved this young man in a real and genuine way. And all it cost was about five minutes of my time. A very small price to pay for such a rich dividend of joy in a young man’s life.

May we continually be mindful of the needs of those around us, not so enmeshed in our own lives we miss an opportunity to love someone who is hurting and/or feeling very unloved.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

How to Combat Lies

“Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2 NLT)

Satan is a lot of things, but he’s not sloppy when it comes to counterfeiting truth. While serving in Corinth the Apostle Paul was confronted with counterfeit believers, whom he mentions in 2 Corinthians 11:12-15: “But I will continue doing what I have always done. This will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just like ours. These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.”

So, the question becomes, what did Paul “continue doing?” He continued, not only preaching and teaching that Jesus was the Truth incarnate, and alone was the way to the Father, he became visible evidence of the truth of his message in the way he lived his life. That was a costly stance for Paul to take, one that eventually cost him his life, but it’s also a very costly stance to take in this day and age.

John Stonestreet shared in a BreakPoint article (Big Tech Won’t Protect Our Kids: Parents Must // Vermont School Banned for Taking a Stand – 03-24-23): “A Christian school in the Northeast has paid the price for standing by its convictions. When faced with the prospect of having its girls’ basketball team play another school with a trans-identifying player, the Mid Vermont Christian School chose to forfeit. But it was not enough for authorities for the team to just take the loss. The entire school has now been banned from playing in any Vermont sporting event.

There are at least two lessons for the rest of us in this. First, we need to count the cost ahead of time if we are committed to ‘live not by lies.’ Doing so will inevitably mean losing favor and opportunities. This school apparently had what many of us need: a ‘theology of getting fired.’ Second, there is no way to reconcile Christian faithfulness—of loving God and our neighbor—with the new sexual orthodoxy. The only way to combat lies is to speak and live what is true.”

For most of us the truth of our lives may not be demonstrated in such a radical way, but it’s no less essential for those of us who are seeking to be genuine Jesus followers to not only read, study, and memorize God’s Word, but internalize it – live it out in our spheres of influence. How so? Primarily by giving evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our heart as we exhibit our devotion to Jesus through our “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22).

And the irony is, the best place to practice those Christ-honoring characteristics is in our home, with the people with whom we live day in and day out, those who know us best and love us most. My sense is, if we’re not doing well in that arena, we’re likely not going to exhibit that “fruit” very effectively anyplace else.

Let’s look at this more closely in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The I AM For Your Every Need

*With the pressures of life come the need for satisfying answers, answers that can only be found in God’s Word. Sylvia Gunter has given us an opportunity to quickly find ways that our I Am is the answer to our every need. Prepare to feast on the helpful truths of who God is and how He has positioned Himself to be our eternal I Am. Used with permission. Blessings, Ed

Sooner or later, everyone will be beaten up, battered, bruised, and burned out by the dailies of life. Good news! God is the Lord of all of your life. List every need and emotion that you are feeling, no matter how small they seem. After you have acknowledged all your emotions and needs, go through the names of God until you find the expression of His character that meets each need. For every need, there is a corresponding attribute of God. Affirm that God is still God, no matter how you feel. Have a praise party, not a pity party, for your loving Father is a big God. He is able to do much more than you need or can think or ask.

He is the I AM for our needs

He is Abba Father when we need fathering.

He is acceptance when we feel unwanted.

He is adequacy for our inadequacy.

He is all-sufficient in our hardest situations.

He is the Amen, the true witness.

He is the Answer for our uncertainty and questions.

He is the Author of faith for our unbelief or doubt.

He is the Bread of life for our spiritual hunger.

He is broken and spilled out for us when we’ve been used.

He is the Burden-bearer when we are heavy laden.

He is before all things when we’re surprised.

He is cleansing for our defilement and shame.

He is closer than a brother when we are lonely.

He is our Comforter who wipes away tears in our griefs and sorrows.

He is our Defender when we are under attack.

He is our Deliverer from our bondage or captivity.

He is our Door-opener when it looks like there’s no way out.

He is our sure Foundation, when we’re insecure.

He is our Faithful Friend when friends fail us.

He is Fullness when we’re empty.

He is God of love when we feel unloved and need a hug.

He is God who is there when we feel alone or abandoned.

He is our Guide and the Way when we’re confused and need direction.

He is grace when we’re too hard on ourselves or others.

He is our Healer for woundedness, rejection, and sickness.

He is Hope when we are discouraged and want to quit.

He is Humility for our pride.

He is Joy when we are depressed.

He is our Keeper and Protector when we are vulnerable.

He is the Lifter of our heads when we feel weighed down.

He is long-suffering, slow to anger when we have blown it again.

He is Mercy for criticism and unkindness.

He is Mighty God, our strength for our weakness or temptation.

He is Never-failing, always the same when we are fickle and faithless.

He is Overcoming victory for defeat and depression.

He is the Plumb Line to stand against the world’s situational ethics.

He is the Prince of peace when we are stressed, worried, and confused.

He is the Provider for every financial need.

He is the Quieter of the storm for afflictions without and struggles within.

He is Reconciliation for breaches in relationships.

He is Rest when we’re tired.

He is the Restorer of our souls when we’re bruised and beaten down.

He is the Reviver, living water when we are depleted and thirsty.

He is Satisfaction when we’ve tried everything and come up empty.

He is the Song, our praise when we’re joyless and heavy of heart.

He is the Spirit of the Lord when we need to be set free.

He is our Strength when we’re weak.t

He is Truth for the world’s warped opinions.

He is True Riches when we’re tempted to covet the world’s wealth.

He is Vengeance when we are angry and wronged.

He is Wisdom for our hard choices. This is only a beginning. Make your own list as a personal affirmation that God is your Need-meeter. He is the Most High God who reigns over all. To whom else would we go? He alone is the Word of eternal life.

*Taken from Prayer Portions, ©1991 and from For The Family ©1995 by Sylvia Gunter. Available at www.thefathersbusiness.com. An archive of past devotionals is available on the website. For an archive of past devotionals,www.thefathersbusiness.com

Why Do You Look for the Living Among the Dead?

“The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, ‘Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?’” (Luke 24:5 NLT)

As human beings we tend to place a lot of stock in our personal goodness and ingenuity; our ability to work through problems; care for ourselves; find solutions; take credit for things for which we’re owed no credit. And the irony is, we worship at the feet of humanities’ accomplishments while ignoring the only true and living God. “How so?”

We have created machines that are far more intelligent than we are; developed medicines and sophisticated instruments that can see inside our bodies, our brains, our minds; we have at our fingertips the wherewithal to destroy the planet many times over; and on and on it goes as we set the stage for our own grandeur and majesty. “Who needs God” when we, as human beings, have produced everything we need to sustain life without Him? Or have we?

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

I marvel at God’s patience. How has He put up with mankind for so long? How obviously we’ve left God out of our lives with no hint of regret – even as professing believers! We offer Him our dead works, our dead worship, our dead will as we frolic in our trespasses and sin, somehow believing the “filthy rags” we’re bringing to our King are going to get us to heaven.

As I age, I grow weary of my inability to give God the credit that is His due. Finding myself thanking Him for “helping me” accomplish a project or write an article, failing to realize “apart from Him I am nothing and can do nothing.” My prayer is that the more feeble I become in body and mind, the more insight He will give me into things I think I now know.

In Romans 6 Paul addresses the reality of our deadness to God because of our “aliveness” to sin, giving us insight into the “cure” for “dead” people. In Romans 6:16 he writes: “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”

One of the problems with which we wrestle as Jesus followers is believing that God believes what other people believe about us. We take comfort in how “spiritual” others commend us for being, when the reality is, there’s nothing good about us but Jesus. We have no goodness of our own. ANY goodness in us is only and always a reflection of His goodness, for which we can take no credit.

And the second we begin to feel good about ourselves and take the slightest bit of credit for what God is doing in us, we slip back into the realm of the “dead.” And please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying we lose our salvation, but we lose ground we’ve already covered and for which Jesus’ blood has purchased for us.

We cease to honor our Savior the moment we pretend what He’s done and is doing in, through, and on our behalf has even the slightest hint of our goodness. It’s all Jesus! HE’s the life, not us. To search for any goodness, mercy, kindness in us – except the attributes of our Savior is to search for the living among the dead.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Living Your Best Life Now

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.” (Romans 12:1 NLT)

Have you come to understand that your body is the only vehicle through which and by which you can entrust your life to Jesus? There was an elderly lady in one of the first churches I served who came faithfully to every service. Having expressed my appreciation for her faithfulness she told me this story. She said, “Every Sunday morning I have this conversation with my body. Lying in bed I will say: ‘Okay body, it’s time to get up and get ready for church.”

To which my body replies: “I’m sorry, but I’m so comfortable and I ache all over. How do you expect me to take you to church when every part of me longs to stay in this warm, comfortable bed?” She said they go on like this for a while until finally she says: “Look body, I’m going to church and you’re the only way I have of getting there, so, get up and get moving ‘cause I don’t want to be late!”

What does living your best life now look like to you? Dr. John MacArthur made an insightful statement when he wrote: “The only way you’re living your best life now is if you’re going to hell.” Too often we conclude that our best life will be found when we have money enough to live on throughout our retirement; our kids are grown and we’re living a casual, relaxing lifestyle in our paid for house or second home on the water.

And please don’t hear what I’m not saying. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, unless and until they take center stage that should be reserved for Jesus alone. I love C. T. Studd’s words from a poem that says: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” When we mistakenly crowd out God’s prime spot in our heart to pursue what we perceive as OUR best, we reveal who owns our heart and who is indeed our “lord.”

Jared Wilson reminds us: “To honestly proclaim the greatness of Christ requires honestly confessing the bankruptcy of our own souls.” And this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with dollars and cents, it has to do with the priorities of our life that are revealing who really owns our heart, mind, soul, and body. The reality is, once we grab hold of the true picture of who Jesus is and what He’s done on our behalf, the pull of the evil one fades as he loses his grip on us.

Ron Hutchcraft’s words ring so true when he wrote in reference to Jesus: “He’s not ‘entombed’ in some dusty old history book or in some religious institution or religious observance. No! He’s the all-powerful, death-reversing, game-changing Savior who’s proven there’s nothing He can’t beat. Unleashed that Easter morning, Jesus is this very day, healing families that nothing else can heal. He’s crushing Satan. He’s lifting up the oppressed. He’s protecting the vulnerable. He’s reshaping nations, steering history. This living Christ is shattering addictions, He’s defying disease. He’s making sinners like me into living proof that He’s alive.”

If your idea of your best life now doesn’t include allegiance to and dependence upon the living Christ, you’re not going to like where it’s leading.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊