Change your mind.

I got an e-mail devotional the other day and it was from Romans 12. What really jumped out at me was verse 2. "Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." That phrase "transformed by the renewing of your mind" really hit me. I try so hard to change my actions. Without a "change of mind" my actions will never be different than they are right now.

Verse 4 goes on to say "Just as each of us has a body with many members, those members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others."

I really need to have a renewing of my mind, not just for my own benefit, but for the benefit of the body.

I've lost my mind

Ruth Rocks!

Today I read the book of Ruth. As I read, I was not sure why I had chosen this book. By the time I finished, God made it clear, as He usually does. You never know what God has in store for you. I tend to be very short sighted and therefore I don't stop to think that, even in a bad situation, God has big plans for me. We have to look past the present and realize that everything is a small piece to an endless puzzle. Every time I try to trim a piece and make it fit the way I want it to, I screw up the whole picture.

Deuteronomy

My reading has been sporadic this week. it seems as though the more I commit (in my mind) to read, the more stuff that seems to pop up in my life. My heart is good though.

I have been studying Deuteronomy. As I was reading in Chapter 6, verse 24 stood out to me. Moses as talking to the Israelites about the 10 commandments and when had given them. Verse 24 said:

"The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today."

I have a deep love for my God, but what does it mean to fear Him. I don't think it means fear as I know it. It has to be like "awe" or "respect." Maybe I don't "fear" Him as I should. Maybe that is why I am not prospering spiritually or financially.

What is your greatest struggle?

I can't think of a sin that I can't control. I'll never say that I don't sin, I am weak just like everyone. I really think though that every sin I commit is by choice and most of them would be pretty easy to control, if I kept my heart in the right place. I think there may be one exception to that. Hold on though, it's a biggie!

In Matthew 22, the Pharasees ask Jesus what the greatest commandment is. Jesus tells them "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul." That's not really a hard one to try and do. That one is also not my struggle. It is what he said next that has brought me to my knees today. In verse 38 he says "This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these commandments."

WOW! I really do have a love for people. But, do I love people? Today I had someone take a strike at me and it made me very angry. It is an attack on me and even more important to me, an attack on my family. My knee jerk reaction is to attack right back. I wanted to say exactly what was on my mind. Neither of these reactions would have been productive and, at least the second reaction, would not have fallen in line with one of God's greatest commandments. You do not attack someone you love.

I guess my question is how do you love someone that is out to harm you and your family? If you go back to Matthew 5:44 we are told "...love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." That's not much easier. I can pray though. I ask that you pray for me that I handle this situation in a way that will make God smile.

Don't bite the hand that made you

I have been in Deuteronomy for the past few days. I am stuck on a few verses in chapter 8. Starting in verse 11 it says:
"Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

Have you ever noticed when thigs are going good, we start to forget about God. We actually start believing that we got to this point on our own. As if we really have control. Yet, what happens when times get rough? Who is the first "person we go running to? That's right. "God please help me. God, please give me. God make the pain go away." We are such needy animals. Remeber Jesus' statement about "the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Why are we so convinced that we deseve so much. The Son of God had nothing and we want everything.

I have to learn to praise God in the sunshine as well as the rain. He made both with his own hands.

Live by your own words

Yesterday I talked a little bit about how sometimes things just never seem to go our way. Today I have had to live by my own words. I had an interview for a promotion at work. I really thought I had it but unfortunately, they decided to go with another person. I was so disappointed. When the Christian side of me steps back in and beats the tar out of the earthly side of me, I remember that God has a purpose for me and I have to accept that. Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Kinda hard to argue with that!

Today I was continuing my reading in Luke. I didn't get very far though. I was really struck by the last four verses in Luke 13. I read through these four verses several times. In these few verses, Jesus is verbalizing his sorrow for the lost in Jerusalem. In verse 34 he says "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."

I am struck by the wording and how much love it expresses. If I put it in perspective of my own children, I can't imagine them turning their back on me. I would be crushed. Yet, that is what we do to our savior every time we do not follow Him. How happy he must be when we turn our walk around and go to Him. How proud he must be when we help someone who is lost, find their way back to Jesus.

God's heart aches for every lost person.

Luke is the man!

Have you ever felt as though you can do nothing right? Have you ever felt that, no matter how hard you try, you just are not able to do the things that you know you should. If so, rest assured, you are not alone. Being a human really sucks sometimes. Who can we blame though? We are always looking for someone to blame for everything that goes wrong. After all, if we can't place the blame on someone else, the blame has to lie on us! Well, we are to blame for everything. We have screwed up this world so bad that we will never be able to fix it. Sin. Sin is our own doing. Every sin we commit is due to a poor choice we have made. Luckily for us, God knows us better than we know ourselves. Since he knows us so well, he created this thing called grace. Through God's grace, we are saved. We can't do it on our own. For someone like me, that is hard to swallow sometimes. After all, I am a pretty self sufficient guy. HA! Without the grace of God, I would be better off if I had been a microorganism that evolved into an ape and then a human. No hope for eternity. I would just be existing here until I turn back into dust.

Evens God's grace for this world has its limits. Luke 13: 24 talks about the fact that we only have a finite amount of time to make it through the "narrow door." There will come a time that the door is closed and those that don't make it in will be begging to get in, but they will not be allowed inside.

In other words, if you are basing your hopes for eternity on just sliding by and being a good person, you are running quite a risk. In fact, I believe that you are setting yourself up for failure. Luke 13 goes on to say that the "owner of the house" (God) will, at some point, shut the door. He will tell anyone else trying to get in "I do not know you or where you come from."

If you are not giving God all you have, you better get ready to knock at a door that will never again open. We don't know when that day will come, but we know it is coming.