Month: August 2015

We need Christians in all sorts of vocations, because we are in a spiritual battle every day and…

The “war” is being fought along the line between sin and righteousness in every family.
It is being fought along the line between truth and falsehood in every school…
between justice and injustice in every legislature…
between integrity and corruption in every office…
between love and hate in every ethnic group…
between pride and humility in every sport…
between the beautiful and the ugly in every art…
between right doctrine and wrong doctrine in every church…
between sloth and diligence between coffee breaks.

You don’t waste your life by where you work, but how and why.
–John Piper

I hope as you head to work today (and throughout this entire week) that you will keep your eyes open for the great opportunities God is giving you to impact people for His kingdom in your workplace. Don’t waste the opportunities He places in your path!

I have discovered that prayer’s real purpose is to put God at the center of our attention, and forget ourselves and the impression we are making on others.
–Rosalind Rinker

I imagine we have all prayed at some point with ourselves as the central focus.
I imagine we have all prayed at some point to try to impress others.

As we pray today…
May we each pray with God at the center… not ourselves.
May we each pray to please God, our Audience of One… not to try to please someone else.

Leo Tolstoy became a Christian at about 50 years of age.
He provided the excellent statement below in regard to those who would be critical of his choice to follow Christ, critical of how he was walking the path of the Christian life, and critical of Christianity itself:

Attack me… but attack me rather than the path I follow and which I point out to anyone who asks me where I think it lies. If I know the way home and am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way because I am staggering from side to side?

No, do not gloat, but give me your help and support.
–Leo Tolstoy

What excellent advice for us all.
1. Do not attack Jesus and Christianity for my poor example of following Him. I never claimed to be the Perfect Savior, I just claim to follow Him.
2. Attempt to point out the right path to everyone who asks – attempt to point out where the path lies – the path the Jesus set before us.
3. Keep walking the path that Jesus laid out, even if you do a bit of staggering along the way. Keep making forward progress, even if it isn’t a perfectly straight line.
4. Help others walk the path well. When they get off the path, help them back onto it. Do not mislead.
5. Do not celebrate the misfortunes of others, don’t celebrate the errors they make as they walk the path. We are so competitive that we are often inwardly happy when something negative happens to others. That is not walking the path well. Do not gloat, do not take any joy that someone else has stumbled or is lost.
6. Give your help and support to all others – to those who are not yet walking the path, point it out to them. To those who are stumbling on the way, support them so they walk without tripping. To those that are walking the path well, let them be a support and an example to you.

Walk the path that our Perfect Savior laid out for us – it is the Way!

I know of no more poignant contrast between two human destinies than that of Peter and Judas.
    Both assumed leadership within the group of Jesus’ disciples.
    Both saw and heard wondrous things.
    Both went through the same dithery cycle of hope, fear, and disillusionment.
    As the stakes increased, both denied their Master.

There, the similarity breaks off. Judas, remorseful but apparently unrepentant, accepted the logical consequences of his deed, took his own life, and went down as the greatest traitor in history. He died unwilling to receive what Jesus had come to offer him. Peter, humiliated but still open to Jesus’ message of grace and forgiveness, went on to lead a revival in Jerusalem and did not stop until he had reached Rome.
–Philip Yancey

And we are all in the same boat as Peter and Judas. We will all go through cycles of hope, fear, and disillusionment. We will all rebel against Jesus. The question will be whether we will remain open to Jesus’ message of grace and forgiveness. Or will we let our shame be used like a dagger twisting into our hearts and consciences to the point that we believe the lie: God could never forgive me for ____________ (fill in the blank with your most difficult sin).

Sin is serious. Sin is tragic. But the greater tragedy is not confessing our sin to Jesus and allowing Him to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness. Never forget that Peter and Judas were in the same boat, both engaging in the terrible sin of denying Jesus. But Jesus forgave Peter because he came to Him with a repentant heart. And Jesus was willing to forgive Judas. Judas just refused to come to Jesus with a repentant heart. Don’t make the tragic mistake of Judas.

The keener the memory of our awful rescue, the more naturally we pity those in a similar plight. The more deeply we feel how undeserved and free was the grace that plucked us from the flames, the freer will be our benevolence to sinners.
–John Piper

We are right on top of the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
It seems to me that those who experienced the loss of their home in Katrina are some of the first to want to help others when they hear of tragedies that others have encountered.

When they hear of a fire that has burned down someone’s home, they want to help.
When they hear of an earthquake, they want to send relief.
And definitely when they hear of flooding, they remember how others helped them, they remember the rescue, they naturally pity those who are experiencing the same feelings, and they are so very benevolent towards those in the midst of the crisis – wanting to help in any way possible.

And if we will allow God to open our eyes to see the matter clearly, we will see that we were in an even worse situation than those who lose a house. We were in a situation where our soul was lost – when our lives were wrecked by sin and we were destined to an eternity in hell for our rebellion until Jesus came in with His amazing grace and plucked us from the flames. If we will see that truth clearly, then we will have a natural desire to help others find the same help and rescue from Jesus. We will naturally pity those without Jesus, and we will be benevolent towards them – doing all that we can to help in any way possible.

But if we don’t feel that Jesus had to rescue us much, because we were pretty good people… then we’ll take the stance of the Pharisees who never saw their need, never knew their plight of spiritual shipwreck, and never had benevolent compassion for others to find rescue by the Messiah.

God, help me to have a keen memory of who I was before Jesus – with no righteousness of my own, lost, and destined for hell. Help me to have pity for those still without you. Help me to want to help them out of their terrible situation.