Thought of the Day !!

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
1 Corinthians 13:3-7 (The Message)

Love never gives up

A lady sits anxiously waiting for a call or letter. Her husband has gone overseas to some country she has never heard of, in a war that she never wanted to happen. He is listed Missing in action. But she will not give up. There is a bond between herself and her husband that won't break until the day he arrives at her door and she finds herself in his arms.

A crowd cheers on a handicapped boy who is so close to the finish line. Even though the race has long been over, the other runners come back to encourage him. When he sees that no one else has given up on him, he finishes the race and is celebrated just as if he were the victor.

True love never gives up. Just look at the father of the prodigal son. Do you remember in the story how the son takes everything and leaves? But when he comes back, the father sees him from far off and is filled with compassion. I have to believe that the father was always looking over the horizon. He never gave up.

Look at Jesus. He had every right to give up on the motley crew that he had surrounded himself with. They never understood, they were always saying dumb things. Yet it was because of his love for them that he never gave up.

Is there anyone that you've given up on? Is there anyone who you need to give a second chance? Remember that God doesn't give up on us. So we should learn from the Master of Love.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:17 (NIV)

When we do something in God's/Jesus' name, it means that others know what we're doing is because we belong to Him. Many good deeds are done everyday by people of all faiths and backgrounds. How will people know that your words and deeds are done in the name of the the Lord Jesus?

One way is to make it known that you are a Christian. We are not to boast. But when we're not afraid to bring Jesus into conversations with others, they will begin to get a clue. When we're given praise, we may give a humble reminder that we would be able to do nothing without our Lord and Savior.

What I get from this scripture is that we should be speaking and doing deeds that are Christlike, but that we should also be letting others know why we do them.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.
Romans 1:11-12 (NLT)

Paul is writing to the church in Rome when he shares his great desire to be with them. This desire is not to receive something, but to give something. He longs to be with them so that he can share "some spiritual gift that will help (them) grow strong in the the Lord." That is Paul's great desire...to help others grow strong in the Lord. And his encouragement comes from seeing others' true faith.

If you were to write a letter to your church...or a church you used to be a part of, what would it sound like? What is your great desire for others in the community of faith? Are you encouraged by others' faith?

I guess the most important question for us today, though, is if we have the same desire that Paul had. Do we truly desire today to bring others spiritual (or any other kind of) gifts that would help them grow strong in the Lord?

Today has been one of the many days that the Lord has made for us to rejoice in. Let us not only rejoice though. Let us make it even better by sharing any spiritual gift we may have in our possession...especially the gift of love.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. "If you want to, you can make me well again," he said. Moved with pity, Jesus touched him. "I want to," he said. "Be healed!" Instantly the leprosy disappeared--the man was healed.
Mark 1:40-42 (NLT)

The gospel says nothing about this man except that he was a leper. But we know that lepers in that day and culture were outcasts. They were at the lowest class level. They were unclean, and if you touched one, you would be unclean as well. If this were not bad enough, they had to walk around wearing certain clothes that distinguished them as being different and yell out "unclean, unclean" so that all would know what they were.

Most believed that these people were sinners and had gotten themselves into this situation by the way they lived their lives. Most people thought them unworthy. Most people thought them to be different and repugnant people that were no good ---- and often up to no good.

But not Jesus. Can you see these poor people in your mind. Picture them. Take a good hard look at them. Do you have pity for them? Do you feel sorry for them? Jesus did.

Now think about those in our culture today that fit that same mold. Those whom you may think are outcasts, or different, or unworthy, or no good, or up to no good. Who are those people today? Can you find yourself feeling sorry for them?

Jesus does. Those are the ones that Jesus most wants to heal. He said that He came to heal the sick, not those who were well. And He wants us to help Him help them.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Here is another story Jesus told: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.
Matthew 13:24-26 (NLT)

The point here is that there will always be evil in our midst. As bad as we want our world to be perfect, there will always be weeds growing in it; bad people who care nothing for others and are living out their lives being controlled by their own sense of gratification and being lured more and more by the devil’s evil schemes.

Jesus says that there will come a time of harvest and the angels will take the weeds and throw them into the fiery furnace (verse 42). It’s obvious to us that this is a metaphor for hell. What will be removed from His Kingdom is “everything that causes sin and all who do evil. (verse 41)” The Greek literally means those who cause others to sin and those who care not what Jesus wants them to do.

Remember that there is always going to be evil around us…quite possibly right here in our churches. Our main objective should be to make sure that we don’t allow ourselves to become a part of this evil by being prideful, thinking that that we’re untouchable by the temptations of the devil or by being holier-than-thou like the Pharisees, thus thinking of ourselves better than others. If we do, we’ll be inviting the devil to use us as weeds instead of good nutritious wheat.

We must practice good disciplines, stay in touch with our Lord and commune together to gain strength from each other. These things will help us fend off the enemy when he comes our way.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.
James 1:2-4

Trials and trouble that come our way can be thought of as building blocks. They make up who we are. Or maybe I should say how we handle them defines us. When there's a difficult time in your life, you are surely not going to laugh and jump for joy because there's something wrong. But you can look back at these occurrences and see how you can grow from them. Remember that God is always at work teaching us if we will just listen. And it's during our own failures and the times we seem to hit bottom that we not only need God the most, but that we can learn the most.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.
1 John 1:9 (NLT)

There is nothing that you have done, can do, or will do that God cannot forgive you of. He knows these things already and is ready and willing to forget all about them. All you have to do is talk to Him. He's listening.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Let me begin by apologizing for the absence of a devotion last Friday. I was supposed to send you this one...the last in the series on Luke 5:1-11 but wound up having no internet connection at home or at my mother-in-law's house out of town. We went out of town for a graduation. So here is last Friday's "Thought of the Day !!".

Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!" And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
Luke 5:10b-11 (NLT)

Jesus gives Peter the invitation to follow him. He calls the disciples to grow deeper and cast their proverbial nets out to catch people now instead of fish. And he calls us to do the same.

What does Peter and his partners do? They drop everything and follow Jesus. And the voyage is just beginning for them. For great things will come their way.

We’re called to go into deeper waters as well. This means leaving our comfort zone. For some it might mean leaving the country on a mission trip or a pilgrimage like Michelle and I took to the Holy Land.

For others it might mean going outside the walls of our church. It’s easy to come to church and worship and talk about God in the comfortable confines of a church building. But doesn’t God call us to go outside the walls and fish for people, just as Jesus called the disciples?

Without the faith and obedience and willingness to take a chance and leave our comfort zones, we’ll never get anywhere. But as Christians, that's exactly what we're called to do. May we all go out today into the deeper waters of faith and service and be fishers of men, women and children.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me—I'm too much of a sinner to be around you." For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
Luke 5:8-10a (NLT)

This comes after Jesus told Peter to take the boat out into the deep waters even after they had caught nothing all night long. When they did, the let down their nets and caught so much that it almost sunk two boats.

Peter had had some faith in Jesus…enough to go out into the deeper waters and waste his time trying to catch fish again. But when the miracle happened, it dawned on him just how powerful Jesus was. At this point Peter falls on his knees before Jesus understanding for the first time his own sinfulness and low standing before Jesus.

One of the first things we must do before going deeper in our faith journey with Christ is realize our place. I love singing the songs about Jesus as our friend like "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". I absolutely love the fact that I am able to speak to Him as a friend or a big brother. But Peter illustrates the fact that Jesus is much more. He is God incarnate. He is to be worshipped. He is all powerful. And when we stand before Him, we must realize the need for our change. We must realize how great our sin is and how He is the only one powerful enough to take that sin away. He has the unique quality of being a friend and at the same time a Lord.

We must not look flippantly on our sinful nature, making excuses like “we’re only human” or “at least we’re not as bad as so-in-so". We’re not to make excuses before Jesus, but instead to apologize and ask for help.

When we do this, God hears, Jesus walks with us, the Holy Spirit strengthens us and our voyage to deeper waters of faith starts to become a reality.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish."

"Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again." And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
Luke 5:4-7 (NLT)

Peter’s obedience in the face of his doubt that there was anything to be caught opens the door for a miracle. There’s no reason that they should’ve caught such an abundance. But Jesus uses this blessing to open the door for Peter and the others to go even deeper in their commitment with God.

Obedience in the face of doubt can open the door for miracles for us as well. Our faith can be shaky at times (we all know that), but it’s then that we must strive even harder to obey Jesus and His will for our lives. When we do, we open the door for God to perform great things.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

When (Jesus) had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.""Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again." Luke 5:4-5 (NLT)


Jesus has been teaching the crowds from a small fishing boat that was rowed a little ways into the cove. He finishes his teaching, looks to Peter and says, “Go to the deep water and catch some fish”.

What must this have sounded like to Peter? I can only imagine. I can see Peter wanting to say, “Uhh, Jesus, hey man, you know…you may know a thing or two about preaching or carpentry. But I’m the fishing expert here. I won’t tell you how to preach and you don’t tell me how to fish. Deal?”

But he didn’t. He had every reason not to want to go back out in the boat. He’d been out all night fishing. He had to be tired, wanting to get home and get some food and some sleep. And on top of all that, the nets were now clean and would have to be cleaned again.

The excuses are always there for us to not do what we need to do or what God calls us to do. It’s too hard…I don’t have the time…I’m busy that day…I’ve got to work…I don’t know what I’m doing…etc. But Peter does something amazing. In the midst of all the excuses that he could’ve made, he chose to obey. We can all learn a lesson from Peter here.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
Luke 5:1-3 (NLT)

Jesus’ popularity was growing. He began his preaching in the synogogues, but then expanded this teaching to the masses. A similar thing happened to John Wesley, the father of Methodism. He was heard to say that he much preferred the comfortable surroundings of a church with a pulpit, but it was in the fields where he preached where souls were saved.

Jesus began field preaching so as to save souls as well. His pulpit was a boat. This would’ve been a good solution to the crowds pressing in on him. Preaching from the boat here on the Sea of Galilee with the backdrop of a rising shoreline and a nice easy sloping hill would make a natural amphitheater with very good acoustics.

The key here for both Jesus and John Wesley was that they understood that often times you have to leave the comfortable surroundings of the church (synagogue) if you want to reach people and make a difference in the world. Will we take a lesson from them? Will we be willing to leave the walls of the church and bring the gospel to people outside? Or will our faith be practiced on Sunday mornings and maybe Wednesday nights when we gather together in the comfortable surroundings of our sanctuaries?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
Ephesians 4:17 (NIV)

What does it really mean to say that we are Christians? Does it mean that we go to Church? Does it mean that we were baptized when we were kids? Does it mean that our grand-momma was always in church and prayed for us? Or does it mean more?

It means more! It means that we accept Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior. It means that we not only put our faith/trust in him for our salvation, but that we change. This change comes about because he now abides in us. This change is proof of his presence in our lives.

According to Paul, it is a must that we change. He insists that the Gentiles, whom he is speaking to in this passage, must no longer live as they did. We must not let our "old ways" begin to take control of us again once we've accepted Christ.

And he doesn't say "Well, you ought to do better" or "Maybe you should act right" or "At least you're not as bad as others". He writes that he INSISTS that we change from our old ways, the ways that dominated our lives before we knew Jesus.

Are there ways that dominate your life now that are contrary to the ways of Jesus?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

Which of these fruits are obvious in your life? Which ones are less obvious?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

I've got this verse of scripture tacked to my bulletin board in my office. Sometimes I need to look at it when I feel like I'm failing at something or nothing seems to be working out like I had planned. I look at it to remind me that I can accomplish anything that is within God's will for my life with the help of Jesus.

Is there ever anything in your life that you feel would be God's will for you, but you just can't do? With God anything is possible. With Christ by our side we can do all things. We can forgive. We can find peace in a troubled life. We can bring joy to others...and ourselves. We can accept the calling that God has placed upon our lives. We can take that step of faith. We can survive on less income. We can trust again. We can...we can...we can...do all things with Christ who strengthens us.

If you're living your life for yourself and trying to build it up alone, it will all fall down, and you will fail. If you're living your life with Christ by your side and allowing Him to guide you, you can do anything.

So the question is, will you allow Christ to be your guide through this life? If so, you will accomplish much. And one day you will realize this...even if that day is not today.

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And Amen for that.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Each person should judge his own actions and not compare himself with others. Then he can be proud for what he himself has done.
Galatians 6:4 (NCV)

Why do we compare ourselves to others? Why do we think that if "everyone else" is doing things that it must be OK?

As Christians we are called to be different from the world...to change it...not to conform to it. How can we be world changers for Christ if we look so much like everyone else?

So don't look to others to gauge how good your actions are. Look to God's Word. Only when our actions coincide with God's plan for us, will we be able to be proud of ourselves.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

Isn't this an outlandish command by Jesus. I mean how can we be perfect? We're the ones born into original sin. We're the ones who keep messing up this world of ours. We're the ones that still need a Savior. How in the world can we be perfect, Jesus?

As we look at this seemingly impossible statement, lets put it into context. It comes immediately after Jesus teaches to love our enemies (another seemingly impossible statement). When he tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, he's not saying that we can be like God in a perfect sinless way. He's telling us to love like He does.

John Wesley spoke of Christian perfection, and this is exactly what he meant by it. We all need to strive daily and pray for the gift of perfect love. When we see things from His point of view instead of our own, we will be able to love like Him. In this way, perfection can be achieved.

It's up to you. You can become perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, loving God and neighbor more than self. Or you can be less than perfect, loving yourself and a select few more than others. With perfection, comes God's sense of happiness and joy that anyone can have, no matter what their economic or social level is here on this earth. So it's time to choose. I choose to strive for perfection. How about you?

In the love of Christ,
greg