Thought of the Day !!

There is a story in the Gospel of John where a woman is caught in the act of adultery and brought to Jesus by the religious teachers and Pharisees in an attempt to trap him into saying something they could hold against him. This is a wonderful story. But today I want to point out the ending. Jesus has just told the accusers that whichever one of them is without sin can be the first one to cast a stone at her (for stoning was the punishment according to the Law of Moses). This is what happens after they all leave.

Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?" "No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more." John 8:10-11 (NLT)

It’s easy to stand in judgment of others. We can act much like the religious teachers and Pharisees and point fingers at others. But when we realize that if we put ourselves in this story, we stand right there with the woman before Jesus. Our list of sins may be different. But we’re right there in the same boat she was in. We’re guilty.

The only one there who had the right to throw stones was Jesus. He was the only one (and still is the only one) without sin. But He doesn’t. He shows compassion. He gives her (and us) another chance at redemption.

Notice, he doesn’t condone the sin. He says to go and sin no more. He knows that if he just lets her off the hook, she will go back into the same old routine of sin that got her in trouble in the first place.

He wants us to get out of the lives that are taking us away from God and ruining us. He doesn’t condone the kind of living that hurts us. But at the same time he also doesn’t strike us down because we’ve messed up. He is the ultimate example of compassion.

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Colossians 3:15-16 (TNIV)

Attitude. What will yours be today?

We can have an attitude filled with negativity where we complain about things in our lives. And we don't normally have to go far to find something to complain about. But what kind of day will that make? Have you ever seen someone who was complaining about their spouse or their church or another person or their job, etc. smiling?

On the other hand, if we look just past those things we can complain about, we can find something to be thankful for. Even those of us with great difficulties in life can be thankful for something. When we look to God and give Him thanks and live out our day in this thankful spirit, we find that we have more smiles than when we complain. And it's much more fun to smile than to cringe.

What is it you can be thankful for today? Give thanks to God today for your many blessings and remember these blessings whenever you're about to complain about something today.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

“And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Acts 20:35 (NLT)

Many live by the mantra that it’s much more blessed to get than to give. But the fact is that we are created in the image of our Creator. And the Creator is a giver. God gave us breath. He gave us His Son. He gave us a way out of our sin. He gives, gives, gives. Yet many believe that more joy comes out of getting for some reason. If we were created in the image of the world…of sin…then this would be true. But we’re created to be like Christ who is the ultimate giver. If you think it’s better to receive, then you don’t know the heart of Jesus or the true joy of giving that comes out of that heart.

And sometimes the irony is that if we work so hard just so we can gain, we wind up losing in the end. Just as the great classic song "Cat’s in the Cradle" suggests. This song is about a man who has no time for his child because he's always working. But when he's retired and just wants to see his son, it's too late because he has taught that son to be just like him in striving for other things. So in trying to get as much as he can, he loses what's really important...his son. (You can see the lyrics to this song below.)

Just remember that it's more blessed to give than to receive because that's how we were created to be. And in striving to get all we can, we might just miss out on what's most important.

In the love of Christ,
greg



Cat’s in the Cradle

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin' 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say "I'm gonna be like you dad
You know I'm gonna be like you"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home dad?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son
You know we'll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw", I said "Not today
I got a lot to do", he said, "That's ok"
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him"

(Chorus)

Well, he came home from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
"Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head and said with a smile
"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please?"

(Chorus)

I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind"
He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the time
You see my new job's a hassle and kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, Dad
It's been sure nice talking to you"

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

Thought of the Day !!

Make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
2 Peter 1:5b-7 (NLT)

Peter precedes this passage by telling us that God has given us everything we need to be able to live godly lives. He also stated that God has given us "great and precious promises". And then comes these words that share how we ought to desire to respond.

First, Peter tells us to "make every effort to respond to God's promises". God has given us so much and promised to give us so much more. And our God is one who keeps His promises. But so often we make very little effort to respond. Our response should come out of our gratitude for all God has done. So if we make very little effort to respond to God, wouldn't that mean that we aren't really that grateful?

Next Peter teaches us a proper response, one that would make our Father in Heaven proud. He says to supplement our faith. Faith is so important. But faith should not ever be in word only. It should be backed up by our works. In this case, Peter teaches that God would love to see our faith backed by moral excellence (living godly lives), knowledge (of God's Word and through it His will), self-control, patient endurance, godliness, affection for other Christians and love for everyone.

I leave you with a question for today. It's not how do you live up to all these because none of us is perfectly sinless. It is, however, how much is your desire and effort to live in these ways?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

[God says,] "Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry."
Amos 5:23 (NLT)

God isn't telling us not to sing. Actually, we find in the New Testament that we should sings songs of praise. What God does not want is to hear us singing to Him while living lives that are unjust. We are called to get our lives right with God and allow our praise to be genuine for the one who has made us righteous. When we're living a life of justice and peace for others, our hymns of praise will be sweet music to God's ears...even when we sing off key.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

"Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash."
Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT)

Yesterday I used this as one of my texts in a sermon called "I Love the Un-American Dream". The title raised a few eyebrows and got some people's attention. Good. That was the purpose. But the the sermon wasn't about being Un-American. It was about how the American Dream can become a nightmare if we're not careful and how it can lead to things that go against the wishes of Jesus.

In the American Dream (as defined by a combination of different dictionaries and websites) we find a hope for prosperity and happiness in getting the things out of life that we aspire for. The problem is not in wanting things in this life. The problem occurs when these things become more important to us than Jesus and His will for our lives. The question becomes, "Could I give it all up if Jesus wanted me to?"

In the scripture above that concludes the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us that there are two foundations to build our houses (our lives) on. We can build them on sand, representing the things that are important to us like our jobs or our place in society or riches etc. Or we can build our lives on the foundation of Christ Jesus and every word that comes from Him. The first won't last. The latter will last for eternity.

The way we know that our foundation is Christ Jesus is if we were asked to give everything else up the answer would be "yes". If we can't, then the foundation of our lives is on something less reliable than Jesus.

What is the foundation for your life?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Don't long for "the good old days," for you don't know whether they were any better than today.
Ecclesiastes 7:10 (NLT)

We can long for a past when things seemed much simpler...much easier...much better. We can also live our lives in the past trying to relive what happened, only to be disappointed by the fact that we can never truly go back.

We can try to hold on to the past so that we are unchangeable in the future. Or we can treasure the memories of the past, while preparing for the future by making today worth living as well.

Life is ever changing, and when we fail to realize this, we get left behind in despair. Allow God to share His future with you and then go and share that future with others. In doing this we won't complain about today and wish things were like they were way back then. Instead, we will make a future worth living as well.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Philip went off to look for Nathanael and told him, "We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth." "Nazareth!" exclaimed Nathanael. "Can anything good come from there?
John 1:45-46 (NLT)

Be careful in pre-judging others. That's exactly what Nathanael did. He judged Jesus based on where he was from. "Can anything good come from (Nazareth)?" Maybe there were many people who came out of this area that were...let us just say..."less than perfect". But that doesn't mean that any of them should be judged based on the character of others from the same area.

If we're not careful we can do the very same thing that Nathanael did. We might even say or think something like, "Can any person of that race / religion / part of the country / etc. be of any count?" The truth of the matter is that we really don't know. So get to know someone before you judge them based on their color or age or social status or whatever. You just might find out that something good comes from places like Nazareth.

In the love of Christ,
greg

As I turned on my computer this morning I read a friend's devotion. Andy Stoddard is the pastor of Asbury UMC in Petal, MS, and I'd like to share his thoughts with you today as my "Thought of the Day !!". Enjoy.

In the love of Christ,
greg




Don't worry about it. That's one of my favorite phrases. The other may be "it is what it is." Or I guess "Hotty Toddy." One of those is definitely my favorite phrase!

I say don't worry about it to a lot to people. I say it in meetings when we are thinking through a situation. I say it when I'm talking to people about situations they are going through. I say it to families when we are looking towards the future. I say it a lot.

And I mean it too. When I tell people not to worry about it, I mean that, I believe that, and I trust it be true.

I just wish I could do a better job of not worrying about it myself. I'm a worrier. But, at least I get it honest. My mama is, and her mama was, and I guess in our family it's just a family tradition.

That's why reading verses like this one of our Philippians 4 is always such a good reminder to me:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We can't "will" ourselves to not worry. Not worrying comes through prayer. By giving everything to God, we experience God's grace. And in receiving that grace, we find that peace guards our hearts, and we don't have anything to worry about.

So, the first step shouldn't be "don't worry about it." The first step should be "take it to God in prayer." And when we take it to Him in prayer, we find grace.

And grace brings about peace.

And peace keeps us from worry.

So, today, don't worry about it. But, before you can do that, take it to God in prayer. And through that prayer, we will find all that we ever need.

For every last worry.

Thought of the Day !!

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Come, be my disciple."
John 1:43 (NLT)

Before any of Jesus' disciples became disciples, they were called. And just as Jesus chose the original twelve, he chooses us today to follow as well.

Jesus called Philip to be a disciple. In becoming a disciple, Philip would witness the miraculous powers of Christ and later go and be a witness for Christ. Jesus wants to do the same with us. He wants us to witness his power and his love. But then he wants us to go and share these by being witnesses to others.

How is he calling you to be a disciple today? Are you to witness by working with the impoverished? Are you to witness by your visits to check on the sick or the elderly or even the imprisoned? Is it to be through preaching or teaching God's Word to others? Is it to be through a simple testimony or the help given to a friend in need?

Remember, God calls us all to a primary relationship with Him through His Son. But that's only the beginning. As Paul puts it in his letter to the Ephesians, we've been created in Christ Jesus to do the good works that God has already planned for us. This means that we've been called to serve as disciples of Christ.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
Matthew 7:24;26 (NLT)

This comes at the end of Jesus' teachings that we now call the Sermon on the Mount. He speaks of people being wise when they build their houses on something solid that is reliable and not going anywhere. This makes sense. You don't build a house until you have a firm foundation.

But often times people build the houses of their lives on something much less solid than the Rock of Christ. Houses can be built upon the sandy soil of a person's income or personality or reputation or anything else that helps them get by in this world. The problem is that when the winds blow and the floods come these houses can crumble because of nothing stable underneath.

Matthew uses the word "moros", which we translate as foolish here. Can anyone guess what we get from this word? Moron. How about this? Jesus is teaching the people the moral law, or the moral (right) way to live. If they hear what he has to say and simply ignores him, they are foolish. Or it could be said that this would be a moronic thing to do.

As Christians, we hear the word of God through sermons, bible studies, prayer and especially Scripture. The moronic thing for us would be to listen and proclaim that these are wonderful teachings, but just unrealistic for us in today's world. That's done more than we want to admit. It's done every time we say we cannot forgive or cannot turn the other cheek or cannot love our enemy. For with God all things are possible. And with Christ as the foundation of our lives, we can do whatever He asks of us...and our lives will be filled...and we will be wise.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

[God says,] "I have swept away your sins like the morning mists. I have scattered your offenses like the clouds. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free." Isaiah 44:22 (NLT)

Through His loving grace God has swept away our past failures. All we have to do now is return to Him. Let us return those areas of our lives to Him that seem to keep failing us. And then let us give thanks that God is not like most people, who hold past sins against each other.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

Fear is a strong motivator. People who are afraid will do things they might otherwise not ever think of. If someone has a gun to his or her head, the fear of being shot could cause them to do whatever the person holding the gun says to do. Fear of a burning building might cause someone to jump out of a 4-story window. The devil knows all about fear and will use it to sidetrack us…to get us off course and to simply make our lives miserable.

The key to fighting fear is to ask for God's assurance and find our strength in Him. In Isaiah we learn not to fear, for God is with us. And He is, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

King David knew this to be true. So true that he wrote in the Psalms that "(God) alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken." (Psalm 62:6 – NIV). He knew that God was the key to getting past our fears. As the Bible says, if God is with us, who can be against us?

So as we strive to live our lives out in victory and in joy, we can conquer the fears that will detour us from living the way we should by bringing them to God and spending time studying God's Word.

May you be like King David, who even though he had enemies constantly trying to kill him, found strength and peace in the Lord.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
1 Corinthians 11:23-24

Whenever you partake of Holy Communion, remember Jesus. Whenever you go to church, remember Jesus. Whenever you wake up in the morning, remember Jesus. Whenever you go to work, remember Jesus. Whenever you sit down to eat, remember Jesus. Whenever you go to bed at night, remember Jesus.

Sometimes we get caught up in the stuff that fills our lives (good and bad), and we forget the Savior, the one we've decided to call Lord. Jesus should be a part of our daily lives. In every decision we make, every thought we take, we should instinctively do them in the light of how Christ would want us to act.

Jesus left us with the Lord's Supper so that we would have something to use to remember him. Let us not forget him then or any other time of the day or week.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12 (NASB)

The Golden Rule as I was taught it goes "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If we'd learn to live by this rule our lives would be much more peaceful and joyful. The alternative is to do unto others as we believe they deserve. This would be the world's version of the Rule to live by, and it's as worthless as the Golden Rule is valuable.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV)

I've been listening a lot to a Casting Crowns song called "If We Are the Body". The chorus goes like this:

If we are the body,
Why aren't his arms reaching?
Why aren't his hands healing?
Why aren't his words teaching?

And if we are the body,
Why aren't his feet going?
Why is his love not showing,
them there is a way?

One of the answers to these questions, I believe, is that we all think someone else will do it. In preparing for my sermon last week I ran across an illustration that didn't make it into the sermon, but has a very interesting point to it. It goes like this:

A church put this in their bulletins on week. “We are all saddened to learn of the death of one of our church’s most valuable members…Someone Else. Their passing has created a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Someone Else has been with us for many years, and for every one of those years, did far more than a normal person’s share of the work. Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results. “Someone Else can work with that group.” Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone’s list…Someone Else. “Let Someone Else do it” was a common refrain heard throughout the church. It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the largest givers in the church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed that Someone Else would make up the difference. Someone Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing superhuman, but a person can only do so much. If the truth were known, everyone expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone, and we wonder what we’re going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who will follow it? Who will do all of the things that Someone Else did? Remember, we can’t depend on Someone Else!

Are you waiting for Someone Else to accept the call that God has given you? Are you waiting on Someone Else to go and share God's love with someone who's hurting? Are you waiting on Someone Else to fund a special project that is needed in the church or the community?

Or will you become the "Someone Else" and lead others to do the same?

In the love of Christ,
greg