Spirit vs Pocketbook

     After Jesus was resurrected, he began to resurrect our spirits as we showed faith.  He told the disciples that someday people would believe even though they would not have the advantage of seeing him in the flesh doing all the miracles that He performed while upon this earth.

     My fellow saints, we need one another to give strength and confirmation to that faith that seems to ebb at times.  There are strength in numbers.  Make any rock you stand upon your church.  There are many people hurting out there.  Many of the hurting are poor, but there are many of the rich hurting as well.  Some of the materially rich have set their faith largely on material things and found it an empty and lonely life at the top of this material world.  They are lonely while standing in a forest of friends; people dressed merely in the costume of a friend.  When the money disappears, so do the friends.  Pray for the rich and pray for the powerful for many of them are in need of richness in  spirit to complement their richness in the material things.

     Our Lord cares not whether we are rich or poor in material possession.  He is concerned with the poor in spirit, and they can be at any level in the material world.  Do not confine yourself to looking in the direction of any one material class; rich, middle class, poor.  We our concerned with the condition of the spirit, not the pocketbook.  Christianity is faith in the lasting, the forever...in God through Jesus Christ.

Can We Smile and Laugh?

     I heard a non-Christian describing a Christian as some sour-faced old man and woman with their index finger pointed at you saying, you're going straight to hell, young man.

     Unfortunately, that is the picture many people have of Christians.  That is sad, because a Christian has many more reasons to be smiling and laughing than a non-Christian.  Do a little research in the Bible about the joy salvation instills in us as faith-filled Christians.  Have you ever come across a description in the Bible of Jesus being a sour-faced person?  I certainly have not.  He was full of smiles and laughter.  A person may attract but is not going to convert people by being sour-faced.  Yes, he possessed deep seriousness, but his mission was to spread the Good News.  I get the distinct impression that he wanted us to be loving, kind, compassionate, forgiving, and full of joy with a smile affixed to our face to encourage others to think and, eventually, have faith.

     If your are moping around with a frown on your face, you are not following the instructions from the man himself, Jesus Christ, son of God.  Our faith in God is all the reason we need to smile with the great hope he gives to us each and every beautiful day he eagerly and lovingly presents to us.  By the actions of Jesus, I think we can safely say, God has a smile on his face 24-7-365.  Kick up your heels and rejoice in your salvation my fellow saints, and make the rest of humanity wonder what they are missing.

A Risky Move

     I recently took a very risky move by the looks I receive from fellow Christians when I tell them what I did.  Now I lay my actions before you.

     I took an early retirement from my job to serve our Lord.  I do not have bundles of money and a paid for home.  Eventually, I will need to find some form of supplementary income.  My well-healed, well-set Christian friends gawk at me like I just committed myself to abject poverty and a life of standing on the street corner begging coins from passersby.  How could you be so stupid?  Are you crazy?  You aren't the brightest bulb in the house.  What possessed you to take such a risk?  What does your wife think of this madness?

     I suppose they have attended church most or all of their lives (a lot more than my wife and I have) and have never read the Bible or had faith in God.

     I would never do this without the support and agreement of my loving wife.  She is very intelligent and knows I have done some really idiotic things over the years, but not this.  Another important point, I would never do this without talking it over with (for years as it happened) God and receive his approval.  If you think this action put a smile on my face and improved my attitude, you should hear (I hope you hear Him regularly) God's opinion of this act.  He is even more ecstatic than I.  Jesus told us God Will provide.  He didn't say, God might or will partially provide.  He used the word will or shall.  But my wife and I have taken some insane risks in our forty-one years together, so why not for our Lord.  What if Jesus had said, do what!  I ain't putting my earning power on the line...much less die nailed to some cross for a bunch of ungrateful people.

     When you really think about it, most of us take many big risks in the course of our lives over material and worldly matters.  When God asks, you think that is risk?  Evidently, we do, because all but a few people when asked grumble while avoiding spiritual contact and making excuses when our Lord brings up the subject.  You're talking about God, creator of all and the most powerful being in existence.  You think he doesn't have the means to take care of me or is he is lying?  Get a life and begin faithfully believing in what God's word in the Bible tells us.  Today, begin serving the most loving, the most serving being and really enjoy life...forever and ever.  My favorite comment: Not everyone can do that.  Oh, yeah, they can and should.  Those grumblers take various passages from the Bible out of context and produce some brilliant excuses.  They forget that God knows what is in our hearts before we ever pray it.  You can't hide from God, folks.  Who would want to hide from God? 

     Please, my fellow saints, take a few so-called risks for Him. Neither I nor you would have walked willingly to a tortuous death on that cross.  Is there any more powerful example of risk taking behavior?  I'm not brave like Jesus.  If I can do this, so can all of you that are much more courageous than I. 

     


    

An Odd Ship and Crew

     As we sail upon life's seas, the tranquility of the calm and sun-drenched days soothes our souls.  All the while, in the deep recesses of our minds, we know without doubt the mayhem that surely follows Eden.  A menacing storm tracks us hidden from our sight over the next horizon while awaiting its chance to ambush.  Most sailors view the approaching tempest with an anxious fear from the knowledge of the storm's destructive power.

     My interest in this matter is concerning the curious event that takes place within these horrid storms.  Ships, fleeing the storms wrath, encounter a ship here and there sailing on the opposite course deep into the monster.  Most sailors know of the crew and their captain on these peculiar ships.  Though they jeer and scoff on their passing, inside and in private sailors harbor a deep respect and admiration for the crews and their captain.  Some of the sailors that jeer and scoff have at one time or another had the good fortune to be rescued by these strange ships and their crews.  Occasionally, a sailor will leave their ship to join the crew of one of those strange vessels, but, the discipline being a little bizarre and restrictive to their thinking, some return to their former ships.

     Those strange ships are sailed by what is commonly called Christians.  Their captain, known as Jesus, sails his ship and her crews into the least and mightiest of storms, but never does he have an alternate course in mind.  It's to the storm and to the rescue of those in distress and crying out for mercy.  Such a strange lot his crews with their, shall we say, different ways.  However, if you encounter a storm, have no doubt those ships with their odd crews are within and saving lives.

     

    

Lost Children

     Some of us lose our children.  Children can become rebellious against their parents and their parents set of beliefs.  This may include Christianity if that is the faith of the parents.  This act can be devastating in itself.

 

     The average parents initial reaction is anger.  In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus tells the parable about the prodigal son.  Keep this foremost in your thoughts when dealing with the rebellious child.  We raise them to become independent, and, when they begin to exhibit that independence, we panic.  In the beginning, the acts of independence are usually immature in nature.  They are committed with immature thinking based on little experience.  Rebellion is always against authority.  As a parent, you are the primary authority figures in their life at a young age.

 

     As a Christian, God commands you to continue to love and show it in your actions.  Do not alienate the child.  A bird is rarely successful on their first flight.  The first few flights are ugly and sometimes dangerous.  Be there to offer guidance.  Do not force feed them Christianity.  Force feeding can result in forcing them away even faster and can plant a seed of guilt in their minds.  Love is the key.  I cannot overstress love.  Let them know that God will always be here, and, if they decide to return, will be loving and welcoming.  I write these things from experience.

     God has a bad image many times.  This comes from Christian anger against non-believers or those believers that have doubts or questions.  Anger is an outward pronouncement of judgment, and we know what God thinks of our judging others.  Many times, Christians inform people that they are going to hell for their actions.  They should be telling people what I said above; God is always here waiting for you with unconditional love when you are ready.  His loving arms are a safe haven for those souls lost on the dark and stormy sea of life.

COMING IN THE NEAR FUTURE

I am in the process of building a website...as time allows or should I say, as God allows.

     Does that look like a wrathful God in a constant state of anger?  Not my God.  He is loving beyond description.  Rejoice, for he loves you unconditionally...not very happy about your sinning, but, with faith, He will change you back into the beautiful, loving person he originally created.  God Bless you all.

What Is Grace?

     "We have to be on our guard against the supposition that grace is an abstract quality; it is an active personal principle, showing itself in our dealings with those by whom we are surrounded.  ... in the great proportion of passages in which the word grace is found in the New Testament, it signifies the unmerited operation of God in the heart of man, effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit.  We have gradually come to speak of grace as an inherent quality in man, just as we talk of gifts; whereas in reality the communication divine goodness by the inworking of the spirit, and through the medium of Him who is 'full of grace and truth.'"  - Robert Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1871) p. 179.

     Grace, such an important facet of our relationship with God.  But do we really know and understand it?  We cannot and God does not expect us to fully understand Him and his ways.  However, He does give us in this human form the ability to understand Him sufficiently to know, love, and serve Him.

     What Mr. Girdlestone is saying is that grace is not an abstract, a quality apart from its object, thing, but a real thing; example: poetry is abstract and poem is concrete.  As Christians, we know God is real.  He exists and is a living God and a God of the living.  Therefore his gift of grace is real.  Grace is God operating within and communicating with us through His Holy Spirit.

     He really is within us.  That is why our body is a temple of the Lord.  He talks with us through the Holy Spirit He gave to us as Christians.  Does that not make you feel extraordinary?   You should treat your body as His temple.  The words that come from you to others are coming from the Temple of God.  It makes one think.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

     Do not be afraid of God's grace...embrace it making your body a temple worthy of His Holy Spirit within.  He knows we all are fixer-uppers.  Remember, he chose us and not the other way around.  Rejoice in his grace.