Sermons

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Giving THANKS — Give HONOR

This is part two of  the “Giving THANKS” sermon series that I am preaching on Sunday evenings at the Deer Run Church of Christ.  I began the series last week with “Give TIME” and this week we focused on a message entitled, “Give HONOR”.

God gave me the framework for this sermon series on the drive to work a few weeks ago and now He is giving me the opportunity to preach it!  Paul writes in second Thessalonians 4:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  We are never told to be thankful for all circumstances, but we are told to be thankful in all circumstances.  As we approach a season of Thanksgiving followed by the Christmas holiday, many people turn to thoughts of thankfulness and giving.  This series will give you some great tips on being thankful and some great gift ideas as you give thanks not only to God, but also to the people in your life!

Giving honor can be a very confusing and complicated topic among Christians.  On one hand, most would readily acknowledge a need to give God honor yet may struggle to know what that really looks like.  On the other hand, we struggle with the idea of giving honor to a person because there is often something that just doesn’t sound right about doing that.  Much of that tension comes because we are more likely to want honor given to us than to give it to others.  When we do give honor, it is difficult to do so impartially and without expecting to somehow benefit from doing so.  The Bible tells us to “honor one another above yourselves” and to “give everyone what you owe him . . . if honor, then honor”.  (Romans 12:10 & 13:7)  So, how do we give this kind of honor to the people in or life and that we cross paths with?

When we give this type of honor to people, with no strings attached, we give Hope!  Many people live, work, and serve under the radar — unsure if their efforts make a difference to anyone.  When we give them honor, we instill within them a confident hope that they matter and their life has a purpose.  The greatest honor we can give a person is to share with them “the reason for the hope that you have”.  We give honor to God when we live out loud the hope that we have in Jesus!  Hope is central in the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it ought to be central in the story of our life as we give thanks and give honor to the “others” around us.

We also give honor to people when we give them opportunity.  Just prior to Paul writing to the Romans to honor one another above themselves, he addresses a variety of gifts God has given individuals in His church.  “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.  If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”  (Romans 12:6-8)  The key to this passage, other than the obvious that these gifts are given by the grace or God, is the little phrase, “let him”.  We give honor to a person, and to God, when we give that person the opportunity to use the gifts God has put in their life.

One of the more common ways of giving honor is to give notice to a person’s use of the gifts that they have.  When we notice a person living, serving, and giving with no regard for themselves and seeking the best for the other person, that is a person that deserves honor for their faithfulness.  Before we begin to question if that is even appropriate, it is probably good to point out that Paul would often name names in the public letters he would write to the churches.  He had no problem pointing out the sacrificial service of people and ask that they, and people like them, be honored.  It should not be a problem to be noticed for doing good and having that recognized either publicly or privately.  The problem comes when being noticed becomes our sole or primary reason for serving others with the gifts God has given us.  We ought to be careful, but we must not let the potential of wrong motives keep us from honoring people by noticing their use of the gifting of God in their life.

When it comes to giving honor, one of the more difficult means for many is through giving obedience.  The Bible makes it clear that we honor God through our acts of obedience to his Word and his will.  Isaiah spoke about the nation of Israel in his time, and Jesus quoted it to describe the “religious” people of his day, that “they honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from him.”  The context of both Isaiah and the words of Jesus is that this is not real honor at all — real honor requires obedience.  When we consider honoring people with our obedience, it brings up the often scary topic of submitting to one another.  When we honor others above ourselves, we become obedient to their preferences and desires over our own.  Obviously, our true allegiance and obedience is to God and the truth of His word but when it comes to matters of opinion, we give honor to a person when we yield our opinion in obedience to theirs.

Probably the most common element of honor is respect.  This really ties together the other components I’ve written about.  While we often demand that respect is earned before it is given, giving honor says we give respect because of who the person is in Christ rather than because of what they can do, or have done, for me.  Our respect for a person gives hope.  True respect allows a person to use their gifts, giving them ample opportunity to shine for Jesus.  Respect notices the achievement, effort, and person in front of us and gives them honor for who they are.  It is respect that places my opinions and desires beneath theirs and lives in obedience to the command to submit to one another.  When we respect a person for who they are in God’s view, we give them honor.

I pray that you and I are living lives that give honor to God and to others!  I pray that our thanks is expressed as we give honor through our giving  of Hope, Opportunity, Notice, Obedience, and Respect!

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Giving THANKS — Give TIME

This could get interesting — I’m working on two different writing series as well as blogging my Wednesday night lesson questions here on Tom’s Treasure. 🙂  This “Giving THANKS” series will follow a sermon series that I am preaching on Sunday evenings at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

God gave me the framework for this sermon series on the drive to work a couple of weeks ago and now He is giving me the opportunity to preach it!  Paul writes in second Thessalonians 4:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  We are never told to be thankful for all circumstances, but we are told to be thankful in all circumstances.  As we approach a season of Thanksgiving followed by the Christmas holiday, many people turn to thoughts of thankfulness and giving.  This series will give you some great tips on being thankful and some great gift ideas as you give thanks not only to God, but also to the people in your life!

We begin the series by looking at giving thanks by giving time.  We can give thanks to God, and to people, by giving of our time.  I know, there are some readers that may believe that is not possible — they don’t have any time to give.  Unfortunately, that’s not true — we all have the same amount of time each day.  How we fill it and how much we make available for God and the people around us may be variable and we may not feel we have as much control over it as we like, but the time we start with is the same.  So, how do we give time?

We start by giving the time of today!  The writer of Hebrews tell us to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  The longer we put off giving thanks and doing the things God has called us to do, the more likely we won’t ever do them.  Procrastination leads to a hardness of heart and convinces us that there is always tomorrow.  The best way, and only sure way, of giving time to God or anyone is to give them time today.

Secondly, we need to give time intentionally.  James says that “anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”  That statement should be an incredible incentive to be intentional about giving of our time to God and to the people He calls us to share with.  One of the main reasons that we don’t give the time of today is that we don’t make plans to do so.  I believe that James would say that “good intentions” are grossly misnamed because there is nothing good about unkept intentions.  If we’re going to give thanks by giving time, we must be intentional about doing so or it will likely never get done.

We also give time by giving moments.  Paul instructs us to “be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  Often in our giving to God, and to people, we become convinced that they measure value by size or quantity rather than by the heart.  We pass up opportunities to give moments because we don’t put enough value on them and consider them unimportant.  While today is all we live in, it can also be narrowed down to all we really live in is the moment.  I’m not saying there is no place for planning, but don’t get so focused on a time yet to come that you miss the opportunity of the moment.  When we give thanks by giving time, we must give value to the moment.

The ultimate giving of time is the giving of eternity!  Not that eternity is ours to give — particularly to God, but we can share with people the way of eternal life through Jesus Christ and we can commit to maintaining our journey with Jesus as we live eternally with, and for, Him.  There is no better way to spend our time, and give our time, than to share with someone how Jesus has changed our life and given us the assured hope of eternity with Him.  We give thanks when we give our time sharing with someone the opportunity they have to experience eternal life through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I pray that you and I are living lives that give thanks!  I pray that our thanks is expressed as we give time through our giving Today, Intentionally, Moments, and Eternity!

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Pure In Eyes

This is part of a series of writings I am working on to expand the post I published last week, Pure In HEART.  This series will be taking a more detailed look at each point of that post.  Today I look at part two, Pure in Eyes.

Again, the seeds for this series came from God through a song that took up residence in my mind for the better part of a week.  🙂   I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me — and thus a series of writings.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I want to look at five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart and I begin with this post focused on what we take in through our eyes.

Remember the old church preschool song?  “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see . . .”.   The Bible has much to say about the seriousness of what we take in through our eyes.  The Psalmist writes, “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.  Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”  (Psalm 119:36-37)  Jesus tells us, “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”  (Matthew 18:9)  The Psalmist also tells us to “set no worthless thing before my eyes” and indicates that some have fallen away because of the things they have allowed their eyes to dwell on.

We live in a visually bombarded society with images constantly coming at us varying from that of great wholesome beauty to that of intense evil.  Could you imagine if there were a filter for our eyes that would automatically block out any unwholesome view?  How much of your favorite TV show would you end up actually seeing?  How much of your on-line computer time would be dark because the visual is blocked?  I hope it is obvious that if we are intentionally filling our eyes with worthless things then we have a serious problem.

For most of us though, the purity of our eyes is more often contaminated by what we unintentionally observe than by what we seek out.  In some ways this is even more dangerous to us because it ends up filling our eyes, and our mind, in a way that we hardly recognize the influence it has over us.  What we see over and over, whether intentionally or not, influences what we believe is normal and right.  This visual influence will attack your area of greatest weakness and you won’t even realize why you’re unhappy with your looks, your body size and image, your car, your home, your relationships, or whatever it is that you’ve continually seen that looks better to you.

So how do we maintain a life that is pure in eyes?  Sometimes we have to go to the extreme of cutting out, or blocking, images that are constant stumbling blocks to us.  This “gouging out of our eyes” to images that we cannot gain mastery over is preferrable to allowing what we see to draw us away from our relationship with Christ.  Sometimes we just need a reminder, some accountability, to not let our eyes dwell on that which is impure.  It is bad enough to see certain things but to have our eyes return to them a second, third, fourth, . . . time probably means we are not all that serious about being pure in eyes.

If the eyes are indeed the windows to the soul, what amount of light are you allowing into yours?  Are you maintaining a pure heart through a deliberate approach to maintaining purity in what you allow before your eyes?

I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!

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Pure In Humor

This is part of a series of writings I am working on to expand the post I published last week, Pure In HEART.  This series will be taking a more detailed look at each point of that post.  Today I begin with Pure in Humor.

Again, the seeds for this series came from God through a song that took up residence in my mind for the better part of a week.  🙂  I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me — and thus a series of writings.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I want to look at five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart and I begin with this post focused on our view of humor.

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”  Ephesians 5:2-5

What do you find funny?  How would others describe your sense of humor?  Dry?  Witty?  Missing?  Off-color?  Depends on who  you’re with?  What does it look like to live pure in humor — with no “obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking”?  Social media can be an incredible tool to communicate and connect with people in positive ways but the openness of it can often be a window into our soul that is much darker than we would care to admit.

As one that has been involved in vocational ministry for many years, I admittedly have been somewhat protected from what seems to be a gutter-ball slide of society into an acceptable culture of “obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking”.  If you have to start a story or joke with, “this may be inappropriate, but . . . “, it probably shouldn’t be told.  🙂  There’s nothing wrong with people knowing, because of what you believe and stand for, that what they’re about to say you wouldn’t find funny.  Polite laughter, so as not to offend, often appears to be implied approval or acceptance.  It is somewhat ironic that we will laugh at an offensive joke so as not to offend the joke-teller while we are offended, or at least ought to have been offended, by what was said.

While people who know me as a minister, or even as a Christian, may throttle back on what they say in person, the on-line social media is a whole other arena in which everything you post is out there for all to see.  It is sad to see how many people on my “friends” list use everything from mildly suggestive to downright obscene language in their posts and comments.  Everything is tagged with “lol” and we’re supposed to just laugh it off because it wasn’t meant to be serious.  I’ve heard it all.  “Get a life.”  “It’s no big deal.”  “Everyone talks like that — it doesn’t mean anything.”  “Times have changed.”  “What century are you living in?”  And on it goes.  The truth is, I can’t control what anyone writes, says, or finds funny — except for myself.  While it may be tempting at times to throw out words for shock value or laugh at things I know are inappropriate, God continues to call me to be pure in HEART and part of that calling is to live with purity in my humor.

Jesus says that what is in the heart is what comes out of the mouth.  The words that we use — whether in speech or writing — provide a window to our very heart and soul.  What we find funny, and the things we view as humorous, tells a lot about who we really are inside.  Yes, laughter really is good medicine but as we seek to be pure in heart, we really must pay close attention to seeking and having great purity in our humor.

I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!

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Pure In HEART

I had a song running through my head today . . . or at least a line from a song that took up residence in my mind for the day.  🙂  I think the song may be titled, “Highway To Heaven”, but the line that stuck with me is, “it’s a highway to heaven . . . none can go up there . . . but the pure in heart . . . well, it’s a highway to heaven . . . walking on the King’s highway!”

The phrase that continually jumped out at me was the idea of “pure in heart“.  I believe God has given me another acrostic to provide the framework for a sermon He has been giving me.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  I think there is a lot that can go into that, but here are five areas that should help lead us toward being pure in heart.

  • Pure in Humor — “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”  Ephesians 5:2-5
  • Pure in Eyes — Remember the old church preschool song?  “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see . . .”.   “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.  Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”  Psalm 119:36-37  “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”  Matthew 18:9
  • Pure in Attitude — “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  Ephesians 4:22-24
  • Pure in Relationships — ” Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”  1 Timothy 5:1-2
  • Pure in Teaching — “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.  Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”  2 Timothy 1:13-14

There’s the basic outline and a handful of scriptures that God is giving me to flesh out into a sermon. 🙂  I pray that you and I would pursue God faithfully and be found “pure in HEART” because we have paid attention to purity in our Humor, Eyes, Attitude, Relationships, and Teaching!

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Happiness Is The LORD

Happiness seems to be a character trait, or commodity, that is high on many people’s wish list.  In America, we’ve even been taught that it is one of our “inalienable rights” along with life and liberty — the pursuit of happiness.  Against that backdrop it may seem strange that the Bible seems to say very little about happiness — at least about our version of happiness.

I preached a sermon tonight based out of Matthew 25 with a focus on the statement of the master, “Well done, good and faithful servant! . . . Come and share your master’s happiness!”  I have to state up front, as I did in the sermon itself, that I’m not sure why God would have me preach this particular message in public when it is an area that I have struggled with greatly.  I think what it comes down to is that the key to happiness is probably not what we usually think it is and happiness itself likely doesn’t look like what we think it ought to.

The title for this post, and the sermon, came from a song that God stuck in my head the entire week.  It didn’t matter how I felt or my perceived level of happiness, this song kept running through my mind and I would find myself singing it in my heart even when, as the song states, the tears would fall.

“Happiness is to know the Saviour, living a life within His favor, having a change in my behavior, happiness is the LORD!  . . . Real joy is mine no matter if the tear drops start, I’ve found the secret, it’s Jesus in my heart.”

As I meshed the story of the three servants in Matthew 25 and the response of the master to their actions with the first verse and chorus of the song, God gave me the following points to go with the word, “LORD”.

  • Happiness is the Learning — The servants who eventually heard the well done and were invited into their master’s happiness were the ones who had “learned” the master.  The song puts it to “know the Saviour”.  Real happiness requires that we put everything we have into pursuit of God.  When we seek him, we will find him when we seek him with our whole heart.  How much desire do I have to know God?  How much effort do I put into learning who God is, how much He loves me, how much He loves people?  Happiness is the learning of who God really is and how much everything real is centered in Him.
  • Happiness is the Obedience — The servants who were welcomed into their master’s happiness not only learned the desires and will of the master, they were obedient to it.  The second phrase of the song says, “living a life within His favor”.  It is hard to imagine living in God’s favor without putting serious effort and intent into living obediently to His will and purpose.  Jesus said, “why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do the things that I say?”.  Happiness is living in obedience to God’s will and purpose — a will and purpose that we learn more accurately as we pursue Him wholeheartedly.
  • Happiness is the Repentance — The third servant in the story missed out on the welcome into his master’s happiness because he chose to hold onto his belief regarding the behavior and attitude of his master.  He seemed to forget who the master was, who the servant was, and the difference between the two.  The song states that part of happiness is “having a change in my behavior”.  Change in my behavior comes when I repent of doing things my way and according to my understanding and start doing them God’s way and trust Him to have my best interest in mind.  Happiness comes when I repent — when I turn away from my selfish will and desire and turn to fully following God in complete trust.
  • Happiness is the Destination — The culmination of my learning, obedience, and repentance is the destination of sharing in my Master’s happiness.  It’s the destination that brings about the real joy that can be present “even when the tear drops start”.  You see, while real happiness comes in what many would consider an unconventional manner — a relationship with Jesus — it also comes in an appearance that doesn’t always look like what people think happiness should be.  Happiness comes when I am secure in my relationship with Jesus and can look forward with great expectation to hearing those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! . . . Come and share your master’s happiness!”

I pray that you and I would find true happiness in the LORD!

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What Do You WANT?

How many times are you asked the seemingly simple question, “What do you want?”, and struggle to come up with an answer?  I know I do often and for various reasons.  Sometimes the question seems to come out of the blue and I’m not really sure what I want.  Other times, the question seems to be more of a rhetorical question — asked by a person, or in a setting, that has shown over time that what I want isn’t really all that important to them.  Then there are times that what I want seems so outlandish, unreasonable, even impossible, that to say it out loud may well set me up for ridicule and even failure — it’s not worth the risk to reply.  Sometimes the answer is watered down because I settle with giving a compromised answer instead of the real answer to what I want.

I should probably preface this article with the statement that I don’t believe life is all about what I want.  🙂  “What do you want?” is only a good question when it and it’s answer flow fully from the will of God discovered through His Word and His Spirit as they live and work in your life.

Jesus asked that very question, “What do you want?”, several times and I think we can learn much from an interchange that takes place between he and a man named Bartimaeus.  Let’s look at what he got and what he could have settled for.

Then they came to Jericho.  As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging.  When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”  So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”  Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.  “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.  The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”  “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.  (Mark 10:46-52 NIV)

As I look at this text, and life, I see four ways that we could answer the question, “What do you want?”.  Unfortunately, we often settle for one of the first three instead of living with the honesty and faith that was shown by Bartimaeus.

The first way that we often hear the question is “What do you Wish?“.  When we hear this way, our response is often either very hesitant or very flippant.  We’ve not seriously thought about what we want so our answers revolve around wishful thinking and dreams.  The problem isn’t that the answer to this question is always wrong — the problem lies more in our attitude toward it.  When we view what we want as just wishful thinking, we are too easily discouraged and give up.  Bartimaeus had to step up beyond the “what do you wish” to overcome those who wanted him to just be quiet.  Are you living with the “what do you wants” of your life simply as wishes that you give up on because others persuade you it will never happen?

Somewhat related, or at least often a by-product, of “what do you wish”, is “What do you Accept?“.  This often comes after a heavy dose of realism and disappointment.  We examine what we really want and what we really believe is possible and come up with a compromise answer of what we will accept.  What we really want hasn’t happened, sounds so unlikely, or has been turned down so often, that we downgrade what we want and settle for what we will accept.  Bartimaeus was determined to continue a pursuit of what he wanted regardless of how much pressure there may have been to accept less.  After all, he had been heard . . . surely he raised awareness among the crowd of the plight of the blind . . . wasnt’ that enough?  Is your life empty of the “what do you wants” because you’ve been convinced to settle for what you will accept?

Particularly for the realist or pragmatic person, the question, “What do you want”, is often at least mentally substituted with, “What do you Need?“.  This takes the “what do you accept” to a basic level.  Sometimes to want anything beyond the basic needs are seen, and taught, as selfish and even un-spiritual so we settle for what we need in spite of what we really want.  Because begging and receiving alms was the basic means of survival for many first-century people with disabilities, Bartimaeus could have easily settled for a pay-off.  There was a crowd that wanted him quiet.  A crowd that was perhaps uncomfortable with him in their midst.  If he wasn’t so set in what he really wanted, he could have easily changed attention to his immediate needs and perhaps gained the means to survive financially for a few more weeks at least.  Have your eyes become so downcast in regards to what you want that you have begun to settle for another’s version of what you need?

If these other substitutes for the question, “What do you want?”, are empty and unsatisfying, what would be a good view of it?  In considering Bartimaeus and the teachings of Jesus, I believe we give the best response when we hear the question, “What do you want? “, as, “What do you Treasure?“!  That is often the reason we settle for what we Wish, Accept, or Need, because we haven’t learned what we really Treasure.  Bartimaeus was bold enough to pursue Jesus through all opposition in order to state to Jesus, “what I really treasure is my sight!”.  Jesus responds that this man’s faith has restored his sight — not faith in what seeing could do for him, faith that Jesus could, and would, make it happen.  Jesus states that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.  Could it be that you and I don’t pursue, or receive, what we want because we’ve settled for less or because what we treasure is not always the things of God?

I pray that you and I would hear Jesus ask us, “What do you want?”. 

I pray that our response would move beyond what we wish, accept, or need so that we can receive the great treasure of life eternal and the treasure of abundant life that Jesus wants us to have now.

You see, when our hope and faith is in Jesus Christ and we go for what we treasure, we also get what we wish, what we accept, and what we need!

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Just A BREATH

“Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.  You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.  Each man’s life is but a breath.”  Psalm 39:4-5

I’ve thought all day about something to write as the anniversary of my birth rolls by and people keep telling me I’m another year older.  So far my mind doesn’t seem to be putting the thoughts together, so I guess I’ll write a rambling blog post. 🙂

Some days I pray that God would show me my life’s end has arrived, but not today.
Some days I wish that the number of my days were complete, but not today.
Some days I don’t think my life is fleeting enough, but not today.
Today I wonder what makes my life “but a breath” and how can that have real value.

Today, life is just a(n) . . .

Bonus
Reminder
Encouragement
Attitude
Training
Honor

Since none of us really know the number of our days, then we ought to live as if today life is a bonus!  Oh I know, some people are told by a doctor that they only have a certain amount of time to live but in reality even that is just an educated guess not a certainty.  Would our life be lived differently if we knew for certain we were living on borrowed time?  What would we change if we really believed that today was a bonus day of life?  Since God says your life is but a breath, why not live like today is just a bonus!

Life as just a breath means that today life is just a reminder!  The fact that there is a today is a reminder that God is patient.  When people in the first century began to question if Jesus would really return since he hadn’t yet done so, God tell us that He is not slow in keeping his promises but he is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.  Today is a reminder of God’s purpose for giving another day — an opportunity for you and I to share the gospel of Jesus with someone so that they might believe in Jesus, repent, and have their sins washed away.

Knowing God’s patience — his long-suffering on behalf of you and I — should mean today life is just an encouragement!  Even knowing ourself, what an encouragement to experience God showering his love on us that he would call us his children and fill us with his spirit.  Not only is today an encouragement from God to us, it ought to be an encouragement from us to others.  God tells us in the book of Hebrews to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today.”  Live today as if it is just another opportunity to be encouraged and to encourage others.

If today is easy for you, you can be sure there will be a today that is not.  It is especially in those tough times that we can learn from, and lean on, Jesus as we see from his example that today life is just an attitude!  Can you imagine the help wanted ad for the job Jesus came to earth to do?  Who in their right mind would apply?  Paul tells us that we should have the same attitude as Christ Jesus who humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross.  None of us are called to take the sin of the world upon ourself and die — it would really do no good as it would only cover the payment we owe and nothing more.  Yet how hard is it for you and I to take on the attitude of obedience when the day ahead of us looks harder and more painful than we would like?  If today life is just an attitude, why not make it the attitude of Jesus — one of humility and obedience.

It is often said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”  With that in mind, we ought to consider that today life is just a training for whatever lies ahead!  It  doesn’t matter if tomorrow is another day of serving, ministering to, and loving the people around you or if it is worship in heaven at the very throne of God, today is just a training to prepare you for your tomorrow.  Unless there is internet access in heaven you are still alive here on earth to be reading this so today is just training to help you press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you.  When today is just training it is not about being perfect today, it is about pressing on toward the mark — toward the perfection, the maturity, we have in Christ Jesus when we see him face to face.

As we consider the task God has given us of sharing the good news of his son, Jesus Christ, with the world, it should be concluded that today life is just an honor!  As I watched some of the television coverage of the Olympic games, athlete after athlete would talk about what an honor it was to represent their country at such an event.  As we consider today life is just a bonus, a reminder, an encouragement, an attitude, and a training, we ought to realize that a life lived in service to the King of kings is an honor.  Jesus said that whatever we’ve done for the “least of these my brethren, you’ve done for me”.  How does that change our approach to today if we recognize our serving of “the least” is really the honor of serving our King?

Today, life is just a BREATH! 

Well, I’ve rambled long enough as the anniversary of my birth draws to a close.  I pray that I can take to heart what God has given me to write down.  I pray also that it is useful to you as you spend time with God and allow Him to evaluate your life and the BREATH that is your today!