Category Archives: OBEDIENCE

PRACTICING CHRISTIAN, PART THREE.102215

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Stress Burdens Sticky Notes Reminders for Stressful LifeIn the most recent post on this subject, I discussed that ‘practicing’ Christians follow certain fundamentals in their lives, the way baseball players follow certain fundamentals in playing baseball, and 1] is FOCUS ON GOD EVERY DAY.  I said something like, “Give Him some time and attention”.

Just this week I’ve been reminded that there are a lot of distractions in the world that keep us from (or impede our progress in) building this kind of relationship with Jesus.  I’m talking A LOT of distractions.  Some of them large and threatening, others apparently small and insignificant, but just as distracting.  Many of these are serious problems that require a great deal of time and attention, particularly in the eyes of well-meaning, God-fearing, Bible-believing people.  Things such as the state of our nation; the many astounding changes in our culture regarding sex, marriage, constitutional issues, leadership problems, immigration, liberal vs conservative disputes, and others too numerous to mention.  There are many, many things wrong, and someone just MUST do something about them.  All are legitimate concerns that require attention.

On the next level are all the things that we have to do TODAY!  Depending on what stage of life you’re at right now, Continue reading →

PRACTICING CHRISTIAN PART TWO.102115

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Young christian woman turning pages of the Bible searching for promisesPracticing being a Christian is sorta like practicing to be a baseball player.  If you want to be a good baseball player, you do it every day; you focus your attention on it, you replay the game in you mind, you dream about making it to “The Bigs”.  But most of all, you stay focused on the fundamentals. The fundamentals in baseball are throw, catch and bat.  Being a Christian is a lot like that.  Practicing Christians do it every day too, they practice THE FUNDAMENTALS every  day; they 1] FOCUS ON GOD EVERY DAY; give Him some time and attention 2] SURRENDER to JESUS and MAKE HIM THE LORD OF THEIR LIFE (every day) 3] READ THE BIBLE and some Devotional 4] PRAY and MEDITATE on what they’ve read; 5] LISTEN FOR GOD to tell them what to do about it. Continue reading →

FROM WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN.101915

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Beautiful female ballet dancer on a grey background. Ballerina is wearing an orange tutu, pink stockings and pointe shoes.In Luke 12:48, Jesus said to his disciples, “ . . . From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

I’ve told all my kids this verse.  I’ve explained to them that God has given them a brain and other gifts and talents and He expects them to use those gifts to help themselves and to help others.  He didn’t give them special gifts and talents so they could waste them on just themselves, or ignore those gifts and not use them for the glory of God and for the good of people.  He wants them, and all of us, to recognize the talents and gifts we have and use them to their full advantage.

This principle applies to our spiritual lives as well as to our natural lives.  ‘Course we all know that Jesus was talking about spiritual things when He told his parable about the Master and the servant.   He says, “Who then does the Master trust?”  He trusts the one who He finds doing his job, being obedient to do what God has told him to do, what He has prepared him to do, with his God-given talents and resources, not wasting his time and his talents.  I just love the concept that God trusts us, just like we’re supposed to trust Him.  We’re pleasing to God when we do His will by being obedient to work WITH God to accomplish His purposes on this earth.  How’s that for a high calling?!  He says, “Blessed is that servant whom his Master will find so doing when he comes.”

Best I can tell obedience is one of the highest virtues in a servant of Jesus Christ.  This is one of those duties we should fulfill, not grudgingly, but with all our hearts and all our souls and all our strength and all our minds.  Just like the way we’re supposed to love and trust God, with all our hearts .  .  .”

 

 

 

BUTTING IN LINE.101815

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Merging trafficSo I have this real serious problem.  I’m obsessed with people butting in line.  As for pedestrian butting, it irritates me considerably when three or four people are waiting and the one who arrived last steps up out-of-order.  Sometimes I just can’t resist the temptation to say something rude like, “Didn’t your momma teach you any manners?  Those other people were here first.”  You know, it’s just not right, it’s just not fair, it’s just not polite. I just can’t believe the gall of some people.  What happened to courtesy?

Sometimes I almost wish that America would adopt the custom they have in Mexico for waiting in line. In a bus station late one night at least 200 people waiting to buy tickets, and ONE ticket window open, and everyone in a great big semicircle jostling and side-stepping, ducking and jiving, working their way to the front.   Continue reading →

What Do You Mean, PRACTICING Christian? 101715

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Sandhill Cranes in Flight at Sunrise Panoramic ViewBack on August 16, 2015, I wrote a post called  “Making Disciples”.  The last  paragraph said, “Did you notice that I haven’t said anything about talking to these ‘friends’ about Jesus.  After you develop a relationship with them, if you’re a practicing Christian, Jesus will just start flowing through you to them, and touching their hearts, whether you are trying to make disciples of them or not.  ‘Course that brings up the question of what does ‘practicing’ mean?  But that’s a question for another day.”

Well today is the day to discuss some of what ‘practicing’ means.  Let’s see, you know practicing, as in ‘practicing’ attorney?  I happen to be an attorney, and that’s a scary thought.  When are they going to finish practicing and start ‘being’ one?  Or practicing medicine.  What’s the time line for rising to the level of actually DOING it? In those cases, sounds like practicing may be a cover for seldom knowing for sure what is exactly the right thing to do.  Try something and see if it works.  If not, try something else.

Practicing Christian shall be deemed to be “one who is a follower of Jesus”.  Follower in the Bible is often translated disciple, or ‘one who is taught’ (student).  Continue reading →

THE WORD GOD HAS PLANTED.071615

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Mother and daughter planting flowers together.“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.” NLT

Most of my life, in fact until this very morning, I have read this passage from James 1, verses 21-27, and I’ve focused on 22-25, where it talks about being doers of the Word and not hearers only, about how if you don’t do what the Word says, you’re like a man who looks at himself in the mirror and as soon as he turns away, he forgets what he looked like.  Almost exactly the same guy that Jesus talked about when he said, “A man who hears My Words and does what I say is a wise man, who built his house on a rock, but a man who hears My Words and doesn’t do them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  He’s a fool!  Matt. 7:24-27.

But today, I really saw and paid attention to verse 21 for the very first time, and God said, “The word God has planted in your hearts” is the real meat of this passage.  Continue reading →

THE GOD PRINCIPLE.060415

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Boy celebrating mother's day. little child lad giving flowers yellow tulips to his mom mother studio shot on blue

In Psalm 18:25-27, David says, “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.  For You will save the humble people, but will bring down haughty looks.”  In Matthew 5:3-12, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed (happy) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the meek (the humble) for they shall inherit the earth.” Continue reading →

GOD IS MOVIN’. 052215:

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Tre muliTwo brothers and I had a discussion in our office building this morning.  We do this once a week usually; to talk about what God is doing in our lives.  This time we were talking about the standard we use to decide what is right and wrong in making decisions in our lives.  We were talking about whether it’s right (OK) to use torture to get our enemies to tell us what they know about their plans and operations.  One brother said it is definitely OK to sacrifice one guy’s comfort (or even his life) to save the lives of a bunch of others, especially if those people are ‘our’ people.  He said it was reasonable, even admirable to act in that fashion. Continue reading →

WHAT HAPPENS NOW? 052115

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[This is an excerpt from a Kairos Talk: Tomorrow]

Bible Group Praying TogetherCan we be changed?   Yes, but not by ourselves. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  To be changed, we must accept the gift of God.  We must realize how badly we need Him, and then give our whole selves to Him, and trust Him to take care of us, because we finally figured out we can’t take care of ourselves.

The guys at your family table are your brothers.  Christ’s challenge to you is to take care of them.  To stick up for them.  To meet regularly with them for prayer and share group. Continue reading →

ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE.051815

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Group of people sitting in a circle. Hugging each otherYesterday we had Sunday School for youth at our church.  The discussion was loosely based on the Lectionary.  We discussed two passages in particular, one was Jesus’ prayer in John 17, where He says, “I pray that they (the disciples) may all be one.  As I am one with You Father, and You are one with Me, they may be one with Us, that the world may know that You sent me.” The other passage was Psalm 1, verses 1-3, where David says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His Law does he meditate both day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

We talked a little about what it means to “be one” with God.  About how if we trust God, His own Spirit comes to live in our own hearts, and in a real sense, we are all one with Jesus and God because we all share the same Spirit.  We even talked a little about how when Jesus’ Spirit comes to live in our hearts, we have a change of the way we look at things, the way we feel about things, so that we are better able to DO what we’re supposed to in a spiritual sense and in a natural sense as well, because God is supernaturally moving in our hearts and our lives. Continue reading →