Living in need

I think that most believers go through periods when their needs or the task at hand is greater than their resources. Sometime the need far exceeds the resources. I've been listening to a radio broadcast, that I enjoy, and there is now at the end of the broadcast a stating of an urgent need of funds to continue. Anyone well acquainted with church work, will know that there are always financial ups and downs. It is not an accident. God is working in all things to bring about His divine purpose. A great part of that purpose is to teach us to rely on Him. Now, how could that happen if we never had a need?

Pay attention to this: it is easy to believe in God as a provider, when every time your reach in your pocket, you find money; it is when you reach in your pocket and pull out nothing but lint, that you are living where the rubber meets the road. But how could that happen when I say my prayers and eat my veggies? Listen, financial need is neither a miscarriage of divine justice, nor a surprise to the Almighty. Remember always: the God we serve always has our best interest at heart. Not only that, but He wants us to cry out to Him in our distresses and with our needs. He wants to be closer to us, so He puts in place the things that will cause us to rely on Him fully.

So, what do we do when we find ourselves in need? Give something to someone. Nothing makes you feel better than giving. Thank God for what you do have. The easiest thing to do when you are in need is to become bitter, and the absolute best way to combat that is to thank God for the good gifts He has already given you. Finally, Trust God. It's not always the easiest thing for us to wrap our minds around, but it is that attitude that is thankful and trusting, whether you have or don't have, that God will honor.

Citizens of Heaven

It occurs to me that all of the great men of God, who have truly been ambassadors for Christ, have been to this world, foreigners. An ambassador is a citizen of a country, who then lives in another country and represents the country, and the country's interest, of his citizenship. So, we see that applied in a spiritual sense that our citizenship is in heaven, and that we are Christ and Heaven's representatives here on Earth. Then we have to ask, how well are we representing our homeland?

I wrote this statement while working on a sermon: "If they get the same thing inside these doors that they get outside of these doors: there is no reason for them to come inside." I was speaking about our churches, and if our churches are no different on the inside, than the world is on the outside; then there is little reason to be a proponent of bringing the lost in. On the other hand, if our churches are indeed representing Heaven's interests well, then there is every reason to engage in the work of winning the lost.

Plainly put, there must be a difference between Christians and the lost. It is in that very thing, the conversation, in the fullest since of the word, of a Christian, that the Holy Spirit convicts the sinner of his sin. It is in that difference that the salt develops its savor. It is in that difference that the lost are won to Christ and face the penalty of death no more. It is the very thing that makes us ambassadors for Christ.

Back to the Book

Satan is always trying to get us off track. He constantly puts things in our path to distract us from what we should be doing. He doesn't come on the scene with a pointy tail and a trident, he uses stealth. He doesn't just say here's the wrong path why don't you take it; detours and side roads are his tactics. If he can get us to detour, he can get us to stop doing the work of the Lord. It doesn't take much, it just has to seem like a godly pursuit or look like something that is harmless. Getting us to lower our guard is the trick that leaves us vulnerable to attack.

I have recently taken up a study based on things that are going on in the world today. Not long into the study, I realized that my spiritual life was not as it should be. A few years back I bought a book, and the author said that he read the book of Proverbs, a chapter for each day of the month (i.e. the fourth chapter for the fourth of the month etc.) I started the practice myself. Very quickly, I found more in the reading of Proverbs than I did in reading the book that I paid twenty dollars for. My point is, sometimes what seems like a good thing to study, may take us away from studying the Word.

We need to look to the Bible for all of the concerns of life. Scripture speaks to all of them. II Timothy 3:16-17 Our studies need to stem from the Book, not the other way around. Remember church camp from when you were a kid, how it was such a spiritual high; do we wonder how retreats get us to such a close place with God, and not realize that there is a direct correlation to how much time in those retreats is spent in studying the Bible, listening to preaching (more than once per day) and worshiping in song.

Listen, day in and day out you have access to those very same things. You can study the Bible, listen to preaching (literally any time you want, thanks to podcasts) and sing your heart out in the shower or in the car. If you are feeling a little flat spiritually, then start your next retreat at home: download some sermons, study your Bible, sing praises and really talk to God about all that is in your heart the next time you pray. You don't have to be on a mountain to have a mountain top experience with God. God bless you all.

Love better . . .

I once told a Sunday School class, that if no oars are in the water, the boat isn't going to sit still. The nautical term is adrift. Without motive power and without anchor or mooring, so says Webster. It seems that the general day to day cares of this life are constantly pulling me away from the cares of the cross. Adrift, is something that I can not afford to be. I always have to be on my guard. But, I find that vigilance is not always the nearest companion of caring.

Part of this pursuit of perfection, in fact the best part of it, is the people whom I love. I have to be better; because I am day by day more aware of the little eyes that watch me, and I must be better, because I can not deal with the grief of failing them. And in this pursuit, I must remind myself to be kinder and sweeter. To love better, is really what I mean.

Whether we are motivated or not, we are teaching subsequent generations. Too many today want to live the life that they want, and then hope that their children will do better than they did. One of my instructors used to say, "People want to sow their wild oats, and then pray for a crop failure." If you get nothing else from this, take this to heart: Be the kind of person that you want your children to grow up to be. Only then can they do better, because only then will they be taught better. Starting right now, let all of us love better than we have before, and in so doing teach the world about the Christ who loved us so much.

The guy that lives up here . . .

I had an unusual discussion with a fellow that I met in a coffee shop the other day, for the most part, he talked and I listened and tried to make sense of it. He kept talking about "the guy that lives up here" and he would point to his forehead. Some of what he said made sense, and some of it didn't.

Well, last night, "the guy that lives up here" had a rough night, because the guy that lives everywhere else didn't feel well. On the drive home, "the guy that lives up here" drove right past the house that we live in. The guy that lives everywhere else wanted to go home, but "the guy that lives up here" had other plans. Got it? Me neither.

So, where is all this going? That's just it, the man who told me all of this professed to be a Christian, but in none of his ranting did he mention the Bible. You see, he had a sincere belief system complete with doctrine; but all of his assertions were based on his feelings about God coupled with what he had studied (which was not the Bible.) Pay close attention to this: all sorts of evil is hatched when nothing more than our feelings are consulted as to what we believe. In this day and age, too many come to the Bible and when Scripture contradicts what they feel, they throw it out. That is no different than taking a blank notebook, a pair of scissors, a Bible and glue; and cutting and pasting whatever suits your fancy and creating your own book. If you get nothing else from this, learn this: the Bible is the authority that we consult, not the other way around. We come to the Bible, and the Bible changes us; it does not work the other way around. It is God's word that gives us everything that pertains to life and godliness. Let the Bible say what the Bible says, an then let it change your life accordingly.