Although I no longer watch "My Name is Earl" one of the early episodes had a scene in which Earl's Ex-wife was trying to kill him for insurance money, and sent him some poison cookies. The friend sent to deliver them warned Earl so he obviously didn't eat them, and set them aside. Later Earl's brother Randy shows up, sees the cookies, and is about to have one and Earl says "Don't eat those, they're poisoned". Randy hesitates, hand hovering, looks at Earl and asks "HOW poison?". We smile at that, that in order to enjoy a cookie Randy is willing to eat a poison cookie as long as it doesn't actually kill him.
Yesterday I flashed on that scene as I was considering how we sometimes consider allowing sin in our lives. We wonder if it's really all that bad. We think "sure, it's not ideal" but we try to think whether or not this little bit is actually going to hurt us. In order to enjoy a movie we might put up with a little violence or profanity, not enough to kill our christian walk, just enough to make us a little sick is all (we hope). Perhaps we indulge in harmful substances that truly are a poison over time. I don't need to list the examples, we all know what our temptations are.
While we easily recognize how wrong it is to eat a poison cookie, we have a little more trouble with "maybe just a little sin is safe" and although our Heavenly Father sees our every choice He is not forcing our decisions. My best advice is the next time you hear that soft voice warning you something is wrong, consider Earl's poison cookies and exercise your right to say "no" to temptation (or good times tainted with bad ingredients, as the devil loves to cook those up).
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Keeping it Real
It's easy to talk about how to beat temptation or how to choose the better path, but it has the negative effect of making the speaker appear holier or better than they are. This can make others lose hope, thinking that they have no willpower and see (seemingly) around them in their local fellowship with other Christians all these supposedly holy people.They start to think that church is not for them and that they don't fit in. I had spiritual downfalls this week, giving in to temptations and making poor choices, and as I come to God asking forgiveness and renewing my commitment for the one billionth time to try to do better and honor God, I realize I'm not alone. I feel bad, but this is a very real situation for so many, I just wanted to share for others who are struggling, battered by the feeling of failure. As Jesus told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you."
I have often wondered about the line "confess your sins one to another..." - that could simply mean going to those you've wronged and saying you're sorry, or maybe it means we should have a safe environment among the brothers and sisters in Christ that we can talk about the sins we have trouble with and get help and help each other. I wish there were more groups within most church environments where we can do that. Often it is the smaller groups that meet during the week for prayer where you can find this. I wish I remember where I heard this but I recently heard a quip: "Attendance to Church services shows how popular the pastor is, and attendance to the midweek prayer service reveals how popular God is!" That's not entirely true, but you get the picture. Your midweek prayer group will just be a different environment.
I myself have broken every one of the Ten Commandments, and while it may not be a good idea to share our sins randomly at church, I just wanted to take a moment here on this blog to say: Take heart, there is none good, except for God. Don't let discouragement try to convince you that you're not good enough to come to God. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and take heart in the words of Christ "My grace is sufficient for you."
If you ever get the chance to hear the story of the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" - it's a good example of how God reaches out to offer forgiveness to us all.
This morning I read at Grantley Morris's site an interesting discovery he made when interviewing people who had been delivered from temptation by miraculous power - "I interviewed a number of people. I became increasingly perplexed to learn that it seemed everyone who had experienced such a miracle still had one addiction – often smoking, but not always – that caused them great shame and embarrassment as they kept floundering in their attempts to beat that particular habit." Why does God sometimes let us lose battles with temptations? - netburst.net. I always enjoy Grantley's insights.
I have often wondered about the line "confess your sins one to another..." - that could simply mean going to those you've wronged and saying you're sorry, or maybe it means we should have a safe environment among the brothers and sisters in Christ that we can talk about the sins we have trouble with and get help and help each other. I wish there were more groups within most church environments where we can do that. Often it is the smaller groups that meet during the week for prayer where you can find this. I wish I remember where I heard this but I recently heard a quip: "Attendance to Church services shows how popular the pastor is, and attendance to the midweek prayer service reveals how popular God is!" That's not entirely true, but you get the picture. Your midweek prayer group will just be a different environment.
I myself have broken every one of the Ten Commandments, and while it may not be a good idea to share our sins randomly at church, I just wanted to take a moment here on this blog to say: Take heart, there is none good, except for God. Don't let discouragement try to convince you that you're not good enough to come to God. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and take heart in the words of Christ "My grace is sufficient for you."
If you ever get the chance to hear the story of the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" - it's a good example of how God reaches out to offer forgiveness to us all.
This morning I read at Grantley Morris's site an interesting discovery he made when interviewing people who had been delivered from temptation by miraculous power - "I interviewed a number of people. I became increasingly perplexed to learn that it seemed everyone who had experienced such a miracle still had one addiction – often smoking, but not always – that caused them great shame and embarrassment as they kept floundering in their attempts to beat that particular habit." Why does God sometimes let us lose battles with temptations? - netburst.net. I always enjoy Grantley's insights.
Friday, May 7, 2010
The Mote in my Idea
So many great ideas and companies are born because people wanted the product or service for themselves. We need something, and that thing does not exist yet. Or we interact with a provider of something, and they do it wrong or have such poor service that we decide to go into competition with them. Or we go to buy something and it simply costs more than we know it should, so we go create it, build it, do it - and a new company or idea is born.
Find a need and fill it, the saying goes, and what better need to find and fill than our own?
I think this motivating principal lies at the root of our tendency to be hypocrites - where we are finding the faults in others that are our own weakness and fault as well. Read on.
"And why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, and not notice the beam which is in your own eye?" Mat 7:3
But here is why we do that: Whatever our problems are, we are trying to improve and we're fighting our own bad behavior. Say we're trying to eat healthy. We may not be very good at eating healthy yet, in fact we may have just started some new willpower-testing regimen today, and we can hardly stand to see someone breaking the new rules we've just set up for ourselves, maybe downing junk food and soda, and our instinct is to jump all over them for it.
We've "geared up" mentally to wage war against the bad behavior in ourselves and when we see the "enemy behavior" we're going to start shooting, (unless we're self-aware enough to hold our tongue and recognize the source of our zeal).
Find a need and fill it, the saying goes, and what better need to find and fill than our own?
I think this motivating principal lies at the root of our tendency to be hypocrites - where we are finding the faults in others that are our own weakness and fault as well. Read on.
"And why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, and not notice the beam which is in your own eye?" Mat 7:3
But here is why we do that: Whatever our problems are, we are trying to improve and we're fighting our own bad behavior. Say we're trying to eat healthy. We may not be very good at eating healthy yet, in fact we may have just started some new willpower-testing regimen today, and we can hardly stand to see someone breaking the new rules we've just set up for ourselves, maybe downing junk food and soda, and our instinct is to jump all over them for it.
We've "geared up" mentally to wage war against the bad behavior in ourselves and when we see the "enemy behavior" we're going to start shooting, (unless we're self-aware enough to hold our tongue and recognize the source of our zeal).
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Self-quarantining ourselves
The devil's got a problem. On-fire-for-God Christianity is infectious. "It only takes a spark, to get a fire going - that's how it is with God's love, once you've experienced it, you want to share, you want to pass it on" [Pass it On, a song I learned in the 70's]
I saw a show last night in which a monastary was depicted, filled with people who'd made a commitment to study God's word and spend much time in prayer and meditation. How convenient for the devil. Folk who get the Gospel and they then voluntarily quarantine themselves away where they can't infect anyone else.
We do this also, to a lesser degree, when we send our kids to Christian school, or when we find a church denomination or church family and never get around to other churches or denominations.
And when we go out in public we wear our politically-correct filter, like a hospital ward breathing mask, careful to filter out praise for our Creator, hope for Jesus' soon return, and anticipation of Heaven.
I saw a show last night in which a monastary was depicted, filled with people who'd made a commitment to study God's word and spend much time in prayer and meditation. How convenient for the devil. Folk who get the Gospel and they then voluntarily quarantine themselves away where they can't infect anyone else.
We do this also, to a lesser degree, when we send our kids to Christian school, or when we find a church denomination or church family and never get around to other churches or denominations.
And when we go out in public we wear our politically-correct filter, like a hospital ward breathing mask, careful to filter out praise for our Creator, hope for Jesus' soon return, and anticipation of Heaven.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Choose, and Enjoy!
Sometimes we wish we could have a face to face consultation with God. All we'd need, we figure, is 5 or 10 minutes and get some solid advice on a few "life direction" questions.
"Should I marry this person, are they the one?"
"Should I take this Job? Is it right for me?"
"Should we move to this certain city, and sell our home?"
"What should I Major in, in college? What would I be best at and enjoy most and serve you best by?"
This list goes on and varies for each of us but we all have these uncertainties in life and we just know our life's path would be grand if God would just take a moment to tell us what to do. We'd also be able to go forward in confidence knowing that "if God is for us, who can be against us?"
I too sometimes yearn for the opportunity for a little direction. Sometimes we want it so bad that we try to force it. "Okay God, if this sign happens, then I will know it's your will - and if it doesn't then I will know it is not your will."
We know that Gideon used a fleece as a sign, but after getting a sign, he started to worry that he'd chosen the thing that was going to happen naturally, so he asked again that the sign be opposite. (judges 6:39). It may be important to note that Gideon's test was not to decide between his own conflicting choices. It was to test a direct request of service from God. That's a bit different from the decisions we are usually stuggling with.
This week we're going to be studying Ecclesiastes in my Sabbath morning study group. It may shed some light on this idea of God's plan for our lives or the importance we think our life's path holds. I'm somewhat undecided. I do think that God answers prayer of all types, including and maybe even especially those "life direction" questions.
But I also can't help feeling it's sometimes a bit like asking God to tell us what our favorite color ought to be. To which I'd imagine Him answering "Choose, and Enjoy!"
Perhaps that is often the answer he gives us in our search for our own life path: "Choose, and Enjoy!" There are many many paths we can take, and many jobs, places to live, candidates for someone to spend our life with. All wonderful, all filled with both blessings and hardships, all worthy of our best efforts and richly full with possibilities.
While we do have these choices, and we are free to choose, James 4:13-15 makes a good point, that with any plans we set we should say to ourselves "The lord willing, we will do this, or that", always being ready to abandon our plans in favor of God's will and leading.
But prayerfully consider the possibility the next time you wonder what God's plan is for your life, perhaps he is trying to tell you: "Choose, and Enjoy!"
"Should I marry this person, are they the one?"
"Should I take this Job? Is it right for me?"
"Should we move to this certain city, and sell our home?"
"What should I Major in, in college? What would I be best at and enjoy most and serve you best by?"
This list goes on and varies for each of us but we all have these uncertainties in life and we just know our life's path would be grand if God would just take a moment to tell us what to do. We'd also be able to go forward in confidence knowing that "if God is for us, who can be against us?"
I too sometimes yearn for the opportunity for a little direction. Sometimes we want it so bad that we try to force it. "Okay God, if this sign happens, then I will know it's your will - and if it doesn't then I will know it is not your will."
We know that Gideon used a fleece as a sign, but after getting a sign, he started to worry that he'd chosen the thing that was going to happen naturally, so he asked again that the sign be opposite. (judges 6:39). It may be important to note that Gideon's test was not to decide between his own conflicting choices. It was to test a direct request of service from God. That's a bit different from the decisions we are usually stuggling with.
This week we're going to be studying Ecclesiastes in my Sabbath morning study group. It may shed some light on this idea of God's plan for our lives or the importance we think our life's path holds. I'm somewhat undecided. I do think that God answers prayer of all types, including and maybe even especially those "life direction" questions.
But I also can't help feeling it's sometimes a bit like asking God to tell us what our favorite color ought to be. To which I'd imagine Him answering "Choose, and Enjoy!"
Perhaps that is often the answer he gives us in our search for our own life path: "Choose, and Enjoy!" There are many many paths we can take, and many jobs, places to live, candidates for someone to spend our life with. All wonderful, all filled with both blessings and hardships, all worthy of our best efforts and richly full with possibilities.
While we do have these choices, and we are free to choose, James 4:13-15 makes a good point, that with any plans we set we should say to ourselves "The lord willing, we will do this, or that", always being ready to abandon our plans in favor of God's will and leading.
But prayerfully consider the possibility the next time you wonder what God's plan is for your life, perhaps he is trying to tell you: "Choose, and Enjoy!"
Monday, December 7, 2009
Gigantic to do lists
I love life!
There is more to do than I will ever be able to get done. I have web opportunities on scribbled scraps of paper all over my office. Some I'm actively working on but some may simply never get enough time allotted to ever see the light of day. Here it is mid December and months ago I had a gift I wanted to start working on, heavy in graphics and computer, but there is also some printing and turn-around time to have it ready as a gift for a few of my family members. I probably won't get it done in time for Christmas, so maybe I'll have it ready for next year.
One of the lines that has stuck with me from and old Jim Croce song "There's not enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them." It was truer for Jim than he knew, but it's true for all of us. Life is rich with possibilities and I simply can't get to it all.
This is of course nothing new, but what struck me this morning and why I'm blogging this message is this verse, from Malachi 3:10 which says:
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
That's how I think of our to do list that is so big we'll never get it done. Blessings so plentiful that "there shall not be room enough to receive it".
Something to think about next time we're feeling overwhelmed :)
There is more to do than I will ever be able to get done. I have web opportunities on scribbled scraps of paper all over my office. Some I'm actively working on but some may simply never get enough time allotted to ever see the light of day. Here it is mid December and months ago I had a gift I wanted to start working on, heavy in graphics and computer, but there is also some printing and turn-around time to have it ready as a gift for a few of my family members. I probably won't get it done in time for Christmas, so maybe I'll have it ready for next year.
One of the lines that has stuck with me from and old Jim Croce song "There's not enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them." It was truer for Jim than he knew, but it's true for all of us. Life is rich with possibilities and I simply can't get to it all.
This is of course nothing new, but what struck me this morning and why I'm blogging this message is this verse, from Malachi 3:10 which says:
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
That's how I think of our to do list that is so big we'll never get it done. Blessings so plentiful that "there shall not be room enough to receive it".
Something to think about next time we're feeling overwhelmed :)
Saturday, September 26, 2009
God our helpful friend
I was sitting at the downstairs computer getting some things ready to mail out and I heard my wife call out "Could you grab me a pair of white socks from my top drawer?" which is upstairs. I didn't really think about it, I just broke away from what I was doing and bounded up the stairs to get her a fresh pair of socks. As I came out the door of the downstairs office and she saw me, she said "Oh, you're down here, never mind honey, I can get them myself."
I was already on my way and it certainly wasn't a task that needed any deliberation over, so I just said "I don't mind", grabbed her a pair of socks and returned back to work.
The day before I'd had a similar experience with God. I had prayed asking for help with my recent unemployment and meeting the financial difficulties associated with it. I asked specifically for help meeting this month's bills, finding ongoing income, and for help in digging us out of our backwards situation.
In what I assume was a response to that request, these three things happened: My brother called and asked if I needed some short-term work, a person who owed us some money called to get the address to send it to, and my sister spent some time helping me line up a possibly lucrative business deal. It was one I had been inquiring about but she took the time to make a convincing presentation of the merits, and it worked, I should have that project beginning mid next week.
The interesting thing is that all of that was things I could have done myself. I could have called to see if that money was going to be sent soon, I could have called and asked my sister to check in again on the possibility of the business deal, and I could have called around to friends and relatives to see if there was any work available.
When I was asked to grab the socks for my wife I couldn't help but think that God sometimes responds in the same way, not annoyed or telling us "you could do that as easy as I can", but instead, happy to help, a true friend, willing to pitch in alongside us.
I am convinced that the Psamlist recognized this of God when he wrote "no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." (psalms 84:11) Romans 8:32 has this to say: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
This is just one small insight into God's relationship with us, and it is not "stand-alone". We need to study and be aware and continue our learning, because sometimes God uses delays in answers to our prayers to teach us, as when Jesus delayed healing Lazarus until he had died.
But this post is just about a glimpse of God our helpful friend, who helps us just in love, not always to teach us something.
I was already on my way and it certainly wasn't a task that needed any deliberation over, so I just said "I don't mind", grabbed her a pair of socks and returned back to work.
The day before I'd had a similar experience with God. I had prayed asking for help with my recent unemployment and meeting the financial difficulties associated with it. I asked specifically for help meeting this month's bills, finding ongoing income, and for help in digging us out of our backwards situation.
In what I assume was a response to that request, these three things happened: My brother called and asked if I needed some short-term work, a person who owed us some money called to get the address to send it to, and my sister spent some time helping me line up a possibly lucrative business deal. It was one I had been inquiring about but she took the time to make a convincing presentation of the merits, and it worked, I should have that project beginning mid next week.
The interesting thing is that all of that was things I could have done myself. I could have called to see if that money was going to be sent soon, I could have called and asked my sister to check in again on the possibility of the business deal, and I could have called around to friends and relatives to see if there was any work available.
When I was asked to grab the socks for my wife I couldn't help but think that God sometimes responds in the same way, not annoyed or telling us "you could do that as easy as I can", but instead, happy to help, a true friend, willing to pitch in alongside us.
I am convinced that the Psamlist recognized this of God when he wrote "no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." (psalms 84:11) Romans 8:32 has this to say: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
This is just one small insight into God's relationship with us, and it is not "stand-alone". We need to study and be aware and continue our learning, because sometimes God uses delays in answers to our prayers to teach us, as when Jesus delayed healing Lazarus until he had died.
But this post is just about a glimpse of God our helpful friend, who helps us just in love, not always to teach us something.
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