Lebron made up his mind, we must decide things, too!
The nation waited anxiously last night for basketball star Lebron James to announce whether he would stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers or make a move. For seven years he was loyal to Cleveland bringing major dollars to the team but always falling short of his goal to own a championship ring. Since he is a free agent, decision time loomed. He narrowed his choices to six teams then switched back and forth between choices keeping the nation on edge.
Last night he made his choice, he chose to move to Miami and play with the Miami Heat.
Life is about choices. We choose whom we play with; we choose our own team.
There are many who make choices about whether to choose to live a Christian life or one that is contrary to God's will. We choose the high road or the low road. Some of us switch back and forth between the two without really making a choice.
We have to choose a team because all of heaven waits our decision. LeBron James' basketball choice was made in line with his personal goal. He left $30 million on the table to do it.
We have to make choices in line with our goals as well. Some choices are hard and may cause us to leave a lot on the table but they are necessary to get where we are trying to go.
The world has made us an offer.
God has made us an offer, too, backed up by the blood of Christ and confirmation of the Holy Spirit.
1 Kings 18:21 (MSG)Elijah challenged the people: "How long are you going to sit on the fence? If GOD is the real God, follow him; if it's Baal, follow him. Make up your minds!"
Make your move.
Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts
Friday, July 09, 2010
Thursday, July 01, 2010
She believes in God but not in a personal way.
She believes in God but not in a personal way.
I recently shared with a brilliant young lady who is going places in life. She obeys the law, is climbing in her career and has great prospects. She was exposed to faith training as a girl but has since adopted a different views. She told me that she believes in God but not feel that God is personal.
I told her that she will change that view when life sends her scrambling for the God of her youth for nurture, strength, protection and guidance.
In my 41 years of ministry I have encountered many who share this belief. They believe in an all powerful creator of the universe, but their belief stops there. They feel no need for worship, fellowship with other believers or study of His word. They especially reject any formalities or limitations that may be associated with anything beyond a simple belief in a divine creator.
They believe in God. That's enough for them.
That works fine until we need God to respond to our life situation but our lack of faith keeps Him at a distance.
I believe that God is a person and is personal. As such, God loves: creates, destroys, angers, cares, rewards and punishes, saves, forgives and blesses. Since God is personal, we each have our own unique ID through which he identifies with us, hears us, guides us, correct us and opens doors for us.
Only those who believe in a personal God pray, otherwise prayer is a useless exercise because God does not take calls from mere mortals unless He's personal.
The trick in life is to allow God to be personal with us. In our thoughts we commune with Him and share our aspirations. In return He shares with us through inspiration, spiritual epiphanies, and teachable moments. When we pray we invite God into our business. Once invited God encourages, strengthens, inspires and renews. He also troubles us when we break or bend His rules; He works on our conscience.
It is the personal God who answers our prayers, lifts us when we we down, and gives us that second or third chance to get it right when we have failed.
Believing in God is the first step of faith. The second is to open the door of your heart and invite Him in. He knocks and waits for the invitation.
Revelation 3:20 "I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you."
When call on Him, we open the door and let Him in. That's when our lives change for the better.
Those who know Him personally begin to live fully functional, happy, blessed lives that meet life's challenge with the confidence that the God they believe in knows them personally and will hear their prayers and direct their paths.
I recently shared with a brilliant young lady who is going places in life. She obeys the law, is climbing in her career and has great prospects. She was exposed to faith training as a girl but has since adopted a different views. She told me that she believes in God but not feel that God is personal.
I told her that she will change that view when life sends her scrambling for the God of her youth for nurture, strength, protection and guidance.
In my 41 years of ministry I have encountered many who share this belief. They believe in an all powerful creator of the universe, but their belief stops there. They feel no need for worship, fellowship with other believers or study of His word. They especially reject any formalities or limitations that may be associated with anything beyond a simple belief in a divine creator.
They believe in God. That's enough for them.
That works fine until we need God to respond to our life situation but our lack of faith keeps Him at a distance.
I believe that God is a person and is personal. As such, God loves: creates, destroys, angers, cares, rewards and punishes, saves, forgives and blesses. Since God is personal, we each have our own unique ID through which he identifies with us, hears us, guides us, correct us and opens doors for us.
Only those who believe in a personal God pray, otherwise prayer is a useless exercise because God does not take calls from mere mortals unless He's personal.
The trick in life is to allow God to be personal with us. In our thoughts we commune with Him and share our aspirations. In return He shares with us through inspiration, spiritual epiphanies, and teachable moments. When we pray we invite God into our business. Once invited God encourages, strengthens, inspires and renews. He also troubles us when we break or bend His rules; He works on our conscience.
It is the personal God who answers our prayers, lifts us when we we down, and gives us that second or third chance to get it right when we have failed.
Believing in God is the first step of faith. The second is to open the door of your heart and invite Him in. He knocks and waits for the invitation.
Revelation 3:20 "I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you."
When call on Him, we open the door and let Him in. That's when our lives change for the better.
Those who know Him personally begin to live fully functional, happy, blessed lives that meet life's challenge with the confidence that the God they believe in knows them personally and will hear their prayers and direct their paths.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I spill, you spill, oil spills; who cleans it up?
I spill things sometimes, who cleans it up?
Occasionally, I spill things: a glass a water here, a can of soda there. Often not much damage is done except the time I spilled a can of Coke on my lap top computer. I once spilled spaghetti on my necktie, it dropped right off the spoon. A trash bag burst once and all of the contents spilled on to my wife's newly waxed floor. I spilled a whole glass of water once on the crouch area of my pants once; people stared because it looked as if I had wet myself. It was a big spot.
We all spill things, the question is: "Who cleans up afterwards?"
I usually grab a towel or whatever is available and try to clean up behind myself, but my wife says my efforts to cleanup only mess up more. She has to take over to get it done right.
When I spill something, it's usually small. What if I spilled something bigger?
In New Orleans there is a massive oil spill that is devastating the Louisiana Coast. An oil well owned by British Petroleum, Inc. (BP) exploded, killed many workers and is spewing over 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. Birds, fish and livelihoods are being threatened. BP has promised to clean it up and pay everyone for their losses including the state and individual businesses and families.
Even that huge commitment is not enough at present because the oil is still spewing into the water and it appears to worsen daily. The complaints are multiplying.
When it's all over who will clean it up? Except for the lives lost, BP promises to restore everything. It may be too big a job for BP alone. Some want that government to take over and manage the recovery.
Sometimes we mess up in our lives. Like a giant spill we mess up everything. Like BP, we promise to make it all right but despite our best plans we can't stop the massive seepage everyday.
It's obvious that we need a higher power to take over and manage our recovery. We can't save ourselves from ourselves. We need God's help. He has the power to get the job done. We need God's power for restoration.
There is a bible passage that says, "Psalms 51:10-12 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."
That can of Coke that spilled on my laptop cost me about $1,500 to replace the unit. That's one spill that won't happen again.
My life spills costs a lot too; that's why I'm taking extra caution to insure that they don't happen again.
Occasionally, I spill things: a glass a water here, a can of soda there. Often not much damage is done except the time I spilled a can of Coke on my lap top computer. I once spilled spaghetti on my necktie, it dropped right off the spoon. A trash bag burst once and all of the contents spilled on to my wife's newly waxed floor. I spilled a whole glass of water once on the crouch area of my pants once; people stared because it looked as if I had wet myself. It was a big spot.
We all spill things, the question is: "Who cleans up afterwards?"
I usually grab a towel or whatever is available and try to clean up behind myself, but my wife says my efforts to cleanup only mess up more. She has to take over to get it done right.
When I spill something, it's usually small. What if I spilled something bigger?
In New Orleans there is a massive oil spill that is devastating the Louisiana Coast. An oil well owned by British Petroleum, Inc. (BP) exploded, killed many workers and is spewing over 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. Birds, fish and livelihoods are being threatened. BP has promised to clean it up and pay everyone for their losses including the state and individual businesses and families.
Even that huge commitment is not enough at present because the oil is still spewing into the water and it appears to worsen daily. The complaints are multiplying.
When it's all over who will clean it up? Except for the lives lost, BP promises to restore everything. It may be too big a job for BP alone. Some want that government to take over and manage the recovery.
Sometimes we mess up in our lives. Like a giant spill we mess up everything. Like BP, we promise to make it all right but despite our best plans we can't stop the massive seepage everyday.
It's obvious that we need a higher power to take over and manage our recovery. We can't save ourselves from ourselves. We need God's help. He has the power to get the job done. We need God's power for restoration.
There is a bible passage that says, "Psalms 51:10-12 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."
That can of Coke that spilled on my laptop cost me about $1,500 to replace the unit. That's one spill that won't happen again.
My life spills costs a lot too; that's why I'm taking extra caution to insure that they don't happen again.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A house full of junk
They accumulated so much junk in their homes they could not move around!
I watched a CNN news report yesterday about people CNN called hoarders. For some strange reason these individuals feel the need to accumulate what can only be described as junk. One man could not get to his kitchen, see his sofa or climb a stairway in his home because of junk. A woman ate her food in a small junkless space in her living room because the rest of her spacious home was filled with items she picked up on the side of the road, at rummage sales and Goodwills. Their homes were filled with junk..in every room, including their bathrooms!
They all have a disorder that prompts them to collect junk. They can't help themselves.
Most of us may not be hoarders but we do allow junk to accumulate in our lives. Our junk may be leftover baggage from a prior relationship, bad habits, impure thoughts and hatreds, jealousies, etc. As the years pass the junk accumulates quickly. Soon our junk overwhelms us, suffocates us to the point that we can't really live.
Jesus said in John 10:10, ".. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Those who truly follow Christ accumulate those things that will contribute to the abundant life. It means we get rid of the junk and start to really live.
As I watched those hoarders on CNN I thought about my closet; I have some junk to throw out too!
I watched a CNN news report yesterday about people CNN called hoarders. For some strange reason these individuals feel the need to accumulate what can only be described as junk. One man could not get to his kitchen, see his sofa or climb a stairway in his home because of junk. A woman ate her food in a small junkless space in her living room because the rest of her spacious home was filled with items she picked up on the side of the road, at rummage sales and Goodwills. Their homes were filled with junk..in every room, including their bathrooms!
They all have a disorder that prompts them to collect junk. They can't help themselves.
Most of us may not be hoarders but we do allow junk to accumulate in our lives. Our junk may be leftover baggage from a prior relationship, bad habits, impure thoughts and hatreds, jealousies, etc. As the years pass the junk accumulates quickly. Soon our junk overwhelms us, suffocates us to the point that we can't really live.
Jesus said in John 10:10, ".. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Those who truly follow Christ accumulate those things that will contribute to the abundant life. It means we get rid of the junk and start to really live.
As I watched those hoarders on CNN I thought about my closet; I have some junk to throw out too!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
She buys 100 lottery tickets every day!
It was hard to believe, but yesterday I watched a woman purchase 100 lottery tickets at one time.
The line at the convenience store was long and patrons were getting restless as we waited for the machine to print one hundred .50 cent lottery tickets for a woman who patiently waited, then handed the cashier a $50 bill. She was excited. Apparently she won $2,500.00 the night before and averages between $3,000 and $4,000 a month playing the "Pick Four game."
She explained to the attendant that she buys 100 tickets a day, spending about $1500 a month. The odds are in her favor she says, and so far she has doubled her money. She uses the first $1,500 she wins to pay for the next month.
She has no job. She plays the lottery for a living and on a good month clears about $2,500 a month. She says she never has a completely losing month, but there is always a chance.
I smiled as I watched her and thought about the millions of people who take chances with their salvation in the same way. In a cruel game of spiritual Russian Roulette some gamble on their salvation, rejecting Christ and refusing salvation; hoping to gain eternal life by chance.
Acts 4:12 reminds us that there is "none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." We should not take a chance on anything else.
We won't get to heaven by lottery and we can't devise a strategy to gain admittance. We must accept Jesus, repent from our sins, and live for him.
The lady who bought the lottery tickets says she has a fool proof plan for guaranteed income without working, but there is no guaranteed way to get to heaven without Christ.
The line at the convenience store was long and patrons were getting restless as we waited for the machine to print one hundred .50 cent lottery tickets for a woman who patiently waited, then handed the cashier a $50 bill. She was excited. Apparently she won $2,500.00 the night before and averages between $3,000 and $4,000 a month playing the "Pick Four game."
She explained to the attendant that she buys 100 tickets a day, spending about $1500 a month. The odds are in her favor she says, and so far she has doubled her money. She uses the first $1,500 she wins to pay for the next month.
She has no job. She plays the lottery for a living and on a good month clears about $2,500 a month. She says she never has a completely losing month, but there is always a chance.
I smiled as I watched her and thought about the millions of people who take chances with their salvation in the same way. In a cruel game of spiritual Russian Roulette some gamble on their salvation, rejecting Christ and refusing salvation; hoping to gain eternal life by chance.
Acts 4:12 reminds us that there is "none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." We should not take a chance on anything else.
We won't get to heaven by lottery and we can't devise a strategy to gain admittance. We must accept Jesus, repent from our sins, and live for him.
The lady who bought the lottery tickets says she has a fool proof plan for guaranteed income without working, but there is no guaranteed way to get to heaven without Christ.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
"I'll never kiss a frog!"
"I'll never kiss a frog!"
Those were the words of the heroine in the new Disney movie, "The Princess and the Frog." It tells the story of a black girl in New Orleans who had big dreams of finding prince charming and business success, but they would required her to kiss a frog to find her prince. She began the movie adamantly saying she would never kiss a frog.
It was a children's movie. Since we have grandchildren, my wife and I previewed it last night, in preparation for for the numerous times we will probably have to watch it as they watch it over and over again. Among the ideas the movie subtly passed along is to never say what you won't do because often you must do the unthinkable to succeed.
Life is that way too. We often have to "kiss the frog" to climb the ladder that reaches to our dreams. Many have said they would never work for a certain company, never go back school and never perform certain tasks, only to change later, especially when it became obvious that "kissing the frog" was the only way.
There are some who are trying to get to heaven without Christ. There are no ways Him. Jesus said in John 14:6, "no man cometh to the father but by me." Many have pledged that they will never be a Christian, never go to church or believe in God.
Like the movie however, they'll find out that when it comes to divinely anointed dreams, you must "kiss the frog."
The princess found out that when she kissed the frog the first day of her abundant life began as a beautiful princess.
Those who accept Christ have it even better. He promises eternal life and abundant fruitful living by faith.
Thank God for faith, that means we claim heaven and the "happily ever after" but we won't have to kiss any real frogs!
Those were the words of the heroine in the new Disney movie, "The Princess and the Frog." It tells the story of a black girl in New Orleans who had big dreams of finding prince charming and business success, but they would required her to kiss a frog to find her prince. She began the movie adamantly saying she would never kiss a frog.
It was a children's movie. Since we have grandchildren, my wife and I previewed it last night, in preparation for for the numerous times we will probably have to watch it as they watch it over and over again. Among the ideas the movie subtly passed along is to never say what you won't do because often you must do the unthinkable to succeed.
Life is that way too. We often have to "kiss the frog" to climb the ladder that reaches to our dreams. Many have said they would never work for a certain company, never go back school and never perform certain tasks, only to change later, especially when it became obvious that "kissing the frog" was the only way.
There are some who are trying to get to heaven without Christ. There are no ways Him. Jesus said in John 14:6, "no man cometh to the father but by me." Many have pledged that they will never be a Christian, never go to church or believe in God.
Like the movie however, they'll find out that when it comes to divinely anointed dreams, you must "kiss the frog."
The princess found out that when she kissed the frog the first day of her abundant life began as a beautiful princess.
Those who accept Christ have it even better. He promises eternal life and abundant fruitful living by faith.
Thank God for faith, that means we claim heaven and the "happily ever after" but we won't have to kiss any real frogs!
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