We are all equal

This week, I had a long conversation about how all people are equal.  It doesn’t matter how much money someone has or how big their house is or how beautiful they are, they are no better than anyone else.  That is something that we all have to remember.  I know I’ve been star struck before or been really impressed with what someone has accomplished, but God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11) and we shouldn’t be either.  We have to remember that God loves us all the same.  We are to love each other in the same way.   

There are a couple of issues that arise when we see some people as being better than others.  First, we place ourselves in the place of God - judging people based on what they have and what we can see.  We don’t have the ability to judge people in that regard (James 2:3-4).  God looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7) and will judge.  No matter what we have or look like, God loves us and give us an opportunity to choose Him.  The things we have here are temporary.  They do not transfer to where we’ll go for eternity.   

Another issue that arises is the thought that our special treatment of those who are better in our minds will result in some positive reward for us.  Will people think more highly of us because we are associated with these people who we consider better off? Will others somehow treat us better because of the way we treat the wealthy or the popular or the beautiful? Will they recognize us because we’re friends with them?  It doesn’t matter.  We are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:27) no matter what.  If we are thinking someone is more important or treating someone better than others, we need to check our own motives.  

James makes it clear that it is sin to give any one preferential treatment (James 2:9).  In fact, if we are showing someone favoritism, we will be judged for it (James 2:12).  If we don’t show mercy to those who are less fortunate and recognize that they are equal to those with much, there will be no mercy for us (James 2:13).  No matter what someone has or does strive to treat people equally.  God is watching. 

What’s your choice?

I had an epiphany this morning.  I got up and “went to church” in my living room and Pastor taught on generational blessings (Gen 26).  I learned a lot and as I was pondering it long after and asking God what I was supposed to write today (I jotted down a title last week – not the one I’m writing now), He gave me some clarity about something I’ve been very wrong about.  We DO get to choose our destiny.  We do have some control over our lives.  Yes, God is in ultimate control over what happens and nothing can happen that He doesn’t allow, but for the first time, I realized we get to choose.  God gives us the free will to choose Him or not.  That is what determines our destiny. 

It was like a light bulb went off.  We can’t control our thoughts or bodies or the world around us, but we do control our decisions.  We make them every day.  God made us in His image and He gave us the authority to have dominion in the earth (Gen 1:26), but we squander it each and every day.  We get so distracted about what we can see and what’s happening to us that we forget who we are.  If we are in relationship with God, through Jesus, we are God’s children and joint heirs with Christ (Rom 8:16-17).  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13).  God has given us gifts and abilities and they will make room for us.  But how are we choosing to use them?  Are we using them for our own gain or for God’s glory?  

The choices we make each day, determine our destiny.  Are we choosing to follow God today or our own fleshly thoughts and desires?  Are we spending time with the Lord to know His thoughts and desires for us?  Do we hear His voice?  Do we know what His voice sounds like so we won’t be lead astray by a stranger?  Do we study His word so we know when something comes at us contrary to it? Or are we living “our best life” and expecting God to bless us anyway?  Do we choose to treat God like a Genie – ask him for a gift and just expect that he’ll deliver because we asked?  I read recently that some people want what God promises, but don’t want to do what He requires in order to get it.   That feels a little like thievery – don’t want to work for something, just take it…..and that too is a choice. 

The fact is that every choice we make has a consequence – be it good or bad.  When we sin, the consequence is death (Rom 6:23), which then requires repentance and forgiveness.  When we are obedient, God blesses us (Exo 19:5-6; Deut 28).  And depending on the type of blessing, our obedience can lead to blessings to many more generations.  Our obedience is not just a one-time thing, it is a continual life style.  Will we mess up? Absolutely! But that is an opportunity to learn and not repeat the same mistake or make the same choice.  It’s an opportunity to choose God over ourselves knowing that God has us.  He will take care of us and provide for us in ways we can’t imagine.  If we do what He says, He’ll do what He says.  God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isa 55:8-9).  We can’t comprehend what He has for us and we couldn’t handle it if He told us His plan – if fact, we’d likely mess it up.  

I implore you to choose God’s way! It is so much better than ours could ever be.  Might we miss out on some earthly pleasure?  Sure, but it’s not good for us anyway.  We are visitors in this world (1 Chron 29:15; 1 Peter 2:11).  We have been called out.  We are to be a peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9).  Remember, we live in a fallen world.  This is not what God created our existence to be.  That changed thousands of years ago, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden.  We’ll never know while we live here what could have been had Adam and Eve not sinned against God.  But we do get to choose how we live our lives and what happens to us when we leave here.  We can choose to ask Christ to be our savior and have a real relationship with a loving Father in Heaven or we can choose to reject the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross and spend eternity in Hell.  The choice is up to us.   What will you choose? 

Who are you blessing?

Today, Pastor spoke about the fact that we are blessed to be a blessing (Gen 12:2).  So, while God blesses us with good things, it’s so we can bless others.  This expectation is contrary to the world we live in, where it’s all about “me.”  According to the world view, it’s all okay as long as I have everything I want and need.  Doesn’t really matter if I have to step on someone else to get it, as long as, I’m okay.  

God says no!  Love me, first, and then your neighbor (those around you) as yourself (Mark 12:30-31).  Give and it will be given to you (Luke 6:38), not the other way around.  When we bless others, God blesses us more.  So, if that is the case, who are you blessing?  This past week during family bible study, one of my cousins made a profound observation – we are blessed way beyond what we need.  Yet, we still grumble or complain about having more or something different.  We waste the money God has entrusted to us on more things when we already have more than we can use.  So, again in the midst of your abundance, who are you blessing? 

God continues to provide for us and care for us and He blesses our lives and the things we touch when we are obedient to Him.  I don’t know about you, but I want the blessing of the Lord over my life.  I want Him to bless the works of my hands (Psalms 90:17).  I want Him to be glorified in what I do.  I want people to see Him reflected in me as I live this live.  Life is short, but we have everything we need to do God’s will while we’re here.  

We have His Holy Spirit living on the inside of us (Romans 8:9), if we are in relationship with Him?  He will keep us and direct us.  We do have to do a little bit of work though.  We have to study God’s Word, so we know His voice when he speaks (2 Tim 2:15).  We have to listen to what He is telling us to do.  Then we have to trust that He is God and has our best interests at heart (Prov 3:5-6).  Then we have to obey God’s Word and direction, even when it doesn’t make sense to us (Acts 5:29).  God knows best whether we agree with His instruction or not.  God’s guidance may not be something we always like, but He is God.  If we want Him to bless us abundantly, we have to trust and obey Him.  So, if He blesses us to be a blessing to others, who are you blessing?  If you’re not, ask Him for direction and get with it.  What might you be missing out on, by being selfish and not blessing someone else?  God knows and owns everything.  So, what might you be cutting yourself off from but not obeying?  You are blessed to be a blessing.  Bless someone today.  

How Will You Respond?

The past couple of weeks have been difficult.  An employee who I’ve known most of my government career passed away.  He was one of the smartest people I’ve ever known – not just book smart but able to apply what he knew practically.  He was one of the people who trained me early on and I learned a lot from him….not just about work, but about loving family and being kind.  His funeral was yesterday and the minister said something that I’ve heard before but it resonated with me - We will have to give an account of how we’ve lived our lives and be judged (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:12).  Maybe it’s because I turned 50 in Dec or because someone I worked directly with passed away or because the last year has brought more loss than any of us imagined, but I realized I’m closer to standing before the throne today than I was yesterday.  Soon, whether tomorrow or 50 years from now (which feels like a long time, but it’s really not), I will have to explain to the Father what I’ve been doing with my life – how I’ve lived and what I’ve done with the gifts He gave me.  

It actually gave me pause.  I had to ask myself, “Am I doing all I’m supposed to do?” Sure, I do lots of stuff.  I work with the middle school and college ministry. Yes, I lead family bible study.  Absolutely, my faith is incorporated in my work life just like my personal life – what you see is what you get.  But, do I consider the Lord in every decision?  Do I spend enough time with Him?  Am I using my gifts in a way that pleases Him?  Am I walking in my gifts so that they make room for me?  Am I doing enough for others?  Am I moving when the Holy Spirit prompts me to move? Do I know His voice well enough to identify Him over the other voices speaking to me? Is what others think of me more important than doing God’s will?  Am I using my own judgement in place of godly wisdom? Am I living my life according to God’s word or what society says is okay?  Am I using my time wisely?  Am I focused on God and my relationship with Him through Jesus and allowing everything else to pour out of that? Or am I focused on what keeps me comfortable? 

All of these questions are ones I need to answer to make sure I can answer God positively when I stand before Him at His throne.  For sure, I sin.  I commit sins every day, whether through a wrong thought or saying something inadvertently and given the right set of circumstances, I might intentionally sin (meaning God tells me to do something, I do something else).  Case in point, the other day, I went to get gas – the Holy Spirit had already prompted me as to where I needed to go, but I decided not to go where I was prompted.  I went somewhere else (my usual spot), wasting time and gas, because when I got to the first gas station there was no gas; when I rolled by the second, there was a long line (I had to get to work); and when I finally went to the third (the one I’d been prompted to go to in the first place), there was only one or two cars and no shortage of pumps or gas.  How much time would I have saved if I’d just followed the leading of the Holy Spirit in the first place?  According to James 4:17, to know what is right and not do it is sin to you.  I had to ask for forgiveness, because He had already told me what to do and I did something else.  

I’m so grateful that God gives us an opportunity to ask for forgiveness (1 John 1:9) and because I know I’m His, I know He hears me (1 John 5:14) and forgives me, but that doesn’t give me license to sin unrepentantly.  Just because I know my parents love me and will do whatever they can for me, doesn’t mean I take advantage of that love and use them or mistreat them or dishonor them.  God is the same, just because He give us grace and mercy, is not a license to do whatever we want (Romans 6). He is still God and worthy of all praise and glory and obedience.  If we love Him, we want to please Him and that means knowing Him well enough to know what He likes (John 14:21).  Have you ever tried to please someone you don’t know?  Remember, how hard it was to think of a real gift for that person whose likes and dislikes you didn’t know? The same applies to God.  

If we have to give an account of our life and Christ will judge it, I want my answer to be pleasing to Him and the only way for that to happen is to know Him.  I must know how God wants me to live and strive to do that.  Just like any parent, He expects us not to get it right all the time.  He knows we’re not perfect and He’s not asking for perfection.  He loves us just as we are, but He wants what’s best for us like any parent and that makes me want to do things that make Him proud.  Just as God told Jesus when Jesus was baptized, that He was well pleased, I want Him to say the same thing about me.  When you are asked the questions about your life and you give an account of all you’ve done, how will you respond?  Will He be well pleased with your answer?  

Mothers are a Gift from God

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers (whether by blood or heart) who have touched the life of a child.  Today is a special day to celebrate all those women who have taken on the responsibility of loving, leading, and guiding someone so they can become productive contributors to society.  I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the more I appreciate all the lessons my mother and so many others taught me along the way (Prov 31:26).  How to be kind even when I wasn’t feeling that way.  How to be honest without destroying someone.  How to love even when it’s hard.  How to fight for things I believe in without making war.  

Real mothers are amazing people.  They are more than a person who gave birth.  They nurture and direct and want what’s best for you, even when they are sometimes unsure of what exactly that looks like.  I heard a mother recently say everything to raising a child is found in the bible.  That struck me as odd, but when I sat with it a moment, I realized that just as God gave us the instructions for life in the Word, it made perfect sense that he would give parents guidance there as well.  I’m not sure how many mothers actually use the Bible to inform them how to raise their children, but mine surely did.  My mother loved me, but she set expectations and then held me to them.  She believed that if you spared the rod, you would spoil the child (Prov 13:24).  Yes, some of you who know me would say, you’re still a little spoiled and that is true.  However, in the midst of the love and even sometimes indulgence, there was also discipline (I got a few spankings) and lessons on self-control and generosity and kindness (Gal 5:22-23).  

I was allowed many things I thought I wanted, but always with the understanding that it was because I was so loved and not because I was better than anyone else or because I’d done something to earn it.  That resonates with me now.  It showed me how God loves us.  He gives us different gifts to use and to glorify Him because he loves us so much, unconditionally.  He doesn’t give them to us because we deserve them.  He gives them because He knows us better than anyone and He sees who we really are…..whether we ever walk in it or not.  He loves us that much.  He created mothers to love their children that way, too (1 Corin 16:14).  They know and see things in their children, the child can’t see and the really good ones, speak God’s Word over their children.  After all God’s Word is true and if we can speak life and death (Prov 18:21), we should always speak life.  

While I don’t have children of my own, I am regularly involved with the children of others.  I love kids.  I love most things about them – their curiosity, their humor, their insight, their honesty, and so many more facets of them.  But more than anything, I want to see them become who God has called them to be.  The bible says to train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it (Prov 22:6). That’s what my mother gave me.  Even when I was in college and I strayed, I didn’t stray far.  

While my mom hasn’t been perfect (but who has), she has done her best.  I honor her for all the work she put in for me and my siblings and my nieces and nephews.  She is still putting in time with her great, grandchildren.  She is putting in time for her nieces and nephews.  She’ll give advice when asked (and even when she’s not).  She’ll give whatever she has to those in need.  She might even do some baking for those who ask.  She has been blessed to be a blessing to so many and she has set the example for me (Prov 31:28, 31).  I love her for all the things she is and all that God made her to be.  

If you are not close to your mother (or father), I challenge you to take steps to rectify that (Exodus 20:12).  Remember mothers are human, too, and we all make mistakes.  Take time to make it right...Forgive! (Eph 4:32)  None of us know how much time we have and no matter what has happened…..Mothers are still a gift – don’t waste it.

God is an Artist!

When was the last time you stopped moving long enough to take a breath and a look around you at all the beautiful things God has created?  It’s been a while for me.  I mean, sure, when I see a beautiful flower or bird or butterfly, it will catch me off guard and I’ll be caught up by the beauty of the colors and the vibrancy that no human artist can imitate.  But I mean actually sat back and appreciated the detail with which God creates (John 1:3), it been a while for me.  

Yesterday, I was afforded just such an opportunity.  This week I’m working from South Carolina and I drove yesterday.  Instead of taking the most direct route (there is no straight line here from my house), I took a more scenic route.  Because that included back roads and a more rural route (including a slower speed limit), I was actually able to enjoy not just the ride but the scenery.  I noticed things I don’t normally take the time to see like the different types of trees in groves living together and supporting each other…the colors of their leaves and how they complement each other.  I saw the different colors of the flowers making up a natural bouquet. The sky was a beautiful blue, not quite sky blue and not cerulean, but a color in between.  There was very little cloud cover, while today the clouds are puffy and gray – no less beautiful only different.  

For the first time in a long time, I recognized the gift God has given us in His desire to give us paradise here on earth – to teach us, to provide for us, to speak to us.  How much of it do we take for granted?  I know I take a lot of it for granted on any given day.  I realize that I get distracted by way too many manmade gadgets and I take for granted all the God given gifts surrounding me. Wonderful are the works of God’s hands (Psalm 19:1) and just think, He created all this so we would have a beautiful functional world in which to live.  The world is also how He reveals His divine nature and eternal power to us (Romans 1:20).  Do we give Him enough praise for it?  I know I’m guilty of not doing so consistently.  I challenge you to take even a short period of time and really meditate on who God is and the beauty He has given us (Job 37: 14-16).  Take a walk or sit outside for a time.  It will make you appreciate Him in a whole new way.  

For all of the Monet’s and Picassos and da Vinci’s of the world who have attempted to capture the beauty God created on canvas, it’s still no comparison to God’s glorious creations.  He deserves our honor and our praise for all the things he’s done.  He is the true artist creating so many beautiful things out of nothing.  Glory be to God!

God Is Love!

I think I mentioned we are studying the Book of John in my current small group.  What I’ve leaved during the study is that the entire book is a declaration of God’s love for us.  Yes, it is one of the Gospels telling the story of Jesus’s life and His sacrifice and the good news of His Resurrection and our path to salvation.  It is also a book of the love God feels for us.  All throughout the book, it tells of how God provided us everything we need.  Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost (Luke 19:10).  He taught us how we should live in the fullness of God.  He gave us direction and an example for loving others.  

If you notice, Jesus engaged people of all walks of life and boldly told the will of God providing a way for all of us to have a relationship with Him. At the end of His earthly life, Jesus endured a death designed for the lowest of criminals to carry every sin we’ve ever committed since the beginning of mankind and every sin we will ever commit. Can you imagine Jesus who was with God when the world was created before time began, willingly obeying God and being separated from God so He could save us?  How much must He have loved us to do that?  We think about The Cross and the beatings that made Jesus unrecognizable, but do we really think of the separation from God that Jesus endured?  I know how I feel when I pray and God is silent.  I know He is still there.  I can’t imagine Jesus knowing that the Father had turned from Him because of the sin He carried and in Jesus’s case, it wasn’t His sin, but mine….and yours. 

God Is Love (1 John 4:7-8) and He has shown it through all He’s done for us.  It’s important to remember He is Love because we so many times think He is trying to take something away from us.  And sometimes He is – He gives us guidance to remove the detrimental things from our lives.  He wants us to live abundant lives and the only way to do that is to have some things cut out of us.  Because God loves us so dearly, He only wants what is best for us.  When we realize that, the things God removes don’t appear to be so important or fun.  The closer we draw to God and His love for us, the more like Jesus we become.  Yes, we will still make mistakes and sin, but God’s Grace abounds (Romans 5:20).  So we don’t have to be bound by the things that are not like Jesus.  As we ask for forgiveness, God will give us more Grace to cover the sin.

Also, because God is Love, if we know Him we love.  He expects us to love others in the same way He loves us, even when they are unlovable.  Think if Jesus had waited until we were lovable to love us.  What shape would we be in?  Would we be saved right now? I’m not sure I would.  As Jesus loves us, we are to love others.  Let’s look to Him for guidance and keep our focus on pleasing Him. Let’s remember that life is a process and we are to make progress.  Let’s strive to love like He does. If we know Him, what choice do we really have?