Everyone Competes

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ~ 1 Corinthians 9:25

Strict training, self-discipline, self-control; all great athletes practice these traits when getting ready for a race.  Athletes who hope to win victory and a great prize keep their eye on the end result and stay focused toward that goal.  Christians should exercise the same self-control for the race that they are in and for the heavenly prize that will not wither away, but that will give us eternal glory.  Athletes watch what they eat, stay away from harmful substances and exercise their body to give them the best chance at victory.  Everyday, Christians should be on guard of their daily habits, on how well they are living righteously, and how humble and loving they are and they should exercise their heart, mind and soul with God’s word to stay in tip-top shape for the race towards our end goal of Christ’s eternal service.  Every believer who exercises self-control for God’s glory will win a crown that won’t rust, fade, or decay, but one that will last forever.  Hearts, heads and souls that are won over for the Lord because of the love you have shown them and because of your kindness and humility will all culminate to make your glorious crown in heaven.  To train our minds and attitudes to win over the lost and to bring glory to God should be our number one goal.  To win the lost takes discipline, training in the Word and sometimes giving up our own personal desires so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus according to God’s will for our lives.  We must throw off what doesn’t ultimately matter in life and run God’s race with perseverance for the purposes he has for our lives while reaching the lost.  Winning for Jesus takes discipline.  So dust off those sneakers.  We’ve got a race to run. ~ Amen

Stand Before

You then, why do you judge your brother or sister?  Or why do you treat them with contempt?  For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat. ~ Romans 14:10

I’d like to say that I have perfected the art of being non-judgemental, but that would be a downright lie.  This is something I have to admittedly work on.  We are reminded in this verse that we will all be judged by God so judging others is not a wise use of our time.  Instead, we should be judging ourselves with the same standard that we want to judge others by and see how well we do.  If we would remember that we also will have to answer to God we might be a bit more gracious and merciful towards others.  God alone is judge and jury and in this verse, brother or sister refers to a fellow believer in Jesus. Family.  We should be living in love for them and living humbly for them.  Helping them in their walk as they help us - not being judgemental, or hurtful.  Paul even used the word contempt; which also is translated as despised and families that have siblings in a contemptuous relationship are sure to cause fractions within the whole family.  We must not despise each other; in so doing, we are being judgemental and that is not our place.  Unity is important and vital to any family, so it goes with Christ’s family.  The fact of the matter is that each of us will be judged and none of us will come out squeaky clean, so who am I to judge my fellow brother, or sister when I probably have the same issues, and those issues probably have nothing to do with the huge commonality we have as being family in Christ?  For in the larger scheme, why should personal opinions or convictions that don’t have salvation significance get in the way of loving one another?  If it’s not a salvation issue, it is a secondary issue and should not be allowed to disrupt unity among family members.  Righteous living, humility, love of others and trust in God should be our forward goals; not judgement of our brothers and sisters.  Let us put our opinions away and love. ~ Amen

Your Gentlenss

Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near. ~ Philippians 4:5

There are people in my life who I call “gentle giants”, but really, these people are extremely strong.  You know the type - they keep themselves in check and seem to keep their cool even in the most difficult times.  They are the followers of Jesus who don’t bat an eye at persecution, or disagreements and they handle it by traveling the high road instead of getting easily angered.  They do what I often find impossible to do….hold their tongue.  The fact of the matter is that this type of gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit; you can only exhibit this gentleness by abiding in Christ, trusting God and loving others.  This kind of gentleness can only be illuminated when you let the Holy Spirit cultivate your emotions and you stay in step with Him.  You must be in check with your heart and mind and be on guard so that Satan can’t get a foothold in your  mind, your feelings and your reactions.  We must treat people, believers and non-believers alike, with grace and patience.  We need to be flexible with others and acknowledge that we are not all alike.  We must give up our own rights and be considerate of others first.  We must learn that it’s okay to agree to disagree and still love the people.  Many people have rough edges because they have never learned to be flexible, considerate and gentle with others who don’t see life the same way.  The truth of the matter is, as believers of Christ, we need to bring all anxiety, worry, strife and quarrels to Christ.  We need to remember that in quarrels, especially among other believers, nothing is as important as our end goal - to live for Christ for He is coming back soon and is near; nothing in this world is as important.  Ultimately, we are on the same team; in the same family and want the same thing.  The practice of restraining our emotions and yielding to forgiveness is the way of the “gentle giant”.  May we have the ability to hold our tongues and feelings in check so that we can be great examples of a Christ filled follower. ~ Amen

Straining Forward

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 3:13-14

Back in the day, I used to be quite the runner and I had great endurance.  Between about the fifth and sixth step of any race, or training, I would get myself into a familiar breathing and step pattern that would carry me to the finish line.  In no race did I turn my head back to see what was going on; I kept my eyes forward and focused.  In the same way, Paul urges us to press on for Christ to the finish line.  Do not look back; look forward so that you may win the prize.  We all know people who get stuck in their pasts, or play the victim role of life until it consumes them and pushes everyone else away.  Some get sucked up with bitterness, anger and resentment and stay stuck in that quick sand.  It’s important to learn from our past, but as believers of Jesus, we are not bound to it.  We need to forgive ourselves, forgive others and throw off our shame and let God’s grace wash over us and accept it so we can continue in forward motion in our spiritual walk.  Moving forward to live our life in God’s will and in His character and to live according to His ways versus the world’s so that we may have eternal life with Him.  Rewards and accomplishments here on earth will pale to our spiritual rewards in heaven.  This race is personal and no two believers’ race will look the same, but should be a journey aligned with God’s will for you and will require perseverance and intentionality each day to see spiritual growth.  Never in the history of the mankind has it been so easy to get distracted by the things of this world; however, if you immerse yourself in God’s word, cultivate a prayer life and keep yourself in fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ, your race will be encouraged, uplifted and a lot easier.  Now is our time to run our race with perseverance, love, joy, peace, and patience to stay focused on God.  He will be with us and make our paths straight.  He will never leave us as we move forward.  He is our biggest cheerleader.  Let’s give Him all we’ve got. ~ Amen

Even Though

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ~ Psalm 23:4

Psalm 23 is often read at funerals, memorials, or celebrations of life, but the darkest valley in our life doesn’t always mean death.  Your darkest valley could be a financial difficulty, unknown changes, watching someone you love live a dangerous lifestyle, a scary health diagnosis, or any other tumultuous circumstance.  God is with us through it all.  In the most trying times of your life, your God will never leave you even when you feel all alone.  By relying on God and leaning into Him and his providence over our life, we can overcome the fear that threatens to drown our faith and swallow up our hope.  The fact is, as believers, we do not face adversity alone.  God is with us.  The rod in this verse symbolizes God’s protection just as a sheep herder used the rod to protect his flock from predators.  The staff symbolizes God’s guidance as the herder would use the “hook” end of this staff to gently pull, guide and direct his sheep back to the right path, and/or field.  By committing this verse and other verses of God’s faithfulness to memory we can combat fear and anxiety with hope and reassurance.  Jesus has promised, “I give them eternal life and they shall never perish - no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28).  Inevitably, bad times come into our lives, but God does not change and He will be with us even to our last breath.  He has conquered our worst days, our difficult situation, our stresses and He has even won victory over our death.  I think it’s important to remember that God knows what is best for us and knows His will for us and sometimes we get our own will confused with His will, but He always meets our needs and provides and guides us the way He feels is best for us - not necessarily always the way we feel is best for ourselves.  Nonetheless, He meets us and never leaves us; no matter the circumstances.  I will have faith that even in the darkest and dire of circumstances, God is with me and for me.  Even unto death. ~ Amen

World Choices

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ~ Ephesians 5:17

We live in a world of choices; who we listen to, what job we have, what car we drive, how to spend our money, what kind of house we want, and what type of lifestyle we are going to live.  We live in a time when morals and values are up to us; when what was once wrong has many times been made okay, or even considered right now.  Being a follower of Jesus means I am called to understand the righteous way to live in His will even when the world gives me so many other options.  We have to search out and imprint our hearts and minds with the wisdom of God as it does not automatically come to our sinful natures.  We need to dive in and dig into His Word for the real truths of life.  Time here on earth is short and so we must evaluate how we are living for His glory from time to time.  To be mindful of our relationships and how we treat each other; mindful of how we spend our time and resources; mindful that our faith produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit and mindful of the many traps and ways Satan may use to destroy us.  If we say we are followers of Jesus, we must walk the walk AND talk the talk.  We must make the best use of our time and resources for His kingdom while here on earth and we must live a life that is pleasing and glorifying to Him.  We don’t need to partake in slanderous gossip, but should be encouraging; we shouldn’t work more to line our own pockets, but for the widows and fatherless; and we should be mindful of trying to keep up with the neighbors and instead ask for contentment in what God has blessed us with.  As followers of Jesus, we need to recognize God’s will for us, cultivate our spiritual lives, be ready to act in faith and obedience to God’s will, live righteously in peace and ask God for wisdom to do it all the way He wants; not as the world wants.  I want to be a wisdom filled follower of Christ, not a foolish worldly follower. ~ Amen  

Slow Keeping

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ~ 2 Peter 3:9

We live in a “quick fix” society where we don’t have to wait long for anything anymore.  There is fast food, microwaves, ordering online for almost anything, our phone is always with us so we can get a hold of anyone and if that’s not fast enough, we can text a quick message.  With our devices, It seems like everything, everywhere is at our fingertips, at our disposal, and we can have almost anything in our hands in minutes.  Our need to practice patience in today’s world is almost null and void.  In the same way, as followers of Jesus, we would love to know when the second coming of Christ is going to happen and we would like it to happen soon.  God does not break promises.  He will return.  It’s inevitable.  However, He also desires all of us to come to Him.  In His infinite wisdom and great love for ALL mankind, He wants everyone to have the opportunity to repent and turn their lives and hearts over to Him.  God’s time is vastly, vastly different from our time and His ways are exceedingly different also.  His time has not yet come because not everyone has had the opportunity to hear his gospel; plain and simple.  God is patient with you, me, even the most wicked you can think of and wants none of us to perish and be separated from Him….so more time goes by and hopefully more will repent and turn toward God.  However, that does not mean everyone will repent and that He will wait forever.  There will still be people who hear the good news and keep their head turned from Him and refuse….but everyone will have heard.  The hope of Christ’s return should give you the strength, as believers, to endure and grow in Christlikeness.  There will be a day when you will hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”  He promises that. ~ Amen

 

Pretending People

One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. ~ Proverbs 13:7

Better are we to be rich in spiritual righteousness than worldly riches.  All of us wish to have deep pockets, but what about the heavenly riches?  Does your ambition for worldly wealth cloud your ambition for heavenly rewards?  One is surely much greater than the other.  There is nothing wrong with worldly success as long as our heart is well aware of where our success comes from.  We must not lose ourselves to worldly wealth only to lose our spiritual selves.  We must keep ourselves in check.  The desire to acquire much here on earth is immeasurable to what God’s riches are and if we are not careful, we can become greedy in what really doesn’t matter in the end.  Monetary gain, when used solely for oneself, often leads to destruction; however, when monetary gain is used for others the Kingdom of God is glorified.  If we become self-serving in our wealth , we will most definitely end with nothing of great value.  If you long to build spiritual wealth then you must make yourself poor, or giving, to others success so that in the end you have peace, love and joy in your heart.  If you intentionally make yourself poor by pouring out on others the kindness, gentleness and goodness of God through your monetary gain then in the end you will have everything.  You will hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”  In God’s economy, to be rich is to give of your resources so that your relationships may flourish and his kingdom can be multiplied.  God’s economy is about giving, not getting.  A truly rich person may have enough just to get by, but have great character and spiritual integrity that makes him wealthy.  Then there may be a very wealthy person who has no integrity and no spiritual character.  Which one is the rich one in God’s economy?  Who do you relate to most?  May we never bankrupt ourselves spiritually for worldly gain.  Listen to this verse and the wisdom about the true nature of wealth and pursuing it for your own sake. ~ Amen 

Love Enemies

But love your enemies, do good to them and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ~ Luke 6:35

We all have those people in life who rub us wrong, who no matter how we might try, we just won’t get along with.  Hot-tempered, selfish, snobbish, someone who holds morals completely opposite our own, someone that may even wish us ill will; these are people we tend to stay away from and can’t imagine being overly kind too.  After all, why would I submit myself to helping someone like that?  Have we forgotten that Christ saved us and showed us his faithful love even as we were sinners?  My God gave His most prized possession for me without knowing if I would even accept his gift and then there is the fact that I will never be able to live a “good enough” life for such a gift.  To be kind to the ungrateful and wicked can only happen with supernatural strength as this act is completely counterintuitive to our human nature.  We are called, as followers of Jesus, to treat ALL people well; even those who are hostile toward us.  We don’t stand out for Christ, and we are not the light to the world we are called to be when we treat our enemies the same way they would treat us.  Instinctively, we usually want to respond to our enemies with the same intensity, anger and defensive attitude that they have, but instead, we are to speak graciously to them and pray for them.  We are called to respond with kindness, to give without expecting anything back and to pray for even those who show wickedness toward us.  This is such a tall order, but we must do what Christ has done for us.  We need to do good to our enemies.  Pray that God will help you with this supernatural task and He will meet you there.  Pray that you will see your enemies as Jesus sees them and help you to treat them as He would. ~ Amen

Have Labored

But I said, “I have in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all.  Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand and my reward is with my God.” ~ Isaiah 49:4

There are times in our lives when we feel like the mundane is overwhelming and exhausting.  The daily chores that we do day in and day out with little gratitude from others, but that must be done nonetheless.  What about living in kindness; turning the other cheek; giving and giving and giving some more?  Sometimes we wonder if it’s all worth it.  We doubt, we question.  I believe in my heart that I am where I am supposed to be, but am I making any difference?  Sometimes it’s just so hard to tell.  We may get discouraged, but we must remember where our ultimate reward comes from.  Who it comes from.  My goal is to continue to give God glory and to plant as many seeds as I can for Christ.  The world needs Him desperately; they need the free gift of His redemption and grace.  But in a world that is so self-reliant and a bit narcissistic, sometimes I feel like even my best efforts are to no avail.  My encouragement comes from knowing that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to turn the hearts over and it’s my job to keep planting.  It is a difficult world we live in, but if we stay focused on our mission and lean into God, we will find encouragement.  We may not be rewarded here on earth, but my ultimate reward will come from the Creator of the universe.  There is always reason to have hope in Christ so as not to give in to discouragement.  I am sure God felt discouraged as he watched Israel falter back and forth from Him many times.  I am sure Jesus felt discouraged at times as he led twelve misfits and again when He was in the garden asking God to take this cup (the crucifixion) from Him.  The Messiah of the universe felt all the feelings we feel and still fulfilled his mighty purpose.  Let us not get discouraged, but keep going on and let God take care of the rest.  Being called a follower of Jesus was not a promise of a discouraging free life, but we know we still have hope and faith that even through our heartache God will be faithful and just.  Let’s keep moving and keep our eyes on the prize! ~ Amen

Count Blessed

As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered.  You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.  The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. ~ James 5:11

We all have trials and tribulations in life and James is encouraging us to continue to be faithful to God even in our difficulties.  Amid great persecution and destruction that God allowed to touch Job, he never renounced his faith in the Almighty.  His children were killed, his livestock stolen, his servants destroyed and his body was overtaken with great sores - yet he persevered.  Justice was ultimately given to Job when everything was restored plus more was given to him and God was given much glory.  Anger, bitterness and self-pity can penetrate our souls when we go through trials, but we are called to keep our eyes on God and persevere through whatever comes our way.  Beautiful diamonds are created using great pressure and the same can be true of our faith as we wait patiently and faithfully on the Lord.  Non-believers can get swallowed up in dismay, but we are called to count our trials as great joy as they can produce glorious fruit in Christ if we would just hold on and keep our eyes focused on Him.  Jesus endured the greatest trial of all and God’s glory was shown brilliantly and mankind benefited greatly from his trial.  If Jesus had to endure trials, why wouldn’t we?  And even though we may never understand the reasons for our trials, we can be living testimonies of God’s goodness when we are patient and persevere through it.  There will be times in your life when you will question why you are going through something.  May I suggest that it is to strengthen your faith, to be an example of Godly patience and perseverance for others and ultimately to bring glory to God alone.  May we focus our eyes on Jesus, who is the perfecter of our faith, and persevere. ~ Amen