Walking With Jesus

The Precious Link

“And the man of God had said, ‘You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!’ And so it was, for the people trampled him to death at the gate!” (2 Kings 7:19b-20 NLT)

What is it that ties you to the people you love? To your spouse, children, grandchildren, and others in your family that you’ve grown to love and cherish over the years? What is that precious link that you’d die to preserve? We often refer to it as love, but is that all it is?

In 2 Kings 6 King Ben-hadad of Aram has gathered his entire army to besiege Samaria, which resulted in a great famine. It was so severe people were literally killing and eating their children. The king of Israel was furious and decided it was God’s fault, so, he sent a messenger to bring him the Prophet Elisha because he was God’s representative.

2 Kings7 tells the story of the messenger’s arrival and Elisha’s prophecy that the very next day God would intervene, and the famine would end. The verse above is what Elisha told him. And it all happened as Elisha said it would. What is the relevance for us?

In my mind and heart, I believe every person who walks closely with God carries a burden of unanswered prayer; a concern that only God can provide, but to date hasn’t. It may be a lost loved one, a healing, or provision of some kind for which you feel you are in desperate need. What is it that is sustaining you? What is that precious link to God that keeps you holding on?

Elisha painted a clear picture for the king’s messenger, but because of his unbelief, though he saw God’s answer with his own eyes, he was killed before he could enjoy it. On some levels doubt and unbelief are some of Satan’s most effective weapons in keeping us from embracing the truth. God clearly tells us that He will never leave or forsake us, but too often we trust our feelings more than God’s Word, so we faulter and miss what God has promised.

God uses the most unlikely characters in 2 Kings 7 to fulfill His plan – four lepers! Often, He’ll use unconventional means to deliver His answer to us, and we’re so prone to miss it unless we’re attentive to His voice. One of the most valuable lessons the Lord has taught me, I nearly missed because it came to me, not through a friend, but a critic.

Who is it in your life whom God may be trying to use to speak a message to you, but you’re reluctant because of the source? When the lepers came to announce that the Aramean army had deserted their camp, the king of Israel was suspect. He believed it was a ploy of the enemy to get the Israelites out of their walled city.

How often do we miss the Lord’s instruction because we have to prove it before we believe it? Why is it so difficult for us to take God at His Word? The most precious link between us and God is faith, most often verified through trust. I have faith that my wife loves me, but there are times I’m not quick to trust her judgment when it comes to food.

She loves to eat a lot of things I don’t love. My rule of thumb is: “If it doesn’t pass the ‘nose test,’ it doesn’t’ get in my mouth!” If my nose rebels at its smell, I don’t eat it! But lately I’ve been more open to trust my wife when she brings a spoon of something she’s cooking and says, “Try this. See what you think.” Remember what the Psalmist said in 34:8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him.”

We must not allow our precious faith link to God to be broken because of our personal preferences, doubts, and fears.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

When It Comes Time to Die

“Jesus continued, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I Am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.’” (John 8:23-24 NLT)

It may not be a common practice today, but when my kids were small, and I was “financially challenged,” especially around birthdays or Christmas, I would use the option some stores offered, to lay things away. That essentially meant I didn’t have to pay all at once, I could pay a little at a time and I wouldn’t be charged any interest or penalties.

In Hebrews 9:27-28 it says: “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again , not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him.” The word translated “destined” means: “to be laid away, reserved.”

Most people don’t realize or care to think about the fact that they have a reservation with God. He is awaiting their arrival at death’s door. It’s inescapable, but He has arranged for us to have a “layaway plan.” His name is Jesus and He will hold our lives in His care until the day He will personally deliver us to His Father in heaven – without any penalty!

How can that be? How is it possible to avoid judgment? Actually, it’s not. Our sin debt demanded payment in full, a debt we couldn’t possibly have paid, but Jesus designed a “layaway plan” whereby He would lay down His sinless life in our place. Then when we admitted our inability to pay our own sin debt and believed that what He did on the Cross was for us, we could be forgiven our debt and set free of its eternal consequences.

“But that’s too good to be true!” some will no doubt think. And I would have to agree, it absolutely is! But the fact is, it is 100% true. How do I know? Because the One who made it possible is 100% reliable. He has never, ever lied. In fact, He’s God in human flesh, so, it’s impossible for Him to lie.

So, that leaves only one thing of which we need to be certain: have we settled our sin “account” with Jesus? “How do I do that?” In much the same way as I would lay away toys or clothes for my kids, you must open an account. For literal purchases here on earth we need money. Money is the currency of earth, but in heaven you don’t need money, you need faith.

Faith is the currency of heaven, so, by faith you go to the Lord Jesus and say: “Lord Jesus I have sinned against You. I’ve incurred a sin-debt that I could never in eternity ever pay. So, I’m putting my faith, my trust, in You, Lord Jesus, and I believe what You did on the Cross You did for me. I confess my sin and am asking You to forgive me, cleanse me of my sin, and fill me with Yourself that I may walk in obedience to Your directives for my life. I trust Your Holy Spirit to guide and guard me as I learn to walk faithfully with and for You. Thank You, Lord, for hearing my prayer, for forgiving me and giving me new life in You.”

Missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote: “When the time comes to die, make sure that all you have to do is die!” Honestly, I can’t pretend to know all he meant by that, but of this one thing I’m certain. Whatever baggage we’re carrying will be left behind when we die. Just make certain you’re not leaving someone else in charge of the apologies that need to be made, the debts that need to be paid, monetarily and otherwise. As it relies on you, clear your heart and mind of everything that needs to be said and done on earth before you close your eyes in death.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who’s Waiting for You?

“Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14 NLT)

Learning to wait patiently is likely among the lessons human beings take the longest to learn. Why do you think that is? Could it have anything to do with our priorities? My tendency, as I suspect yours, is to want to be put first. We don’t do lines very well, unless we’re at the head and Lord help the poor sap who tries to cut in front of us!

On the other hand, have you ever kept someone else waiting? “They’ll just have to get over themselves!” “I’m worth waiting for!”

Have you ever been stranded along the road? I have many times, especially when I was in college. That was long before cell phones, so I usually had one of two options: wait for someone to stop or start walking to see if I could find someone to help. One time, remembering the other times I’d run out of gas, knowing my old VW was running on fumes, I pulled into a station. There was no money or credit cards in my wallet and none in my pocket.

So, my only recourse was to see if the cashier would take a check – are you ready for this? A check for one dollar! That would have bought me a couple of gallons and I was confident that would get me home. Apparently, I looked the role of a penniless college student because he turned me down and told me to go someplace else! By God’s grace I finally got someone to take my check and I got back to school.

What’s my point? In our infatuation with ourselves we often forget how often the Lord has waited on us. He’s waited not only for us to come to our senses and seek Him for forgiveness and new life, but also for our obedience once we’ve yielded our lives to Him.

C. H. Spurgeon wrote: “We will not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited on us.” There are prayers I’ve lifted to the Lord for years, but I rarely get anxious or troubled by His seeming delay. Someone told me early in my walk with the Lord that “God’s clock keeps perfect time!” He’s never too early or too late, He’s always right on time!

While as a younger man I didn’t always believe that, I do now. What made the difference? Two things. First, I know the Lord better now, but second, I know myself better now. The Lord understands better than we ever will, not only what’s going on in our lives, but also in the lives of those whose lives He’s preparing us to intersect.

Who in your life needs the Lord? A family member? A friend? A neighbor? Co-worker? Classmate? The list may be long and you’re constantly wondering why God hasn’t heard your prayers. “What’s He waiting for?” may be a concern you haven’t voiced to anyone, yet it tugs at your heart. What if He’s waiting on you?

Perhaps a reasonable question for us to ask ourselves is this: “What is the Lord prompting ME to do? What might I do to help the person or persons for whom I’m praying see their need of the Lord more clearly?” And, honestly, maybe you’ve done all you can do, but they’re still not budging. What then?

We may not always know the mind of God, but we do know His heart, and His heart is to desire every lost person to come to Him. So, we wait, realizing we’re never waiting alone.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are You a Grace Graduate?

“From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. (John 1:16 NLT)

If you’ve been around people of God very long you’ve no doubt heard them use the word “grace” numerous times. Strong’s Concordance translates “grace” as: “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness.” A common definition among believers is: “a free, undeserved, unmerited favor.” How ever you define it, it’s a common understanding that grace is a gift from God.

The Scriptures are filled with references to grace, perhaps one of the most used verses is Ephesians 2:8 where Paul writes: “God saved you by His grace when you believed.” What does that mean? It means you don’t owe any part or piece of your salvation to yourself – it was and is all God! We’re not saved by virtue of our own goodness; we’re saved because God is merciful and full of grace.

Do we ever outgrow or move beyond our need of God’s grace? Only when we draw our last breath. As long as we live on this planet we’ll never graduate from our need of the Lord’s grace, mercy, and love. Paul David Tripp wrote: “It’s wonderful that God’s grace never grows weary or runs out because, this side of eternity, no one is a grace graduate.”

What does that mean? It essentially means that we are ever dependent upon God’s grace, not only to save us, but to sustain us. What does that mean? Put a baseball or something with some weight that isn’t breakable in the palm of your hand. Then as fast as you can pull your hand away from what you’re holding. What will happen every time? It drops straight to the ground.

That’s what God’s sustaining power is doing for you. Hebrews 1:3 says in reference to Jesus: “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.”

Think about that for a minute. “Sustains” means He is currently bearing or upholding everything. Nothing or no one is beyond the reach of the grace of God. If you’re alive, you may not have put your faith in God, you may not even believe He exists, but He believes in you and He’s sustaining your life on this planet every second. Without Him you, nor anyone else alive today, would last one second.

But that’s not all His grace supplies. Notice the verse also says “cleansed us from our sins…” Why is that significant. Let me ask you a rhetorical question: “will you ever sin again?” If you’re like me, I don’t want to ever sin again, but the truth is, I, and you, will wrestle with sin in some form or fashion until our last breath. Why does that matter?

Jesus’ blood has already paid for that sin. So, does that mean we should just sin up a storm? Don’t mock the mercy of God. Paul writes in Romans 6:1: “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” “To live in it” means to continue to sin as a habit.

God has given us the tools we need to be healed and delivered of habitual sin, but that doesn’t exempt us of other ways we sin against our Savior and each other. Sin will be our constant companion as long as we live, and that’s exactly the reason we will never out grow our need for God’s grace.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Gospel

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2 NLT)

One of the most beneficial aspects of the eternal Word of God becoming man is that He made the God of heaven visible. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that Christ “is the exact likeness of God.” In John 14:8 “Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus replied, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father! So why are you asking Me to show Him to you?’”

Knowing that Jesus is God the Father in human form is incredibly important for at least two reasons. First, it verifies who Jesus is and always claimed to be. Until we understand that Jesus was God in a human body we miss the power of His life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. If Jesus isn’t God, then, as C.S. Lewis wrote: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg or else he’d be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”

Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com

Second, it clarifies the Gospel because everything that is true of Jesus is true of God and vice versa. To see and study the life of Jesus is to see in action the God of the Bible. We learn from Jesus that God is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, just, loving, and every other attribute that Jesus was and lived. But it doesn’t stop there.

Think of the implications for us as His children. Mark Dever wrote: “Preaching makes the gospel audible. Churches make the gospel visible.” In much the same way as Jesus gave visibility to the invisible God, we have the opportunity and privilege to give visibility to the now invisible Jesus. There is no “gospel,” no “good news” without Jesus. Jesus IS the good news! And to the extent we, individually and collectively as His Church, live our lives to His honor, glory, and fame, we give visibility to His “Body” on earth today.

Isn’t that what the Incarnation of Jesus is all about? God becoming a human being to make His life reproducible in and through the lives of those who call Him Lord and Savior. Submission to His Lordship enables each of us who is a member of His Body, the Church, to give expression in and through our lives to His life – in how we live, how we love, how we treat each other. When we as members of His Body love each other and work well together, we give visibility to the life of the living Christ.

In increasing measure, as we learn to model His “likeness” in and through our lives, at least on some levels we should validate in practical ways, not only who He is, but how He desires to be loved and lived out in human flesh. It’s not enough to know the Bible or even know how to teach it. If we’re not translating His Word into life; if we’re not modeling what the Bible teaches in practical ways, we’re missing the point of what it means to bear His holy name.

When the people of the Bible, even the early disciples, first met Jesus they didn’t immediately make the connection between Jesus and the God of the Scriptures. It took time and effort on the Lord’s part to help them make that connection (see John 14:8 above). Similarly, people aren’t going to make the immediate connection between our godly lives and Jesus. It will take time and effort on our part to help them “see” Him in us.

The point of a godly life isn’t to win brownie points with Jesus, it’s to give those in our families, our friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and everyone else with whom we have contact, a glimpse into the face of Jesus. When that happens, it will give more power to our words when we share the Gospel.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Stewardship or Ownership?

“And the Lord replied, ‘A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other servants and feeding them.’” (Luke 12:42 NLT)

Stewardship isn’t a word we see or hear used very often other than at church. Today we use words like manager, administrator, or boss, but they mean essentially the same thing. A steward refers to someone who is given authority to manage the affairs of someone else. That which they manage doesn’t belong to the steward, they are simply given authority to oversee its care or management.

Sometimes for those of us who belong to the Lord Jesus we get confused and over time can begin to believe things the Lord has given us to manage are actually our own. Things like our house, car, clothes, food, children, friends, family, furnishings, jobs, basically any material possession we have. But it doesn’t end there. Our bodies, minds, and souls are also property of the Lord’s.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” Corky Calhoun reminds us: “When it comes to our stuff we confuse temporal stewardship with eternal ownership.”

What are the implications? Realizing we don’t own something, as a believer, we should take even better care of it than if it was our own. If I’m visiting with relatives and I borrow their vehicle, I fill it with gas and, if the weather permits, I have it washed. If we stay with family, we try to put the room where we stayed back in the same shape it was in before we came.

Related to our bodies. We only get one life, so we need to be conscientious in caring for the Lord’s Temple. How so? Basically, eating what’s healthy, exercising, and having regular checkups with our doctor. And, yes, I struggle with some of this as much as you do, but my wife is helping me reorient my eating to enable me to get off some or all of the meds I’m currently on.

It doesn’t seem right to me, if I have a choice, and at this point in my life I still do, not to do everything I can to be as healthy as I can for as long as I can. Why is that important? As I’ve said before, I want to wear out, not burn out, which to me includes being sidelined because of bad health. And, yes, of course, there are things that happen over which we have no control, but as much as it lies within our control, a good steward takes care of their bodies, minds, and souls to the glory of the Lord.

Being a good steward also includes the investment of our time. To sit at the computer or in front of a TV or phone for hours on end when we have family members, friends and neighbors who are headed to hell is blasphemous. And even if you can’t physically go out to visit or to take someone out for a meal, can you invite them to your home? Can you call them? Write them a note? Pray for an opportunity to be Jesus to them in some way?

As to our housing we often make the decision to rent or own, but never lose sight of the fact that our “ownership” still comes under the Lord’s canopy of everything else that belongs to Him. He provides the resources that enable us to buy that property, so we still answer to Him for its care and use.

The longer I live the more aware I become of the privilege of being God’s child. Realizing my body and every material possession I have belongs to the Lord and I’m subject to His ownership requirements gives me a sense of peace in which I rest knowing He’s got my back.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Good We Do Not Do

“In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:16 NLT)

In some respects, this verse seems to contradict Matthew 6:3-4 where Jesus says: “But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” But Jesus was dealing with two distinctly different issues. Good deeds and giving money or other gifts to someone are not one and the same.

The word used in the verse from Matthew 5 has more to do with the quality of our lives which we cannot hide, even if we wanted to. It speaks to our outward appeal, not only by how we dress and carry ourselves, but by the quality of our lives. It literally speaks to how we look – that we are clean, dressed modestly and appropriately; that our language is uplifting, courteous, and honoring to the Lord, not dirty, abusive, or vile.

Our goodness should be honorable, praiseworthy, genuine, and come from a heart and life that is pure and morally upright. Our goodness should be appropriate to the person and circumstance. For example, if someone is grieving, our countenance and words should reflect comfort and consolation; in other words, our words should match the circumstance the person with whom we’re speaking is experiencing.

The good the Lord expects us to do in the course of our living reflects an attentiveness to His voice and directives, but it’s also conscious of the circumstances of those to whom we speak. The reality is, if we’re seeking to live in honor of the Lord Jesus, we often don’t even realize how we’ve positively affected someone with whom we may interact.

When we do something for someone, we obviously shouldn’t do it to gain recognition or for some type of payback, rather, we should do it in a way that points honor and recognition to Jesus. A friend told me of a time when they were in line at the grocery and the person in front of them was counting their money and trying to determine what they could keep and what they had to put back.

My friend bent down behind her and pretended to pick up a twenty-dollar bill and said to her: “Ma’am, excuse me. I think you dropped this.” They protected her dignity while helping her in an otherwise embarrassing situation. How many times do we miss opportunities to help someone discreetly and without drawing attention to ourselves? Too many, I fear.

Voltaire wrote: “Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.” We may not feel any conviction to help someone in a situation like that, but my question would be: “Why not?” If we have the means, why wouldn’t we want to help. As a Jesus follower, shouldn’t it be our second nature to be alert and sensitive to those around us?

It doesn’t have to be about money. The Lord prompted me in an airport to compliment a young woman on her hair style. She wasn’t particularly attractive, and her head was down, with a concerned look on her face. I said, “Your hair looks very nice. It’s stunning!” She lit up like a Christmas tree, and it didn’t cost me a cent.

The Lord never asks us to give out of what we don’t have, only what we do have. We have the capacity to be attentive, to compliment appropriately, to give of ourselves and our resources without painting ourselves into the proverbial corner.

Remember Jesus’ words in Luke 6:38: “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full – pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Here He’s speaking of money, but I believe the principle applies to other ways we give out of the goodness we have been given. As believers we should never be guilty of not sharing Jesus’ goodness freely and often.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are You a Fake?

“For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.” (James 5:4-5 NLT)

Who we are at home and at work is generally the telltale evidence of who we really are; how genuine or fake our walk with Jesus really is. It’s easy to slide in and out of church (on the days we choose to go), playing the part, smiling and acting “nice,” but come Monday morning the real us climbs into our work duds and heads out to be the people we really are.

Pastor Corky Calhoun said: “You can fake being a Christian, but you cannot fake being a follower of Jesus.” As I read and pondered his quote I first thought: “Aren’t they one and the same?” And yes, they should be, but “Christian” has gotten watered down and bundled up with other terms we use to define religious people who may or may not be a follower of Jesus.

Our goal as a Jesus follower is to become like Jesus. It’s not enough for us to be a “good” person or a “hard worker,” or “a great family man/woman.” Don’t you want everything you say, do, or are to exalt Jesus in unmistakable ways? What’s the point of calling ourselves a “Christian” or even a “Jesus follower” unless He gets the credit for who we are, how we think, and what we do with our life?

But how do you do that without coming across as a “goodie two shoes?” You do it the same way Jesus did. He was genuine in and out and He never wavered from being exactly who God the Father desired Him to be. “But we’re not Jesus!” And you’re right, but every day we walk with Him can and should enable us to become more genuine and less subject to wavering in our own lives.

We’re not perfect and won’t be until we go home to be with the Lord forever, but in the meantime, we have His Holy Spirit indwelling us. Shouldn’t that matter? Shouldn’t that account for significant progress in how much we look and act like Jesus?

The point is, if we’re faking being a believer in Jesus, it’s not only going to be those who know us best and work with us the closest who will know that. WE WILL know it! How does that translate? Hypocrite! Isn’t that essentially, at its core what a “fake” is? Someone who professes one thing, but lives in a way that doesn’t represent what their words about themselves convey?

But another consideration can be, maybe they just don’t know any better. What if they just haven’t been taught how to live like a Jesus follower? Before we start branding people and writing them off, shouldn’t we come alongside them and see if they’re open to changing? It’s one thing to be a con, but quite another to be uninformed or untrained in the ways of Jesus.

The best way to help someone change isn’t to condemn them, but to love them like Jesus would and does. None of us are perfect, thus all of us think, do, say, and act in ways that aren’t becoming of a disciple of Jesus. So, what can we do? Fess up! Confess our shortcomings – to Jesus, our spouse, a trusted friend, then seek inch by inch to move in the direction of being all we were saved to become, all we truly WANT to become!

Isn’t that what repentance is? It’s recognizing our need to change, changing our mind about what we want the outcome to be, then putting into action a Jesus-centered plan to make the needed changes to become the new creation Jesus died to enable us to become.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

How to Change Your World

“He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control.” (Philippians 3:21 NLT)

If you’re a Jesus follower one day you’ll no longer have to deal with sickness, sin, Satan, or his devilish emissaries. Why not? We’ll be in heaven, and we’ll have new sinless and perfect bodies. What a day that will be!

In the meantime, life can be hard, and Satan is our relentless enemy who seeks in every conceivable way to keep us from being effective for Jesus. The primary tool Satan uses is our mind. If he can keep us distracted by errant thoughts, he can keep us from changing our world. What will it take for us to make a difference in our spheres of influence?

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Two primary things: we need to learn to think right, from which will come our ability to live right. Implicit in accomplishing these two things is devotion to Jesus and dependence upon the Holy Spirit to be our constant companion and guide. Apart from Jesus we are nothing and can do nothing of eternal significance.

John Wesley wrote: “Give me ten men that hate nothing but sin and love nothing but God and we will change the world.” What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you read that quote? What came to my mind was – “I’d love to be one of those ten men!” Wouldn’t you? But how? By allowing the Lord to teach us to think right, resulting in our determination to live right. What might that look like?

What we think about comes about, so, we must constantly fill our thoughts with God oriented things. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8-9: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me – everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Did you notice the progression of his thought? “Fix your thoughts” then “putting into practice.” How we behave, how we live our lives grows out of that upon which our minds are fed. Feed them junk and your life will be a mess, but feed them the things which Paul wrote above, and you’ll be prepared to change your world.

What might that look like for you and me? We tend to think too globally when we imagine how to change anything. What I would propose is to think more linearly. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What will be our first step? How do we become men (and women) who “hate nothing but sin and love nothing but God?” We do what Jesus did – we discipline ourselves to know God intimately through prayer and devotion to His Word.

We flood our mind with that which is wholesome, pure, and worthy of remembrance. We train our mind to desire God above all others, then we align ourselves with those who are of like mind. Our mission is to win the lost and train (disciple) them to walk faithfully with an eye to win those in their spheres of influence. But it all begins with prayer.

Laura Bailey wrote: “In May of 1934, Christian businessmen in Charlotte, North Carolina, held an all-day prayer meeting on his father’s pasture. Billy Graham’s father, William Franklin Graham, Sr., recalled one of the men’s prayers that day: ‘That out of Charlotte the Lord would raise up someone to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.’ At that time, in 1934, it certainly wasn’t obvious that that someone might be me.”

There’s no doubt the Lord used Billy Graham to change the world for millions of people. We may never be the next Billy Graham, but the Lord might lead us to pray for him or her!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

When You’re Most Like Jesus

“He did not retaliate when He was insulted, nor threaten revenge when He suffered. He left His case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” (1 Peter 2:23 NLT)

What is your highest and holiest desire? When you’re alone with God and He’s filling your mind and heart, what becomes your highest aim? For me it’s to see the people in my family, in my spheres of influence who are lost, come to know Jesus. Not in a casual or like “shaking hands with your banker” kind of way, but an all-in commitment to the only One who is the way to heaven, and who can allow us to know and love His Father as our own.

How quickly that very spiritual ideal is snatched from us in the face of conflict. Too often our spiritual desires are swallowed by the frustrations of a moment of anger. Yet, it’s in those very moments that what we really desire in our heart of hearts must shine through or we reveal what’s really that which we most want to become a reality.

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Hear Pastor Rick Warren’s heart as he writes: “Pay attention to this: You’re most like Christ when you say nothing in the face of attacks, lies, and unfair criticism. You’re most like Jesus when you remain silent and leave it in God’s hands.

The Bible says, ‘When [Jesus] was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge’ (1 Peter 2:23 GNT). In the face of his unjust conviction and persecution, Jesus did not fight back. When it mattered most, he trusted God to defend him and bring ultimate justice.

King David was criticized and attacked his entire life. In fact, people repeatedly wanted to kill him because they were jealous of him. But David said this: ‘I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him. He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated. My salvation and honor depend on God; he is my strong protector; he is my shelter.’” (Psalm 62:5-7 GNT).

It matters very little how much the love of Christ means to us or how strongly we think we want to emulate His character if when we’re under attack we fold and allow the devil to have his way. Do we not understand that in our anger we’re seeking to exalt ourselves? We become defensive because we feel devalued or belittled? We’re trying with everything within us to prove we’re right and everyone else is wrong about us, but in the process, we fail to exalt and honor Jesus.

It may not feel like it, and we may not want to believe it, but when we lose control in a conflict or confrontation with someone, especially someone we profess to love, what we’re doing is trying to validate God’s love for us; we’re seeking to earn what can only be received as a gift; we’re making an effort to prove our worth to God.

Matt Smethurst wrote: “There is no security in a love that’s been earned.” Losing our cool in defending ourselves is essentially to invalidate God’s love, not display it. We’re putting on display our insecurity, not only in who we see ourselves to be, but in how we believe God sees us. Remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.”

We’re most like Jesus when we accept criticism, especially when it’s clear we’re in the wrong, but even when we’re not, we best represent our Savior when we accept whatever someone says about us, then entrust that person to the care of the Lord.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊