Acts 11:18 5/27/2025

“When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

This is seldom the reaction to change in religious denominations today.  These Jewish Christians faced a massive challenge to their church tradition.  But instead of quarrelling, they listened… and upon hearing Peter quote Jesus, and testify to what God had done,  they had no further objections and praised God.  

This wasn’t just changing the brand of coffee served, or the color of the carpet in the church… This was a major doctrinal clarification regarding who could be a child of God, elevating Gentile Christians to equality with Jewish Christians.  In other words, lessoning the exclusivity of the Jewish believers.  Even so, the membership listened … and embraced the truth. And then just continued doing what Christians were created to do – Praising God. 

In too many churches today, if a group of members is losing status they divide into teams and start assassinating the character of the opposition.  Or, in other cases, just take their families and go find a church that won’t challenge the status quo…. But this group, when reminded of Jesus’ words, humbly “quieted down and glorified God”.  

What would happen today if we were  humble enough to change our long-held opinion and follow accurately applied scripture.  What if our knee jerk reaction to being corrected wasn’t to immediately grab our keyboards and start spewing anger… How would the reputation of the church change, if we stopped letting pride mix with self-centered passion and instead of trying to win the argument, started trying to understand God’s perspective.  

When it was explained to the early church, that scripture clearly pointed to Christ, and that He died on the Cross for all mankind… they embraced it… They didn’t ignore God’s word to maintain their position. They held tightly to scripture, changing their opinions to fit God, instead of changing God to fit their opinions. 

We cannot water down our passion, but the target of that passion must be God’s will, not our rituals.  Make sure you pursue The Lord, not your own desires. Be unmovable on scriptural truth but hold loosely to tradition.  Too often, we do the opposite.... especially when the change elevates someone other than ourselves.

“They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”
– Jesus  (Matthew 15:9).

 

Proverbs 14:30 5/202/2025

“A tranquil heart is life to the body, But jealousy is rottenness to the bones.”

It has been said that jealousy kills love under the pretense of keeping it alive. Both in friendships and romantic relationships, jealousy is deadly, yet we don’t seem to try to avoid it. The Bible says that Love is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, nor proud. So, jealousy is not a component of  biblical love.

Since that is the case,  why do we tolerate it? Why do we dismissively say, “oh, he (or she) is just a little jealous”… as though it is a  minor condition with no consequences?  It is not minor it is dangerous and is capable of injuring both parties.  Envy is not a byproduct of loving others, it comes from an inordinate amount of self-love and it can destroy its target as well as the vessel that carries it. 

If you love someone you should be their biggest fan… But if you feel resentment at their success or popularity it is not because you love them, it is because you love you… and have allowed your affection to become controlling and self-centered. This verse says jealousy is a lethal condition that causes my bones to rot… That is a graphic description which in the original Hebrew, means “it ain’t good for me”.

Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate and make sure you have not allowed this “Trojan Horse” with all its poison, into your heart. If you have, get rid of it.  

God is love. The only way you can love others is to fill your heart with Jesus and let His love splash out on those around you … If your value is found in The Lord, if Christ meets all your needs… then you can love others without resentment.  Nothing should bless you more than the success of those you love. Since you are deeply cherished by the Creator of all things – how can you possibly be jealous of anyone or anything?  

If you grasp this concept, you will bring life and light into any room you enter… Miss it, and you will suck the energy out of any space you occupy. Jealousy and Love can’t live together – they share no trait, and there is not room for both in your heart.

“The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.”
- William Penn

Proverbs 28:6 5/13/2025

“Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.” 

Most of us would say we believe this proverb, but how many of us live like we do? 

We all agree this is a wonderful truth for Sunday morning…  but what about the business meeting you have this afternoon?  Do you really think integrity is better than profit?  How “transparent” will you be regarding situations that can cost you money? 

What about the discussion you will have with your significant other this evening? Are you truthful with those you love when it’s inconvenient?  Or have you convinced yourself that sometimes it’s better for them, if they don’t know the truth?

How valuable is your integrity to you?  Today you may be tempted to be dishonest by not saying a word… and some of you will be tempted to outright lie … what will you do? How much would it cost for you to sell your honor?  If you have a price in mind, then you don’t have honor to sell. 

Integrity is static and nonnegotiable. You either value it enough to cling to it or you don’t.  You can’t be “sort of” honest and there is no such thing as “half-truths”. Truth and deceit are mutually exclusive. Which one you choose will be determined by whom you serve.  Self-centeredness produces deceitfulness… God-centeredness produces integrity. 

If you tell me you’re going to “TRY” to be truthful today, I will tell you not to bother… you won’t be.  That’s like telling me you are going to “TRY” to run a marathon… you will never finish if you have given yourself the option to quit.  Integrity works the same way.  You must either fully commit to it– or abandon the concept.

Our culture has polluted honesty to the point that it is unrecognizable.  We offer “versions” of truth, twisting them to fit our situation.   We call them white lies, exaggerations, embellishments, and other nice words but this verse calls that perverse. 

You decide… but being “more” honest is not an option… you are either honest or you’re not… You and God will know the hard truth. Make sure your actions allow you to look in the mirror and know you did the right thing, and that regardless of the outcome, you acted with honor. 

"Integrity is always making the decision you can best shave with…"
- Anonymous

John 3:16 5/6/2025

 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

The danger of living in the bible belt is that we hear verses like this so often we become callused to them.  Familiarity breeds resistance to the remarkable concept of an Omnipotent Deity loving us and adopting us as children. We are told that we have been redeemed from deserved destruction and given eternal life, yet we are uninspired. 

Unfortunately, the church has contributed to this phenomenon. We have created a watered-down version of the  gospel preaching about God’s sacrifice- but never discussing our sin, or His holiness-  which made the sacrifice necessary. We have created a “self-help” version of Christianity, even though the basis of Christianity is that we are unable to help ourselves. 

We have heard John 3:16 since we were children, but when was the last time it knocked you to your knees and produced remorse and repentance?  How long has it been since the price paid for your sin took your breath away?

I wish we could read that verse for the first time again.  But instead, we have been "vaccinated" against the powerful truth it contains by a small, ineffective dose of religion. This numbs us to God’s  life changing power, and we lose the jolt and astonishment we should experience when we hear the gospel. 

The most staggering news you will ever hear is that God has offered you freedom from sin and death. His love paid the price of your transgressions, and He has made a way for you to have eternal life with Him.

If you can read John 3:16 and not be shocked, then you don’t understand it.  If it doesn’t stun you that Jesus chose to die for you, while you were still sinning against Him, you’re missing the point… Be Still and consider the substance of this verse… Read it as though you have never seen it before.  

God loves You. Let that sink in… let the price He paid for your salvation shake you to your core. Live today in freedom as a new creation, perfected in His love, and amazed by the transformation His mercy has provided.

"Here's the paradox. We can fully embrace God's love only when we recognize how completely unworthy of it we are.” ― Ann Tatlock