Overly Occupied

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:38-41 NIV)

Biblical usage of distracted:

1. Strong's G4049 – perispaō to draw around, to draw away, distract
2. metaph.

1.     to be driven about mentally, to be distracted

2.     to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing

From Vines: lit., "to draw around" (peri), "draw away, distract," is used in the Passive Voice in the sense of being over-occupied about a thing, to be "cumbered,"

 

Definition of sidetracked in the Online Dictionary. ... to distract or be distracted from a main subject or topic.

 

We can be distracted, sidetracked, by many things in life. They can be necessary things, good things, bad things, things that happened, didn’t happen, will happen in the future, or will never happen. The problem is, they distract us from the main thing, consume our thoughts, emotions, and energy and cause us to act and respond in a way that is not consistent with who we are or where we are going. We will totally miss what God is saying to us, doing in our lives, or what He wants us to join with Him in, when we are captured and imprisoned  by the side issues of life that are designed to distract us and shut us down.

Love & Revelation

One of the signs that we love Jesus is the fact that we obey His commands. If we love Him, we will also place a high value upon His commands and make adhering to them a priority. The results of this will be for us a growing revelation of Jesus and His purposes.

Placing a high value upon the commands of Jesus doesn’t mean we wear them in a little box between our eyes or have them hanging from our wrists. While that can be very symbolic of what guides us and what we set our hands to, that doesn’t mean that we think they are of value to us.

Having them printed on our shirts, posters, pictures, doors, cars, business cards, signs, etc still doesn’t mean that we value them. Having them underlined in our bibles, memorized, on cards in our pockets, on our key chains, etc still doesn’t mean that we value them.

Their value to us is only shown by how much we let them effect our lives. If they truly are valuable to us we will let them have great effect upon our lives. We will let them determine what is right or wrong, acceptable or not acceptable. We will let them set the course of our thoughts and our lives. We will ‘eat his words’, internalizing them and letting them be life in us, a part of us.

As these commands become part of us, part of our lives, doing them is not a burden, for they are in our hearts and we want to do them. And look at the results of our loving Jesus and obeying His commands. We will receive a broader understanding and experiencing of the love of God.

Along with this Jesus will also begin to reveal more and more of Himself to us. We will experience His love and release it to others as Jesus becomes more and more real to us. The Amplified Bible says in John 14:21

The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]

Love & Obedience

If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (Jn 14:15-17)

Fear and obedience are tied together. If we fear, we will be motivated by that fear to be obedient. Jn 14:15 shows us that love and obedience are also tied together and this produces a more mature form of obedience, because love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment (1 Jn 4:18). If we love, we will be motivated by that love towards obedience. I have previously written about this in Levels Of Obedience on 8/15/2013.

If we were to take verses 15-16 by themselves and look for understanding in them out of the context of scripture in which they are found, we would end up in trouble at this point. Out of context , they seem to be saying that if we are obedient to what Jesus has commanded we will then receive the Holy Spirit at a later point. However, when we look at them with vs. 17— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you, we can see that the disciples had knowledge of the Holy Spirit and were looking towards an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I believe Jesus was saying to these that obedience to His teachings would bring about an indwelling of the Holy Spirit and a deeper and fuller relationship between Him and these disciples. Verse 16 in the Amplified Bible is worded: And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever--(Note: Another Comforter of the same kind that Jesus is).

This is not the case for those who know Christ today, because if we know Christ, we are already indwelled by the Holy Spirit (Ro 8:9) Therefore we know these scriptures are not saying to us that if we are obedient to Jesus we will receive the Holy Spirit. I do believe, however, that we can safely say that obedience to Christ will bring about for us a more intimate and deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:14 the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. I like the way the Message records this verse: the amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you (emphasis mine).

Predetermined Obedience

But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:18 NIV)

Some decisions have to be made before their time. If you wait until the moment of temptation, you may be swayed to make the wrong choice. The decision Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego made not to bow down to the golden image of the king was made when they began to serve God and predetermined not to serve or worship any other god or image.

The decision Daniel made to continue to pray to God after the kings decree that petitions could be made to none other except him, was made long before the decree. His initial decision to serve God was to serve Him alone and none other.

A false god or idol is anything we put before our relationship with God. If we give ourselves to or engage in anything that we know goes against God’s revealed will, we are serving an idol, another god. Many gods will reveal themselves to us and attempt to persuade us to bow down before them. Now, we wouldn’t necessarily recognize them as gods, thinking of them more as desires or the love of the world as found in 1 John 2: 15-16:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.

Let’s take a common one like adultery. The time to make up your mind you will not commit it is the moment you get married. If you wait until you are tempted to make the decision, you are in trouble. 
 

About any temptation we would fall to, we need to have already predetermined not to fall to it. And then, when the temptation comes, we need to FLEE. One of our problems is we haven’t made up our minds yet, and when the temptation comes, we try to resist it while making up our minds about it. Scripture tells us to flee temptation, not to try and resist it.

Here’s a good plan: predetermine not to sin against God, and then flee temptation. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:17) Let us predetermine to be always faithful to God and depend upon and trust in Him to bring it about.

Still In The Business of Smashing End Tables

When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified.

(John 6:19, NIV)

I have a friend who says Jesus likes to rock our end tables. We are sitting there nice and comfortable on our couches, everything is in order, the lamp is on the end table giving out a nice glow of light and then God comes in and rocks or even knocks over our end table. God has been know to even smash end tables. God has a way of dismantling our wrong beliefs, sensibilities, and world views.

I have had my end tables smashed. I tried putting them together with duct tape, screws and nails, but they would not hold the lamp any more. I then just set them in the corner and tried to figure out what I could use them for. I finally figured out they weren’t good for anything any more, and threw them out. God will definitely do things that you don’t think He would do. We think God is going to do what is best for us, but we are wrong. He is going to do what is really best for us.

We want our lives nice, easy, safe, orderly, fun, organized, full of what ever, while God wants us to be conformed to the image of Christ. There in is the problem. We are really wanting God to do our will, and He is set upon doing His will, not only in our lives but also in the lives of others, which really is best for us all.

Jesus would never do that! Do what? Walk on water? Do things that are not expected or normal? Do things that will scare you?

Jesus said, “Don‘t be afraid, it‘s Me!.” They could have ignored the apparition, paddled harder, and talked about how their imaginations and fear got the best of them. Not only seeing things, but hearing things. Peter says, “Lord if it is You, call me to come.” Jesus says, “Come on Peter, I want to give you a bigger revelation of who I Am. I want to reveal myself to you in a way you have never known Me, and could not except for this circumstance. I Am much more than you have ever imagined, or known. I don’t just give life, I Am Life! I don’t just speak truth, I Am Truth! I don’t just show the way, I Am the Way!

God can and does come to us in unfamiliar ways that we will not always recognize. Let's not let fear hinder us from coming to and learning from Him. “Lord if that is You, call me to come.” We think that to be uncertainty, but it is courage in the very face of fear. I’m scared Lord, but if that is You, call to me, and help me to come.

Offended By God

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6:66, NIV)

I have heard it said that God will offend the mind to reveal the heart. Some truths are hard to receive, hard to believe, or hard to live out. This is because we try to do it in our own understanding or strength. What is offensive to the natural man, God will supernaturally enable us to walk out. His revelations bypass our natural understanding and go directly to our spirits. Our natural understanding must then catch up.

These disciples in the beginning verse were offended by what Jesus said to them. Their response was to walk away.

Without humility we cannot walk with the Lord. To one Jesus said, “If you believe,” to which the man replied, “I believe Lord, please help my unbelief.”

Offence on the other hand hardens our hearts towards God and others. Sometimes we are offended by the Word of God, sometimes by the actions of God, and sometimes by what we deem as the inactivity of God. “Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died.” “Lord, do you not care that we are all about to drown?” Many times in His earthly ministry Jesus was accused of not caring or challenged to prove He was Who He said He was, or condemned for saying Who He was.

Has God ever offended you? Has He ever disappointed you? Has He ever let something happen that really tied you in a knot? First of all, remember God does not cause bad, evil, sin, etc, but He is well able to use it for His purposes. Has He not done what you think He should have done? “How could You let this happen Lord?” I think it is ok to ask God questions, but it is not ok to accuse or question Him.

Has He called you to something hard or difficult? Has a bad thing happened? Has He revealed something to you about yourself that is hard to accept? Has He shown you truth in His Word and You believe something opposite of it? Has He allowed you to be humiliated? Has He not revealed something to you that you thought you should have been notified of?

We could go on and on, but the question before us now is how should we respond to God when He offends us? I would say with humility, with knowing we don’t know all the facts, with knowing that He cares, that His love and intent towards us is pure, with knowing that there is a bigger picture than the one we see.

We naturally care more for what concerns us rather than being concerned about the things that concern God. He is inviting us to a higher place, a supernatural place where only His grace can take us.

It the place where He heals our wounds and disappointments and enables us to fully trust Him. A place where we come to a point where we can cry out "Lord, give me a heart that breaks for the things that break yours."

Loaves & Fishes

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” (Jn 6:26, NIV)
I think sometimes we can read John chapter 6 and not catch what is really going on. By all appearances Jesus had just had a tremendous open air meeting, topped off with the multiplying of a small amount of food so that it fed 5000 with some left over. He sends His disciples away in a boat, dismisses the crowd, goes off alone to pray, and later He shows up walking on the water!


Then the crowd came looking for Him. “How did you get here?” they asked him. Typical of Jesus, He did not answer their question but addressed their problem. "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” Wow! Where did that come from? It might seem like a reasonable question to us, and we would also have been pretty impressed with the multiplying of the loaves and fishes. The problem was their lack of spiritual hunger and lack of spiritual perception. Their physical hunger had been satisfied, but they were not ‘hungering and thirsting for righteousness‘. They were curious but not ‘poor in spirit’. They enjoyed hearing Jesus but had no desire to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. They did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, nor their spiritual need for Him. They came for what they could get in the physical realm, not for what they needed in the spiritual realm.


Reality is that our needs in the spiritual realm are much greater than our needs in the natural realm. I think it would be safe to say that we pray more for what we think we and others need in the physical realm and, for the most part, ignore the needs of the spiritual realm. It is no wonder that Jesus’ rebuke to them catches us by surprise, for many times we come for the same reason they came.


It is not wrong to pray about physical needs, but let's not get too obsessed by them. Jesus said all the necessary things would be added to us if we would seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. We need more concern about what is or isn't in our hearts as opposed to what is or isn’t on our plates or in our closets.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Mt 6:33 NKJV)

T.R.U.S.T.

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.” (Ps 37:5, ESV)

Sometimes seeing a scripture in a version of the Bible you don’t usually read it in can give you a fresh perspective. I really am taken by the simplicity of the above verse. It leaves nothing to chance, nothing to conjecture, and nothing to wonder about. It leaves us room only to be in wonder. It is simple, crisp, and full of meaning.

Some years ago I came across the following from Days of Heaven Upon Earth:

April 11. "Commit Thy Way unto the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. 5)

Days of Heaven Upon Earth — Rev. A. B. Simpson "Commit thy way unto the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii.5). Seldom have we heard a better definition of faith than was given once in one of our meetings by a dear old colored woman, as she answered the question of a young man how to take the Lord for needed help. In her characteristic way, pointing her finger toward him, she said with great emphasis: "You've just got to believe that He's done it, and it's done." The great danger with most of us is, that after we ask Him to do it, we do not believe that it's done, but we keep on helping Him, and getting others to help Him; superintending God and waiting to see how He is going to do it. Faith adds its amen to God's yea, and then takes its hands off, and leaves God to finish His work. Its language is, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him; and He worketh." Lord, I give up the struggle, To Thee commit my way, I trust Thy word forever, And settle it all to-day.

When I saw the words "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He worketh", it really caught my attention because of the way it was worded. It comes down to trust, having faith. I would believe the opposite true also, if we don’t commit, don't trust, He doesn’t work.

The Good News Translation of the Bible words this verse as follows: “Give yourself to the Lord; trust in him, and he will help you;”

Take some time and ponder on this today and ask God how it fits into your life.

"Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He worketh"

Hello, My Name Is Trouble



One Sunday some years ago my family and I gathered with a church whose pastor is a friend of mine. In the course of the service, he shared about a teen he had met. The impression he gave of the teen was that he is mouthy, craves attention, and can be irritating.

At some point while the teen was around, my friend did a couple things he had not done previously. He gave the teen value by giving him a task to do, and he talked with and listened to what the teen had to say. In the process he found out this young person had never even talked once with their natural father. My friend had a better understanding of the young man after their conversation and the young man had grown in value in my friends eyes.

What to do with this teen was a subject of thought for him. He knew that as a father of three and having three jobs he didn’t have the time or inclination to father this young man. He finally got some understanding from The Lord.

While he wasn’t able to father this person, he was able to carry God’s presence to him. What the young man needed in his life at this point could only be done by God.

Both of these thoughts are part of our own lives. First of all, what we really need in our lives can only be enabled or done by God. Secondly, we are to carry God’s presence with us everywhere we go. The world is filled with needy people who need the presence of Jesus Christ in their lives.




But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)




Let's go forth and smell things up!

Rabbits & Hotdogs

My first hero was a rabbit, and not just any rabbit, he was Crusader Rabbit. He rode a horse, wore a suit of armor, and went on crusades against bad guys and injustice. He had his own TV show on our local channel and on your birthday you had a chance to be on the show.

One day my turn came...I was on the show with a few other kids, They served each of us a single portion carton of milk and a Tarnow hot dog. We sat at a long desk and the host of the show talked to us on the air for a few moments.

I don't remember the contents of the episode of Crusader Rabbit we watched that day, as a matter of fact, I don't remember any of the episodes. But I do remember that hotdog! It was really good.



When I think of Crusader Rabbit, I think of hot dogs. I didn't want to be like him, I did not even want to go on crusades with him, but I would have gladly eaten hot dogs with him at a moments notice.

Could You Tell Me Which Way Jesus Went?

As far as direction goes, God is everywhere, so no matter which direction we go, God is already there. Any direction we take is towards Him. The direction God wants us to go is framed in obedience. When we walk in obedience, we are following Jesus. When we walk in love, we are following Jesus. When we are walking in the Spirit, we are following Jesus. When we are denying ourselves, we are following Jesus. When we are walking in humility, we are following Jesus. When we are being persecuted for His sake, we are following Jesus. When we are feeding the poor, we are following Jesus. When we are visiting orphans and widows in their distress, we are following Jesus.

Following Jesus is not a direction...it's a lifestyle.

 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Lk 9:23 NIV)

Just Say No

 

It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions  (Titus 2:12a, NIV)

I remember some years back that the slogan for the then new anti-drug campaign was “Just Say No”.  I delighted in telling people that this was not the first time that expression had been used, but was in fact in the Bible. Of course the campaign was only directed towards drugs and the verse above was directed towards all ungodliness and worldly passions.

Another difference, the campaign was dependent upon a person being able of themselves to stand against peer pressure and not do drugs. The admonition in scripture was dependent upon the grace of God. Here is the full passage:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14, NIV)

God’s grace teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions. It enables and strengthens us to no only say no to them but also to resist their pull on our earthly natures. And that is not all. God’s grace also gives us the desire and enablement to live upright, self controlled, and godly lives in the midst of this present evil age.

We have been redeemed (saved, rescued, delivered) from all wickedness by Jesus Christ and are purified by Him to be a people dedicated to Him and who are eager and enthusiastic about doing what is right and just and kind.

And the Blessed Hope -- the glorious appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ will soon be upon us!

KINGDOM WALKING

... is living a life filled with love, following the example of Christ

Ephesians 5:1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. ² Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

³ Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. ⁴ Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. ⁵ You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

⁶ Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. ⁷ Don’t participate in the things these people do.


... while letting the light within us produce what is good and right and true


⁸ For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! ⁹ For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
¹⁰ Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. ¹³ But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, ¹⁴ for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper,
    rise up from the dead,
    and Christ will give you light.”


... as we carefully and thoughtfully understand and do God's will


¹⁵ So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. ¹⁶ Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. ¹⁷ Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹ singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. ²⁰ And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.


KINGDOM WALKING is us living a life filled with love, following the example of Christ, while letting the light within us produce what is good and right and true, as we carefully and thoughtfully understand and do what God wants us to do.

Relearning How To Walk

A NEW WAY OF WALKING

¹⁷This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk (live) as the rest of the Gentiles walk (live), in the futility (perverseness, depravity) of their mind, ¹⁸ having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; ¹⁹ who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

REQUIRES A NEW WAY OF THINKING

²⁰ But you have not so learned Christ, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct (walk), the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

RESULTING IN A NEW WAY OF RELATING

²⁵ Therefore, putting away lying, Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. ²⁶ Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ nor give place to the devil. ²⁸ Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. ²⁹ Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

A NEW WAY OF WALKING REQUIRES A NEW WAY OF THINKING RESULTING IN A NEW WAY OF RELATING

 

Walking in Ephesians…Walk Worthily

 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,  with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,  endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.  (Ep 4:1-6 NKJV)

The word “walk” in the Greek in verse 1 is peripateo. The Strong concordance defines this word as to walk, to make one's way, progress; to make due use of opportunities:  to live, to regulate one's life, to conduct one's self, to pass one's life.

Vine's Expository Dictionary defines it figuratively as, "signifying the whole round of the activities of the individual life. Basically the word is referring to the living out of our lives. The Common English Bible translates verse 1 as Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God.

A working translation of verse 1 would be I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to  live and conduct your life in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called … Now, let us consider a question. What does this worthy life look like as it is being lived out?

Verses 2-6 of the above passage tell us what it looks like: It is a life marked by humility, gentleness, patience, acceptance, love, unity, peace, and togetherness. The rest of chapter 4 continues to paint out the portrait of the worthy life.

Why not read all of Ephesians 4 in a few different translations and see how Paul uses broad strokes and specific strokes as he continues describing THE WORTHY LIFE. I would love to hear what stirs you that you would like to add to the marks of a worthy life.

Grace or Pretense - More Than I Really Am (Part 1)

Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  (Mt 23:28, NKJV)

We do love to project an image, usually an image that is better than we really are.  When asked how we are doing we will usually respond with “Good”  or

“Fine”. We not only like to be ‘put together’ when we go out in public, we want to look better than in actuality we really are. This also leaks over into what we would consider to be the spiritual aspects of our lives.

We will seldom correct someone if they think we are more spiritual than we really are, pray more than we really do, spend more time with the Lord than we really do, read or study the Bible more than we really do, love more than we really do, care more than we really do, or have it together more than we really do.

We would never want our hearts to be fully revealed, our intentions to be fully known, or our motives be fully displayed. We like to appear better than we really are.  Hypocrisy is play acting, pretending to be something we are really not.  It is  trying to pull something over on the other person, so they will not see us as we really are.  Hypocrisy is void of humility and honesty.

Philip Yancy says in What's So Amazing About Grace?

There are only two alternatives to hypocrisy: perfection or honesty. Since I've never met a person who loves the Lord our God with all his heart, mind and soul, and loves his neighbor as himself, I do not view perfection as a realistic alternative. Our only option, then, is honesty that leads to repentance. By definition, grace must be received, and hypocrisy disguises our need to receive grace. When the masks fall, hypocrisy is exposed as an elaborate ruse to avoid grace.

 

In my post Thought of As Wise I wrote so who doesn’t like to be thought of as more spiritual than they really are? Or more holy? Or more connected to God? Or wiser? Or more learned? We could go on, but I am sure we all get the point. I don’t know how it goes in your life, but in mine, when people get those kind of notions about me, they only have to hang with me a short time to get over them.

 

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

(Ro 12:9,  NKJV)

What Makes A Church Healthy?

Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.  (Ep 4:16, NLT)

I really like the above verse, it shows how a healthy church operates.  It does not give you a step by step plan, but it does show the body interaction necessary for a church to become healthy. I believe that God would have His Church to be healthy, growing, and full of love.

It does not give you a plan to follow, but shows the necessity of each person and how important it is that each person function, and be allowed to function, in their gifting. It takes everybody active in their gifting for the body to truly become healthy.

It does not give you a wineskin to model, but shows you what will keep your wineskin pliable, soft, useable, and able to contain life.

For each of personally, it shows a few things we need to remember:

Ÿ  We each need to use our gifts for God’s glory and the Churches edification

Ÿ  The body is not complete without us, it needs our gift to be operating

Ÿ  We are not complete by ourselves, we need the rest of the body

Ÿ  It is not a one man show, one person is not gifted to do it all

Ÿ  We are not to be spectators, we are to be participants

Are we active in the Church? Are we doing what God has called us to do? Are we in a body where each person is allowed and encouraged to exercise their gift? Is the body we are part of healthy, growing and full of love? If not, what can we do to help bring about change? One thing we can do is follow God’s leading and do our own special work, thereby helping the other parts grow.

The Stupid Test

For those who are not tracking with me yet, this is not about a test that is stupid, though this test may seem so to you. This is a test to determine if you are stupid or not.  First of all stupidity has nothing to do with intelligence.  It has more to do with attached value and our adherence to it. It is not what we know or don’t know, it is more about what we do or don’t do.

Next, we need someone who is trust worthy to design the test and grade the results. I believe God is more than qualified to do this and He already has a document which we can use as a standard to measure ourselves by.

At this point you are probably thinking, “Of course, the Bible and it is stupid to not do what it says.” Track with me a little farther. The Bible actually says that a man is foolish to not adhere to the Word of God, that he deceives himself.

Stupidity flies in the face of wisdom. It knows the difference between right and wrong but deliberately chooses the wrong. Stupidity is not the result of a the lack of knowledge, but rather is entered into in spite of knowledge. Stupidity is knowing the wise thing, yet deliberately choosing the foolish thing.

Now for The Stupid Test. Proverbs 12:1 says:

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

How did you do? How do you respond to correction? What is your reaction when you are corrected or confronted about a deficiency in your life? The benefit of receiving discipline verses the price of hating correction can clearly be seen in Proverbs 13:18 which says:

He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.

 
I don’t always pass The Stupid Test. How about you?

Two Kinds of Exercise

“… physical training is of some value … “  (1 Tim 4:7)

 

Some years ago my family and I joined the local YMCA and were regular attendees.  (Personally, I would have put attenders here, but my spell check didn’t like that word). All was going well until we went on vacation. When we got back we never went back.....and I don't miss it.

I will admit that physical training is of some value in this life, but I don’t seem to be highly motivated about it. On the other hand, training in godliness is of more value, for it is good not only in this life but also in the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7-8 says:

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Just as physical training takes effort, so too does training in godliness. In training for either, you need some inspiration to get started, and then once you start training, you become more motivated to do it, and as you see the good effect it is having, you are even more motivated to continue it.

However, if you take a break from either, or go on vacation and don’t include it in you daily activities, there will be some resistance in you to beginning again when you get back home. When this happens, we need to suck it up and begin training again.

We do seem to have it kind of backwards in our society though. We are becoming very conscious of health, and exercise, which is good, and are willing to take the necessary steps in this area of our lives. We spend time, money, and energy and even sacrifice things for the sake of physical training, which has limited value.

But for that which is of greater value, not only for now but also for eternity, we don’t seem to be as willing to put ourselves out. We have devalued training in godliness and accepted a world value of body importance. Of course we don’t call it that, we call it health and that seems to make it ok.

When we value physical training over training in godliness, we are not putting first things first. We are attaching greater value to that which has some value than to that which is of greater value.

I am not saying let's stop the one and do the other...I'm saying let's do both, and in our doing, let us remember to attach greater importance to the one which is of greater value.

Mutant Mimics

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love…” (Ephesians 5:1)

 

Some years ago I watched a movie called “Mimic”. In it these giant mutant cockroaches could walk on their hind legs and wrap their wings around themselves, making them look like men wearing robes. That is where the similarity ended.

God does not want us to mimic how we think He looks, nor imitate how we think he sounds. He wants us to display His character, as a child naturally displays their parents character. Specifically He wants us to model, display, imitate His love.

Odds are, a child is going to act like its parents. My wife sometimes acts like her Mother and Grandmother, I sometimes act like my Father. The problem is that we not only pick up their good side, we also pick up their bad side. This means there will come a time in our lives when we find ourselves doing or acting in such a way that we had promised ourselves we never would.

We can look at our children and see how they act like us in some ways even if they are now grown up. I like seeing my good traits in my children, but I don’t like it when they display my bad traits.

In our scripture today, it is clear that we need to know God and spend enough time with Him to “pick up and live out” His love. This is not only how God wants us to be, it is what our children need to pick up from us.

Because we are loved by God, it is important that we live out that love. We are His display board. His reality and character should show through in every one of His children. Scripture says that the reality of Jesus Christ is proven by the love that Christians have for one another.

We do well to say we cannot love like that, for we can’t. It is a supernatural love that is deposited inside us by the Holy Spirit. We have to hang out with our Father and let His love saturate us. Just as we naturally tend to imitate our parents, so we shall supernaturally begin to imitate our Father.

 

God is not looking for people to impersonate Him. He is looking for a people who will love Him and let His love be released through them.