Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Danger of Having Been Touched By Jesus

John 12:9-11 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

There were those that wanted to destroy Lazarus but only because his life had been touched by Jesus. Lazarus was now a danger to them because his life now validated Jesus all the more. The Jewish leaders wanted to silence Jesus. They did not want others to believe in Him. They were not content to disbelieve themselves but the wanted to hinder the belief of others. There will be those that will want to destroy our lives for the very same reason. The fact that we have new life and that we are living our lives different testifies to the validity of Jesus. They will do and say anything to destroy Jesus and will do the same to those who have been touched by Him and have been raised from being dead...dead in their sins. They want to destroy you but only if you cause others to believe.

Q? Does my life bring validity to who Jesus is?
Or does the way I live my life invalidate the change that was suppose to have taken place. If I was dead in my sins but I have been raised to new life in Christ can it be plainly seen?
Q? Am I living a new life that points to the truth of what Jesus says?\
Or does my life look the same as it did before Jesus came into my life? Did He in fact come into my life?
Q? Am I a threat to those that would destroy Jesus and if not, why? We have to ask the question of ourselves

We need to remember that most of the time; people are not really concerned with us. It is Jesus they are concerned with. If our lives present no conflict with those in the world then we are of no threat. If we lead no others to follow Jesus then no one will bother us. But if our lives do present conflict, if we do walk in the righteousness of Christ, if we “put on” Christ, then there will be those that will want us destroyed. The good news is that if we are in Christ we can never really be destroyed, at least not in what really counts eternally.
The other side of this situation is that because of him, Lazarus, many believed in Jesus. The fact that his life was evidence that he had been touched by Jesus caused other to follow Jesus. This is what we want, for others to follow Jesus because of what they have seen Him do in us. If we are willing to be touched by Jesus we need to be willing for others to see it.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Children of Light


For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5:8:11

In this letter to the Ephesians Paul uses a contrast to speak to the lifestyle that some of the believers were keeping. He was not speaking to those outside the body of Christ but to those within.
The first part of the contrast was who they WERE. “You were darkness ….”, he said, and this described the life as well as the character we had before we were saved from it. In this statement Paul uses a contrast of light and dark, to opposites, to describe who we now are and who we used to be.
Because of that he exhorts us to “walk” (live out life) as children of light. In verse 9 he reminds them that the fruit (the outcome of having the Spirit in our lives) is all goodness, righteousness, and truth and what is acceptable to the Lord. He again uses a contrast of the fruit of the Spirit verses the unfruitful works of darkness. We are not to have to fellowship (to become a partaker of) with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them. Having no fellowship means to have no share or participation in the darkened life-style. Instead he says to expose them? What does that mean? To say exactly what they are. But it is not as much of a verbal exposure as it is a life style exposure. That’s where it gets tough unless we are sold out to Jesus. It is tough because if we tell the truth of things then we can make ourselves pretty unpopular with people who continue to partake in them whether they are unbelievers or believers who want to continue to dabble in the flesh. If we live our lives free from the darkness it becomes very obvious and we are saying with out actions that we think the darkness is wrong. The other situation is that we ourselves can no longer partake of those things and so we must choose to say no to our flesh when it cries out like a spoiled child.
But we have such a hard time to tell the truth about things if we are not living a life that validates our words. We go see “Adult movies” and we watch TV programs with “adult themes.” We also visit “adult” websites and we refuse to acknowledge that what that means is that it is going to be sexually explicit in either what we see or what we hear or both. We partake in “adult beverages” and play “adult games” in the casinos. BUT WE ARE CHILDREN! Or at least we are supposed to be. How much goodness, righteousness, and truth and what is acceptable to the Lord is involved in “adult activities”?
When we received Jesus Christ as our savior we are given the right to become the children of God. (John 1:12). Earlier in this same letter Paul calls believers to be “imitators of God as dear children”. (Ephesians 5:1) Why is it that we think that there is a difference in sin because we are adults? Are we teaching our children that it is okay to have a double standard because we are adults? As they grow up they will look forward to a time when they can partake in “adult” activities. Unfortunately they generally want to try this while they are still very young.
Jesus saved us from our sins. He did not do this that we can continue in them, no matter what our age. He saved us from our sins so we can live in true freedom, freedom not to sin and to walk in the light with absolute freedom and confidence. And….we will be easily identified as His kids.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 1John 5:2

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Broken Ornaments

Someone said to me today, "Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way". They didn’t know who said it but it surely seems to be true. But I wonder if they are supposed to be back together exactly the same way. It seems that there was something wrong if it got broken in the first place even if it was accidental. But once broken it will never be the same. That is not to say this is not good, sometimes it be even better. It just will not be the same. Often there are pieces missing, even if they are small and so it can never be the same.
But it can be put back together with the help and the power of God and His love and the willingness of friends to extend grace as well as to seek and to give forgiveness. Often this is hard because there is a lot of self and flesh that can be involved in one or both parties in the relationship. In some cases forgiveness can only be sought when a hurt has been identified. It also takes acknowledgment that a hurt has been done. It also takes extending grace, not just the grace we would want from others but the grace we have already received from God. We may not want grace from others but we know that everything we receive from God is by grace. We deserve nothing by our own virtue and what we do deserve, by His mercy we are spared.
Going back to the subject of a restored but fractured friendship. It can be put back together by the glue of God’s love and can actually be a thing of beauty because, even though it has been rebuilt or repaired, it is still His handiwork. It reminds me of a time when Lynda and had broken a vase or something and was just going to throw it away, our daughter asked her not to and said, “Mom, I want those things that you have broken and put back together because the fact that you put them back together meant that they were important to you.”
I guess our willingness to restore a friendship, even when we know it will never be the same depends on how important the friendship was to us to begin with. Too often we throw things away without even trying to fix them or they have been broken a few times before and we don’t think they are worth it any more and we actually throw away a great treasure. When my children were small and they would break things, they would bring them to me to fix it. It may have only looked like a trinket to others but to them it was a treasure. Sometimes they had tried themselves and made a mess of things but with confidence in my abilities they would say, “Daddy, will you please fix this?” Perhaps many more friendships would be salvaged if we would go to God and ask, “Abba, Father, will you fix this please?

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Appearance of Evil

1 Thes. 5:22 (NKJV) Abstain from every form of evil.
The word abstain means to hold oneself off or to refrain from something and the word form means a view (or the way things look) or form (literal or figurative) :- appearance, fashion, shape, sight.
We need to look closely at what this exhortation says. It does not say to just abstain from evil, but to abstain from the very appearance of evil. It also indicates that we should avoid every kind of evil no matter how good or how harmless it might look.
It means that if something even appears evil, we should get away from it. It means that if there is any chance whatsoever that it could be wrong, then we should leave it alone. All too often we think we can handle it but it provides the leaven that grows into full blown problems. It means that if there is even a suggestion that it could be wrong, RUN! A believer must have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with evil-not even the appearance of it.
Many times we think that just because we are not actually doing something that is “forbidden” by the letter of the law that we are okay. But while the actual act may not be forbidden there is the “appearance” of evil. We need to be careful that things don’t look wrong. There are those times when things just look wrong and they are not. Someone just told me about recently buying a large bottle of IBC Cream Soda. When he walked out with it there were some people who thought he had just walked out with a 44oz. bottle of beer. Those things happen. But to place yourself in a constant situation that resembles evil causes a stumbling of both the world and Christians alike that know you are a follower of Jesus yet you seem be habitually doing something wrong.
David wrote, "Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it" (Psalm 34:14). Sometime we think that peace should automatically find us and we cannot understand the continuing turmoil in our lives. Quite often the reason for the turmoil is because we fail to completely depart from evil. Oh, we depart from the really evil stuff but we allow “little stuff” to remain. Proverbs 14:16 says that, "A wise man fears, and departs from evil: but the fool rages, and is confident.” The fool, simply put, continues in his rebellion and confidence in his own decisions, usually to his destruction.
Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians, “We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. 2 Cor. 6:3 (NKJV). Paul's first consideration in his life, words and actions was what and how they communicated about Jesus Christ. Non- believers are watching us all the time. New believers are listening and learning. We need to be careful that our own selfish or undisciplined actions do not become another person’s excuse for rejecting Jesus or for sinning themselves. Jesus also warned against stumbling “little ones” (children or children in the Lord) in Matthew 18:6-10.
Paul indicates that we should be ready to give up our rights and our freedom (things we deem “okay” to do) to keep from the appearance of evil or from causing someone to stumble, “ It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Romans 14:21 (NKJV)
But avoiding evil and the appearance of it is not always easy. It takes surrender on our part into the hand and the will of God and a ever deepening desire to please Him before ourselves.

Will you give God a fresh surrender of your life and find victory, even over the appearance of evil?

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Self Imposed Isolation

Proverbs 18:1-2 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment. A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.

Why is it that we isolate ourselves from others, especially when we need them the most? Perhaps it is because we have already isolated ourselves from God though, to others, it seems like we isolate ourselves from people first. There is a time when we can be withdrawn from others to spend time alone with God but this is not isolation. It is retreating from the influences and distractions from others to be with God and to hear from His.
Proverbs 18:1 seems to indicate that isolation is selfish because the one that isolates themselves on purpose is seeking their own desires. When we seek our own desires we stop seeking Gods. There are many reasons for isolation but the bottom line seems to be, “I want what I want.” And we stubbornly move away from anything or any one that interferes with that goal.
This attitude goes against our relationship with God because His desire is for that of others. He is “others” centered. We withdraw from Him, even though what we want to do is to withdraw from someone else. This is often an attempt to manipulate the situation for our advantage. Another reason we isolate ourselves is so that we don’t have to answer for our actions if those actions are adverse to relationships (which selfishness usually is)
We can be in a room with other people and isolate ourselves. Our attitude and posture puts people off. Then we are justified in our actions because then we can say, “They are not friendly or loving,” when in fact it is we who are unloving in our attempt to manipulate and get our way isolating ourselves from others, pouting as we go.
When approached about our self-isolation we often rage against the wise judgment that people want to give in order to bring us around to God’s way and at the very least draw us out of our self imposed isolation. That would mean that we would have to repent of our selfishness and wrong desires. We would have to admit to our childish stubbornness in having our own way.
Verse 2 goes on to say that the fool has no delight in understanding. That describes us when we want to stay in our sin and our isolation. Foolishly we resent and reject those that would bring understanding that will take us out of our self imposed isolation and sin. We would rather go on expressing our own heart. Our stubbornness and pride is more important that relationship no matter which way it is lost, with man or God.
Verse 12, expresses more of the problem, a haughty spirit. It says that before destruction. the heart of a man is haughty. To avoid destruction as well as isolation the heart has to become humble. This is a matter of choice. Many times it comes after a long time or at a very high price. It is only the humble heart that avoids destruction and it is a humble heart that welcomes friendship and seeks relationship. It is a humble heart that finds honor, not in and of itself but in the relationship it finds with God and others. It seems that the greatest honor is to be in a right relationship with God, free from selfish desires and the manipulation that goes with it. A humble heart is not necessarily shy or overly outgoing but it does seek fellowship, friendship and relationship, first with God and then his people.

Friday, June 18, 2010

The Multitude of Words

Proverbs 10:19-21 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom.

Sin is found when too much is said. Sometimes we speak just to be heard, to be part of a conversation. We often say more than we need to because we enjoy the fact that someone is listening. We like the fact that we are getting attention. We need to learn to speak to the point and nothing more. The problem with a multitude of words is that it seems so easy to sin when there are so many words being spoken. We need to be careful of idle chatter that easily leads to gossip and backbiting. Many times what begins by discussing a problem ends up in a gripe session. When that happens we need to look to see if there is another problem which is a critical heart, but that is hard to see and many times even harder to confess.
He who restrains his lips is wise the writer says. We are wise even though others may not think that we are. It is often our own words that get us into trouble. If we restrain our tongue from saying wrong things then what people will hear most of the time will be right (wise) things. That way we become wise, not so much by what we do say but by what we don’t say.
The “silver tongue” of the righteous is not a derogatory term meaning that it is slick or just coated with silver but that it is truly valuable. People come to value what is said by those that live and speak with righteousness. What is said is not “so much chatter or rhetoric but it has purpose and helpful. The heart of the wicked only brings out things that are of little or no spiritual value. They may say all the right things but the discerning people around them can see that they are just so much words. The wicked heart has nothing but bitterness and criticism, hatred and strife and the bible says that out of the abundance of the heart speaks. If a heart is wicked it will not speak things that bring light, life or unity, instead it will speak things that have nothing of value in the kingdom of God. A critical heart speaks critical things.
What we want are lips that will feed many. We need lips that will speak things of value to the kingdom and edification to those that hear them. If our heart is good and we get our wisdom from God and seek the leading of the Holy Spirit then all our words be a beauty to others and a glory to God.
We need to consciously restrain our lips from speaking things that have no value and we will not only edify others but bring life and nourishment to them as well. We want to make our words such so that they are the source of life. Filling our heart with the Word of God and truly living it can accomplish all of this. Our wisdom and or words must come from God, our life validates what we say.

Oh God, cleanse our hearts from criticism, bitterness and strife. Please replace it with grace, humility and love so that our words would feed, heal and edify.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Cotton Thread Bondage

2 Tim. 2:22 (NKJV) Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

In his letter to his young friend Timothy, Paul encourages him to flee, run away from, youthful lusts. Youthful lusts, strong desires, are those things that lead to compromise and sin and once we have engaged in them they can become strong(er) the longer we allow them in our lives. They can be easy to run from or break in our lives but the longer we allow sin to exist in our lives the hard they become and the harder they are to break.
If you were to take a cotton thread and tie someone’s hand together with a single strand that person can break it easily. But if it is wound, even a couple of times it can become harder. The more we wind it around their hands the harder it becomes to break, sometimes impossible.
In the biblical story of David and Bathsheba, David allowed himself to fall deeper and deeper into sin. First, David abandoned his purpose by staying home from war (2 Samuel 11:1). Then he became lazy and gave into his own desires. He was getting up in the afternoon which means he was staying up late (2 Samuel 11:3). When he was presented with temptation of looking at a woman while she bathed he did not look away but instead inquired who the woman was (2 Samuel 11:4). though he was told it was the wife of one of his trusted men, Uriah, he called for Bathsheba any way and he sinned deliberately (2 Samuel 11:4). He tried to cover up his sin by deceiving her husband and everyone else. (2 Samuel 11:6-15). and when that did not work he committed murder to continue the cover-up (2 Samuel 11:15, 17). David’s sin was exposed when Nathan the prophet was sent by God (2 Samuel 12:9) and David was punished (2 Samuel 12:10-14).
Using the cotton thread illustration, we see that David just allowed the thread to go round and round his wrists and each sin made it harder to break the cycle and allowed him to be bound more tightly. We think to ourselves that David could have chosen to stop and turn from evil at any stage along the way and technically that is true. But once sin gets started, it is difficult to stop (James 1:14-15). We are often tempted to compromise with the world using the 'just once won't make any difference' argument but we find that the further we go the more bound we get. And the deeper the mess, the less we want to admit having caused it which only leads to another "strand" of sin. The best place to stop sin is before it ever happens. If we recognize that first thread sin we need to break it before another strand is added. The best case scenario is to do what Paul said to Tim….flee from youthful lusts. But we should not just "run away" we should run in pursuit of the right things. Paul says to ...pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace and we don't have to do it alone. We join in that pursuit with those that have a like heart and a like mind ...those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Running on Empty

John 20:1-10
It is Sunday morning, the first day of the week. It has been a long weekend that was filled with incredible emotion for everyone that was in any way connected to Jesus. This was especially true for the disciples and everyone that was really close to Jesus.
They are running on empty because all their hopes, all their dreams, all the future was gone. Their teacher, their friend, their Messiah was nailed to a cross and was cruelly murdered in a joint effort by the Jewish leaders and the Roman government.
The streets were empty as Mary Magdalene walked to the Garden tomb where she, the "other Mary" and the women from Galilee had seen them lay the Lord. Those women are with her and I wonder if they passed the place of the crucifixion. I wonder if it still stood there, the cross, the cruel instrument of death that had held the One they had loved so much. If it was there it was empty but it would have stood there, the instrument of execution, reminding them that Jesus was dead.
Matthew 27 tells us that there is an earthquake and an angel comes and rolls away the stone. AND THE TOMB IS EMPTY! Understand, the stone was not rolled back for the benefit of Jesus, but for the witnesses to the resurrection! When Jesus arose, He was in His resurrection body, the spiritual body of the spiritual dimension which has no physical bounds. He was not weak, He did not stagger to the door. He did not need the stone rolled back to leave the tomb, because material substance has no bearing on spiritual substance. The stone was rolled away so the witnesses could get in. Mary saw the tomb was empty and so she ran.
But Mary ran on empty. She ran because the tomb was empty. But she ran with empty information. There was no body. She was expecting Jesus to be there...but Dead. She was one of the last to leave Jesus at the cross, she saw where they laid Him and she was one of the first to come to the tomb; and one who still called Him "Lord." Her belief was a belief of love. It was not a belief based upon intellect or understanding or anything else. She knew what Jesus had done for her, and she loved Him for it. Jesus was her Lord, dead or alive. And so she runs to tell Peter, John and the others. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have taken Him.”
Now Peter and John run on empty and they run to the empty tomb. They were empty of hope, empty of knowledge and they were empty of memory...of what Jesus said. “The Son of man must die...but in three days he will rise.” The tomb is empty when they get there. There is no body. The grave clothes are empty. The grave clothes were strips of linen (John 19:40) that were wound around the body and then the spices and ointments were bound up in the strips (vs 41). It was a mixture of myrrh and aloes and both seem to have sticky properties to it. There are scholars that believe that the mixture would have hardened some what in the coolness of the tomb and what the disciples found was just an empty shell... but no body. The other disciple (John) saw the empty tomb and believed. It was empty in that it did not have the body of Jesus but it did have the linen clothes, still wrapped together. While our English translation says that the linen was folded together the Greek word means “wrapped together.” It is the word used for actually winding the linens around a body for burial. The Greek word is saying that the linens were “folded together,” wrapped just like they would be wrapped around a body—as if the body had just evaporated. This seems to indicate that they were not disheveled or disarranged. This says at least four things.
1. It would be impossible to extract a body from its wrappings and leave them in such good order.
2. The wrappings would have been taken with the body if the body had been removed.
3. The wrappings would have been disheveled and disarranged and scattered if thieves had ransacked the tomb. But what would the thieves have stolen???
4. The wrappings (under any circumstances that might be conceived in removing the body) could never be placed in the exact spot on the rock slab where the body lay. Yet, this is just how they were lying according to the Greek text.
It was this that led John to an immediate belief. It may have not lead to his understanding...but it led to his belief! Belief is not always because we understand what happened, how it happened or why it happened ...JUST THAT IT HAPPENED.
The tomb where they had laid Jesus was indeed empty but that was good. Eventually they will all come to understand that the tomb being empty was not just good but the most wonderful thing that could be. He is alive...just as He said. John goes on to tell us that Mary finds out Jesus is alive. No longer running on empty she is filled with joy as she runs to tell the disciples and the others. After that, Jesus appears to the disciples and fills their emptiness with the joy of His presence.
As John continues his account of the hours and the days after the resurrection, Peter still seems to be empty though. He has seen Jesus. He saw Jesus’ hands and side, He watched Jesus eat, listened as Jesus spoke to Thomas but there is still emptiness. It is his own unforgiveness of himself for his denial of the Lord. In emptiness Peter goes back to fishing, perhaps just trying to fill the emptiness. Jesus meets him on the shore of Galilee at Tobagha and there Jesus brings Peter to a place of forgiveness by asking Peter of his love...something I think that Jesus always knew was there...and then just giving Peter the invitation to partner with Him to “feed His sheep.”
Are you running on empty? Is it because of sin? Perhaps it is because of your betrayal of God or for having denied Him at a crucial point and the devil has convinced you that there is nothing there, no faith and no forgiveness and no hope. Perhaps you have realized that your unbelief has left you empty. Understand this, Jesus wants to fill you with His love, with Himself, with eternal life and with His spirit. How do you need Jesus to touch you? No matter why you are running on empty, the risen Savior, Jesus Christ, can and will fill you up.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Afflictions, the Tools God Uses

Afflictions are often confusing and baffling because there seems to be no reason, at least none that we can see. The temptation, then, is to feel sorry for ourselves and it adds to a growing list of injustices and “unfair” events where we point out how unjust life seems to be. We may feel like blaming God but we must remember that life’s trials, whether they are allowed by God our they are sent by God are all about our growth and or refinement. These are the things that will bring us into a closer relationship with God if we turn to Him instead for from Him. It brings change and improvement in our own character and nature if we surrender if we surrender to the hands of God and not resist the tool in His hand. We can do this because when we trust Him and ask, “What can I learn and how can I grow” instead of “Who is doing this to me and how can I get out of it?” Too often we focus on the tool which seems so sharp and cruel rather than focusing on the loving hands that hold it and trust the heart of God that only wants our best, whether we understand it or not

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Total Commiment Part 2

There are things, even good things, which can distract us from having a total commitment to God. Jesus indicated that we are to love God more than family. Jesus gives us one of those hard sayings in Matthew 10:37 when He says,”He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Sometimes we want to soften that down, not because we really love our family that much but family can be a great excuse and one that seems to be justified, to lessen our commitment to God. There are times though when it is absolutely true, our love for our family dictates how we will live for Jesus Christ.
Psalm 45:10-11 Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear. Forget your own people also, and your father's house; so the King will greatly desire your beauty because He is your Lord, worship Him. Oh how this speaks of the love relationship with God and His people. There is a call to forget our family (your father's house), forget your people (nationality, heritage, culture,) and speaks of a love for God that has first priority and separation from the world.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 is a call to separation. It says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."17Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."
We are not to be unequally yoked with the unbeliever. That does not mean that we cannot have them as friends nor do things with them but it does mean that we separate ourselves from their sin. If they persist in that sin and that sin threatens our relationship with God than we will choose God before them. We do not have fellowship or communion with them any more if we are serious about walking with God in total commitment. Fellowship means participation or interaction. We are to longer to have participation or interaction with sinful activities. Take notice, that unless their hearts are changed they do not want to have any participation in your activities now, either. There is no harmony in a relationship when two people are going separate ways. Something has to give and if the believer gives in and becomes worldlier then tyhe unbeliever has no reason to change and becomes more hardened to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there is a yielding of the unbeliever to tolerate “God” and the life of the believer but there is never true agreement. The only way there will be true agreement is for the unbeliever to yield to the Holy Spirit and become a believer. This verse says that we must come out from them. Total commitment requires separation from the unclean thing…not the person…but the sin that they hold on to which begins with the rejection of God. Many would say that they don’t reject God but they do reject His Lordship and claim on their lives. When it says not to “touch” the unclean thing it means that we are not to “attach” ourselves to those that have attached themselves to sin and sinful living. How can we say that we are total committed to God and compromise in our lifestyle for the sake of someone, any one else?
Total Commitment begins and ends with commitment to God and acknowledging his rightful claim to our life, all of it.
Deut. 6:5 (NKJV) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
When we separate our hearts and minds from the things and the people of this world we come into a much easier place to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength. There must be a turning FROM the world as well as a TURNING TO God in order to love Him as we should and as we have been commanded.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Total Commitment Part One

At some point in our Christian experience, every person comes to a place where they are faced with the question of commitment. What does it mean? How much do I have to give? How will that change my life? Some people want to ignore the question of commitment but others struggle with what it means because they are afraid they cannot meet the requirements. We also want to know just exactly how far total commitment goes. By the way, do we have to be totally committed?
What we should start with is the beginning. Commitment begins with loving God. Rarely does commitment begin by being total but it will never get to that point if we don’t start by loving God first, before anything else. In the bigger scheme of things, our commitment to everything else begins by our commitment to God whether it be in our marriage, our personal walk with the Lord, our involvement in church and our involvement with those that are in church. If we are not truly committed to God first we can never be truly committed to anything or anyone else.
John the Beloved wrote. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 1John 4:16
Our goal and the longing of our heart should be to walk in everything that God says we are and can do.
It should be our desire to live in His kingdom and enjoy the abundant life of that kingdom. It should also be our desire to be representatives of that kingdom. To be committed to His kingdom and represent His kingdom we must live and walk in love towards God and our brother's and sister's in Christ, as well as those that do not know Christ and are still prisoners of Satan, sin, the flesh and the world.
When asked about which commandment was the most important one Jesus answer, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. He then followed that with, “And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe that asked the original question went on to say that doing this was more important than anything else we did. It was more important that offerings and sacrifice. Mark 12:28-33
So how are we to love God? The scriptures tell us it must be with our whole heart. The heart was used to mean the center of our emotions. It is that which controls our thoughts and feelings. It is also to be with all our soul., by the very breath we breathe, our very spirit. We are also to love Him with our whole mind and all our strength. The idea of the mind means with deep thought. The noun form of the word means the faculty by which you think, imagine or understand. The final part of loving God is with all our strength. The word used in the Greek implies ability, might or power. All of this must be with all we have in us and at our disposal.. It is our complete love and it must be an undivided love. Jesus told us that "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24. John understood this when he wrote in his first epistle, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15 We cannot serve two masters. We try but that is why we fail. When we divide our heart we find it impossible to be in the world but we find it impossible serve God the way we know we should.
Loving God first is the most important thing we can do. It must take first place. Even before our earthly loves. Some earthly loves are positive and only need to be in priority. Others are negative loves and must be replaced and removed. We must ask ourselves what really is my first love? It takes great daring but if we answer that and say “God” are we willing to ask God, “Is it true?”
We do see that the greatest joy is found in serving God with our whole heart and living for Him. Loving Him with all we have is the place we will find what we need to walk in total commitment.

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Welcome to my corner of the pasture. I hope you find encouraging words that will nourish your heart as well as words that challenge it... and your thinking.

About Me

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I was raised in southern California, married my lovely wife, Lynda in 1972 and moved to Bullhead City over in 1976. I began a bible study in 1980 that became a Calvary Chapel in 1981. I had been involved in work in Mexico and a made a short term trip to Hungry in 1993. In 1996 I went to and fell in love with Bulgaria. We have been working with several ministries there ever since.