A Battered Warrior

True Wealth...

1 Timothy 6:6-10  "Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows."

 

 

For some reason when I think of being content I think of a dog, maybe because I have two of the most useless dogs on the planet -but they seem to have mastered contentment. They do not worry about food, they are happy with sleeping on the floor, and when they happen to find that chip my daughters dropped - well they can not ask for much more.

It is so easy to get caught up in the latest trends or the new gadgets but we must learn not to compare ourselves to others - that is the basis of contentment. So often we look what someone else has we immediately start to criticize what we have.... ours is not as new, not as shiny, or just "outdated". Society has taught us to want the latest and greatest - Do we really NEED phones that can play music, replace household remotes, record videos, give turn by turn directions, browse the internet, etc? I am not criticizing technology, but it becomes an issue when we chase things more than we pursue a relationship with God.

Next time you see the latest gadget, newest fashion, or that bright shiny car - before you begin to compare what you have and convince yourself of what you are lacking - take a look around and think about the person that you drove past holding a sign. Think about the things that they might be lacking and truly needing - maybe that will help you keep things in perspective.

True Freedom

1 Corinthians 1:20-25  "So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world's brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his own wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength."

 

Paul wrote the letter to the church or Corinth to address certain issues they were dealing with at the time. The majority of the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah because he did not fit their idea of what the Messiah would be. They expected a Jesus to be a conqueror and to restore David's throne not to be executed with criminals. The Greeks prided themselves on knowledge and they created their mythological gods  with great powers - since Jesus did not display the powers they thought gods should have and they did not believe in the resurrection, they rejected him as well.

In our society people worship money and power - the Bible teaches us to give and be humble. We are taught from an early age that we will be rewarded for hard work and we need to take care of ourselves first - Jesus spoke about helping others and delivered a message of Love and gave a gift we can never earn and we are not worthy of receiving. Unfortunately people will always reject Jesus until they stand before him in judgment and "every knee will bow..."

One of the freedoms I believe Christians experience is the ability to see God's beauty in his creations. I do not have to understand the physics involved to appreciate the beauty of the stars or try to understand how the moon dictates the tides to appreciate the beauty and power of the ocean. There is a freedom when we can just stand in awe of God's creations. 
 

How Convenient....

John 13:34-35  "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

 

 

We have been taking a deeper look at the Ten Commandments, looking at them in Exodus and where Jesus spoke about them in the New Testament. I started looking on the web and found so many articles and blogs attacking Christians for lacking tolerance. Granted there are some extremist that pervert the word of God, but I was looking at the simple black and white word of the Bible.

Why is it when people are corrected they immediately try to spin it - it seems like anytime a Christian takes a stand they are told they are hypocrites because Jesus told them to "love unconditionally" or "to love others." Jesus did tell us to love one another - that is true, but he also told us, "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him." (Luke 17:3)

Since when did love mean unconditional acceptance? If you tell someone what is wrong it is suddenly impossible to love them? Jesus did tell us to speak with love - you can lovingly tell someone that they are wrong. Like I stated earlier there are extremists that miss the mark, even if their intentions are correct they are speaking a message of hate and not of love.

Look at Romans 1:18-32.... Paul wrote this to the early church and it is still applicable today. The same heart condition still applies because the lies are still the same today as they were then. We must remain strong in our faith and convictions - Do not be discouraged when the message is met with hostility and rejection. Jesus told us, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me." (John 15:18-21)

God has called us to love out neighbors as He loves us... He sent Jesus to die for our sins. Jesus also brought His message so we might come to know him and be saved. Jesus openly rebuked those who were in sin - even his own disciples, but he did it in love. Love does not mean unconditional acceptance - unconditional love, loves at all times even in correction.

Max Does It Again...

Jeremiah 1:5  "Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you."

With God in your world, you aren't an accident or an incident; you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God.

One of the finest gifts I ever received is a football signed by thirty former professional quarterbacks. There is nothing unique about this ball. For all I know it was bought at a discount sports store. What makes it unique is the signatures.

The same is true with us. In the scheme of the nature of Homo sapiens are not unique. We aren't the only creatures with flesh and hair and blood and hearts. What makes us special is not only our body but the signature of God on our lives. We are his works of art. We are created in his image to do good deeds. We are significant, not because of what we do, but because of who we are.

Love Is Key

Romans 13:9-10  " The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

 

   How much better would our world be if we learned to deal with each other out of love?  Do not be confused, love does not equate to acceptance - you can punish and correct out of love too. Though if you knew everyone was dealing with you from a place of love, how much easier would it be to accept their correction.

Some people see the Bible as a book of rules - "Don't do this and don't do that." In reality the "rules" are placed there to enhance our lives and not take from them.  Our prideful nature does not want anything to limit us - the Bible and God's plan is not to limit us. Since God is Love, He can only deal with us out of love... even in correction.

More Max... (Your Whispering Thoughts)

Psalm 139:23   "God, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my nervous thoughts."

Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communication with God. By the time your life is over, you will have spent six months at stoplights, eight months opening junk mail, a year and a half looking for lost stuff (double that number in my case), and a whopping five years standing in various lines.

Why don't you give these moments to God? By giving God your whispering thoughts, the common becomes uncommon. Simple phrases such as "Thank you, Father," "Be sovereign in this hour, O Lord," "You are my resting place, Jesus" can turn a commute into a pilgrimage. You needn't leave your office or kneel in your kitchen. Just pray where you are. Let the kitchen become a cathedral or the classroom a chapel. Give God your whispering thoughts.

 

 

In A Difficult Situation?

Romans 5:3-5  "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us to develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

Our trials and struggles are exercises for our faith and as most exercises they increase our endurance. God has a purpose for our lives and there are certain things we must posses in order to accomplish this purpose. God develops our faith and character to enable us to fulfill the calling He has placed on our life. This is not to say that we do not have free-will; sometimes our choices and our exercising of our free-will can greatly increase the intensity of our struggles. If we think of our life and God's plan as a map and we are headed on a specific path... if we deviate a few degrees off course for a little while, the correction we require is greater than our original deviation.

I guess my point is that I find this verse very comforting and it is amazing when we can reach a point that we can calm ourselves and go to God in pray and resist the temptation to stress and become angry and full of worry... That is when we can be full of God's joy through our faith in Him.