Proverbs 16:32 5/30/2017*

"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."

Our society holds in awe the athlete, celebrity, or executive who can overcome others with their ability. But many in Hollywood and Wall Street, conquer the world, yet are defeated by internal demons.  Too often we read of well known and highly honored individuals succumbing to struggles within themselves.

Maybe we grow up focused on the wrong battle. Maybe from a young age, we are too concerned with our outward appearance and reputation, and not concerned enough with who we actually are on the inside.

If we examine times of crisis in our lives, we will find that many are the result of things we did... not things done to us.

The great deception is the belief that controlling others will make us successful when in fact, controlling ourselves is the key.  Anger, Jealousy, self-pity....these are the enemies that do the most damage, and need to be subdued.

Let's shift our focus.

Let's take a long hard look in the mirror and conquer the man we see there.  Decide today to rule your emotions instead of letting them rule you. Do not allow feelings to flash, and dictate your actions. True power is shown not by controlling others, but by controlling yourself.

Inner peace is difficult to find when you carry your antagonist around with you. Rule your own spirit. You don't have to go out looking for a conquest, your most important battle lies within you.

"There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself."- Louis XIV

Proverbs 4:23 2 Cor. 10:5 5/23/2017

Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
2 Cor 10:5 "...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

We are militant about not allowing germs, viruses, or unhealthy substances into our bodies, yet cavalier about what we allow in our minds. We spend a great deal of money on disinfectants, antibiotics, and cleaning materials to protect our physical health....yet mentally we eat out of the garbage can.

These two verses, would indicate we may have missed something important.  

If you become what you think about... then you should be very diligent about what you allow in your mind.

Instead we tolerate movies and music sprinkled with impurity as if a little redeeming content can counterbalance the defilement of our morality. We daydream as though our thoughts have no power. Our speech is peppered with vile expressions as though none of it matters. However, God says what we allow in our hearts determines what we do.

What would change if you took the same approach mentally and spiritually, as you do physically?

What if you insisted that everything that entered your mind was healthy, and free of contamination? What if each day you were disciplined enough to supplement your mental health with meditation on God's word? What would change if you demanded the same purity and safe content in your entertainment, that you do in your food?

Make those choices.  Be intentional with your thoughts because each one has power.  God says you should station centurions, swords drawn, to guard your heart and take any impure thought prisoner as though it were a lethal enemy.

Thoughts are never neutral so be prudent about what you allow to take root in your mind, because it will grow. Everything you do flows from what is in your heart, guard it carefully ...

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."
- Marcus Aurelius

1 Timothy 5:1 5\16\2017*22*

"Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father..."

Our society as has wandered away from this verse.  Admonishing someone to treat an older man as their father, doesn't carry the weight it did when this was written.

There was a time in our culture when parents and grandparents were honored.  Patriarchs and matriarchs were the foundation upon which families were built.  They were held in high esteem and their contributions was recognized and appreciated.

Somehow today, our "throw away" mentality has now been applied to the generation before us. Our elders have become a burden and are stored away as conveniently as possible.  This may be our biggest failing as a society, and it certainly has contributed to the deterioration of the family unit.

Ironically we are making our own bed.  It would behoove us to model respect for the elderly.  Most of us will face old age one day, and we will be as bewildered by it as those that have gone before us.  

The old man you are so impatient with today, was once the star athlete of his team. He was the soldier that risked his life for your freedom.  He was the go-to guy at home, and the office. His body has changed, but he has not ... and it must be baffling to him to have people assume he no longer has anything to offer.  

God has a better plan.  Honor your elders.  Never be harsh with an older man or woman. Understand that they have wisdom you will not have until you have walked the roads they have walked.

How foolish we are to ignore the wealth of experience and discernment that is only found in age.

If you are blessed enough to still have your parents, intentionally honor them.  If not, go by a retirement center. Speak to the staff and see if there is a resident who seldom gets visitors and "adopt" that person.   Ask them to share their wisdom with you, and make it your habit to visit them. Demonstrate that they are important to you, and speak value into their lives.  

You will see them blossom ... but you will be the one who is blessed. 

"Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art."
 Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

Acts 9:18-20 5/9/2017*27*

"Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God."

Are you qualified to speak to others about Christ?

These verses discuss the days immediately following Paul's conversion, and would seem to eliminate many of our excuses for not speaking the truth to others.  

Some new Christians feel they need to take classes on witnessing, or they are embarrassed to talk about Christ until they have "earned the right" by walking correctly... reluctant to be thought of as hypocrites because of things they have done in their past. 

This seems reasonable, but it doesn't line up with scripture.  

Paul was coming to Damascus to continue his reign of terror on Christians... he had not earned the right to speak to anyone.  He was also a high ranking Pharisee coming to argue against those who preached Christ. 

Yet all of those excuses disappeared because of one thing....He met Jesus...and "at once he began to preach." 

Did you meet Jesus?.... When you accepted the gift of salvation, did the scales drop from your eyes so you could see the truth,  and for the first time in your life were you set free?....if so, you're qualified.

Study the Word, walk in the truth, earn the right to be heard... but do not wait to start telling others about your Savior.   It may be a while before you are adept in biblical apologetics, but the one thing they can't argue against is what God has done in you. 

Trust the Spirit of God, and love your neighbor enough to offer them the medicine that has healed you... God will handle the rest.

"Evangelism is not a professional job for a few trained men, but is instead the unrelenting responsibility of every person who belongs to the company of Jesus."
- D. Elton Trueblood

Proverbs 27:17 5/2/2017*28*

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

A good friend of mine spoke some wise words on this verse as it applied to his college age children, and since it is the marque verse on this blog I thought I should pass them along.

His point was, there is a right way and a wrong way to sharpen a knife, and if done incorrectly it not only will not improve the blade, it will damage it.  There is also a right way and a wrong way to sharpen a brother in Christ...and if done incorrectly it can damage your brother as well.

Iron sharpens iron because different specimens, or even different parts of the same specimen of Iron usually have different composition...this creates differing hardness values and make it possible for iron to sharpen iron.  The other variable that allows sharpening is heat.  If one piece is heated it becomes malleable and can be sharpened by another.

If we carry the analogy forward it would imply that we need to be aware of two things if we hope to sharpen others, or be sharpened ourselves.

First,  it is our differences that make us useful to each other.  We don't need to be exactly the same to be good friends.  In fact it is your differences that will challenge me, and make me defend, or change my position on important matters. In a society that more and more refuses to tolerate differing opinions, we are in danger of maintaining a  dullness that comes from conformity.  The body of Christ is called to be united, not uniform.

Secondly, we need to be aware that heat makes us pliable.  This is both beneficial, and dangerous.  As you minister to those who are in the fire you must take great care as a spiritual blacksmith. Aware that now may be the time to gently sharpen your brother,  and at the same time realizing that too much force will damage the edge.

So the next time you have an opportunity to help a friend remember it is not just iron smashing into iron that sharpens us. Sharpening requires carefully planned work, using our differences to point out needed change ... and carefully applying gentle pressure at the right time, and the right place.


"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down."
 -  Arnold H. Glasow

Daniel 3:17-18 4/25/2017

^" If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.  But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

The group Mercy Me, recently released a song called "Even if" based on this verse.  Listening to it, I wonder if we have lost the perspective these three teenage boys had as they stood before King Nebuchadnezzar.

So many of us fall away because we feel our prayers have gone unanswered, simply because the answer is no. Jesus himself, prayed that He could avoid the cross. His prayer was so intense that  He sweated blood, but thankfully for us, the answer was still "no", and His final comment was,..."not My will, but Yours".

Does that describe your prayer life?  Do you come to God with questions ... or with answers?...   Even when the intensity of our prayer feels like we will sweat blood ... do we remember who you are talking to?

Our prayer life becomes worship when "in Jesus' name" means what it is supposed to mean.  Too often it becomes a magic incantation, a rubbing of the lamp so the Genie will produce what we want, and that pollutes our prayer life and makes it something it was never intended to be.

I remember as a child, the relief that would wash over me when I could finally tell my Dad about whatever problem I was facing.  Then I could relax.  I put it in his hands, and knew he would handle it properly. Do I have that kind of confidence in God?   Does relief flood my soul when I speak to my Heavenly Father?

If we can remember that we are speaking to The All Powerful God Of The Universe.  And also remember that He loves us beyond our ability to comprehend.  We can make prayer what it was intended to be ... the ultimate spiritual pre-workout . We should rise from our knees energized, confident, and at peace.

This verse is not an escape clause to release God of responsibility in case He cannot deliver.

He can. He is able, He is all knowing, and He answers prayer.

...But even if the answer is not what we asked for ... our hope, our confidence, and our salvation... remains steadfastly in Him.

“Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”
― Mother Teresa

Ephesians 2:3 4/18/17

"We all lived among them at one time in the cravings of our flesh, indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath."

Jesus didn't die because He loves us...He died because we sinned.  
He chose to die because He loves, but our sin made it necessary.

We were terminal.  Infected by our sinfulness and His sacrifice saved us.  If we now ignore the sins of others in the name of tolerance, we lose the opportunity to show them the path to healing.  If we shun those who suffer with the same disease we have been delivered from, we become the ultimate hypocrites.

I have never met a Cancer survivor who doesn't hate cancer, and at the same time deeply love those who suffer with it.  Never would they ignore the disease, nor shun those who have it.
We can never condone sin, nor reject those suffering from it.

We must realize our sin was not ignored, it was paid for...we were children of wrath...destined for destruction. But we have been redeemed, and that changes our mission.

As Christians we are not hospice workers...we are first responders. We are not here to avoid offending those who are perishing and make them comfortable.  We are here to aggressively deal with what is killing them, and provide the healing truth of the gospel, all the while remembering that we were healed by the same free grace we offer them.

Keep both of these points clear and you will be an effective minister ... confuse either one and you will be of no use in the battle against sin.

"He who has felt his own ruin will not imagine the case of any to be hopeless; nor will he think them too fallen to be worthy his regard." - Charles Spurgeon

1 Cor. 15:19 4/11/2017

"If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied."

Easter is the ballgame...it changes everything.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead then we are pitiful fools worthy of the worlds sympathy.

If Christ was just a good guy,  who had some useful advice, and was martyred for His opinions, then we have nothing but some interesting stories, and a mentor.

But if the grave is empty...that changes who, and what we are.

So there is no hedging your bet, no playing it safe...
Christ Himself said pick up your cross, give all you have away, leave all you know ... and follow me. That is not a mentor, that is a King. So it is either nothing, or everything,  and Easter is the determining factor.

If they found His body, then He lied and we are fools.  But if His tomb is empty we are redeemed. Those are your two logical choices. But the most common choice is somewhere in the middle and Paul says that is lunacy.

 If you follow a guy who falsely claimed to be God,  because you like some of the things He said,  that is irrational.   If you believe Jesus is God and rose from the grave, and yet it doesn't impact  how you live,  that too is insanity. So make the call.

This Easter make a decision ... if He is who He said He is ... it should change you.  If faith, in fact, changes your eternal destination, then it is worth living and dying  for and should impact everything you do from this moment on.

Easter is our deliverance, it is the most important event in human history and it is the only reason for Christmas and the Cross.  When Christ walked out of that grave He changed our eternity.

This Easter don't be distracted by the pageantry.  Instead contemplate the single moment in time that changed everything - and let it change you.

“Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless.”
― Billy Graham

Proverbs 15:31 4/4/2017*

^"Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise."

We often discuss how we should talk to others ... but what about how we should listen?

This verse talks about the side of the transaction that we sometimes neglect.  When is the last time you appreciated a correction?  When someone admonishes you, what is your initial response?

Most of us only hear about half of a reprimand before we begin to prepare our defense ... and our defense inevitably contains a counter- attack against the reprimand-er.

What if we changed that?  What if we actually considered the content when someone filed a complaint against us....even if the rebuke was delivered poorly, it may have some validity, and it's consideration could have a positive impact on us.

Real wisdom and positive change can only come from humility ... and humility can only come from confidence.

That sounds counter intuitive, but it is true. Confidence in your worth as a Child of God, releases you from any obligation to defend yourself, and allows you to consider all information without feeling threatened.  This puts you in a position to improve.

This week let's try an experiment. When someone reprimands you, hold your tongue for a moment
- and listen.

Honestly consider the information and determine what part, if any, has merit. After considering the input, respond in a appreciative, and respectful manner and see what happens.  My guess is, it will bless those who are honestly trying to help you, and greatly confuse those who are not. 

Either way, you will display maturity,  and process information that could help you. This is the only response that in the end, benefits you and makes you  at home among the wise. 

"The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. "
Helmut Schmidt

Proverbs 26:1 3/28/2017

"As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife."

Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?

Some see it as a badge of honor to aggressively debate,  anyone who holds a different opinion. Truth and facts are not important, only winning matters, and if you destroy somebody in the process that's even better.  Social media has made arguing a spectator sport, it is our new form of entertainment.

However, scripture is clear that pain is the result of being argumentative.  Strife, and misery need fuel to exist,  and quarrelsome people provide it.  When you are around contentious people, the slightest provocation leads to an explosive response, like gasoline on a fire.

Have you bought into society's proposition that it is a sign of strength to always be ready to ignite a quarrel...or have you learned the art of snuffing out the flame?  Have you gone against the grain and learned to diffuse arguments rather than escalate them?

No doubt there are times when we must speak unpopular truth. But there is a difference in contending for what is right, and being contentious.

This week lets be peace-makers.  Let's pause before we react.  Instead of  our words being like metal on metal, let's wrap them in fur that won't cause sparks when received.  If we can come to the realization that understanding is as important as winning, we will learn to listen differently.  It might change our mind, but even if it doesn't, it will definitely change our tone.

....The power in what you say, lies in it's truth...not the volume in which it is said.

"It takes two to quarrel, but only one to end it."
Matthew Prior