Todays Life

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NLT)

14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

While Freedom seems to be a straight forward concept seeing it lived out shows it as an odd paradox. It provides an ideal environment of choice leading to liberty, yet this environment is exactly why it is hated by others. At our strongest we see our Freedom protected by our Military of Veterans in the past and present, while preparing for a certain future of conflict against the Freedoms we have and share with one another. At our weakest we see our freedoms being divided and destroyed by the only people able to affect them – our neighboring citizens. It seems the biggest challenges to any group – Family, Education, Religion, Country …. come from inside the group itself. It brings a clarity to Abraham Lincoln’s quote   “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”  Our accomplishments in becoming the greatest nation on the earth while one of the youngest has in some ways made us prideful instead of proud and appreciative to God for his blessings. This weekend as we remember our veterans may the prayer of faithful citizens return our focus to our Author and Creator that He may heal and preserve this great nation.

Psalm 143:8 New Living Translation (NLT)

8 Let me hear of Your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting You.

Show me where to walk, for I give myself to You.

Today with our days busier than ever and with all the technology that was going to make our lives easier only creating more and more to do with the same available time each day. This day to day pace and the challenges that go with it can often leave us in a stressed and defeated state of heart and spirit. It can also be difficult to not wake up in the same place and if we aren’t thoughtful we will start a new day under the same stress and that can never allow us to attain the purpose God has for us in our lives. David was aware that God’s love was an always available starting point for each day, but it required for David to engage and trust the new day to God. It is the same for us in that the hearing of God’s word each morning comes in our engaging in reading or listening to God’s word and then entrusting our lives and God’s directions for us each day. By starting each day in God’s word and in finding his Love for us allow us to start our day on a positive note by trusting his direction and entrusting our lives to him before going out into the day.

James 4: 11-17   NLT

¹³ Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” ¹⁴ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. ¹⁵ What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 

James wrote a very straightforward and practical letter to the Church that was scattered and expanded by God’s plan. His directions were short and to the point. In the 4^th chapter he reminds us not only of the brevity of life but prideful and entitled manner in-which we live our lives. We too often tend to make selfish decisions based on our needs and wants with little to no acknowledgement that God not only blessed us with this life but with a purpose for each minute, hour and day that we are given as we travel along this journey. James does not tell us that God has any issue with our planning and succeeding in life but God wants a relationship where we come to Him in prayer to seek his direction and blessing on our decisions. Considering the short time we have here together we should all want to get as much out of it as we can and that can only happen by how much we put into it by acknowledging God first.   

Romans 13:1 (NLT)

Respect for Authority

13 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.

This text is especially applicable in our culture today. One thing it seems we can count on is that when someone says “ The election will settle this and we can move on “ they only mean that if they win. Today’s  – win at any cost to have power, has taken all logic and respect off the table. Also, it leaves no room for God or his Will in our lives so that we can reflect His values  in the voting booth. Since politics and morality are unfortunately two different things this text is applicable for both believer and non-believer alike in how we respond to election results. Whatever our belief God does not stop being God after an election and he does not expect us to be different either. We don’t just go along with political party directions if they are contrary to our God called purpose but we must respect those elected to office because Paul says here that those placed in positions of authority have been put there in alignment with God’s plan. Faith tells us that our calling and purpose in God’s plan will allow us to be in some circumstances in our lives where we respect and pray for authority we may not agree with spiritually. That Faith will allow us to be a productive witness for God every day regardless of an election outcome.

Acts 5:29 New Living Translation (NLT)

29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.

The very strength of Christians ( Our Bible ) has become over time our greatest weakness. Lack of study in God’s Word and seeking his guidance of the Word in our lives is leaving a gap in our lives that unbelievers and self serving politicians are exploiting for their own benefit at the expense of our lives and resources. The struggle today for tolerance has been pulled so far from tolerance to acceptance that the two are not only confused for one another but seen as the same. The Word does not support any of these gaps or “gray” areas for tolerance and acceptance. The big name issues of today – LGBTQIA, Identity Crisis, The Beginning of Life, Murder, Theft, Coveting, Adultery, Idolatry, Economic Justice, Redistribution of Wealth  ……. are all covered in great detail in God’s Word and are all covered with God’s moral guidance. The challenge Christians have is letting threatening and illogical people push them into a self-righteous box of defining the sin and the sinner in the same box. It is no more than the same trick that happens with tolerance and acceptance and can best be a help to everyone by understanding that we are all sinners and broken in many different ways. Meeting each other at that point and starting a conversation from God’s Word can be very powerful. Christians like everyone else cannot go to Church, Work, Ballgames, Grocery Stores, Libraries or Voting Booths and leave their convictions of God’s Word outside. If we could get comfortable with studying God’s Word and living it out in our day to day lives in a bold and unapologetic way the Power of God would change the World for good through our lives and actions.    

James 2:14-26  (NLT)      Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead

14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?

Our culture and environment today is postmarked with a false sense of results where words are confused for actions. It has often been said that some of us can work harder and talk better at getting ourselves out of work than it would take to actually do the work in the first place. In todays culture where social media and communications accounts for such a larger percentage of our time the simple math says there is less time for our action to impact or help others. What I mean by that is in how we value our lives and our gifts God has blessed us with. If someone is in need, I will give my input, opinion and encouragement in an online forum. I will suggest other avenues where by they may seek help and if pushed I will even send some money to help someone with a worthy need. While all of these are positive and they “say” we have Faith in God’s ability tot help and heal others they do not require the one thing that exercises our greatest purpose for God – ACTION. I will give you all of these things but don’t ask for my TIME. It is after all our most guarded and valuable asset and to share it requires that do something that gives of my spirit to someone else. If others cannot see our Faith in action helping, reaching out and caring for others then how can we expect anyone to be really blessed or have their lives impacted in a positive way that communicates we are followers of Jesus Christ. James says clearly here that a spoken Faith without the sacrificial investment of time cannot move anyone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. May we commit to God to Talk Less and DO MORE !

Romans 2 New Living Translation (NLT)

God’s Judgment of Sin

⁴ Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you?

 Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

In his letter to the Romans Paul brought the Truth of Jesus Christ and God’s love for us in “that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us ….” Romans 5:8 and he freely communicated that even in God’s patient love and kindness He has a limit after which we come to judgment of all the things we have done in this life. It is really amazing when you think about it – the Creator of all of Heaven and Earth owns everything, lacks nothing to completeness, needs nothing from us yet his one desire is for a personal relationship with each of us to share our lives. This relationship was so valuable for him that he allowed Jesus to be born in Human flesh and live among us a life of perfect submission to God, witness Gods love in his life to His friends and die a criminals death so that God could bridge the Gap between a sin man and a Holy God that our relationship with Him would be possible and freely open to all who accept Jesus Christ as that savior and path to God. Peter said in Acts 4:12  “ there is no other name given by God under Heaven whereby we can be saved”. It is a great Truth of a wonderful Love but it does have a time limit for we are only here for a short time to take the offer of the gift of Grace in God’s Love for us thru Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 29:11  (NLT)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.

“They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Sometimes it is easier to look into our past too long because after all it is certain, it happened. Whether we liked it or not the “known” quality of it brings us some misplaced comfort. God asks us to look at it to understand our successes and failures and move into a future that he has for us in our purpose of serving him. We cannot serve God in action today while looking at yesterday. Our Faith simple asks us to trust the words God gave Jeremiah that we may not know the future but He does and we can trust Him that is for our good and it is a future built on hope. If we believe that then nothing from our past was a wasted part of our lives because God meant it for our good and the experiences there are part of our hope that we share with others going thru our same struggles as make our futures today. May the strength of God’s Love and promise keep us today mindful of the past and with our eyes on the future.

Text 1 Peter 1:3  (NLT)

The Hope of Eternal Life

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again,

 because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,

If you google “ Christianity” you will find many definitions based on the tenants of Faith in following the teachings of Jesus Christ. Sadly you will have to dig a little to find one that goes to the specific point of detailing one of the defining traits as a belief in his resurrection from the dead. His life, teachings and death are all mentioned along with the belief by “some” that he was the appointed messiah. The rising of the sun is an often taken for granted gift from God in our daily lives. It is true we all see the world better in the daylight and in the thoughts above of converted atheist CS Lewis Christians see the everything in the light of the resurrection or rising of the son of God. That light is beyond comparison to all other beliefs where the founders or leaders lived, died and were buried to still be there versus a Living God in our lives thru Jesus Christ. That perspective alone allows Christians to see everything else in the light of Hope and Love and no day is taken for granted.