Thought of the Day !!

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk with him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. – Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV)

As any person comes to the point where they receive Christ, there is a certain amount of excitement and enthusiasm for what lies ahead.  For some that enthusiasm seems to grow and grow.  While in others it seems to go cold, hibernating under complacency. 

In the preceding verse Paul tells the Colossians that he rejoices in how they are doing.  Now he wants to encourage them to continue the walk and not grow complacent.  They (and we) do this by continuing to walk with the Lord, being mindful of Him in all things.

I believe that if we truly walk with the Lord daily, with Him on our minds and in our hearts, then faith and thanksgiving automatically abound in us.  But when we forget Him, when we get so busy with what is going on in our lives that there becomes less and less room for him, complacency will set in. 

No matter if you are a lay person or a pastor, there can be the temptation to put off reading your bible or doing your devotional or praying at the times you have set aside.  These things should not be done because they’re things we have to do.  They ought to be done out of our great desire to walk with Jesus and come ever closer to him. 

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Give God what’s right, not what’s left.”  This normally means to give our tithes to him first and not just give out of what is left over.  But today I want to use this to say, “Give God what’s right, the part of your life that he deserves, not what’s leftover after work, school, friends, family, soccer, etc. consumes you.”

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself.  He does only what he sees the Father doing.  Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. – John 5:19 (NLT)

Hal Hall is a friend and fellow pastor.  He likes to impersonate Elvis for people.  I seriously doubt though that he wants to truly imitate the man many believe to be a great legend but had some serious flaws.

We can be impersonators of sorts ourselves.  I cannot sing like Elvis (actually its more like a wounded cat), but I have found myself imitating others before.  I hear a preacher captivate her/his audience and I want to sound like that or try to do what he/she does to keep the congregation’s attention.  I see a pastor who’s popular and want to dress like him (I say him because I don’t want to dress like a woman).  I see how someone else has successfully created a ministry in her/his church and I want to do the same thing.

Thankfully, these feelings come far less now than they did when I first started.  But I have to be honest.  They still come sometimes.  I still want to imitate someone else. 

Jesus imitated someone too.  He imitated the only one who is perfect, without flaws or defects, the only one who being imitated would not disappoint.  He imitated the Father.  In imitating the Father Jesus was truly successful.  In imitating the Father he showed us what to imitate. 

My desire is to never be able to look at someone else and want to do things like they do anymore.  Instead, I want to grow more and more towards imitating my Father in Heaven whose ways are perfect.

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  

                           John 3:16 (NRSV)

We all know this passage.  It’s probably the most well known bible verse ever.  It tells us that if we believe in Jesus we will go to Heaven.  But what exactly does it mean to believe?  Does this mean to accept that Jesus is real will get us a ticket to Heaven?  Or do we agree with James in his letter where he reminds us that even the demons believe, and they tremble.  I don’t think that there are any “saved” demons.

So what does it mean to believe?  Believing is having faith.  In the book of Hebrews we’re told that faith is having assurance of the things we hope for and a conviction of things not seen.  So it could be said that faith is about having trust.  So now we’re getting somewhere.  Believing is trusting that Jesus is who he says he is and being assured that his way of salvation is “the” way. 

So if we place our trust in Jesus will we have our place in Heaven set aside for us?  Yes.  But is placing our trust in Jesus and getting to Heaven the goal?  Or could it be something else?

If you go to a place but you don’t really care for your host will your time there be perfect?  No.  If we go to Heaven but don’t care for how Jesus has “intruded” on our lives and made us “act right or else” then it will be more like Hell than Heaven.  This is because Heaven is not the place we go where all our dreams come true.  It’s the place where we will be with Jesus forever.  So Heaven is only truly “heaven” if we love our host.  This means that the goal shouldn’t necessarily be Heaven.  It should be Jesus.

In a nutshell, believe in Jesus, trusting that he is the true and perfect way.  Fall in love with Jesus, and your eternal life will better than you can ever imagine. 

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 

                                    Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)

I hate to think about what it is like now or has been in any age for those who are slaves.  They have no freedom.  Instead they must obey their masters.  Thankfully I’ve not ever been a slave.  Or have I?

We were slaves to our sinful nature before Jesus entered our lives.  We obeyed our own desires and prideful way of life.  Now that we’ve accepted Jesus, we have been freed from that slavery to sin. 

The greatest gift ever given was the gift of freedom.  Jesus died so that we would be set free.  But if we’re free, what shall we do with this freedom?  If we simply use it to satisfy our own worldly cravings then we again become slaves to our sinful nature. 

God’s desire is that we use it to choose him.  We’re free to choose to be a part of the Kingdom that Jesus described or not.  Choosing this kingdom brings more than our sinful nature and this world ever could.  So let us join with that great quote from the book of Joshua where he claims, "As for me and my household, we will choose to serve the Lord."

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

                             1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV)

A lot of Christians are at work today doing great ministry in the world.  Numerous homeless shelters, food pantries, evangelistic efforts etc. are being run to help tons of people.  The question we might ought to ponder today is why we are doing these ministries.  Are we doing them for our own glory, or the glory of God?  And is our work more important than who has called us to do it?

We can get so caught up in doing good things that we forget why we started, and the work becomes what we worship instead of God.  I remember hearing a quote from Oswald Chambers one time that described this.  He said, "We slander God's name when we work for Him without first knowing Him." 

Are we slandering God's name by doing a plethora of ministries simply because we're "supposed" to or for our own good feelings?  The key to successful life-giving ministry is to get to know the God that calls us to it and stay in constant touch with Him.  We can do that by spending time worshiping Him and studying our bibles and simply speaking to Him (and listening). 

Today, make sure you get to know your God, your Savior, your Spiritual Guider, before you go to work for Him.  And find joy in the ministry that He leads you to.

In the love of Christ,

greg