“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,

so that Christ’s power may rest on me”

II Corinthians 12:9

 

Gods’ grace is made perfect in our weaknesses.

If you had a choice to boast or brag about yourself, what would you brag about?

Ninety-nine out of a hundred people would brag about something they feel confident in themselves about.

“I am smarter than anybody I know, I can solve the most difficult problems.”

“I have a knack for business, I can turn-around a failing business to a cash cow.”

“I am just good at relationships, I can bring enemies to the table to talk.”

All of the statements above make are intended to make others aware of how good we are at a certain thing because of our strength or perceived strength in accomplishing it.

Paul spoke radically different in his letter to the Corinthians.

Sure, he had reason to boast and he even spoke of those reasons.

But he recognized that God’s grace took even the weak parts of Paul’s life and used them for the glory of God!

That turned the boasting from what Paul was to who God is!

God’s grace will do the same thing in our lives.

We do not usually boast in our weaknesses.

That is until we are made aware that God can use our weaknesses for His glory!

Remember it is God who uses the foolish things of the world (what we might rightly consider a weakness) to confound the wise (those we would esteem as ‘strong’).

Do you want more of God’s power working in you?

Stop trying to live your life in your own strength.

Submit all that you are – strengths and weaknesses to Him that He can make His grace evident in you!

 

 

Where’s God?

Today's blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

You’ve probably seen the “Where’s Waldo” children’s books.  They are those popular books made up of drawings jam packed with people doing a variety of things at different locations.  Readers are challenged to find the character named Waldo hidden in the picture.

Waldo blends in very well, so it’s difficult to pick him out of the crowd unless you look very hard and sometimes for long periods of time.  If you casually glance at the picture, you will never find Him.

God is also not easy to find, on purpose.  Sure, He’s always willing to quickly reveal Himself, especially to those hearts seeking Him for the first time, but if we want to get to know Him at a deeper level, we have to search for Him with great effort above all other things.

The depth of how well we know God is directly related to the effort we put into finding Him.  Just like any relationship, if we invest little effort in getting to know someone, our understanding of that person will be shallow.  God is no different.

Are you able to find God in the busy picture of your life jam packed with its many distractions?  If you can’t find Him, keep looking.  Don’t give up.  He’s there right in front of you waiting to be found.  He just wants you to seek Him diligently like you would for any priceless treasure, only He is worth far more than any treasures of this world.

I am told that you can train your eye to quickly find Waldo.  The more you look for him and find him, the easier it becomes.  Your brain remembers the image and trains your eye what to look for.

The more you seek God, the easier it will become to find Him.  Our spirits will become so familiar with His spirit that we will learn to quickly see Him in all circumstances.  Like a spiritual reflex, our inner eyes will continually look to God throughout our day.

 

Against All Hope

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,”

Romans 4:18-20

 

 

Against all hope...

Have you ever faced a strong headwind?

Walking forward can be tough.

Sometimes, just the effort to remain standing up takes all of our energy.

Life can come at us that way too.

Abraham knew that.

The promise of God came smack dab up against the “facts” of his circumstances.

He no longer had the body of a young man – he was nearly 100 years old.

Sarah was also no spring chicken.

Those were the facts – plain and simple!

But those were just the facts.

The facts didn’t stand a chance against the promise of God and the hope we have in those promises.

Maybe you had a promise long ago but the headwinds of life have knocked you off your feet.

Stand up and move forward trusting in those promises of God

Against all hope, in hope believe God!

A “Yes” Man

“For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me

commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”

John 14:29

Being a “Yes” man is usually not considered a flattering thing.

But I would like to suggest that when it comes to agreeing with God nothing could be more proper!

Let our testimony be the testimony of heaven.

Let it always agree with God and His word.

May there be no difference between what we declare and what is declared in heaven.

Jesus was a “yes” man.

He never disagreed with the Father.

You might say that He never had to choose His words carefully because He always and only said what His Father in heaven said and He only did what His Father.

What a testimony that was!

How would that change what comes out of your mouth?

The Psalmist wrote –

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,

Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Psalm 19:14

In essence he was saying let every word and even every thought conform with the words and thoughts of heaven.

Become a “yes” man for heaven!

Talk, Talk Talk!

“I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;

    I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.

I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness

    from the great assembly.”

Psalm 40:10

 

 

Talk, talk , talk.

We certainly can talk about anything.

Even the shyest of people open up within the safe confines of home or the listening ear of a close friend.

Ask a sports fan about his favorite team and the words just seem to flow with no end.

The same can be said of the friend who saw the movie you have yet to see.

But, often when it comes to the things of God we clam up.

The words that flow so easily at other times seem to dry up when it is testimony time.

But the volume of our words is not necessarily a good measure of the value of those words.

The Psalmist writes of what we can give testimony too.

Gods’ faithfulness, His saving help and His love are valuable words when spoken to others.

They even have value to the one speaking as they call to remembrance what God has done for us.

Has God been faithful to you today?

Has His help saved you from accident, injury or harm?

Have you experienced His love in your life or been able to share that love with others?

Then these are words of high value and well worth speaking.

Let His works, let His love, let His faithfulness be your testimony today!

Testimony Time

“...Your love, God, is my song, and I’ll sing it! I’m forever telling everyone how faithful you are.

I’ll never quit telling the story of your love—

how you built the cosmos and guaranteed everything in it.

Your love has always been our lives’ foundation,

your fidelity has been the roof over our world...”

Psalm 89:1 The Message

 

Testimony: an open acknowledgment; firsthand authentication of a fact: evidence

Too often, fact and faith are seen as being in opposing corners of a boxing ring.

You can’t have one and still hold to the other.

Or so some believe!

But our testimony expresses the ‘facts’ of our experience rooted in our faith.

The Apostle John wrote these words in I John 4:14:

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

He was giving testimony of the facts of his experience that was rooted in his faith.

His testimony was true and his testimony brought glory to God by honoring the Son.

We often speak beyond the simple truth of how God’s love was expressed to us or through us to others.

When we do, our testimony becomes diluted.

Like the witness who takes the stand and elaborates beyond what they actually saw, we can draw the attention away from the Lord and draw it to ourselves.

But what power there is in speaking of how God touched or restored or protected or blessed!

When He is lifted up, He draws all men too Himself.

Do you look for ways to lift Him up?

Are you ready with a testimony of His keeping power?

Is His grace given honor through your words?

Don’t miss the many opportunities He will give you today to honor Him with your testimony.

Share it with someone.

Don’t worry about ‘converting’ them – simply share God’s goodness.

Let the Holy Spirit do what He wills with your testimony.

Just be faithful to give it!

Get out your hammer…

Today's blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

“For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned (rejected) Me, the fountain of living water, and they have carved out their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

What do you rely on?  When you peel back the layers of your life, where does your confidence and allegiance lie?  Is it on things of this world - your salary, your job title, your bank account, your significant other, even your ministry?

If we put our confidence in anything other than God, we are relying on a broken cistern.  And, to steal a quote from a well-known preacher, we need to “smash our cisterns of self-reliance.”

When we rely on other things, we reject God, the true fountain of living water.  Only He is worthy of our trust and confidence.

Interesting, Jesus also referenced this fountain of living water in John 7:38 - “Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'"

But Jesus didn’t just say come.  He said come and drink!  Imagine being thirsty and pouring a glass of water only to set it on the counter and stare at it.  Your thirst would remain.

We need to drink deeply from the fountain of living water.  We need to drink (think) often of God’s goodness, His kindness, His unending grace and mercy, His unconditional love.  We need to let those truths and all that He is saturate every fiber of our being until we come to rely on nothing else to sustain us.

So, what are you waiting for?  Get out your hammer and let the smashing begin.

What are you Settling For?

“Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving [a]heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. 13 But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication].”

Hebrews 3:12-13 Amplified Bible

 

You can grow in love through doubts accompanied by a desire to believe but you will be destroyed by a hardened heart accompanied by a refusal to believe.

The heading above the two verses written for today in my bible says: “The Peril of Unbelief”.

It is indeed a perilous and destructive thing to harden our hearts in unbelief.

We don’t risk the moment, we risk eternity.

As we saw previously, God will respond to the heart that doubts but desires to believe.

He cannot respond to the heart that is hardened and refuses to believe.

They have made their choice.

The choice of words the Amplified version uses to describe the hardened heart are quite good.

They say “into settled rebellion”.

It’s kind of like an old chorus we used to sing turned upside down and spoken something like this:

My minds made up

My heart is fixed

I want nothing of Jesus – no way!

What a sad state that is when what God has offered us is fellowship with Him throughout eternity simply by believing on the work of His Son.

It sounds rather foolish to harden your heart to such an offer but that is what the blinding nature of sin combined with the strategies of the devil cause us to do; make foolish decisions.

Don’t settle into rebellion.

Instead, draw near to God with a humble heart.

Stay close to those who stay close to Him and even in your doubts may the desire to believe remains strong!

 

 

Ask for Help

“And He could not do a miracle there at all [because of their unbelief]

except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

He wondered at their unbelief.”

Mark 6:5-6 Amplified Bible

 

Jesus didn’t wonder at their unbelief as if He did not know the reason.

There was an enemy at work attempting to stop Him.

It is no different in our lives today.

If there is any difference it might just be how much effort it

takes on the part of the enemy to stop you.

You see, Jesus was undeterred.

He fulfilled the Father’s will.

No shortcuts, no changes, no plan B’S.

The devil threw everything he had at Jesus to try to stop Him.

He was confident in his success when Jesus died on the cross.

But he was wrong!

Dead wrong! (Sorry about the pun).

The enemy has not changed.

He strategizes to produce unbelief in you and me.

But God has a brilliantly simple antidote for unbelief –

Ask for help to believe.

I know, I know, we want some convoluted formula of faith that Einstein couldn’t grasp.

Are you struggling today with unbelief in your life?

Here is an example of what can happen when you ask for help:

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.”

Mark 9:23-24, 27

Ask for Help!

 

Who Are You?

“They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.”

John 1:21-23

 

 

Who are you?

Suppose that question posed to John the Baptist were asked of you.

Maybe it has been.

How did you answer?

Are you a butcher? A baker? A candlestick maker?

John had found his identity in the Word of God.

It wasn’t simply a “this is what I do for a living” kind of answer.

Instead it was the very call of God on his life.

The call of God will always trump the pigeonholes of man.

His life had a far greater purpose than just making a living.

Yours does too!

You may think that you are just one of the billions on the planet slugging along day-after-day to bring home the bacon.

Gods’ purpose for your life is so much greater.

The titles didn’t matter to John.

The call did.

The purpose for which he was created was discovered and lived out by him.

It was discovered through the words of God spoken through the ages but received in the here and now.

You too are so much more than a 9-5 job.

God has a call and a purpose for you.

Don’t simply live for the paycheck.

Instead live for the “...well done thou good and faithful servant...”

Things Hidden

“Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables;

he did not say anything to them without using a parable.

So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,

    I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

Matthew 13:34-35

 

“There’s gold in them thar hills!”

Not exactly good grammar, but words like that were spoken with anxious anticipation over and over as the gold rush to the hills of California and later Alaska had begun.

People often risked life and limb and all of their earthly possessions to stake their claim and be part of the great stampede westward to the precious metal.

Imagine for a moment the words spoken by Jesus in parables.

We are told that there were, wrapped up in those parables, things hidden since the creation of the world.

Not cute little sayings best suited to a Hallmark card but “...things hidden...”

Hidden to who?

I would suggest they were hidden to the crowds that Jesus spoke to.

Not hidden for all eternity and not hidden to all eyes.

Just hidden to those who would not pursue those “...things hidden...” because they had 'better things' to do.

Are you prepared, like the gold rush people of yesteryear, to pursue the One who reveals secrets?

We do not blurt out all we hold dear to perfect strangers.

It is to the ones we love, the hidden things become known.

You don’t have to pursue the ‘things hidden’.

Instead pursue the one who reveals them to those He loves.

 

 

 

A Vital Fellowship

Today's blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)

We often hear about how important it is to fellowship with other Christians.  You’ve probably heard the popular verse quoted from Hebrews 10:25 that says “not to forsake gathering together with other Christians.”

As important as that is, there is fellowship with another person that is even more vital to our spiritual well-being, but is often neglected.  That is fellowship with the person of the Holy Spirit.

How important is fellowship with the Holy Spirit?  Well, let me answer that question this way.

Can you imagine Jesus rising from the dead like He did, visiting with His disciples like He did, but then not ascending to the Father and instead staying with us here on earth?  Pretty awesome alternate ending.  Who wouldn’t take that ending?

Probably everyone…but Jesus.

Look at what Jesus said in John 16:6-7 - "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

Jesus was basically telling His disciples, I know you guys want me to stick around, but if you only understood who was coming you wouldn’t be sad.

 Jesus knew how important it was for the disciples to encounter the person of the Holy Spirit, even if it meant Him leaving.

Well, that same Holy Spirit is here today and dwelling in every true Christ-follower.  Yet tragically we pay very little attention to Him.  We leave him sitting alone in the corner of our lives while we run around investing our time in people and things that can’t hold a candle to Him.

Let’s change that by cultivating fellowship with the person of the Holy Spirit, the person Jesus knew we couldn’t be without, even above His presence on the earth.

 

Mere Human or Child of God?

“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?”

I Corinthians 3:1-3

 

 

Spiritual maturity is made manifest by your behavior.

What you say, what you do, how you respond to the circumstances of life; each of these, evidenced over time, paint the picture of where you are in your walk with God.

We all say or do things we ought not to.

That is why I say it is evidenced over time.

We are born again in an instant, but the journey that is maturity takes time.

Even adults can act childish and the isolated act is not a good indication of where you are in your walk with Christ but if the behavior of your life never seems to reveal Christ then you may not be as mature as you think you are.

Remember it is not measured by how many years you have walked on the earth or by how many books of the Bible you can name.

Are you consistent in your love and devotion to Christ?

Is that love evident through your actions to others?

Are you acting like a ‘mere human’?

Or do others see Christ in you because of how you live your life?

Salvation is not earned by my behavior but once saved and growing in Christ my behavior should be more and more like Him each day!

Guilty!

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:35

 

 

Since we defined true spiritual maturity as being able to receive and show God’s love then it stands to reason that spiritual maturity is the proof of your salvation.

There used to be a challenge that went something like this:

If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Well, perhaps the irrefutable evidence that could be presented to a jury of your peers in such a case would be how you loved others.

Of course I am not talking about the kind of love someone expresses for ice cream, roller coaster rides or days off from work but that love shown by the Father through His Son Jesus Christ.

I note the fact that today’s scripture says the word ‘everyone’.

In other words both friend and enemy alike recognize that love.

Those who know you in public and those who see your behavior behind closed doors could be called as witnesses and give the same testimony concerning you!

That’ll win a conviction every time!

Don’t expect to win a conviction by convincing others of how many scriptures you have memorized, the amount of your check to charities or the fact that you have attended church for 60+ years.

As admirable as those things might be, those arguments will end in acquittal.

Go into court with the smoking gun, so to speak.

 Let the witnesses say of you:

How he loves the Lord and everyone God brings into his path.

The jury will reach their verdict:

Guilty of being a true disciple of Jesus Christ!

One Foot in Front of the Other

“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,”  

Hebrews 6:1

 

 

Sometimes a sprint and sometimes a crawl!

That could describe spiritual maturity.

It seems to ebb and flow.

We can all identify with mountaintop and valley experiences.

We can also recognize that there are seasons to our walk with God.

So it should come as no surprise that there are times it seems like every step forward is taken with the wind at our back while at other times every step forward we take seems to be followed by two steps back.

Times when it seems the wind is opposing us and not propelling us forward.

When that forward motion slows it is not the time to let discouragement and self-pity win the day.

Let the Holy Spirit bring you through those moments.

Remember God doesn’t expect from us what He will not equip us to do.

But also realize that every day is not a marathon or even a sprint.

Does today find you struggling to believe?

Are you having trouble with the same old issues?

Don’t’ go backwards.

When you fail – and we all do at times – get back up and keep moving forward.

One foot in front of the other!

Expectations

“You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others, but instead you have dropped back to the place where you need someone to teach you all over again the very first principles in God’s Word. You are like babies who can drink only milk, not old enough for solid food. And when a person is still living on milk it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life, and doesn’t know much about the difference between right and wrong.

He is still a baby Christian!”

Hebrews 5:12-13 (TLB)

 

 

 

We expect Spring to follow Winter.

We expect that after nine months the pregnant woman will give birth.

We expect to pay taxes.

God has expectations too.

One of them is that His children will mature spiritually.

We expect to change a messy diaper or two or three or...on a two month old.

An otherwise healthy twenty year old – not so much!

We would find that odd.

So too the Child of God who does not grow up!

When our sanctuary is nothing more than a nursery something is wrong.

The family of God can expect to have newborns.

But imagine a roomful of infants with no adults in sight.

That would not represent a family.

Nor would it be an accurate picture of the family of God.

A family has adults and children.

God’s family has newborns (the immature) but it also will have those spiritually mature who care for the infants.

 Time used to care for those who should be capable of caring for themselves in so many ways is not good stewardship of time.

Do you have your big boy pants on yet?

                                                   

The Righteousness that Surpasses

Today's blog posting is contributed by David Trotta:

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

 

Pharisees were well-known and respected in their communities for their diligent study of scripture, lengthy prayer life and strict adherence to religious rituals and ceremonies.

In other words, they read the bible often, spent hours in prayer and fasting, and never missed a church service.

But none of that impressed Jesus because He knew true righteousness came from within and not in the slightest bit based on outward behavior.

If outward behavior did matter, Jesus would have praised the Pharisees for their faithfulness and commitment.  After all, their life of sacrifice and piety had to be worth something…right?

Nope, not unless you think being called a brood of vipers and whitewashed tombs are compliments.

Instead, Jesus used Pharisees as an example of what not to be like.

So if the Pharisees were so low down on the religious scale, what hope do you and I have to meet that high standard of righteousness?  None.

But that was exactly Jesus’ point.  All the good works and effort in the world will not make us righteous, not even a little bit.  True righteousness can only come from one source – Jesus.

Romans 5:19 says “For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous.”

Our righteousness is solely based on what Jesus imputed (credited) to us, never on our conduct.

As a child of God, you can’t improve upon the righteousness you already have in Christ, so stop trying and heed the words of your Savior who said "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Trust and Surrender 100% and 24/7

“Trust in him at all times, you people;

    pour out your hearts to him,

    for God is our refuge.”

Psalm 62:8

 

 

The times we need to trust Him the most are the times we find it most difficult to trust Him at all.

No wonder the Psalmist encourages us to trust in Him at all times.

Not just when the bullets are whizzing past our heads but also when we are blessed and feeling invincible.

We can become secure in ourselves for a number of reasons.

Perhaps it is your youth.

You just feel like you can take on the world so who needs God.

Maybe your career offers so many rewards and such power that you begin to believe it’s all been gained by your own strength.

Maybe you were raised by parents who never acknowledged God or His existence so you proudly carry that torch for your generation.

Whatever the reasons, we can easily convince ourselves that we do not need God.

What a dangerous place to be!

For the believer it can easily be that one or two areas of our lives are held back from Him.

Maybe we trust Him with our family and our friends but not our finances.

Maybe for others their pocketbook is never an issue but their health is.

God is our refuge and He can be trusted with every part of your life.

Surrender those guarded areas to Him.

Those parts of your heart you have been reluctant to reveal.

Pour out your heart to Him and discover Him as a refuge in all of your life!

 

So What?

“Do you not know and understand that you [the church] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells [permanently]

in you [collectively and individually]?”

I Corinthians 3:16

So what!

So what?

If the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you here are three challenging

‘so what’ questions to ask yourself:

1.       What have you done with that?

2.       What difference has it made?

3.       What is the overall purpose of this?

 

 

                              God has a purpose for each of our lives.

I know that you know that.

The Holy Spirit inside of us helps us to not only discover that purpose but also to fulfill it.

But we do not have what we do not avail ourselves of.

I doubt any of you have presents still gift-wrapped, as yet unopened from your 10^th birthday.

No!

You opened them and you made use of them.

It is much the same with the Holy Spirit.

We build a relationship with Him and as we do we begin to realize how He can bring us into spiritual maturity.

If I never get on a bike, I will never learn how to ride it.

If I never trust, talk and walk with the Spirit of God indwelling me, how can I learn to rely on Him?

I hope you do not think it disrespectful of me to encourage you to ‘make use’ of the Holy Spirit in you.

God delights when we do!

 

God in You

“Do you not know and understand that you [the church] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells [permanently]

in you [collectively and individually]?”

I Corinthians 3:16

 

The word ‘dwell’ is defined as: To live as a resident.

As believers the Spirit of God resides in us.

Our spirit is His dwelling place.

The Holy Spirit is not fickle.

He isn’t ‘here today and gone tomorrow’!

He takes up residence in you at the new birth and dwells permanently in you!

 That means ‘goosebumps’ or ‘feelings’ are not the evidence of His presence.

The ‘evidence’ is the Word declared above!

Regardless of your ‘feelings’, despite your circumstances and even regardless of incorrect doctrine, He, the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside you.

He is in a temple (you) not made with human hands (but created by God!).

Let that sink in!

The Counselor, the Comforter isn’t too busy to return your calls later when He has a free moment in an otherwise crazy schedule.  

He is a very present help in trouble.

He is closer than your breath.

He delights in forming Christ’s image in you.

There is no better ‘ally’ we can have in our desire to be spiritually mature.

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in your walk today.

What Matters Most

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:30-31

 

 

How easy it is to get caught up in what I would call the:

‘Cause de Jour’

Whatever happens to be the hottest trend in our culture, politics and, yes, sometimes even the church.

The bible paints a picture in Ephesians 4:14 of an immature

(It uses the word infant)

believer being tossed back and forth by waves and being blown here and there by every wind and wave of teaching.

We can so easily do that.

We can venerate teaching above our relationship with the Lord.

Now, if you know me well enough, you know I would never promote ignorance of the Word of God.

But neither would I encourage you to be so knowledgeable as to impress the greatest theologians of our day but miss the boat, so to speak, when it comes to being head over heels in love with the Lord and with others.

Jesus, at the young age of 12, astounded the teachers of His day.

But He did not declare “It is finished” then!

His purpose in coming in the flesh was not to display the great wisdom and knowledge of God – although He could.

His purpose was to display (and live out) the love of His Father for each of us.

Don’t miss Gods’ ultimate for you by missing the main point –

(and as one might expect – Jesus said it best when referring to today’s text...)

“There is no commandment greater than these.”