1 John 4: Love Wins

Love Wins

Being genuinely loving is another mark of a true Christian. If you read yesterday's Wednesday Wake Up #42 you see that the passion for serving is one way to tell who is a true Christian. Another way to tell is by seeing who is being loving and who is not. This is not the love like you love ice cream but the true love like serve someone you don't know and forgive someone who has hurt you. Love you fellow brothers and sister in Christ. Be loving to your family. 1 John 4:7-8 says "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." If you are not being loving then you do not know God. How can you say you know God if you are not being loving? One another is everyone, not a select few. If you want to win people to Jesus and share with them who God is, just know that love wins.

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Friday Focus #40

God Still Loves You

Do you ever look at yourself like you don't deserve to be loved? Have you committed a sin that you think is unforgivable? Maybe you committed a crime and had to serve a prison term, now you don't respect or like yourself very much. With all that being said, God still loves you. There is nothing that can make God stop loving you. Yes, He can be disappointed or mad, but that doesn't mean he stops loving you. God forgives all sin and blasphemy, except when it is against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32). We can still repent for those sins that we commit (Acts 2:38) and know that God does want us to be saved and with Him (1 Timothy 2:4). And let us not forget, further solidifying God's love for us in 1 John 4:9-11. If He didn't love us then we wouldn't have Christ to redeem us to God.

Resource: http://www.biblestudy.org/question/does-god-love-believers-who-repeat-the-same-sin.html

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Colossians 3: Put On the New Self

Put On the New Self

When you are done doing one thing and do another it takes a changing of the mind to begin the changing of an action. The more you focus on changing your mind and actions, then the heart can be changed as well as you grow into loving what it is you do and why you do what you do. This is our walk with Christ. We leave humanly and divinely divisive things like sexual immorality, impurity, evil passions, evil desire, coveting. We put away all anger, wrath, malice, slander, partiality and obscene talk from our mouths. We do not lie to one another because that is the old self. We have to put on the new self of what is holy and beloved, compassionate, kind, humble, meek, and patient. We bear with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, we forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven us (Colossians 3:5-17). In the old self we did things wrong and did not see their impact. In the new self, we seek to be right with God for His purposes. 
 

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Ephesians 1: Redemption through Christ's Blood

Redemption

Let us not forget, not matter how bad we think we are or how far apart from God we feel, that we can be redeemed to God. How does that happen? In Ephesians 1:7 the redemption is through Christ's blood. Christ shed his blood and became the sacrifice for our sins. When we accept Christ, our sins are forgiven because of God's grace. We don't have to be perfect, we just need to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.

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Wednesday Wake Up #28

How Strong Are You?

How strong are you? I don't mean physically, but emotionally. How much can you endure? How much can you handle? How strong are you spiritually? In class last night, we discussed forgiveness and it made me think of how people will forgive an egregious sin or wrong doing done to them and people may say to them "You're so strong" and "I could never forgive that." But, it makes me think, is it really us individuals who are so strong and so awesome, or is it God working through us to make us and shape us to be who we become?

Pride makes us believe that we are so awesome and can do anything on our own apart from God. But that will make us stumble (Proverbs 16:18). That could be working through forgiveness, powering through a project, or anything. People apart from the Lord will say it is all you and you can do anything. But, for those of us that have accepted Christ and seek God's will in their life over anything else, we know that apart from God we can do nothing (John 15:5). Do you want a healthier marriage and stronger bond? Use God's strength! Do you want to forgive who hurt you? Use God's strength! Admit that you cannot do it on your own as the false prophets would say and preach. We have to stay connected to the true vine which is Christ and through him we are connected to God in order to live, think and operate in honor of God.

If we need an example of looking to strength that is beyond humanly possible, look at the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus tells a parable of a father who gives one of his two sons the inheritance/property that was entitled to him. He wanted it before the time he was to have. The father gave it to the son who then squandered it, realized his mistake and had to return home starving and humbled. The father gladly accepted the son back into his arms and was joyful to see his son alive. He treated him well when he returned and did not shame him, but loved him. This is not a man who was operating out of his own power. This is a father who was infused with the Holy Spirit to forgive and not hold a grudge. He was happy to see his child alive. And that is how God sees us. He wants us to see that we need Him and can do nothing apart from Him. We walk away from God when we let our pride control our emotions. The strength it takes to overlook the wrong someone has done takes God strength, not our own apart from Him.

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Friday Focus #23

Being Loving Like Jesus

For those of you who know me, then you know (other than football and pro wrestling) one of my favorite topics to discuss is relationships. They are vital and date back to the beginning of man- see Genesis 2:4-25 and Adam and Eve. We were designed to be among other people. We were designed to live life with other people and have friends and date and marry and have children. It is great to do these things, but there is a point where those people that we have been living life with do things or say things that we get upset about. It is up to us on what we do with that emotion. Do we submit to the emotion and ignore people that we have known for a long time (or even a short while)? Or do we focus on being loving like Jesus? Hard to do, but here are some reminders.

In Matthew 5 we read through the sermon on Mount. In verse 44 Jesus speaks on what people have been taught and teaches them a new way. He says to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. This can also be applied to a person you are having a relational issue with. If you and your friend/family member are having an issue and you saw them on the side of the road with their car broken down in the pouring rain or snow, do you just drive on by them and just hope they get help? That is not very loving. Even if they are an enemy for the time being, be loving. If you know of someone or a group of people who is persecuting you, pray for them. Pray that they will let God come into their life and take over their heart. We as Christ followers have to set the standard on being loving, just as Christ loved us by dying for us on the cross.

In Romans 12:1 we read that we are to be living sacrifices to God. We sacrifice those things that please us in moments in order to please God. We worship Him by doing what is right in his eyes with His will. Jesus, while man and God at the same time, showed us what it is like to submit to God's will even when it is truly painful. Yes, what someone said or did was painful, but that does not mean that you have to wish them hell or throw away the relationship forever due to an offense or disagreement. I love to make jokes and while I have brought smiles to many, there are some that I have offended. Their choice was to tell me about the offense and forgive me even if I defended my joke and attacked their sensitivity.  There are numerous times where I had to go back and apologize because in the moment I was not walking with the Holy Spirit and needed to seek forgiveness in order to restore the relationship.

I challenge you today to seek forgiveness from someone that you have offended. I also challenge you to forgive someone who did or said something to you that has hurt you. Then I challenge you to make a phone call or see someone to reconnect. This gives them the chance to also apologize for what they may have said. But overall, it allows us to shed what was holding us back relationally and put on a robe of righteousness  in moving forward to honor God.

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Mark 11:23-24- Faith to Move Mountains

Faith to Move Mountains

Sometimes I don't pray and I just complain. I gripe. I moan. I grumble. I tell friends the issue, but I "forget" to pray. I put forget with quotations because I did not actually forget. I have become accustomed to doing things that way. I try to figure it out. There is nothing wrong with using your God given problem solving ability to figure out some of your issues. But, what about using that ability to speak to God and pray?

In Mark 11:12-14, Jesus curses a fig tree that was no longer producing any fig (fruit). It wasn't doing what it was supposed to do. It wasn't doing it's job. It was useless. Just sitting there looking pretty with leaves. After he cleansed the temple from the "thieves" in verses 15-19, he and the disciples walked by the fig tree that he had cursed and they saw that it had withered to its roots. He uses this moment to teach them to have faith in God. He says that you can tell a mountain to to be thrown into the sea and it will if you do not have a a doubt in your heart. Bam! Right there, he said a "doubt in his heart."

When we pray about our mountains (money, relationship issues, living situations, jobs, health) do we really pray with that kind of faith? Do we have doubts? Then when the prayer is not answered we think God is ignoring us. But, if we read and seek to understand and have faith that God is not only listening but truthful in fulfilling his promises.

He follows up this command by also saying that when we pray we are also to forgive any trespasses (wrong doing) against us by other people. In school, we are not encouraged to get F's, but here Jesus wants us to have F's with Faith and Forgiveness (see what I did there?) How can God here our prayer and come through to move the mountain if we do not believe that He will and when we have bitterness and an unforgiving heart toward others.

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Matthew 20:13-14- What's Fair?

Matthew 20:13-14 " But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go...'" commentary- A land owner hires extra workers late in the day and promises to pay them. When the end of the day came, the men who started work early got their share that they agreed upon. Yet, the ones who only worked an hour due to being hired later also received the same pay as those who worked a full day. 

Those that worked longer were upset thinking that they should have more than the other who came late. The landowner made no extra promises, he only followed what he said he would do. 

I compare this to the kingdom of Heaven. I have heard numerous arguments from unbelievers who think that it isn't "fair" that one can live a life of sin and still get their sins forgiven when others asked for forgiveness a long time ago. God doesn't operate on what's fair, but He operates on being true to His word. If he says it, it is true. It is not a scale that we use to rank who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven (see Matthew 18:1-6). God forgives and knows your heart, it is not up to you to try to take on a role (God or in this chapter's case the landowner) that is not assigned to you. Do your part.