With the mindset of today's society that continually seeks comfort and shuns any form of adversity, we tend to either hate our enemies, or want to seek absolute revenge on them. It seems that we have yet to realize that our enemies are what are used to advance us in aspects of our lives like patience and wisdom, and are footstools for the springboards of our advancement.
Take the example of lifting weights. Rather you lift weights for leisure, to stay in shape, or bodybuilding, you know one important principle. When you lift weights, you only gain muscle and grow when your muscles face the strain, or opposition, from the weight. Sometimes, the strain even gets to a point where it hurts, but one knows that the act of powering through it is when the growth begins.
So I challenge you all to continually abide in Christ daily, so that your enemies may be your footstools and that you may take the strain and test that they may bring, to promote in experience, wisdom, and patience and become more and more like Christ daily. Remember, strain brings growth!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Missing It
It's great and absolutely necessary and wise to take out of your day to examine your time, your motives, your desires, your heart, etc, and it is truly a great help in everyday life. With all of the various thoughts and events that may go on in any given day, it is a great tool to take inventory of these sorts of things.
But lets go on a little adventure. Say that you are in a college classroom and you have a huge mid term that accounts for half of your grade. This means that even if you have a perfect 100% average, if you make a zero on this test, you still fail and subsequently get kicked out of college. So you sit in your classroom and get prepared to take the test. You receive that test and write your name. You skip the instructions, and immediately go to answering one of the three hundred questions because you have a time limit. You answer the questions perfectly.
But if you had only read the directions, you would have seen that you were supposed to leave the questions blank and simply write your name to pass.
The problem is, you may examine all of the physical aspects of your life all day long, but if you miss the most important part, when this life is over, you still have failed. The most important part, the directions if you will, is Christ. Accepted Christ into your heart, soul, and life after believing that He was crucified, died on a cross and rose again from the dead three days later so that your sins may be forgiven. These are the directions and are absolutely necessary to pass the test.
But lets go on a little adventure. Say that you are in a college classroom and you have a huge mid term that accounts for half of your grade. This means that even if you have a perfect 100% average, if you make a zero on this test, you still fail and subsequently get kicked out of college. So you sit in your classroom and get prepared to take the test. You receive that test and write your name. You skip the instructions, and immediately go to answering one of the three hundred questions because you have a time limit. You answer the questions perfectly.
But if you had only read the directions, you would have seen that you were supposed to leave the questions blank and simply write your name to pass.
The problem is, you may examine all of the physical aspects of your life all day long, but if you miss the most important part, when this life is over, you still have failed. The most important part, the directions if you will, is Christ. Accepted Christ into your heart, soul, and life after believing that He was crucified, died on a cross and rose again from the dead three days later so that your sins may be forgiven. These are the directions and are absolutely necessary to pass the test.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Rightful Thanks
As stated before, it is extremely easy to look at all of the horrible things that may happen in this world on a daily basis. Its true, there are a variety of things that go on daily that may be heartbreaking, or even startling to think about. There are murders, robberies, suicides, drug use, etc. that seem to happen all of the time.
With all of these things that happen, it may be quite easy to forget or overlook the blessings that God has placed in your life on a daily basis. For example, one might forget that breath is not a right, but a privilege granted by God. Here are some common blessings that are frequently overlooked. Not all of these may apply to you, but even in that there should be rejoicing, because all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His Purpose.
With all of these things that happen, it may be quite easy to forget or overlook the blessings that God has placed in your life on a daily basis. For example, one might forget that breath is not a right, but a privilege granted by God. Here are some common blessings that are frequently overlooked. Not all of these may apply to you, but even in that there should be rejoicing, because all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His Purpose.
- Walking
- Talking
- Breathing
- Hearing
- Thinking
- Seeing
These are common senses and activities that you may be able to do. But do not take this for granted, these were given to you by God Almighty, so even in these things, give Him thanks!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Impact
Have you ever had a friend, or maybe this is you yourself, who is or was a complete blabber mouth? Have you ever known that person who could never keep their mouth shut about anything? Its one thing to have something to say about everything and what is said is meaningful and has eternal impact or meaning, but I am referring to when someone always has something to say and what they are saying has seemingly no meaning at all.
Well let us use that person for this example. What if one day, you and that person were at some social event, and that person said absolutely nothing to entire time while on the way to the event. In fact, the entire ride there, the only thing that was heard in the car was music. You two arrive at the event. You are greeted by the host of the event and you start socializing with others. Your friend socializes but keeps his words very light. On the way home, your friend says absolutely nothing until you turn down his street to drop him off. All he says was that the social was great and he thanks you for the transportation.
Even though what he said was not that spectacular, you will probably always remember it. It was simple, but its background was pure. The point is, sometimes if you keep humble and quiet, when you do finally speak, what you say has impact and power more so than if you were to simply babble all of the time. So be humble, think, and have impact in your speech and influence to better reach others in spreading the Gospel
Well let us use that person for this example. What if one day, you and that person were at some social event, and that person said absolutely nothing to entire time while on the way to the event. In fact, the entire ride there, the only thing that was heard in the car was music. You two arrive at the event. You are greeted by the host of the event and you start socializing with others. Your friend socializes but keeps his words very light. On the way home, your friend says absolutely nothing until you turn down his street to drop him off. All he says was that the social was great and he thanks you for the transportation.
Even though what he said was not that spectacular, you will probably always remember it. It was simple, but its background was pure. The point is, sometimes if you keep humble and quiet, when you do finally speak, what you say has impact and power more so than if you were to simply babble all of the time. So be humble, think, and have impact in your speech and influence to better reach others in spreading the Gospel
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
What are you looking for?
Its a tough thing to think about, but when one goes into any situation or circumstance in life, what does on really seek? That is to say, with what motive do they want to fulfill at any given moment? What our answer should be is that we plan to seek holiness as we do things, holiness over happiness.
In this, true Joy will come out of our holiness which comes from our relationship with Christ, hence the Joy of the Lord is our Strength. Meaning that when we focus on our call to be holy, rooting from our relationship with Christ, then the Joy of the Lord with abound anyway.
So this Thanksgiving, as we sit with family and remember of ways that we are thankful and joyful, let us remember that in all things, we are to be holy, and out of that shall come the Joy of the Lord, the Ultimate Joy.
Let us also remember the Ultimate reason to be thankful, that is Christ coming down to Earth, dying on a rugged cross, being raised from the dead, ascending into Heaven, and sitting at the right hand of the Father, so that as the years start showing on our faces and our strongest days are gone and we leave this Earth, we shall be in the presence of the Almighty God, because our sins were forgiven. Let us be thankful and joyful!!
In this, true Joy will come out of our holiness which comes from our relationship with Christ, hence the Joy of the Lord is our Strength. Meaning that when we focus on our call to be holy, rooting from our relationship with Christ, then the Joy of the Lord with abound anyway.
So this Thanksgiving, as we sit with family and remember of ways that we are thankful and joyful, let us remember that in all things, we are to be holy, and out of that shall come the Joy of the Lord, the Ultimate Joy.
Let us also remember the Ultimate reason to be thankful, that is Christ coming down to Earth, dying on a rugged cross, being raised from the dead, ascending into Heaven, and sitting at the right hand of the Father, so that as the years start showing on our faces and our strongest days are gone and we leave this Earth, we shall be in the presence of the Almighty God, because our sins were forgiven. Let us be thankful and joyful!!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Do Hard Things
One of the challenges to our calling to be holy that many of us face daily is the desire and natural tendency to follow the crowd of the flesh and react to things in a way that the world would. That is, not separating ourselves from the world in the way that we do things, thinking, saying, and doing. Here are some areas to think about when it comes to responding to our calling to be holy:
- Speech- we do not say whatever comes to mind, or speak with haste or anger, but with patience, wisdom, and understanding
- Thought- we do not stay distracted with ungodly thoughts, lusts of our eyes and minds, that keep us from fully pursuing the will of the Father
- Actions- we continually do things that spread the Love of Christ and advance us and others in our spiritual walk so that others may see Christ through our actions
My challenge to you is to simply monitor these areas and make sure that in everything that we do, we are responding in a way holy to the world and pleasing in the eyes of Christ.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Rejoicing
In life, there are many things that we can look at wish were better. For example, anyone can go outside to a street corner and see things that are not even accepted in worldly standards, yet align themselves in accordance to the bible. For example, we may go driving around almost any city and see someone smoking marijuana or something of that sort, and are quick to judge that person, and or be disappointed with the status of the world. That is easy, too easy in fact, to do.
But how about we be rebellious against the tide, and instead of seeing people doing sin all of the time, we see the potential to spread of Jesus Christ. After all, our calling is to go and make disciples, that is people following in the pursuit for a real relationship with Jesus. When we look at the glass, and see it as half empty, there should be the joy that there is potential for it to be filled!
So instead of only seeing the troubles and flaws of the world, I challenge you to see the world as an opportunity to be filled with the Gospel and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. So go out, see potential, and Spread the Gospel and Love of Christ to the world!
But how about we be rebellious against the tide, and instead of seeing people doing sin all of the time, we see the potential to spread of Jesus Christ. After all, our calling is to go and make disciples, that is people following in the pursuit for a real relationship with Jesus. When we look at the glass, and see it as half empty, there should be the joy that there is potential for it to be filled!
So instead of only seeing the troubles and flaws of the world, I challenge you to see the world as an opportunity to be filled with the Gospel and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. So go out, see potential, and Spread the Gospel and Love of Christ to the world!
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