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1 Corinthians 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Here is a thought that I have had for quite some time now. It seems to me that many people today have the mentality of just surving from day to day. We all know how mundane life can get, as well as how hard it is sometimes. I can't help but see it when you consider just how poorly people do at disciplining their children, or the care and upkeep of thier homes, even just paying the bills. With the way the world is today, it appears to me that people are concerned about SURVIVAL. And the thought of THRIVING seems to be just beyond their reach.
Now, I understand that I don't speak for all. However, I do speak for what I percieve in the "world" that I presently live in in Central Pennsylvania. It seems to be faily evident that the reason we don't always see a great increase in people's lives for the better is because they can't help but see themselves just trying to get through another day. And it is beyond economic, and social status... Life is full of challenges and trials today that can get a person way too overwhelmed with themselves...and that is just the problem, isn't it?
When we become too consumed with "me," and "my life," we fail to realize what life is all about. It really isn't so much about "me," as much as it should be about GOD! Then, we become concerned about others, as is a natural response to the Lord in our lives, because He is concerned about others. Jesus summed up the whole Law into a few words in Matthew 22:37-40 - And He said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' [38] "This is the great and foremost commandment. [39] "The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' [40] "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
Finally, an interesting thing happens in our lives when we focus on these two things, rather people. We gain an inspiration for who we are and what we do! We find some resemblance of PURPOSE for our lives, and we "switch gears" so to speak... We go from mere SURVIVAL to THRIVING! Abounding in the Lord!!!
John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly." Hey! Don't allow the devil to steal from you anymore, and get back some LIFE! Go into the enemy's camp and get back what he stole from you, as the song says and THRIVE! We live in perilous times, and now is a great time for the Church to rise up and be what God has called it to be. But it seems to me that this "survival" mode has crept into the Church too. We can't have it any longer! It is time for us, Believers in Christ, to set a new pace and accomplish something for the Lord! May the Church THRIVE once again under the mighty hand of God, and with the Power of the Holy Spirit! | | |
| Wanted to share this cute little story... Matthew 18:4-5 - "Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greates in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." Oh, to recapture that child-like faith again... Johnny's mother looked out the window and noticed him "playing church" with their cat in the back yard. He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it. She smiled and went about her work. A little while later she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back to the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water. She called out, "Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!" Johnny looked up at her and said, "He should have thought about that before he joined my church."
Jesus does tell us to "count the cost" of being a disciple in Luke 14... | | |
| Oh, that nasty four-lettered word...WORK! We all seem to hate it, but yet, we find it necessary if we hope to eat! :)
I spoke to the folks at Glad Tidings A/G this weekend from a familiar passage...II Timothy 2:15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth."
This weekend was the weekend that we used to honor our graduates. (Of which we only had one this year.) Anyhow, I spoke to the people about God's great graduation day that awaits us...when we will be taken to glory! However, in the meantime, we have to be doing a few things that we gather from II Timothy 2:15...STUDY, WORK, and DISCERN!
For our purposes here, I want to focus on that second thought...WORK. We all know what it means to work. Some enjoy it, and others don't. Truth is, that many Christians seem to shrink away from it in this day and age, in regard to getting involved in the Church and its mission. I came across this cute thing about work, and it goes like this..."There are three kinds of workers: When a piano is to be moved, the first kind gets behind and pushes, the second pulls and guides, and the third grabs the piano stool."
The dilema is that we must not allow for this laziness to creep into our Spiritual life... Though we don't like to work, it is clear in Scripture that we must work for the Lord. Though we don't do it to get saved, according to Ephesians 2:8-9; we do need to do it to prove our faith in the Lord is genuine and real, according to James 2:17-20. In fact, the quality of our faith will show through in our work for the Lord.
So, as you carry on with your week, remember that we will be judged according to our works. They will be tried by fire one day. And Revelation 20:11-15 gives us a bit of a discourse in regard to the final judgement... Verse 13 tells us that "every one of us will be judged, according to our deeds / works."
So, the question must be asked, "What have you done for HIM lately?" | | |
| I had this little story forwarded to me, and I thought it was quite good, and gives a fresh perspective to us about how our actions can hurt others... Hope you enjoy! "NAILS IN THE FENCE" There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. So his Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in thefence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is stillthere." A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed! They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us. Maybe you need to ask a friend to forgive you if I have ever left "a hole in their fence!" Don't hesitate to do it. Consider this quote... "Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it." -Harvey Mackay | | |
| I get a kick out of some puns. I really like the show Frazier, and he takes every opportunity that he can to play with words, and use puns. I know, it is dry humor, but humor nonetheless; and I really enjoy them sometimes... I say that with the risk of being considered really cheesy myself becuase most consider puns to be the worst jokes ever. It is when someone says a pun, most respond by saying, "Oooo, that was a bad joke."
Try these ones on for size...
"Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat minor."
"A bicycle can't stand alone because it is two-tired."
"You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it."
If you have some good ones, please share them!
Well anyhow... With that in mind, I ran across this in my Bible reading time, Jeremiah 3:22, "Return, you backslidding children, and I will heal your backslidings." I know that God is not trying to be funny here, in fact this is a very serious moment. But, according to my study and some commentary, He is taking advantage of a pun.
The Hebrew root word that occurs here in this verse apply for both words, return & backsliding. These are both variations of the same word. So God is using it to His advantage, as if to say, "If you are into returning to something, RETURN to Me and not your sin!"
Beyond the pun, and the funny stuff, I have really seansed this to be a word from the Lord for us American Christians and non-Christians. It is time to return to the Lord!
Hosea 10 says the same thing in verse 12. "For it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains righteousness on you." Church, I think that we would all agree that it is time to get ahold of God, and let God get ahold of us...as I say.
Let's return to the Lord, isn't it time? And that is no joke... | | |
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