Say what you mean and mean what you say

Proverbs 12:18 - There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

I know it's been a long time since I've been able to get on here and blog. I appreciate the loyal "followers" as you check in periodically. 


I've been thinking a lot about the holiday season, what a blessing it is to celebrate with family and friends, to reflect on those things we value and worship, and to re-focus on what matters most...which is Christ, and who we are becoming in and through Him.


Of late, I've been dealing with how to grant Jesus access to all areas of my life, as I have felt more busy with work and the "hustle and bustle" that surrounds us.


The devil tries to distract us, to get us worked up about small things, to be offended by what we think others are saying or doing...and when we allow him to deceive and lie to us, one small evil thought can carry a long way...and before we know it, what comes our of our mouths is unwholesome, hurtful and does not build up at all.


So my lesson to you today is two-fold...one - to be careful to tame our tongues...and to take time to listen before we jump to any conclusions, two - to be deliberate about communicating clearly, so that others will not misunderstand where you are coming from.


I have been at the giving and receiving end of each.  I know how easy it is to speak without discernment, to let loose because of emotive passion, to assume that something said or done demands an immediate response or rebuttal.  I also know how frustrating it is when someone is unclear, that you feel misled and defrauded in a sense, because you don't know for sure what someone means.


Let's all work on learning how to better judge what to say, when to say it, how to best say it, and then making sure those who are listening understand it well.


Grace and peace to you. 

Love and Good Works

"For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.  These things are excellent and profitable for people." – Titus 3:1-9

This passage says so much about HOW we are commanded are to love others, to be ready to do good works: 

1) remember who we used to be

2) to humble ourselves

3) to be reminded of God's saving grace, quick forgiveness and His rich mercy towards me

4) and then to be motivated to turn and desire to love, forgive, and give grace to all, including those who have wronged me

I wrote this prayer which helps me set my focus on Jesus and obedience to my Lord, to die to self and live for Christ:

-O, wretched sinner, wayward child that I am, consider the wondrous work of your Savior Jesus on the cross and bow down, revere His grace and mercy, His majesty!

-Bask in the riches as an adopted heir of the King of Kings and ask not what God can do for me but how I can serve Him and others best, all for His glory!

-Christ is gain, to live and carry this cross, my cross, is my privilege and true joy. Take pleasure in being fully satisfied in a faithful, loving, kind, good God!

May this encourage you, dear brothers and sisters, to think of new and creative ways to be a blessing to others, to "consider how to stir up one another to love and good works" - Heb. 10:24.   

Grace and peace to you!

On self-control

I have just started reading Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney and wanted to share a few things from her chapter on self-control.


She writes:
"Self-control is so important that the apostle Paul required it, directly or by inference, of every group of Christians he addressed in the Titus 2 chapter.  The emphasis placed on this virtue reveals how essential self-control is if we are to effectively commend the gospel. We cannot affort to ignore it. Therefore, if Scripture requires self-control from every Christian, it is obviously attainable by every Christian."


She addresses self-control and how it relates to eating (too much/too little), sleeping (too much or too little), our thoughts and feelings, and our behavior. Self control doesn't just happen but requires effort.  However, it is critical to realize that it is the Lord who equips us to attain this.


What I really enjoyed most was her ending comments on the one behavior, if diligently pursued would promote self-control in all other areas of our life - the daily practice of meeting with God.


"When we meet with God, we can find peace in the midst of trying circumstances, eternal perspective where we have lost sight of the truth, and power to fight our battle against sin.  We will resemble that tree in Psalm 1 that is healthy, strong, and fruit bearing.  Therefore we should eagerly and consistently respond to our Savior's invitation to come and meet with him."


I would like to encourage all of you to desire and work to gain greater self-control in your lives, abiding in Him, to enable you through your continual dependence and reliance on Him.


Grace and peace to you.

Perspective

Too often, we are preoccupied with things that do not matter. When I reflect on what I do not have, what I desire, what I think I need, I get sad, or even worse, I start to complain and become someone I do not want to be.

On the other hand, as I keep Jesus, and His work on the cross as my only focus, everything on earth, EVERYTHING fades away. I am a wretched sinner. I deserve wrath and judgment for my sins, eternal separation from God...but God chose to save me, to send a precious Savior to die in my place.

Amazing Grace, how can it be? That Thou my God shouldst die for me.

We are small, insignificant, and naturally selfish and wayward creatures. In the grand scheme of things, anything we may encounter is just as small and unimportant...but God takes care to notice and to get involved...in His timing, in His way. He desires to be OUR life, to direct and define who we are becoming...that He alone is enough and sufficient and will provide for our every need.

God, please look on us with kindness, when we are not faithful or place things or people in front of your purposes, when comfort outweighs character in our twisted minds. Teach us how to serve like your Son did. Help us to be humble, to wait on you, to trust in you more and more.

God, give us a hope and longing for heaven...a greater love and desire to put you first and foremost in our lives before all other "priorities", to live a pleasing and honorable life before you and others, and help us to seek your glory in all that we do.

God, transform our hearts so we can be useful to you. Give us the right perspective on where our energy, desires, and love should be (not on self, but in consideration and deference to others).

Lord, you are Lord of our lives. God, please make us a blessing, that the lost would come to know you.

Grace and peace to you.

Of stones and logs

I was struck deeply this morning by the words of Andrew Murray in his book "Humility":

(pg. 55) - "The humble man looks upon every child of God, the most weak and unworthy, and honors him and prefers him as a son of the King."

Guilty, I thought to myself.

(pg. 56) - "Amid temptations to impatience and irritableness, to hard thoughts and sharp words that come in response to the failings and sins of fellow-Christians, the humble person carries the oft-repeated injunction in his heart and shows it in his life: "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, even as the Lord forgave you."

Man, that's so true of me again.

"In striving after the higher experiences of the Christian life, the believer is often in danger of seeking more visible virtues...rather than the gentler graces, those which are more distinctly connected with Jesus' cross and death to self: poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, lowliness."

Yes, Christlikeness should be one of service, compassion, long-suffering...areas I so dearly lack.

And I was once again reminded of the woman caught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11 (although the earliest manuscripts do not include it). It is insightful as I am naturally and already gathering stones, ready to cast, quick to condemn, slow to evaluate and check my own heart, and even slower to adopt Jesus' attitude and response, love for her, and to learn from my Master's example.

God, I'm so guilty. Please help me with my pride. Help me to love those you love, that genuine humility must "abide" in us, as we abide in Christ and die to self.

I myself have been forgiven so much.

Andrew Murray says it well: "Let us look upon everyone who tries us as God's means of grace, God's instrument for our purification, for our exercise of the humility of Jesus."

Phil. 2:3-5 - "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus"

1 John 4:7, 21 - "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."

Luke 6:41-42 - "Why do you see the SPECK that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the LOG that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will SEE CLEARLY to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye."

Lord, help us to be patient, to overlook offenses, to be gentle, sweet and kind, willing to associate with people of lowly position (Rom. 12:16). Help us to be humble.

Grace and peace to you.

How the future influences the present

I've been watching this new show called FlashForward on ABC. It's basically about a worldwide blackout that occurs in everyone's consciousness in which each person experiences a two minute and 17 second dream sequence or "memory" of what happens or what they're doing 6 months into the future.

There are few interesting things I have derived from it. First, there's the age-old interplay between fate and our choices, kinda like predestination/election vs. free will. Second, the characters seem to be impacted dramatically by what they saw, whether it motivates them to live with hopeful expectation or dread. Finally, the key is trying to decide whether the dream/memory is "actual" or just "potential" seems to be the main pull.

And as fascinating as this is, I've thought about how we ought to think about the future, about what we do know for sure, and how that affects what we do now.

In Philippians 3:20-21, Paul says "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." I don't know about you, but that gets me really excited! How we are to long for that day, and we'll have glorious bodies, and we'll meet Jesus face to face!

Similarly, Hebrews 11:13-16 states "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

And so the heroes of the faith looked forward with anticipation, not having the Bible, lived with conviction, hoping in a future that God had promised, a better country in heaven. And this is the SURE future that we have when we who have faith in Jesus can be motivated by. It is a blessed and amazing and glorious future to behold!

This also reminds me of lyrics in Enfield's song "Arrived":

Watching and waiting our whole life through

For the moment when we arrived in glory.

We'll be standing before His emerald throne.

O what a day it will be!

All tears are gone and suffering ceased,

Perfect new life with no earthly strife,

For we've finished the race, run to His embrace.

O what a day that will be!

When we've arrived, stunned and surprised,

All things resolved in the blink of an eye;

No more distractions, no sin left to fight.

That first glimpse of Jesus and faith becomes sight.

Praise God that He's made a way for us to know Him and His revealed promises to us! Praise God that He is sovereign over all and in control! The Truth is that we who put our faith in Jesus have so much to be excited about.

I pray this encourages you today, and that it daily impacts how you choose to live your life today, with gospel realities front and center, loving those around you passionately for Christ's glory!

Grace and peace to you.

Pride v. Humility

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been able to blog. I will try harder to post more regularly!

Today's sharing comes from the notes from my Discipleship Counseling class. More specifically, the ideas are from Andrew Murray's writings in his book on humility.

The epidemic vice and root of every vice is pride.

The endangered virtue and root of every virtue is humility.

Pride - The mindset of self (a master's mindset rather than that of a servant): a FOCUS on self and the service of self, a PURSUIT of self-recognition and self-exaltation, and a DESIRE to control and use all things for self.

Humility - The mindset of Christ (a servant's mindset): a FOCUS on God and others, a PURSUIT of the recognition and the exaltation of God, and a DESIRE to glorify and please God in all things and by all things He has given.

In our study, we listed about 30 manifestations of pride, including: a lack of gratitude, seeing yourself better than others, talking too much about yourself, seeking independence and control, being unteachable, lack of service, lack of asking forgiveness, resisting authority, being jealous or envious, using attention-getting tactics, and more.

We also listed manifestations of humility: recognizing and trusting God's character, focusing on Christ, seeing yourself as no better than others, talking about others only if it is good or for their good, being gladly submissive and obedient to those in authority, seeking to build others up, serving, admitting when you are wrong, repenting of sin as a way of life.

There are so many verses (Col. 3:12, James 4:7-10, Prov. 27:2, Rom. 12:3, Prov. 6:16-17, Jer. 9:23-24) that correspond to these, and I would encourage you to seek out the Scriptures diligently, and pray that the Holy Spirit can help you regularly inspect and search your heart because pride can be blinding, and so subtle but ever so present in our lives.

Dear friends, without careful evaluation, pride pollutes our lives and poisons our relationships with each other, but especially with our almighty God because it becomes self-worship.

May we learn to regain a high view of God and a proper view of self, so that we can put off pride and put on humility at the level of our thoughts and motives, through our communications, and in our deeds.

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Phil. 2:3-8

Our battle with sin is a daily thing. I pray that you'll work hard to clothe yourself with humility, and by God's grace, to "have" and make our own, the mind of Christ.

Grace and peace to you.