Perfect love

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” Hester Prynne gave birth to a child of an adulterous situation. The child, Pearl, was born and was very healthy and beautiful as most babies are. Her mother dressed her in the finest clothes she could make. Hester, being a seamstress, made the clothes very well. The author goes on to say that there was no way for the baby to be pretty because it was born into a sinful situation and that nothing good could come out of a situation like that. In my own life I can attest to how God can take a sin filled life and transform it into something of beauty and joyful. How He takes a past of sin and wreckage and turns it into His glory.
There are many in churches today, like the crowd in the book, who throw words of stone that kill the spirit instead of words of love that heal. Sin should never be condoned in our churches, but it is our job and responsibility as Christians to love the back slider back into a healthy relationship with Christ and with the body. Scripture says that Satan is the accuser of the brothers. I suggest to you that when we begin to throw words of stone at those who are weak and back slidden we are being used to do Satan’s bidding not God’s. Personally, I think it is time we stop allowing Satan to use us the way we do and become the strong right arm of Christ we are called to be and learn to love people where they are and how they are, instead of expecting perfect actions from them while excusing our own inadequacies. Today we should make a vow before God to love sinners, be they back sliders or totally lost, with the same compassion that Christ does.
I pray one day we can become without spot and wrinkle and be blameless before God so the Son will return. Until that day let Jesus’ words ring true. John 8:7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Living Transparent

In C.S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce" there are two kinds of people in the book. The people in hell are ghostly and have no substance. They tend to be unhappy and make excuses for not being happy instead of facing reality. The people who are in heaven are solid and filled with joy and compassion. They work hard to convince the ghostly people to stay in heaven and find the joy they seek. The solid people are naked and are perfectly happy being this way. This is a great analogy for how we as Christians should be during each and every day of our lives here on earth. I do not mean we should go without clothes, but we should live our lives as though we had nothing to hide. This is actually shown in scripture as well in the fact that Adam and Eve did not know they were naked until sin entered the world. Gen. 3: 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they ?knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ??loin coverings[1]. Adam and Eve had nothing to hide from one another until they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Then they hid themselves from God and from each other. If we live our lives completely open and transparent we obtain freedom. The simple fact that there is nothing anyone can hold against us since everyone knows it all anyway shows one of the many ways our honesty and transparency allows our freedom from bondage. James 5:16 Therefore, ?confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be ?healed. ?The effective ?prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.[2] If we are not transparent there is no way we will ever be obedient to this passage and in not being obedient to God's word in any part we lose part of the blessing it is to walk with Christ. By being transparent with each other we will know how better to pray for each other and in so doing we can obtain the promise of healing from this passage. Through this healing we find our hearts filled with the joy and love of Christ. Do not allow your blessing of this promise to be withheld because of your own pride or because you are afraid of allowing others to see the real you. Without the real you there is no transparency and without transparency there is no healing.

Laying Down Your Life

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

What does laying your life down really mean? Is it simply to physically die for someone? I think there is much more to it than that. I think it is more appropriate to say it means to lay down your pride and your reputation and everything you live for in order to help a friend. To me this is truly laying down your life. I wonder what this world would look like if all Gods children started living their lives from this perspective?

Guardians of Truth

I wonder what the difference would be if we as Gods kids started seeing ourselves as guardians of Gods word? While guarding it finding out what it says for our lives, instead of trying to find out from a selfish stance what Gods word says for me? I think we should begin to look at Gods word as the true gift it is and begin to accept the fact that God has called His people to be guardians of truth, which is His word, instead of always asking what’s in it for me. We can guard the word by allowing the Spirit of God to write it on the tablets of our hearts as He explains it to us. And then repeating it as the Holy Spirit shows us not as our lmited minds can comprehend.

Too Many Minds

In the movie “The Last Samurai” Tom Cruise is being taught how to fight with a sword and he is told he has too many minds. He is thinking of the sword and the people watching him and of the enemy. He is instructed to only have one mind.

I wonder how many Christians need to heed this same advice when it comes to Christ. We tend to try to pray and worry over money. We attend church thinking of what’s for lunch. We read our bibles and think about work or our spouse and any other number of things. God wants us to have but one mind. The mind of Christ that is stayed upon Him in all things Spiritual as well as material and emotional. Be one minded in your pursuit of God and find the peace and the tranquility that your heart desires.

1Co 2:16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

Jesus The Lion

Jesus The Lion

In this writing I am going to attempt to show the many faces of Jesus but mostly focus on the lion part as described above. To many people today try to portray Christ as a feminine man in many aspects but I am here to show how Jesus was very much a mans man and we need to quit trying to feminize Him.

Many times I hear Jesus portrayed as a meek and humble man, which He was. We know He was loving and caring to the sick and spoke profoundly about taking care of the widows and orphans. But, what about the rest of what scripture says about Jesus? Does it not call Him a lion? Does scripture tell us that he ran people our of the temple

Mat 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

I would dare say this is not the actions of a man who is purely meek and mild but is more like a lion with the fierceness it would take to run that many people out of the temple. Webster’s says this about lions,

Lion
LI'ON, n. [L. leo, leonis, Gr.]

1. A quadruped of the genus Felis, very strong, fierce and rapacious. The largest lions are eight or nine feet in length. The male has a thick head, beset with long bushy hair of a yellowish color. The lion is a native of Africa and the warm climates of Asia. His aspect is noble, his gait stately, and his roar tremendous.

Rev 5:5 and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."

Hos 5:14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.

I really like the last line of the description of a lion as, to me, it perfectly describes Christ in all He did here, “His aspect is noble, his gait stately, and his roar tremendous.” Jesus was not a man that just walked around and worried over hurting peoples feelings, he was a man that spoke truth at all times and let the Holy Spirit’s conviction deal with each person. This is shown very clearly in Matthew 19:16 – 22. This is the story of the man that came to Christ and ask how he could earn his way to eternal life and Jesus told him to sell everything he owned give it to the poor and come follow me, but the man could not do that because of his love of his possessions. I dare to say this man got his feelings hurt and was very disappointed in the fact he could not earn his way to heaven.

Or maybe a better example of someone getting their feelings hurt would be Peter in Mat 16:23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Now I dare to say that Peter did not enjoy this statement at all and was probably embarrassed as all the disciples where present and most probably heard Jesus tell him this. And it would be a safe bet that Peter’s feelings where hurt in a big way over this.

Now having shown where Jesus was very much a lion in His walk on earth I want to make it clear that Jesus did everything in love and was not out to make people stumble with the harsh words He did use time to time. His goal, as always, is to get people to open their eyes to the truth of what is and to follow Him in truth instead of in their own perceptions and knowledge. He came that all may know the “Father” and have eternal life as stated in John 3:16 – 17.

I pray through this writing we can return to the knowledge that Jesus was very much a man in all He did and said and was not in anyway feminized as many try to make him out to be today.

Happiness or Joy

Happiness is based on circumstance and is very fleeting as it comes and goes with the tide. Most people seek happiness through trying to make their circumstances better instead of seeking God to obtain the Joy that He wants to give us all.

Happiness is the selfish pursuit of what I want.....

Joy is the selfless pursuit of what God wants!

In today's society people look to things to make them happy. Some look to a spouse or bf/gf. Some look to work, houses, cars, money and the list goes on. In doing this they are seeking what the world says will make them happy and in so doing are being very selfish in this pursuit. Scripture tells us to seek God first in all things.


Php 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Seeking Gods joy allows us to obtain that which our hearts seek which is the true joy of the King not the fleeting happiness of a circumstance.