Sunday, December 21, 2008

Out of the Heart

Mat 12:34 Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Jesus states to the Pharisees the mouth speaks what’s in the heart। So, my question is what would this look like? Is it simply curses and foul speech? Would it be someone who speaks angrily to everyone around them? Both of these would be an aspect of this, but what about more subtle things? An example would be the person who, unknowingly, puts themselves first in front of others? Scripture says for us to place others needs in front of our on and in doing this He would meet our needs. What about some one who looks at what others do on the outside instead of searching out why the person is doing what they do? Scripture tells us that God sees what’s inside a mans heart and judges him by it.

There are many such examples I could write here. Hopefully, these are enough to get you to thinking about what comes out of your mouth as well as what is in your mind about others and how you treat them. If my thoughts and actions place me and my needs ahead of others then my heart is speaking clearly about where God ranks in my life. If I spend my days seeking what makes me comfortable instead of what God wants, my heart, again, is stating clearly where God ranks in my life. I challenge you to examine your thoughts and speech to see where God ranks in your life. Seek out those things that would suggest to you that your life is not resembling that of Christ and once you see them, commit them to prayer and continuously watch for them to come up until such a time that you no longer do them.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Make Daddy Proud

Through out our lives, we strive to make our parents proud of us. Even those of us who are raised by parents who abused us, still long to make them or the person we consider our parent, proud. As a child I always beemed when my dad would tell me I did good at something, and because of that feeling, I strove to do things to make him tell me that more often. "Father" only wishes for our good and for us to choose to love Him instead of ourselves. Shouldn't we want to make Him proud? In making Him proud, we achieve what we all long for in our lives. That is to have a parent who loves us and is proud of us. Why is it then that we call God, our "Father" yet do nothing to make Him proud of us? We seek to please ourselves instead of pleasing Him. I am most guilty of this in my life and how I wish I could say otherwise. Don't you think it is time we begin to try to make "Father" proud with our actions and our lives instead of making our flesh happy and satisfied? I do. I think its time we go back to the beginning and set our sites on the basics of our faith and learn anew how to trust in God for all we need and want and to strive to make a Daddy proud. Are you ready to have a proud Daddy?

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Logos is sending out a free commentary to all who get there before time runs out. Check it out at http://blog.logos.com/archives/2008/08/matthew_mark_cornerstone_biblical_commentary--free.html