Simply Out of Love

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  1 Corinthians 13:1-3 

There is a project that I took on at work this year.  It focuses on helping others see their potential, and the reason I chose to take it on will not result in my getting praise or a promotion, and my passion for pursuing it is not for an expected reward at its completion.   Rather, it is the sincere hope that it makes a difference in the lives of others, and my drive comes from the love I have for my team and organization.  For that reason, the project deserves my best effort and dedication toward its success.

Our love for Christ must be the driving factor for our actions.  Many people believe in faith by works.  They believe that by doing things as written in scripture, they will receive an upper hand in Heaven.  Others take the approach of being saved by confessing of Jesus Christ as Lord by mouth, and then continue their life as if nothing has changed.  Both beliefs are flawed.  While there is some truth in both statements, neither indicates a true relationship with Christ.  I think of my wife and how wonderful she has been to me for all of these years.  My love for her grows continually, and as such, it motivates me to be a better husband to her.  In a similar way, a true love for Christ motivates us to act.  Thus, works are not a driving force toward salvation.  Instead, it is the byproduct of our growing relationship.  Furthermore, confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is something that cannot be an idle moment that just passes us by.  It is a transformative event that like any growing relationship motivates us to change making the relationship better.

To love Jesus is to commit to Him fully and unconditionally.  Jesus said, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23)  This is at times challenging, but all growth, spiritual and otherwise, is.  We strive toward having a wonderfully unyielding relationship with Him.  That is what love for Christ is all about.  How do you measure your love for Christ?  What more can you do to reflect His love?  My prayer is that we grow for Christ simply out of love.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Motive check

John 3:25-30 “Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (NASB)

Hello,

Most of the time when we start something new, we start with the right reasons/motives/goals/frame of mind. But, we run into a danger called success. You see, when we have success we are faced with a critical choice. We can keep our focus to where it started – or we can begin to look around and get caught up in the success and begin to carry forward with different motivation than when we started. John the Baptist was having great success – but he didn’t let it change his motivation. He knew his goals and why he was doing what he was doing and stuck to it.

Have you checked your motives lately? Did you start well intentioned, but get derailed with success?

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Make a Meaningful Difference!

Hello Friends!

When your life is over, will your existence on earth have meant anything?

Deep down inside each of us, there is a desire to make a difference – to believe that our existence means something more than fun, comfort, self-indulgence, personal pleasure or financial wealth. So how do we live in such a way that our lives will make a meaningful difference in our world and to the people around us? 

Here are some thoughts on this very important subject…

Make a Meaningful Difference!

Undoubtedly, the greatest of all role models was Jesus Christ – God incarnate. Therefore to glean insight into this topic, we should consider how Jesus Christ – a humble Jewish carpenter – made a meaningful difference that continues to impact the world today:

I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do – John 17:4

Then I [Jesus] said, “Here I am - it is written about me in the scroll - I have come to do your will, O God" – Hebrews 10:7

These verses summarizes Jesus’ focus in life - to do God the Father’s will. God’s will can be understood to mean both the specific actions and choices that God desires as well as the ways that God wants those actions and choices to be executed. There are many aspects of Jesus' life that reveal the will and ways of God. 

For example, consider the topics of authority, circumstances, work, money, and priorities.

Authority: It appears to be common among humans to view authority with some disdain. If we are honest, we don't always want to submit to authority and often only do so begrudgingly. Jesus Christ, however, was fully submitted to the will and ways of the Father.

Circumstances: Our control over life’s events is limited; many circumstances are largely beyond our control. When bad circumstances occur, we naturally seek to escape them. But this was not how Jesus Christ lived. He recognized that God is sovereign over all and therefore the Author of circumstances. Jesus Christ did not seek escape from circumstances but sought God's will in all circumstances.

Work: For most of us, work is something we have to do – not something we are privileged to do. For Jesus Christ, work was part of His ministry. He recognized God’s sovereign hand in all His workplace assignments and activities.

Money: The ubiquitous measure of success and significance seems to be money. But to Jesus Christ, money was simply a tool used to obey God – to do God’s will.

Priorities: For most people, the choices of life today reflect personal pleasure and comfort – hedonism. Sacrifice and suffering are not esteemed virtues in our culture. But for Jesus Christ, His personal pleasure and comfort were always subordinated to the will and ways of His Heavenly Father – no matter what it cost Him.

Jesus Christ made a meaningful difference during His life because He viewed everything from God's perspective and lived to do one thing – the will of God according to the ways of God. This is how to live a meaningful life!

Closing Thoughts:

As Christians, we must seek to make a meaningful difference in our world for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The only way to do this Biblically is to live as Jesus Christ did with the singular focus of doing the will of God according to the ways of God.

For Christians to make a meaningful difference in their lives requires dedication to God. To do this well, we must be Christians who wish to live as Jesus Christ did. Some of the key ingredients to living meaningful lives are:

• Submission to authority
• Viewing the perfect sovereignty of God in all circumstances
• Recognizing that work is ministry
• Using money as a tool to obey the will and ways of God
• Making the will and ways of God the priority in all situations 

May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect love, mercy and grace!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

Blessings!

Shane <><

From Bad to Worse

18 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.  Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.  Exodus 8

We're in the midst of the plagues, and while I could go into each one individually, I think picking a piece out of the chapter can be more beneficial.

So, there are gnats everywhere.  My study bible says that these were probably closer to modern-day mosquitoes.  Eeewww... I took my son out to play yesterday and just as it started to get dark out, I had two mosquitoes buzz right by my ear.  I was done!  I scooped up my son and we headed indoors at that point.  Now, think about what just happened in Egypt.  It's described that "all the dust became gnats."  Everything was covered, all people and all animals.  There was no escaping them by running indoors.

So Pharaoh called to his magicians to fix it (he does this a few times and they're never able to do so).  What I find really interesting is that the passage doesn't say that the magicians tried to remove the gnats, rather, they tried to produce more gnats.  They wanted to create so that they could see what trick Moses and Aaron had performed to create the gnats, and then they would know how to undo the problem.

The section on gnats is really short in comparison to the other plagues.  However, we aren't given any timeframes, and I doubt it was as fast as it took me to read those two paragraphs.  This took a while.  Those magicians were working for a while on creating gnats, and getting no where.  I'm sure they were frustrated, tired, itchy and uncomfortable.  It took a lot, but eventually, they realized that this was something more than they could do.  This had to be the direct work of God.  They saw that and accepted it, but we don't know if they turned their hearts over to God.  

So I read ahead.  I wanted to know if anything comes about with the magicians again.  During the remaining plagues, they're only mentioned once more.  They're mentioned during the plague of boils to state that their boils were so painful, that they could not stand before Moses.  The study bible I have explains that the meaning there isn't that they didn't want to be seen by Moses, but that these were so painful, and probably located on their legs and around their knees in particular, that they were physically unable to stand.  That's it.  That's the end of the mentions of the Egyptian magicians (at least for this section of the bible).  Pharaoh remains with a hard heart as the plagues continue, but there is no mention of the magicians trying to fix things or recreate the miracles Moses was performing.  

Sometimes, we are presented with situations that we try to rationalize.  We try to fix them or explain them away.  However, sometimes there are things so extraordinary, so far outside of our normal lives, that we have to realize that it's something direct from God.  Does that mean the situations will improve?  They didn't for the magicians.  They went from gnats to flies to dead livestock to the boils.  Their situation went from bad to worse.  Jesus is our rock.  He's our foundation.  When things are going from bad to worse, he is always there for us to lean on.  I don't know if the magicians did this (obviously they didn't know about Jesus yet, but they could have leaned on God), but I do know that we can do this.  We can put our faith in Jesus to know that even though the situation is uncomfortable and seemingly impossible for us, he will never leave us.

Greater Proof

Once the chief priests and elders succeeded in getting Jesus killed, they still weren’t satisfied. They continued to live in fear.
 

Matthew 27:62-66      ⁶² The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

 
Many of the religious leaders refused to believe the truth and seemed quite consumed by their fear.  They appeared to misunderstand Jesus while He was alive and twisted some of his words, but here they clearly remembered and understood some of Jesus’ words. I’m guessing they were recounting their conversation with Him back in Matthew 12:38-40 ³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” ³⁹ He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
 
What’s amazing is that God worked through the religious leaders' fear in order to give them (and everyone else) greater proof that Jesus was the Son of God! The seal around the stone and the guard would be no match for the resurrected Jesus!
 
Who do you know that lives in fear? 
Do they refuse to believe God’s words and His promises? 
Do they think they can suppress or stop God?
You and I can pray for God to work through their fears to help them eventually see greater proof of the truth.

Alice

Just Smile

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering.  Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  Hebrews 10:32-35

People know that I love to smile.  I smile at those who I know well and care deeply about.  I smile at those who would call me an enemy because I want them to know the God I represent.  I smile because there is a joy inside knowing that I am saved from a sinful past that once told me grace was out of my reach.  I smile knowing I am God’s child.  Some people would accuse me of smiling too much.  My response is they focus on how they see the world too much and not the potential God sees in them.  This does not mean I do not have fears and struggles in my life.  What it does mean is that I believe with confidence Jesus came into the world, died for our sins, and rose to prove beyond any doubt He is Lord.

We must reflect the light of Christ even in our most trying circumstances.  Jesus says that we are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)  There are some days that we feel down, and others where the world punches us in the gut trying to take away the certainty we have in Christ.  But through Jesus Christ, we were given the precious gift of eternal life.  For that alone, we have a light within us that can endure any hardship or pain.  We must share that light without reservations, and no matter what the world may throw at us, it cannot put out His light that shine brightly within us.

With God, there is always reason to have joy in our heart.  While we may feel short term sadness over circumstances or be left with situations that concern us, we must never forget the suffering our Lord endured for us.  Knowing this, there is nothing we cannot overcome.  Where does your confidence lie?  How can you exhibit the light of God in times of struggle?  My prayer is that when the clouds of darkness head our way, we look at them, and confidently, just smile.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Great expectations

1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (NASB)

Hello,

Expectation is a funny thing. One’s thoughts on expectation differ based on whether you are talking about expectations of yourself or expectations you have of others. We look at others and set expectations based on the past and our perspective of circumstance. When we set expectations for ourselves we may start with hope, but then we start to hear the expectations of others and that hope may begin to fall. We start to see the failures of the past and push them into the present. We let the outside influences overcome the inside influence.

We need to have an expectation of overcoming the battle with sin. We have an incredible inside force in the Holy Spirit and our relationship with Jesus. Our forgiveness from Jesus is satisfactory (meaning of propitiation in verse) is not just about future forgiveness, but also a strengthening reminder of not needing guilt. The Holy Spirit living in us is the power to overcome sin and temptation.

That should be enough…..but we let the expectations of the outside creep in. We see a circumstance where we have struggled before – and our expectation of victory starts to fall. We hear people talk negatively about our past, or our decision making, and we let that sink in.

I am not trying to preach any kind of “name it, claim it” – but when we do not put ourselves in the mental position of victory we are lessening our chances. To a large degree, we are saying that we are OK with sin. But that is not what we are to do. We are to have an expectation of victory because of who lives inside of us and our position of forgiven thanks to Jesus.

As you face your day, what are your expectations?

Will Hill

God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life...

Hello Friends!

The world’s most popular “gospel” message in recent times has been drawing in lost souls by promising God’s wonderful plan for their life. But behind the façade of the “wonderful plan” message is the often neglected and stark reality of the trials, temptations and persecution…

In fact, Jesus Christ promised to His disciples:  

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues – Matthew 10:16-17

The Apostle Paul certainly would not agree with the “wonderful plan” false mesage. In fact, here is just a small taste of the “wonderful plan” which was promised to Paul by the Lord via Ananias (see Acts 9:16):

Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep… – 2 Corinthians 11:25

Does Paul’s testimony of severe persecution sound anything like the “Best Life Now” foolishness that is being promoted throughout modern-day evangelicalism? I don’t think so – and I’m quite certain Paul wouldn’t think so either!

Here are a few more very important questions to consider: 

• Why do 9 out of 10 children raised in Christian homes leave the faith? 
• Why do many “professing” Christians show little or no evidence for their faith? 
• Why do 80–90% of those making “decisions” for Jesus Christ fall away from the faith?

In consideration of those telling questions, does today’s common “wonderful plan” Gospel approach align with the true Christian’s faith walk? How can we reconcile these two completely antithetical messages? These are all eternally important questions to ponder… And the Scriptures provide the answers!

The Ten Commandments will force us to reexamine our ideas about the true Gospel message and will convict us to reach unbelievers the way God intended – through His Righteous Moral Law found in the book of Exodus…

The Ten Commandments - Exodus 20:1-17

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage…

1. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, or your son, or your daughter, or your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Loving and compassionate Biblical evangelism has always been “Law to the proud” and “Grace to the humble” – Old Testament and New Testament:

Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble – Proverbs 3:34

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble – 1 Peter 5:5

In our evangelism efforts, let’s be certain to share all of God’s Attributes – His Character and Nature – when presenting the true, Biblical Gospel message – His Love and His Law!

May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect love, mercy and grace!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

Blessings!

Shane <><

God vs. Science

9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”  ...

17 This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.Exodus 7

Have we stopped seeing miracles?  Some things may happen that we have scientific knowledge as to why it happened, and we don't see it as a miracle any more, we see it as science.  We see a rainbow and may think, "How nice," or "It's just the reflection of light in water droplets."  Do we see it and think that it was something designed by God?

What about life?  We may call an unborn child a miracle of life, but we tell ourselves that God didn't really put that child in the mother's womb.  We know the stages of cellular development that happened that formed the embryo, fetus, and child.  So what happened to the miracle?

God made everything around us, including the science that governs everything around us.  God didn't just create the earth, the animals, and man, but God created each of those down to the molecular level.  He knew every piece of every thing he was creating.  There's no way I will believe that it was a random roll of the dice in the universe that happened to put proteins together and *Bang!* there was life.

I love science.  Really, I do.  When I was in school, I loved to study things to find out how and why they worked as they did.  This is why I had a hard time with some of the miracles in the bible.  When I was younger, I'd still want to know how these things happened.  For instance, the Nile turned from water to blood.  The study Bible I'm reading right now gives a scientific reasoning for this.  There are algaes present in the Nile that can change the water to a red coloring.  So, it may have been a sudden abundance of that algae that changed the color and consistency of the Nile, so much so that it killed the plantlife and animals around the Nile.

Is that something I can logically reason?  Absolutely!  About a month ago, the same thing happened outside of Toledo, where an algae bloom cropped up, and the city put a ban on drinking water.  It made people sick, and it harmed the local ecology around Lake Erie.

The point is this: We have all at times asked God for a miracle in our lives.  We don't see any way out of a situation and need God's intervention.  We receive a miracle, but don't see it as a miracle.  We reason it away and don't give the credit to God.  What miracles might you have overlooked because you tried to assign a logical reason to them?  We need to remember that God is the force behind everything, even behind things that have scientific reasons behind them.