Trading God For The World

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

This verse does not work for us if we do not trust God. Love and trust always go together. We cannot truly love God if we do not trust him. Too many Christians ask God for help but doubt that he will help. They doubt because they do not fully believe in him to provide.  When we know what God wants us to do and do not obey we have a serious trust and love problem. We go our own way, a way which leads to sin. What we are actually doing is trading God for the sin we have chosen. This is why so many Christians are struggling.

For instance, when a man and a woman stand before God to be wed they vow to love each other, to trust each other, to be true to each other and to remain together until they die. They make a sacred promise to God. And God obviously promises to honor their union by providing them with his constant blessings. But at some point in the marriage the wife allows herself to wander away from her husband into another man’s arms. They enter into a passionate affair sleeping together, and she breaks that sacred vow she had made to God. A husband’s eyes become focused on another woman, and he burns with lust. He pursues her and wins her affection. The two of them chose to enter the bed of adultery, and the husband also beaks the sacred vow he made to God. 

These are examples of two Christians who have traded God for a sinful, adulterous relationship. Their choices damage their relationship with God. What they have chosen to do brings hurt to many. The lives of their children are greatly damaged no matter their age. Their parents, friends and their church are also hurt. Nothing good comes to them when they trade God for their lustful, bad decisions. The most tragic part of this is that they traded the richness of their Heavenly Father for the filth of the evil world. 

Let us not use the verse that all things work together for those who love God when we don’t trust our Lord to keep us and help us in times when we are tempted.

Something That Will Never Be Destroyed

Sports fans have noticed that the best teams are like a well oiled machine. The players work together, unselfishly, without worrying about who makes the most points or receives the most accolades. They give all they’ve got from the beginning of the game until the horn blows to end the game. Real fans enjoy watching a team that plays together and works hard whether the win or lose. There is a big difference in true fans and fair weather fans. 

On the negative side, a team loaded with players who loaf, play for themselves, and complain are not fun to watch, at least for me. I’ve stopped watching games of any sport. I don’t like college teams that recruit these super stars out of high school. I think that this has ruined college basketball. I think players who stay four years and learn to play together not thinking about going to the NBA before they get their degrees are the best teams. But fair weather fans, coaches who want to make millions of dollars and school administrators who want to fill their gyms to have large gate numbers will never allow basketball to be played the way it should be. 

Politics, political correctness, lack of respect for country, authority and team mates have turned this old man off to sports. These things lead to divisions and animosity.  One day Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of being possessed by Satan after he had healed a man who had a shriveled hand.  He had healed the man on the sabbath in the synagogue. Jesus told a parable in his defense. He told them that a kingdom divided against itself or a house divided against itself cannot stand. A team divided cannot stand. A church divided will not stand. A nation divided will fall. A marriage divided will crumble. All around us today we witness the destruction of institutions, from marriages, to churches to powerful corporations. Satan has turned people against each other. When this happens people are deeply hurt. Divisions cut like a sharp knife tearing hearts apart. Selfish unforgiving people ignore God’s teachings and fall for the lies of Satan. Even Christians allow Satan to destroy the reputations which God has built in their lives,  

There is one thing that will never be divided and will never be destroyed. That is the Kingdom of God. His kingdom is powerful and eternal. Christian,  you are part of God’s Kingdom right now. We need to obey our King. We need to trust him and never allow Satan to destroy the sacred things in our lives. You have been given power to overcome the temptations of the evil one. Don’t allow him to divide and destroy the precious gifts that  the Heavenly Father has given you.

I Don’t Care What Anybody Says, The World Ain’t Fallin’ Apart

Doom and gloom! There’s a lot of that going on today. I guess it is easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom, the world is going to end theories that some are predicting. Someone sent me a video of a man who was sure the world is going to end soon because the planets have already begun to line up in a certain way. I found a list of world ending predictions dating back from 500 BC to the present. There were 47 predictions listed. John Wesley, John Smith, H.W, Armstrong, Edgar Cayley, and even Jerry Falwell who in 1999 predicted that the rapture would take place in the next 10 years are just a few of the ones who seemed to know when the world would begin to fall apart. I remember back, probably 40 years ago, a religious cult was so convinced of the day when the end was coming that they sold all of their possessions, quit their jobs and camped out on a mountain to wait for the rapture. When this event didn’t happen they continued to wait but before long they left homeless, broke, with no jobs and with no hope.

Who can know the time when Jesus will return? Guess who reported that even he did not know the time that the rapture would happen? Jesus! He told the disciples that he had no idea when he would be coming back to fulfill the promised rapture of his followers. No man, regardless of his biblical knowledge, his scientific expertise or his so called mystic capabilities  can possibly know the time when Jesus will return. Those who make such predictions are foolish and those who believe this nonsense are also very foolish. We must not get caught up in these doom and gloom predictions. Christians are not supposed to be fearful and down cast worrying when some quack tells us that he knows the time of the end. The scripture is clear that we are to wait and be ready for the day when Jesus returns. 

The last year has been tough. The election, COVID, thousands of deaths, business closings and job loses, and the hate filled divisiveness which has plagued our nation sparking the fires of the gloom and doom movement. Guess what? God is still in control. No mater how bad things get, Christians are to share the joy of their faith, and be light to those who do not know Jesus. Speaking of Jesus there is passage that assures us of his control over our world. “He is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation...For by him all things were created,..And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:15-17 

When the world seems to be falling apart remember this, Jesus holds all things together. He is the holy glue holding tightly onto everything so that this world remains in place. There can be nothing we can do or say that will speed up God’s timing for Jesus second coming. Just hold on to Jesus because he is holding on to you.

The Bridegroom

 Mike, Lisa, Sherri and I have been having morning devotions together since we got to Florida. Sherri has been leading our devotions. We have enjoyed reading the scripture, listening to the words of one song which speaks about our topic, listening to a short devotion message that Sherri reads and praying and adoring Jesus for the particular characteristic that we focus on for the day. 

Today we adored and praised Him for being our Bridegroom. We are his bride, and we are to live pure and holy lives. In the biblical times a bride groom journeyed to the house of his bride. It didn’t matter how far away she lived he came to her. There were no phones or means of long distance communication in those days, so the bride and the wedding party didn’t know when the groom would arrive. They had to be ready for the moment when he finally arrived. But the point we focused on was that the groom journeyed to wherever his bride was because he loved her so much. He may have to travel miles across the desert or climb over rough, steep terrain, even run the risk of meeting robbers who would try to kill him, but still he came to his bride. The bride did not try to come to him, she just patiently waited and she was ready when he came. 

We must note the real significance to the parable about the bridegroom and the bride.  Jesus is the Bridegroom and the bride is the church. The bride is all those who have believed that Jesus is the Son of God and have committed their lives to follow him. Jesus left his place on his throne in heaven and traveled to us, sinful men and women to the love of his heart, the church, you and me. He accepted the place of humility for his bride. He came to be poor, meek, lowly, despised, persecuted and finally to die, all because he loved his bride. His journey was hard. His journey was filled with danger and he accepted this reality because he loved his bride. 

Now another thing we must know is that the bride can not go to him. We cannot do a single thing to bring him to us or help him come to us. All we can do is wait and be ready when he comes, watch for him, and open the door when he knocks. We can only see him through our spiritual eyes. It is as though we are looking through a small window to see him and the joy of each day that he brings to us. There is beauty and glorious wonder for those of us who have opened that door and let him in. Satan will do every thing he can to darken that window so that all we see is doom and gloom. 

Let me express something that some of you may not like. It’s about the election. Many of you are so blinded by the results of the election that you cannot see what is truly important. You continue to refuse the joy that Jesus wants you to have because you are so consumed by hate for the Republicans or the Democrats. You continue to have disdain for President Biden or former President Trump. You are foolish to allow Satan to blot out the joy and peace that you should have in your hearts if you truly belong to the Bridegroom. The messages that some of you spew out are nothing but evil darkness that come straight from hell. Friends, bride of Christ, you are better than that. The Bible says that if you are in Christ Jesus you are more than conquerors. That means that you are super conquerors. You are overcomers. You, through the power of the Holy Spirit, are able to defeat the evil one every time he comes along to steal your joy, your peace, and your Christian influence. We are to be like Jesus, not like Satan. 

Remember, the Bridegroom traveled a great distance at a great price to be with you, his precious bride. He came because he loves you so much.

How to Stay on Top

 How to Stay on Top

You might be surprised by this statement, ‘some of us are heads and some of us are tails’. How do you feel about being called a tail? I know, some of us have been called a tail although not in words which are nice. 

Deuteronomy 28: 13 tells us how we can avoid being tail but always be a head, “The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.” 

Our nation is dangerously divided. Our government leaders are divided. They have failed to adequately represent us because they hate each other. We see divisions in churches, families, law enforcement, sports teams, school facilities and within businesses just to mention a few. Name any organization where people are connected in some way and there may be division. This happens because we are not paying attention to God’s commands. For instance Jesus said that we are to love everyone, even our enemies. When we hate others and wish them harm we are grossly divided. Division occurs when we disobey our Lord and develop hatred for those those with whom we disagree. Ephesian 4:32 tells us, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” How many people in our nation are unkind, not tenderhearted and unforgiving? According to the scripture if this describes us we are tails. 

What does being a tail mean? How we pay attention to God’s commandments determines which part of the anatomy we are, the head or the tail.  God’s word is our guide as to how we are to treat others. “If we pay attention to the commands of the Lord that he has given us, we will always be at the top, never at the bottom.” It seems as though few people are paying attention today.

Lesson From a Night’s Walk

 I walked around our neighborhood last night and the night before. There are probably 8 to 10 sections overall in our subdivision. The reason I waited until night to walk was because I wanted to take my time looking at the Christmas lights and decorations. I could only cover parts of two sections. 

The section we live in actually has three different areas. Two of these area are ranch homes and almost all of these houses are owned by senior adults like Sherri and me. The homes in the other area are two story houses. Younger couples with children occupy these homes. There is a distinct difference in the way these three areas are decorated. The homes where we older people live are mostly adorned with red bows, wreaths, white lights and lighted nativity scenes. The two story homes where parents with small children live are a bit louder. There are lots of colored lights strung all over the houses in Clark Grisdwold fashion. Lights are everywhere, on trees, on shrubs, if it’s not moving there are Christmas lights. Blow up Santa’s, blow up snow men, little short yellow blow up figures that I have no idea what they have to do with Christmas are in some yards. One house has a lighted blow up air plane with a propeller that turns. And of course there are those spot lights projecting moving images of Christmas presents, Santa in his sled being pulled by the reindeer, and those with snow falling. 

I thought how the difference in the ways that the houses in our three areas are decorated for Christmas represent the cycle of man’s life. There is the energy, excitement and wonder of a child as he anticipates the night that Santa comes. The parents go all out to make sure their children are able to experience those wonderful happy emotions. As the children get older and move past the days of Santa, parents learn to bring the wonder of Christmas to their homes in a more age appropriate way. The days of child rearing move quickly and the children progress through high school, college, work, marriage with their own homes and children of their own. In a flash those parents are old and find themselves hoping that their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren can all get together for Christmas. Sherri and I realize that is not going to happen in our family anymore. We wish it could. 

Life moves ahead whether we like it or not. Christmas is far more than lights, decorations, blow ups, Santa and even family gatherings. Christmas is a Hope that far exceeds anything that man can decorate, buy, or any feast prepared for the family unit. Every individual in those houses that I passed the last two nights regardless of how they were decorated need more than any of those things. They need the Hope of Christmas. Christmas is about Salvation, Jesus Christ. He is their only hope. There can be no Merry Christmas with out the Hope brought to us by the One who was born on Christmas Day.

Good News Angel

 There are but a few days left in 2020. This year has been horrible, but I am still alive. If you are reading this you are too. We have had too much bad news. I will not try to rehash what all the bad news has been. You know that as well as I do. It’s about time we begin hearing some good news. We need something to pick us us, something to give us hope. I have heard some good news, the best news ever. Here it is!

The angel, most likely Gabriel, said to those shepherds, “Do not be afraid, for I bring to you good news. I bring good news of great joy to you which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.” The angel spoke good news to them, for all people, even us. Gabriel had appeared to Mary with the good news that she would be the mother of Jesus. He appeared to Zacharias concerning the birth of John the Baptist. It was probably Gabriel who appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him that Mary’s child had been conceived of the Holy Spirit, that she would give birth to a  son whose name would be Jesus, and that he would save his people from their sins. Every time Gabriel appeared to someone he delivered “good news”. Gabriel was one of several angels who could be called God’s “good news angels”. In the case of Jesus’ birth what Gabriel brought was the best news ever.