Genesis 3:12 4/30/2024

“The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

Blaming others for our conduct started in the garden.  When God asked if Adam had eaten the apple,  Adam blamed Eve, and then he blamed God… What about you, do you own your mistakes, or do all your apologies have a big “BUT”?  

We tend to say, “sorry, BUT… , and explain why we did what we did … Instead, be sorry for your actions  - or offer reasonable explanations for them -  but choose one, because both aren’t true.

As a society we have lost the ability to own our behavior.  We blame parents, culture,  our environment… you name it, we blame it.  This comes from a stubborn refusal to look in the mirror. Brace yourself … Sometimes your problem is completely your fault.  Confess, repent, and change it. 

Life doesn’t give participation trophies, you reap what you sow, and the consequences don’t change because you “feel” like they should.  So, make it your default reaction to “Own” your mistakes... Stay with me on this because there is an upside to approaching life this way… It gives you power.  

Obviously, there are times when we suffer innocently.  But when your life has been upended and you are blamed for it, you can respond in one of two ways:

1. – Deny all responsibility and blame others, leaving you with no power to fix it, making you a victim. 

or

2. – Own the problem and consider remedies, which gives you control. 

Do you want to be a victim?  If not, consider the possibility that you might bear some blame for the situation. That helps you respond calmly to accusations, which allows people who love you to help you. That calmness will also confuse those who are attacking you out of spite.  Humility and confidence produce thoughtful consideration,  instead of the knee-jerk argumentativeness we often see today.

Make “Owning it” your first consideration when responding to complaints … Look In the mirror, could It possibly be your fault?  You should hope so…  because then you can fix it. To gain wisdom, you must admit that you still have things to learn… OWN IT.

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month. - Theodore Roosevelt

Ecclesiastes 1:2 4/23/2024

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Have you read Ecclesiastes? It’s not what you would call light reading.  It is eleven chapters of making sure we understand that without God, life is pointless… The last chapter gives us the solution… but it takes a while to get there. So, why did God include this book in the Bible? 

Perhaps it is because disloyalty and distractions are our greatest temptations.  We constantly chase false gods who compete for our devotion. We search for idols in our lives to give us significance. That is problematic because as Spurgeon says: “If Christ is not all to you, He is nothing to you.”  

Is Christ everything to me? Or do I have little deities I pursue to make me feel important? Is growing my relationship with God my primary goal? My calendar and checkbook would argue against that. The time I spend meditating on scripture, compared to time spent pursuing the next dollar or accomplishment, would indicate that there is competition for my allegiance. 

So, Ecclesiastes  provides research data for me to contemplate.  The richest, wisest, most powerful king who ever lived methodically evaluates every possible angle to worldly fame, pleasure, possessions, and power… Read his report, examine the data, and contemplate his conclusion.  His examination is comprehensive and exhaustive and concludes that the world is unable to provide any true meaning. Nothing this planet offers can compete with what Paul calls “the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ.”

The summary is that the grief and pain this world thinly masks with trinkets and baubles is ever present - and unless there is something more -  we are gerbils running on our little wheel, and it is meaningless. 

So, God includes this book and demands  we choose our compass... Ecclesiastes is saying “Fish or cut bait”.  Is Jesus everything to you? God’s offer is to be your King… not an additive used to achieve your goals. Abandon your idols and follow Him - or quit talking about it. If you choose Christ, commit to Him completely and stop chasing the wind.

It is really pretty simple. We were created to worship God – We are here to bring as many people as we can to Heaven … everything else is redundant. 

“Your commitments can develop you or destroy you, but either way, they will define you.” - Rick Warren

PSALM 119: 52,55 4/46/2024

 “I have remembered Your judgments from of old Lord, And comfort myself.“

“ … I remember Your name in the night, And keep Your Law. “

Memory is a hot topic these days. According to Psalm 119, remembering God  provides comfort, calmness, and direction. Scripture tells us to work on our memory in numerous ways:

- Build monuments to remind us of His promises. 

- Be still and remember that He is God. 

- Take communion in remembrance of Him. 

- Hide His word in our hearts. (Memorize scripture)

In this passage David’s spirit is bolstered by remembering God’s judgements and law. Recalling God’s mercy and deliverance, and controlling our thoughts is an important strategy in limiting stress and anxiety. So, do you work at it? 

Exercising regularly and eating right are important physically. Exercising and caring for our brain is even more crucial. We are militant about diets, supplements, and avoiding toxins bodily, but seem careless with our thought life. Why is that? Why don’t we take daily dosages of scripture with the same discipline we take vitamins? Shouldn’t we approach time in prayer with the same consistency we apply to working out? 

My mother suffered from dementia and there were times she wasn’t sure who I was… but she never forgot a single hymn we sang in church.  So, whether you realize it or not, the music you listen to matters…  The images you allow to be seared into your brain matter. Regularly feeding your mind packaged fear from the media matters. Garbage in means garbage out… Your brain gives back to you, what you give it. You control the input, and that determines your mental and emotional strength. 

The benefit of a strong mind is the ability to remember His name when the darkness comes. When we face storms, He is our shelter… Train your heart to remember Him. Read His word. Build monuments. Regularly celebrate His faithfulness. Prepare for the storm by speaking, reading,  and meditating on scripture. 

No matter how my body decays I want His commandments tattooed on my mind, so the last thing that leaves my consciousness is His Holy Word. Even if the time comes when I can’t remember my own name, I never want to forget His.

“There is no place in my soul, no corner of my character, where God is not.” - Evelyn Underhill

2 Peter 2:21-22 4/9/2024

“For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to its own vomit,’ and, ‘A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.’”

Tough verses this morning. We have discussed that “apples don’t make a tree an apple tree – they just show that it is one” … This passage is the flip side of that. Fruit shows what you are… and it can also show what you aren’t.

When the Holy Spirit indwells you, He changes you.  If you are only simulating Christianity, you may clean up for a while, but your true nature will eventually re-emerge.  Like a dog or a sow, you will return to what you love. Coming to Christ, is a transformation… We aren’t perfect, but our faith leads us to die to ourselves and walk differently.  

This passage says it would be better for people not to think they tried Christ – when all they tried was religion. They built a house on sand, and when the storm came, it crashed… This makes them less likely to pursue God, thinking they have tried Christianity, and it failed them… When what they tried was church without any relationship, or commitment to Jesus.  Sure, they believed there is a God (so do demons). They were willing to receive gifts from The Lord, but never intended to follow Him. 

Scripture says that in the end there will be people like this listing the “works” they did for God - and Jesus will say I didn’t know you… He won’t say you didn’t come to church enough, or  put enough in the offering … He will say He never knew you…. What a heartbreaking verse. 

If your life is full of the wrong “fruit”, get to know Jesus.  That is what changes you. The cross makes fellowship possible, so spend time with Him. Salvation comes through faith, but make sure your faith has gone from your head to your heart. There is a deceptive enemy lying to you. 

By grace through faith alone is the only path – and that path produces fruit. 

“Make sure you “catch” true Christianity… When you get the disease, you won’t have to fake the symptoms.” - Anonymous

James 1:5-8 4/2/2024

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”

Do I trust God? … I mean really TRUST God. When it is all on the line, do I rely on the fact that God loves me and is on the throne…  or does my heart doubt God’s goodness?  Do these doubts eliminate my wisdom and make me unstable?

James doesn’t beat around the bush … if you don’t have wisdom, it is because you haven’t asked for it, and believed God would deliver.  God wants you to be wise… But wisdom requires faith. It is impossible to have one without the other because, wisdom is trusting God and tenaciously acting on the fact that He is Good.  You cannot be “sort of” wise.  You either are, or you are not, and it all depends on the power of your faith .

When I was young, we had a trampoline. I quickly learned that the surest way to get hurt was to attempt a flip and change my mind in the middle of the attempt. “Chickening out” in the middle never ended well.  Being double minded with weak faith is the same way.  Wisdom is about finishing. The wise either commit to completion or don’t start. 

Commitment and faith are the cornerstones of  wisdom … Bailing out of your faith when it gets scary can cause you to “crash and burn”. God wants you to look fear in the eye and keep walking, confident in the direction He is taking you.  He wants you to cast your worries on Him and have peace when your head hits the pillow tonight… But you must ask for wisdom,  and trust that He will carry you all the way through the storm.   Let your faith go from your head to your heart, and then to your feet.  Don’t bail out of what He has called you to do. He’ll carry you through it,  just stay the course. 

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” - Saint Augustine