 
## In Humble Adoration

### Essays on faith and finding the power to live fully.

Presented by Shepherd's Care Ministries.

Copyright Shepherd's Care Ministries 2012

www.findthepower.com

Smashwords Edition

To my father, Patrick. Merry Christmas, dad. Thank you for being the right kind of guy.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Grace

At The Cross

Letting Go

Starting Over

Living by Faith

Inner Resolve

God's Words of Love to You

The Only Way to Hope, Peace, and Love

Hope for Life

A Prayer About... Loving One Another

Splinter Pickers

Meekness

The Beginning and Ending of Faith, Trust, Prudence, Wisdom, and Responsibility

Maturity

Scars

Worldly Objectives and Spiritual Objectives

Power and God

Aiming for Perfection

When Bad Things Happen

Being Young in Christ

Humility

Are These The End Times?

#  FOREWORD

### by Anonymous

## Power in the Blood

You have probably heard this phrase before, most likely because of the old hymn "There Is Power In The Blood." I remember singing this song as a young boy in church and not taking in the true meaning of the words. But upon further contemplation I realized just how much power there is in our own blood, let alone the infinite power in the blood of Christ.

The blood coursing through our veins keeps us alive and gives us our strength. Blood, driven by the heart, travels through a divinely complex system of arteries, veins, capillaries, and internal organs. Blood delivers life-giving nutrients to all parts of the body. It exchanges carbon dioxide for oxygen in the lungs. Without the flowing blood in our bodies, we pass away.

Likewise, without the powerful blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our lives are dead. Dead to meaning, dead to spiritual growth, dead to the truest of love. Christ died for all of humanity and accepted the weight of our sin. His blood was shed to allow us to live. And as long as we accept Him as our true Savior, Christ freely gives us the power to live, the power to grow, and the power to help others to find that same power.

May the words in this book be a blessing and an encouragement, that in the moments you feel powerless, you will remember our Precious Savior and the power that He freely gives. 
Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder  
Consider all the works thy hand hath made,  
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,  
Thy power throughout the universe displayed;

Refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,  
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!  
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,  
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander  
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;  
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,  
and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze;

Refrain

And when I think that God his son not sparing,  
Sent him to die - I scarce can take it in,  
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,  
He bled and died to take away my sin:

Refrain

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation  
And take me home - what joy shall fill my heart!  
Then I shall bow in humble adoration  
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,  
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!  
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,  
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Source: http://www.hymns.me.uk/how-great-thou-art-hymn.htm

#  Grace

Amazed is correct. Grace is something you experience. What so many people miss about grace is what it does to you when you receive it. Grace changes you. You are never the same after grace fills your heart and life. You can go back to acting like you did before grace touched you but you will never be the same. Grace touches your heart because your heart is open. Grace transforms your heart because the old ways of anger, hurt, revenge, loneliness, mistakes, and rebellion are washed away. What is left is a little boy or little girl ready to start school all over again. Instead of trying to understand it, let it wash over you. It is the greatest gift you will ever receive... if you let yourself receive it. Everyone knows about grace in their heart of hearts. What everyone does not like to do is open their heart up so much that all the old hurt and pain gets let out. The form of grace is Christ Jesus hanging on the Cross for you and me two thousand years ago. The substance of grace is Christ Jesus with His arm wrapped around us every moment. With grace there is a grief that comes because the old person in you dies and a new person is born. It is important that you never look back to retrieve the old person. When you look back the old pain beckons you to come back. When you look ahead in grace then the love that has poured over you beckons you to come forward and kneel at the foot of His Cross. May Christ's healing love keep you and sustain you forever.

#  At The Cross

In the church and in our faith, the surest way to deal with our problems, difficulties, and pain is to go to the Cross. Most people are not in church because they are afraid of the consequences of the meltdown when they stand before the Cross. The meltdown refers to God's requirement that we stand before the Cross, that we see Jesus hanging there, and that we surrender all that we are to Him. When we are able to surrender all that we are to Him, our problems, difficulties, and pains begin to melt away, and anxiety begins to fade. All these dark difficulties begin to melt away because we have placed ourselves in Jesus nail-scarred hands. We must go to the Cross to deal with our problems, whatever they may be. We must go to the Cross in real time, in real ways, just as if we were standing there on the day He died. We must stand before the Cross because the Cross is totally transforming.

Going to the Cross is also devastating to our sinful self that wants what we want when we want it delivered by a Jesus who acts as a servant catering to our every want and need. Standing at the foot of the cross takes away our desire to be fed the candy verses of the faith and gives us the ability to chew and digest the meat of scripture. Standing at the foot of the cross takes away our desire to always want what we want when we want it. Standing at the foot of the cross begins a healing process in our spirit and sometimes in our bodies because standing at the foot of the cross melts us down. Standing before our Savior in his suffering and pain makes our petty problems so small that they disappear. At the cross, we are not concerned about ourselves because our sinful selves have died. At the cross, we are not concerned about our careers, our material things, and what we think we want and need. When we stand at the foot of the cross, look up, and see Him suffering and dying there...we cannot stand for very long. When we stand at the foot of His suffering and pain, we end up on our knees asking His forgiveness for wanting what we want. When we are on our knees in front of His suffering, we truly do have a chance to give our all to Him.

Is it not ironic that even on the Cross, He heals us of our selfishness, our pride, and our ego sicknesses? The cross is not some kind of abstract idea. It is not some historical event to only be written about in a history book. The cross is a real place every person needs to visit. After we go there we can truly know and understand how Jesus is our loving Master. We can truly know how much He loves us and cares about us. Our difficulties begin to melt away when He touches us.

The cross, however, is not a place where people really want to go. People do not want to go there because they know that at the foot of the cross they will have to confront themselves. They will have to admit they are not worthy in the eyes of God. They will have to admit to sin and a sinful life. Unfortunately, they will miss the greatest love they or the world has ever known. They will miss the support and encouragement to walk through every fear. At the foot of the cross, there is no whining and complaining about our respective lives. There is no whining and complaining because our selfish side does not exist any more. Our selfish side is made clean in Jesus blood that was shed for us. When our old self dies there is a new self that is born. In the faith, we call it being reborn.

I call upon you to go to the Cross now, today, every day because no daily walk with God is complete without stopping by and kneeling where our Savior died.

#  Letting Go

There is no place in our lives for bitterness, hatred, rancor, anger, even being displeased or frustrated with others. There is no place in our lives for any of these dark spots in our soul. These dark spots want a small place in your life and soul so they can grow and eventually take over. The anti-dote to these dark spots is to pray and forgive. If you cannot let go of past hurts the hurts will keep on hurting you. Just the kind of thing Satan would do to you, isn't it? We must not blame or keep a record of who and what did what against us. Praying to Jesus to help you erase totally the record of these dark spots will help you. You can also, by the force of your will, just let them go. God is forever trying to pull these areas away from your heart and soul. We make the mistake of keeping them in our lives. And we do exert ourselves to keep them in our lives. Foolish of us? Indeed. However, we can let go. If you let Jesus place His nail-scarred hands on every hurt, the hurt will disappear. May you find His love, peace, and grace today in even the smallest of things. 

#  Starting Over

John 16:16 - 24 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. (NIV)

Have you ever started something, and for whatever reason, had to start over? Of course, all of us have had to start over. All kinds of things happen in our lives and we have to begin anew. By starting over, I am not referring to some kind of hobby or small project in the garage. What we are going to look at today is the time in our lives when we really do have to start over, as in starting a new phase in our life.

If you are like most then you will probably have a traumatic starting over event occur in your life. You may lose a job, lose a business, lose your life's savings, lose a partner, lose a close friend, lose a child, lose your home, lose your health, lose the health of someone you depend upon, and this list of starting over events could go on for pages. Remarkably, there are some people who get through life without any significant losses, but these people are few in number. The normal state of your world is that you will probably have a starting over event or a loss, perhaps a tragic loss, that will seemingly change everything in our world. Even though the world still spins on its axis, causing the sun to rise in the east and set in the west...even though everything in the world might seem normal to everyone else...your world is radically changed when a starting over event or a loss occurs.

When you are faced with a loss, when something has happened that turns your world upside down, and turned you inside out, there are things you can do. What is most striking for most of us is that the losses most difficult to take or handle, are the losses that are not so visible. Your visible house or home destroyed by a tornado or hurricane can be rebuilt. Your life that has been devastated by a personal loss can also be rebuilt but not as easily as we can rebuild a house.

Starting over in life requires hard work. The hard work required is the kind we have to do with our heart, mind, and soul. Here are some guidelines for you as you work through your starting over time.

Pray

When you are forced to start over, you need to talk to God. When you talk to God in prayer, He will answer. The answer God gives you is designed to help you and be of benefit. The answer He gives will help you be strong instead of weak. When you are forced to start over, you need all the strength and power you can get so talk to God. You may not feel like praying or talking to God. In fact, you may be angry with God because you may hold God accountable for the losses in your life. You may feel God could have prevented a loss and that God turned His back on you when you needed Him most. These are normal feelings and expectations about God. Not only do we have to sometimes start over in parts of our lives; sometimes we have to start over in our faith in God, both at the same time. No matter what your attitude is toward God, you still need to talk to Him. With God, you need to be honest because God knows more about you and what you are going through than anyone, including yourself. If you believe that God does bad things to people, then this belief will need to be undone because this belief is in error. God is love. God is there to help you through the tough times, not hurt you as you struggle. The power of darkness inflicts the pain on you, and this power tries to destroy parts of your life as well as the lives of everyone on earth. God, or the power of love, is there to build you up and strengthen you. The more you pray the better off you will be because prayer puts you in contact with God. It is important for you to remember that when you do not feel like praying that you should tell that to God. Sometimes you may not have prayer words in your mind or heart to say to God. When these times come, just go to a place and think about Christ being with you. Eventually, His touch will heal you enough that you can begin to speak. If there is one important message God tries to get through to you at this time in your life, that message is that you are not alone.

Use Your Spiritual Eyes

When the dark times come and you have to start over, you need to open your spiritual eyes and take a good look around you. It is normal for you to feel alone at this time in your life. When life cuts us off from someone or something important it is as if we go spiritually blind. The pain of the loss is often so great we are distracted and it seems we are only half-conscious of what is going on around us. When you open your spiritual eyes, you will see many other people who are going through the same deep water you are in. Their circumstances may be different, or their loss may be different, but the inner core of their life is as wounded as is yours. When you open your spiritual eyes, you can also see that God is still working in the world. You can also see that God is still alive and working in you and others. When you open your spiritual eyes, you can also see that other people in the world need you, perhaps more than you need them.

Get Up, Get Out, Join In

If you are physically able, you need to get up and get out. No matter how difficult it may be for you, you need to avoid being a recluse. Even if you are working and around others all the time at work, you can still draw back into a shell. It is normal and natural for you to want to be alone and being alone for a time is OK. However, being alone all the time is not good. When your starting over times come, you need to avoid the temptation of shutting yourself off from people. You need to get up and get out with others. Taking these first steps can be extremely difficult. Many people feel embarrassed to ask to be part of a group of some kind so they do not ask. This is very unfortunate because if we do not have contact with others when we are starting over, whatever happened to us begins to eat away at us. There are support groups of every kind just about everywhere. Joining a group, whether it is a support group, a dance group, a hobby group, a party group, a condo group, or any other kind of group is one of the healthiest things you can do. You do not have to go through the tough times in life by yourself unless you want to be by yourself. If you are not much of a joiner or much of a social person then you can do volunteer work if your time is not caught up in other activities. If you do not attend church on a regular basis, find a church now. A church family can surround you with love and caring now and in the future. A church family can be of enormous support when you have to start over.

A New Vision

Some people do not need much of a future. Some people only need to see past the next day or two and they can be satisfied and happy. The older you get, perhaps you need less of a future vision than would a younger person. However, when you are starting over, you need a positive vision for tomorrow, a positive vision for the day after tomorrow, the next week, and the next year. Earlier we discussed how you go blind spiritually and become mentally blind when you have to start over. During this period, you may need a new vision of your future because all of your yesterdays and most of your tomorrows were wrapped up in the thing or person you lost. If you are building a house and the house is destroyed, you still need a blueprint to rebuild. If the blueprint is destroyed then you need to get a new blueprint. Even if you knew every inch of the house before it was destroyed, to rebuild you still need a blueprint so you will know where all the unseen lumber, plumbing, and wiring is supposed to go. A blueprint is a visual drawing showing how every board in the house is to be placed. In your life, when you start over you need a blueprint or a visual plan. For our lives, we need something to look forward to. Even when everything in our life changes, we can rebuild and start over, but we need to have a vision of where we are going and what we are going to do. Trying to live day to day is fine but if you have to start over then living day to day can prevent you from rebuilding. Living day to day is not as effective and not as rewarding as having a tomorrow full of activities, life, and promise.

Fill'er Up

In starting over, you need to intentionally fill your life. Intentionally, with forethought, fill your life with prayer, meditation, talks on the phone, walks, shopping, joining in on an activity, reading, or whatever it is you like to do. Just sitting and staring into space while you are in pain is normal for a short while, but eventually you are going to need to start getting busy. You will need to start intentionally filling your time with all kinds of activities. The busier you are the quicker you can deal with your loss. It is important to realize there are some circumstances so devastating to us, we are never able to go back to what we once called a "normal" life. What we then must do is start over and build a new "normal" life that is as full of as many of the things we like to do as we can. Filling up your life is a critical step in the right direction.

Get Help

You may need some help in dealing with your starting over time. Never, never, never, be ashamed to ask for help. Trained counselors can help you through difficult times. If you believe you are not making progress in starting over, or you believe you cannot start over then you might want to consider talking with a counselor. You should also speak with your doctor and your minister. If you are part of a church then you have enormous resources to help you. In your church, you are not only in a group that can help you, but your minister can also help by listening, guiding, and praying with you.

Set Goals

You may never have had to actually set goals in your life. Most people just take each day as it comes and do not think much about goal setting. However, when you hit the wall in life and are stunned, then you should begin to set new goals. If you are in your senior years and have experienced a loss, then you should have a goal for the week, the month, and the year. It does not matter what the goal is as much as you have it and work toward it. It is important to write down what you goal is or get a picture of it and put it out where you can see it just as a reminder.

Get Rid of the Guilt

Of all the difficulties involved in starting over, the difficulty of carrying needless guilt is the most common. For reasons we do not always understand, persons who are starting over in life, carry loads of guilt with them. In many cases, people needlessly and unnecessarily blame themselves for losing a part of their life. A surviving spouse says, "If only I had done..." when the surviving spouse did everything possible for the deceased partner. When a businessperson loses a business it is common for him or her to say, "If only I had done such and such..." When a parent who loses a child it is common for the parent to think "If only I had done..." even if there was no cause for the parent to carry any kind of guilt. Carrying guilt when you have a loss is needless. Bad things happen in life and few of us are psychic enough to see the future so that we can prepare for every eventuality. To truly start over again you must throw off the needless guilt regardless of its source. Carrying needless guilt serves no purpose other than to keep you miserable. Carrying needless guilt is what the darkness wants you to do because as long as you carry the needless guilt, you are not reaching out and touching and caring for others.

As wrong as it might feel at first, it is OK to have fun, to laugh, to play, to sing, to dance, to actually live again. Not only is it OK to do these normal things, these things are supposed to be part of your life without your feeling guilty about them. So often, so many people never rebuild their lives and never really live again because of needless guilt. If these people have fun, they feel guilty. If they laugh, they feel guilty. If they play, they feel guilty. Not only are all of these guilty feelings wrong, they are also out of place. When you suffer a loss, you are not supposed to lose your life. When you suffer a loss you are supposed to go on living a full, good, productive life. This new life may be different, but because your new life is different does mean you cannot have fun, laugh, play, sing, dance, or live fully again.

Learn To Ride The Waves

When you have to start over you must remember that the pain, grief, loss, worry, anguish, or whatever you are feeling will come over you in waves. One day you will be OK but the next day you will not. Learn to ride these waves. Plan what you will do when you have a bad day. If you make plans to ride out these waves then you will be able to handle the down times instead of letting the down times handle you.

Conclusion

With God, you can live again. With God, you can be alive again. With God, you can make choices again. With God, you can look forward to a new life again. What may seem impossible to you, is no big deal to God.

May God's love and grace be upon you this week. 

#  Living by Faith

2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight. (NIV)

To live by faith is to live the supreme life. To live by sight means we are imprisoned by what we see, feel, touch, and sense. When life runs against us, it is the "seen" world of earth that plagues us. The unseen love of God available to us within our heart can lift us up and away from the things of earth. Our relationships gone wrong, our piles of emotional garbage we carry from our past, and our mountains of problems we carry all suddenly disappear when we live by faith in love. The "seen" tangibles of life can hurt and destroy us. When we live by faith, we live in heavenly vibrations from Christ. In Christ, we live in the streaming Light of Love from God, and the all-encompassing comfort of the Holy Spirit. In faith, Christ brings us back to life as it should be lived...a life lived by faith in love.

#  Inner Resolve

Inner resolve is the missing ingredient in so many persons today, inside and outside the faith. We know what we should do but we do not do it. When we are attacked by the satanic darkness we absolutely must take our stand. We know the right action to take but too often we shrink back and lie to ourselves about how things are not that important.

1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love. (NIV)

When we are afraid to take an open stand on moral issues because we are afraid of ridicule, we are saying to God that we do not believe what He has ordered us to do. When we turn away from doing what is right and just we are turning away from Christ

To live a productive life one must have inner resolve. No achievement, whether related to religious life or to secular activities, can be made without one's ability to stand firm against opposition. If we are not willing to suffer the pain of sacrifice to achieve our goals, then we do not deserve to achieve success.

For too long, we have abdicated our responsibilities saying God will provide, God will act, God will help, or God will answer. Yes, God does provide but He is angered when we can provide but expect Him to do the work in our place. Yes, God will act but we call down His wrath by shirking our Christian duty in expectation that He will do for us what we can do ourselves. Yes, God will answer but His answer will not be what we want to hear when we fully know what His will is yet we refuse to obey Him. When we shirk our responsibilities to God and to others by trying to send these responsibilities up to God, we are building our own lake of fire.

We are responsible for our own behavior. We are responsible for controlling our emotions, attitudes, and thoughts. In current day thinking, others would have you believe that you cannot control your emotions, attitudes, and thoughts, therefore you are not responsible for them. When we throw off our responsibilities and say to God, to others or to ourselves, "I cannot help it", "I cannot control it". When we adopt this attitude or thinking we are running away from our responsibilities before God.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (NIV)

#  God's Words of Love to You

(If you heard God speak, wouldn't He say these words of love?)

I know you.

I know you need love in your life.

Love heals wounds and fills the center of your life.

Trust in me and I will help you know my love more fully.

Trust in me and I will help you open your heart and mind to my overflowing presence within you.

I will give you the power to express how much you need me.

I will give you the power to come before me in your weakness or in your strength.

I will give you love...love flowing out from me to you.

When you come before me hanging upon the cross I will call upon your heart to lay your burdens down so you may pick up my burdens of love.

I know you are alone even when you are with others.

Remember I am the only person who is always truly with you.

In me you shall always have more love than you need.

In me there shall never be emptiness within you.

In me, because I pour my love into your heart, you shall have peace and serenity.

Whenever you think you are not loved or you need love, I will show you how to open your heart to me.

Whenever you are afraid to open your heart, I will help you overcome your fear.

Whenever you think you cannot overcome the obstacles in your life, I will give you my love giving you hope, peace, and joy unspeakable.

Precious child of mine, I love you.

#  The Only Way to Hope, Peace, and Love

There is no hope, peace, and love in life except through Christ. However, there is in life the opportunity to delude ourselves into thinking there is hope, peace, and love. Our history as humans is littered with attempts at peace. On a personal level, we tell ourselves and others we will do better. As nations, we make proclamations of peace called treaties and we even sign off on some of these pieces of paper. Among nations, peace is fragile and not long lasting for the hatreds that inflame the hearts of men and women remain whether there is a peace treaty or not. We cannot find peace by signing a piece of paper, nor can we find peace by making some kind of personal commitment to do better in our relationships. We can find hope, peace, and love only if we surrender our tragically flawed lives to Christ. No matter where we go or what we do we cannot find the peace that gives a vision of an unlimited and eternal future except through Him. It is only by surrendering up our pain, our suffering and the hopeless darkness of our hearts that we can find an assurance of an unlimited future. We can look forward in our lives for signs of a better day. We can make plans and set goals for ourselves. We can look forward to better days as a result of our planning. However, we cannot look too far ahead because we will all get old and die. Our hope in this life is only a wisp in the wind. In the span of the eons of God's time, we are here on the earth only a short time. Even if we live to be 100, these 100 years are not even a blip upon the scale of ages past. Our only true hope for a place in eternity is with Christ. In Him, we have true hope, true peace, and true love that goes beyond this life.

As much as we plan and want hope, peace, and love, we cannot manufacture them. True hope, peace, and love are found lying in a manger in Bethlehem. Even as wars rage, and bullets and bombs fly around the place where Christ was born, we can find hope, peace, and love only in His shining face.

It is His Light, His star in the heavens that gives us a guiding light for our lives. The Magi followed His star as we are to follow His Light and love. The humble shepherds were stunned and shocked at the appearance of an angel but it was not the angel that gives us peace, hope, and love. It is only through Jesus that we can find peace, hope, and love.

As we search for peace, hope, and love in our lives we must remember that the baby Jesus was in the manger with the dark shadow of the Cross looming over Him. It was the Cross for which this child was born. It was the cruelty and horror of the suffering of this child that would give the world a chance at redemption.

We can hold Christ close to us. We can hold Him within our hearts and we can try to find the peace and love He offers. However, we cannot truly hold Him until we are honest with Him, for Christ knows our hearts. Christ knows we are covered in the darkness of selfishness, ego, pride, vanity, lust, and all the other sins. We can stand at the manger and adore Him. We can honor Him by being giving persons and caring about others. However, we cannot, in our natural state, possess His peace, hope, and love until we surrender up all we have, all we own, and all we are to Him.

#  Hope for Life

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (NIV)

Hebrews:11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)

Without hope there is no faith. Without hope there are no ideas, no mental images, no spiritual concepts, and certainly no spirit. Hope is a container that holds or gives shape to our ideas, concepts, and thoughts about God. Without hope for our future we are either in darkness or are sliding down to the abyss where darkness rules.

Hope is the fuel of life. Under ideal conditions, we hold a hope to be better. We hold a hope for the future. We hope that things will get better. We hope for a change of position or circumstances. We hope for a better world, better job, better family life, better relationship with Christ, better health, better emotional life, better spiritual life, the list could go on for a long time. Every second of our life is predicated upon hope for the next second, next minute, next hour, next day, and next year. Our hope for the coming days fuels us for our service and work today.

When we have a day in our life where hope slips away it is a day of devastation and trauma. When we have a day where God calls a loved one home it is a day of grief, loss, and trauma because the hope we hold for sharing our life with that person is gone. When we have a day where a business venture collapses with no opportunity for rebuilding then we call that day a great loss because we lose the hope of the future of the business.

Hope may indeed be more vital than love, for with no hope to fill our hearts we do not care about whether we have love within us.

Hope and the Light of Life are the same thing. They are so intertwined we cannot separate them. Christ is the hope of the world. In spiritual darkness there is no hope and without hope there is consuming darkness.

Lack of Hope

In the Old Testament, hope was but a vague image.

1 Chronicles 29:15 We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. (NIV)

It is the lack of hope, light, and vision that drives men and women, groups, and nations to destruction often taking others down with them. People of no hope are in darkness and torture. Satan has his way and his control over them. Without hope for the future, we do not strive for a better tomorrow. Without hope burning within us, we will not work to better our life or the lives of others. Without hope we care not whether we live or die, remain free or a slave, grow wiser or remain ignorant, remain faithful to our Lord or slide backward into the outer darkness. Without hope, we do not care. Hope is the underpinning of all that is in the consciousness of humankind. When the human race immerses itself in the darkness that is vacant of hope the race has no future vision and no reason to move forward. Without a vision for the future the human spirit collapses into the darkness.

Job 8:11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? 12 While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. 13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.

God constructed the soul of men and women to run on hope. However much we might disagree with the religious practices of other faiths, God placed in the soul of every person a need for hope that leads to a need to believe in Him. When the human soul is in darkness there is madness and nothing to lose. In the absence of hope, a singular human being and the world will self-destruct. Hopeless children look out upon the world with vacant eyes. Hopeless elderly look out upon with world with eyes full of tears if they see no heaven that awaits them. In the absence of hope, there is terror, fear, anxiety, and a foreboding sense of doom. In the absence of hope, there is no humor, laughter, or lifting of the spirit.

Jesus Christ is the Hope and Light of this world and the universe. If Jesus, the Hope and Light of the world is within us, we are all called to His service to give away His Hope and Light.

Giving Hope Away

Psalms 9:18 But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

We cannot give away what we do not have ourselves. Even the most lowly and most forgotten among us needs hope and also needs to give it away. Something happens when we purposefully give hope away. It is indeed more blessed to give than to receive and when we give away the fuel of life then blessings pile upon us and our deeds are counted as acts for God. To give away hope we must portray all of Christ' love. We must portray his humility and compassion.

We need to give hope away because others need it and we need to give it. We must not remain in our cubicles and only take care of our selves.

Matthew 25:40 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

When we give hope to others, what is it we are giving away? We are giving the essence of Christ. Giving hope is giving life to those people who are alive in body but whose spirits have gone into the darkness of the tomb. The substance of the rebirth through Christ is hope, for we go from darkness to light. In the rebirth process, we go from a vision of an end to our life to a vision of life everlasting. Giving hope is giving the love of Christ and the vision Christ gave the world. It is through Christ that the world can see into the heavenly realms. In your daily walk, whether it be as a solitary prayer warrior in recluse or as a servant interacting with hundreds of people, giving hope is the starting point for the message of and the message about Christ and His redeeming grace. Giving hope is giving a picture of what is possible when all things look impossible. You may be the person who gives the beginning outlines of that picture. Giving hope is giving forgiveness when forgiveness is not earned nor deserved. You may be the human being who through your own act of forgiveness shows another person forgiveness is possible. You may be the person who shows that there is hope that all sins can be washed away in Christ' blood shed for thee and others. Giving hope is inspiring another to set a goal and plan for the future when it seems there can be no future. You can be the person who reminds others that goals a task done with the will of God is a task that can be achieved. You can be the person who reminds others that no task is so large God cannot but help move mountains out of the way. Giving hope is giving the message of Christ' salvation even when we are in pain. You may be the person who is in pain but who remains positive, hopeful, and in good humor. Even in pain you can show others that no pain whether physical, mental, or emotional can separate you from Christ your Savior. It is through you and your gift of hope that others can be prepared to hear the message and come to a fuller understanding of who Christ is and the person He wants all of us to be. Giving hope is bringing joy to the joyless. You may be the person who brings the laughter that destroys the grip of hopelessness. Giving hope is showing the beauty of giving without the "show" reflecting back upon ourselves. You may be the person who shows the godly inner glow of humility. Giving hope is showing others that another person cares for them and about them. When others see that another person cares about them, it is not so distant a leap to see that Christ loves and cares about them. Giving hope is showing another there is no end in sight within the heavenly realms. You may be the person who points up into the twinkling star lit sky and helps another try to see the infinite found only in God. Giving hope is showing honesty when honesty hurts the giver. You may be the person, who through an act of painful honesty, shows another person the power and dynamic force of being honest with themselves, with others, and with God. Giving hope is showing the power of self-control and self-denial. You may be the person who lets others know of your temptations and trials but through the help of Christ, you maintained your self-control and were able to deny yourself and who then resisted the temptations in your life. Giving hope is showing that growth is possible in spite of the momentum of stagnation. You may be the person who shows another that starting over at any age brings glory to God. Giving hope is showing that always doing the right thing is beneficial. You may be the person who shows how powerful righteousness can be and how destructive unrighteousness can be to a person and to a family. Giving hope is showing that humility can come from placing our burdens, cares, and worries in the hands of the Savior. You may be the person who shows humility.

No matter who you are or where you are on this earth, God needs you to be a person of hope. He needs you to be a person of hope until you take your last breath. It is through you and your witness that hope can be triggered, spawned, started, begun, initiated, or inspired within others.

_Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (NIV)_

#  A Prayer About... Loving One Another

Most Precious Lord Jesus, Gentle And Wonderful God, Truly Awesome And Ever-present Holy Spirit,

Precious Lord Jesus, I love you.

Show us how to better love one another.

Show us how all love comes from you.

Show us how everyone who loves has been born of you and knows you.

In hope, we live for a bright tomorrow surrounded in love.

In hope, we are never disappointed.

In all we say, in all we do, in all we think, place all our hope in you because we know you pour your love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

In love, because you love us, we are not slaves to fear of death.

In love, we received from you the Spirit of being your child.

In love, we cry to you "Abba, Father" for you are our true Father in heaven.

Show us how we must love one another because we are all your children.

Remind us anyone who believes in you as the Son of God has the testimony of love in their heart.

We believe you are the Son of the living God and we believe the testimony given to us by God the father.

We love one another because we know you love us.

We love one another because through your blood we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of your grace.

We love one another so in the coming ages you might show us the incomparable riches of your grace, expressed in your kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Because you loved us, we shall love one another.

All these things I humbly pray in the name of my most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, my Mighty God, and my Ever-present Holy Spirit upon whom I can rely.

Amen.

#  Splinter Pickers

Matthew 7 1: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

An email was sent over the internet. The sender did not know the receiver nor did the receiver know the sender. Here is the email.

" _Is it not written that "The kingdom of heaven is within you" and "Know ye not that ye are the temple and Jesus Christ is in you, unless you be reprobates"._

I'm curious, do you believe the words of Jesus are true? One reason I say this is because I believe God and His word and it is written that many will come in His name and deceive many. It's also written that you cannot serve two masters. Which one do you serve?

Please respond if you are able

Love

\------"

This essay is based upon the above email.

All of us have a mountain of work to do on ourselves before we ever get to the point of being judgmental about anyone else. Being judgmental about non-Christians is bad, being judgmental about Christians is even worse.

In this email the receiver was asked two questions.

(1) "I'm curious, do you believe the words of Jesus are true?"

(2) "Which one do you serve?"

First, I want to address the background, the motives, and the underlying thought of the questions.

I have been in the church a long time. My church life began at the age of 3 and I am now 56. Over the years, I have developed special "antennae" that pick up background, motives, and underlying thoughts of questions like these. The questions are confrontational in the context they are asked. The are not confrontational in themselves, but when these questions are asked of fellow Christians, or people seeking Christ' truth then they are confrontational in the context they are asked. I find not love in these questions although the word "love" was used in the email as a closing word. I find a lot of anger and hostility, and the desire to pick a fight with the receiver. At the very least, I find in these questions the desire to pick a splinter out of the receiver's eye by someone who does not know the receiver and who has never met the receiver.

As a servant of Christ, I wouldn't mind someone picking a splinter out of my eye or yours but there would have to be some prerequisites established prior to any action on anyone's part.

The first prerequisite would have to be that there is an actual splinter in the eye. We may have a virtual church but virtual splinters don't count. Now in the real, people-type church, there are people, who are splinter pickers. These people find splinters in the eyes of others even when the eye holder doesn't know there is a splinter in the eye. These splinter pickers are always looking for the fault, the defect, the mishap, the misstep, the minor mistake, and the slipup. When something like this occurs, the splinter picker is the first person to charge up to a fellow Christian. Then, with a pair of big water pump pliers, the poor Christian gets his or her eye gouged out to get at the splinter. These splinter pickers somehow put themselves above others and feel appointed by someone, normally God, to do the gouge work. They are what others call "Holier than thou" since these splinter pickers have appointed themselves, or feel appointed, to be above the rest of us. More often than not, these splinter pickers find splinters that are not really there. The splinter pickers gouge out the eye, they split the church, they make new Christians fall away, and they cause trouble and dissension when there was no trouble and dissension to begin with.

The second prerequisite I would establish before having a splinter taken out of my eye or yours is that I would have to know and you would have to know there really was a splinter in the eye. I used to work outdoors on construction projects. Lots of saw dust, dirt, and other stuff would fill the air. I've had splinters or specks in my eye and believe me, when I get a splinter or speck in my eye I know it. Now if I ever had a splinter in my eye and did not know it nothing happened to me because my vision was never impaired, no watery eye, no infection, nothing to report in any way. So if I or you do have a splinter in the eye or someone tells us we have a splinter, I would first require that we would have to be experiencing some kind of discomfort just to be sure there really is a splinter. I would never let a splinter picker take a splinter out of my eye or yours if neither of us was not experiencing some kind of, in this case, spiritual discomfort. What you must be careful about is the splinter picker who tries to make you believe you have a splinter when you do not.

The third prerequisite is that the splinter picker would have to be someone who knows all about my life and yours, my heart to serve my Savior as well as your heart, and in my case has read everything I have written on my web site. If you are to have someone find fault with you they should know all there is to know about you.

The fourth prerequisite would be that the splinter picker would have to be someone who does not want to pick a splinter out of anyone's eye. This person never looks for the splinters, never is disagreeable, never looking for a fight, and never looking to confront others. This person is a person of Christ-like love, caring, and compassion and who is repelled at the idea of confronting others in a direct and angry way. In addition, this person should not have a log in their own eye. They must have clear spiritual vision.

This email contained questions that I do not believe the writer really wanted the receiver to answer. What the writer wanted was not an answer from the receiver but an excuse to tell, lecture, or preach at the receiver. A number of people ask you questions so they can tell you and do not ask you questions because they really want to know.

Let's look at the second question first.

" _Which one do you serve?"_

The verse the email writer is partially citing is the following.

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (NIV)

Unfortunately, the asking of this question carries a terrible implication. The implication is that the receiver of the email may not serve Christ but may be only pretending to serve Christ just to make money. The question might also imply the receiver of the email may be serving Satan since the question is pulled out of the context of Matthew 6:24. These kinds of accusations by implication against people, whether the people are Christians or not, are uncalled for. Again, if the question is about whether someone serves chicken or beef there is no problem. But when we ask the question in the context of serving God or money there is a problem if the receiver is a devout member of our faith. In my particular ministry and life, my wife works and I live on disability and make NO money or receive NO income (not that the ministry doesn't need it because it does). My internet ministry work is all I am able to do because I am disabled. My wife and I even cover the expenses of the ministry. If I serve money rather than God I don't know it and is done without a sinful motive on my part. I serve my Lord and since I make no money (or receive any either) I serve only Christ. It could be that God has not healed my disability just to make sure I serve Him and Him only.

Now, let's really take an even closer look at what was said in this email. I love the truth so here goes the truth about what was written.

The writer states..."Is it not written that "The kingdom of heaven is within you" and "Know ye not that ye are the temple and Jesus Christ is in you, unless you be reprobates"."

Strike One: Citations made here are not connected to anything about the receiver. What we find in these citations is that the writer suspects and obliquely accuses the receiver of being a reprobate. A reprobate is a depraved, perverted, corrupt, degenerate, and immoral person. I would love to be humorous about this but I will refrain. Implying someone is a reprobate who you do not know is not a good thing to do. It is not a good way to start any kind of relationship. We are called to treat people with kindness, caring, and compassion and not be judgmental about them even if they are depraved, perverted, corrupt, degenerate, and immoral.

The writer wants to know..."I'm curious, do you believe the words of Jesus are true?"

Strike Two: This question is not a true and genuine seeking of the truth. This is a leading question with hidden statements and questions waiting in the background to be spoken. Again, this question is not being asked to find out the truth from the receiver. This question is deceptive. This question is hiding the intention and desire to tell, preach at, or lecture the receiver, not to seek the truth. This question is not based on honesty.

The writer says..."One reason I say this is because I believe God and His word and it is written that many will come in His name and deceive many."

Strike Three: Bad enough that the word "reprobate" comes into the receiver's picture but now the word "deceive" comes into the picture as well. Not a good way to start things unless you want to fight, argue, or just do a spiritual punch out on someone you don't know.

The writer wants to know..."It's also written that you cannot serve two masters. Which one do you serve?"

Strike Four: (O.K., I know you only get three strikes but its spring training and I'll be generous). Strike four and the writer is out even if it IS spring training. The writer accuses the receiver, by implication or just the asking of the question, that the receiver serves Christ just for the money.

Matthew 7 1: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (NIV)

The words of Jesus tell us that before we look at others we should look within ourselves. If we are going to look at someone and judge them, then let us look within ourselves first. Let us put our own house in order first. The way things work in the world and in our Christian faith is that we all build our own house. The house we build will be of poor quality if there is a 2 by 4 in our eye. It is bad if we build a poor house because the house we build affects others. What is even worse is when we have a 2 by 4 stuck in our eye and we try to tell other people how to build their house. A speck, most people can handle on their own anyway. In our Christian walk, our walk starts and finishes with us and Christ, not with us making judgments about others. It is with humility and meekness that we are to reach out to others. When we are humble and meek we want to serve others regardless of their spiritual condition.

May His peace and love be with you this week.

#  Meekness

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (NIV)

Proud and ego-filled people lust for what is on the earth. Proud and ego-filled people think they own the earth, but do they? Meekness in the eyes of God should have a primary place in your life. Meekness produces benefits and blessings because, in God's eyes, meekness brings you closer to Him. Pride and ego separates you from God. Pride and ego blinds you to the beauty and wonder of God's creation upon the earth. An ego filled person cannot see the sunset or the clipper ships of clouds sailing across the sky because pride and arrogance wraps a person up in selfishness. God rewards the meek by giving them a fashion of inherited ownership that cannot be taken away. God rewards the meek by giving them a spiritual vision to see Him and know Him.

#  The Beginning and Ending of Faith, Trust, Prudence, Wisdom, and Responsibility

John14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going."

In today's message we are going to venture out to the very edge of faith. The previous statement about venturing out to the edge of faith is not exactly true. It is not true because faith does not have an "edge." Faith does not have a physical boundary like a table or chair. However, in our lives, there is a limit to what we can get God to do, yet God has no limits Himself. We should not try to get God to do anything but this is how a lot of people approach God. A lot of people believe in God, but because they cannot see Him, they have a weak faith about how God can or will interact in their lives. The dictionary defines faith as a confident belief or a belief that does not rest on logical proof or tangible evidence. For most people this definition works in their life. Our belief in God can be strong if we do not need some kind of physical or tangible evidence that He exists or is real. Our faith can be weak if we expect God to produce something, perhaps anything, in a tangible fashion. One person can be perfectly content to kneel in prayer each day and never have any request answered. Their faith carries them to a point in their life where whatever God decides to do as a result of their prayers is OK. Another person will never be content in their faith journey regardless of prayers answered because they want and need God to manifest Himself in some way.

On the line of faith, one end is characterized by total and complete trust and obedience. On the other end of the line is doubt, suspicion, and disbelief. Many of us want to be on the far end where we have complete trust and obedience. The reality is we are somewhere on the faith line other than at the complete end of total trust. When we hit difficult places in our life we may slide even further away from the trust end of the line. When we ask question about God we may be expressing our doubts about Him. Some people have questions about God because they are interested, curious, and fascinated. Other people ask questions about God because they have doubts about when, where, and how He can or will act in their lives.

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Faith is not a commodity we can buy. It is not a tangible item we can hold in our hand. It is not contained in a pill or capsule. Faith is gained by throwing our line into the ocean and either catching fish or at least knowing that fish are in the ocean to be caught. In this example, we see the two side of the faith coin. So many people tie their faith to some kind of result or end product. Some people will believe the ocean has fish in it only if they catch a fish. Other people do not have to catch a fish to believe. Whichever side of the faith coin, or whichever end of the faith line you are on, to increase your faith you must throw your line into water. Each of us must step out in trust and belief in God, regardless of whether our belief is strong or weak. It is when we begin to step out, or we start to throw our line into the water, that the matters of faith become difficult. Matters of faith can become difficult because in our lives we must take a chance with God. We all want concrete assurance and protection in many ways. We all want guarantees that nothing bad will happen. We want God to promise us our paths will be smooth and safe. We all want to walk through our lives without pain or difficulty. Most of us, if we told the truth, have expectations that God will provide for us in these matters. We do want God to protect us from pain and strife. We do want God to make our paths smooth. We do want God to always make sure we have a job, income, housing, and food to eat. We do want God to protect our loved ones. We want God to heal the sick. We definitely want God to answer all our prayers like we want them answered. These are very real life wants. When we hold these wants up to God in our prayers, thoughts, and meditations we are concretely connecting God to these wants. When we want God to produce a result for us we may be using our faith but the use may be pointed in the wrong direction.

We began by saying that we were going to go to the edge of faith. We have begun to move to a place where faith ends and our responsibility begins. There is no physical line to view. There is no special mark anyone can identify as being the place where faith ends and personal responsibility begins. For most people, dealing with this fuzzy, hazy, murky area of real life is the greater test of faith. For example, when you pray for someone and you trust God to answer your prayer, are you obligated to "help" God along in making sure the prayer gets answered? If you have complete trust in God and you believe He will answer your prayer and you believe His will is to answer your prayer in the way you asked for the prayer to be answered, you may feel God can do it all. Some persons will not try to "help" God by acting on their wants or serving others because they dismiss the idea of "helping" God because they are lazy, afraid, or too busy to bother.

When we deal with these fuzzy areas regarding faith and personal responsibility or accountability a great deal of wisdom is required. We must never put God to the test because putting God to the test is like saying to God, "We don't really trust you or believe in you, so prove yourself to us." What God wants from us is not a test as to whether he will answer or not answer our prayers. What God wants from us is loving devotion that never wavers regardless of how prayers get answered. Unfortunately, the person to be tested is us, not God. Our faith is tested every day. When we pass each days test there are rewards. The problem is that most of us will have to die in order to collect. Although this idea of dying to collect is not a joke (because it is the truth), it is funny. Many people cannot stand the idea of waiting till they die to collect. Many people want the faith rewards in the here and now, not in the great hereafter.

When we step out in faith we must do so with wisdom and prudence. Stepping out in faith must never be done as an example of how much we believe or how much faith we have. Stepping out in faith must be done with as much wisdom, forethought, and human planning as possible. Wisdom is an attribute God has given us to use and develop, like our muscular system. Some people remain unwise and want to be taken care of by God and by others. The unwise are usually on welfare or in homeless shelters or other places where others can be responsible for them.

Being a responsible person means that we are prudent. Prudence is an act of being careful in the way we live. As a Christian, we must try to live out our lives in such a way that God will always be glorified. We must live and act in such a way that people will see the love of God in us. We must live and act in such a way that people will look at us and say, "That person is really a Christian."

Too often, Christians and non-Christians ignore wisdom, prudence, forethought, and human planning because they believe God will rescue them if they make mistakes. Too often, Christians and non-Christians plow ahead without looking ahead. They do not use any common sense and do not use all the knowledge and wisdom that is available to them. Unfortunately, to many people, the idea of using wisdom, prudence, forethought, and common sense collides head-on with faith in God. This head-on collision occurs if we believe faith produces or will produce an earthly result. Notice that Jesus said He was preparing a heavenly home for us, not an earthly home.

When we are responsible we are in a position to give an account of our actions without making excuses, whining, or complaining about the outcome. We all make mistakes because we are human. However, when we make a decision in faith, trusting that we make this decision according to the Lord's will, we must be prepared to stand before God and not make excuses, whine, or complain about a poor outcome. As a Christian, we are responsible to Christ first. This means we try earnestly to live a devout and holy life according to His teachings. It also means we do not step out in faith or use our faith for a demonstration of any kind. We must each remember that if God wants to display His power He can do so any time He wants. God is in a much better position to know when a display of His power is needed than we are.

Our Christian faith does not excuse us from anything. Our faith not only should not excuse us from anything it should make us more responsible and should make us more accountable than we would be if we had no faith at all. People of little or no faith may be able to stand before God and plead ignorance about God and His Kingdom. However, people of faith cannot make such an excuse. When we become Christians, our level of personal responsibility for how and what we do takes a quantum leap upward. Personal responsibility is a burden we can either carry on our backs or throw away. Asking God to help carry the burden and give us strength is what God calls us to do. However, throwing the burden down and saying, "God will take care of it" is not a sign of faith or responsibility. Trusting in God for our souls eternal home cannot be equated with trusting God to take care of us in areas of our life that we can take care of ourselves.

Each of us is responsible and accountable TO Christ. We are not responsible or accountable FOR Christ. Instead of saying we are "doing the work of God" perhaps it would be more accurate and humbling to say we are "doing the work God called us or assigned for us to do." We are not responsible to do what God can do because God will do what He can do. We are responsible to do what God assigns each of us to do.

To make the point about being accountable to Christ let us look at an example. Let us suppose God calls us to build a road. Road building, especially in the summer, is a hot, dirty job. Even today with all the mechanical equipment the dirt still billows up in the air. The road builder has to either eat the dirt or wear a mask if the weather is dry. If we are called to build the road but instead decide we are going to travel the road for Christ we are accountable for not doing what God originally called us to do. We can tell everyone here on Earth we are traveling God's road and get the glory here and now. However, when we see Jesus face to face we will have to explain. We will need to explain why we did not help build the road. Road building is humble work. We will need to explain why we chose to not do the dirty work. We will need to explain why, perhaps, we wanted more of the more glorious work of traveling rather than building.

Ex. 14:31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

Christ wants all of us to do His will because He loves us and because we have accepted Him into our lives. He hopes that we trust and believe in Him because He was willing to die for us. What greater act can any person do to show their devotion than to give up their life for another? In the Old Testament, mankind was under another contract, so to speak, with God. In the Old Testament, God had to use some rather strong and unusual methods to get His will accomplished. God had to use strong and unusual methods to get the Egyptians to let the Israelites go free and He had to use dramatic methods to keep the Israelites faith alive after they went free.

Today, we are under a new contract of faith. Our faith today needs to be based upon what Christ DID for us rather than what He CAN DO for us. Faith in God can be either selfless or selfish. Each of us is on a faith journey trying to get to a point in our lives where we are selfless before our Savior. As we make progress on this journey we must all try to move away from wanting Christ to do for us. Rather, we must move forward and try to live our lives and do our acts of righteousness for Him without any expectation of a reward. This is our quest.

Hard Questions

You Christians are always talking about salvation. If salvation is so important why doesn't God do more to take of us here on earth so we could trust Him more and more people could get, as you say it, "saved"?

This question burns right into the heart of this discussion about faith and responsibility. A responsible person is a person who treasures life. They not only treasure their own life but they treasure the life of all human beings. An irresponsible person may not treasure human life at all. For example, look at people who drink alcohol and drive, or criminals, or terrorists, or people who are just reckless. A responsible person would not do these kinds of things that hurt or endanger others. A responsible person who treasure life would also treasure that life can go on for eternity. A responsible person is willing to do as much as they can here and now and does not expect God to step into our lives and start running things to make things easier. Obviously, it would not hurt things if God stepped into the world and fixed things, but that act is not part of His will at this time. A responsible person understands this viewpoint and understands that God has other plans in store for each of us. God may not intervene when we want Him to so we can have a chance at taking care of business ourselves. All the people you know may be a lot more impressed with seeing you carry out the Lord's will than they might be if things happened invisibly without any explanation. The result of God doing more than He is doing now (according to us) might be a terrible thing. We must trust Him to do as He is doing now.

If I trust God to take care of my child and my child gets sick, and then my child dies, am I responsible?

No matter how this question is answered, only God can help ease the grief and pain of this kind of loss. In answer to the question...if you did everything you knew how to do at the time and everything within your power at the time to help your child then you are not responsible. If, however, you were slothful or lazy and did not take care of the child as you could have done then you must carry some of the responsibility. You must then ask for God's forgiveness for He can and will forgive you.

Is doing something foolish OK if I do this foolish thing in the name of God?

No. Doing a foolish act in the name of God is still a foolish act. A foolish act is against what God expects of us. God wants us to use the wisdom we have rather than throwing our wisdom into the trash can as some people are inclined to do. If we do an act that we find out later was foolish then we just made a mistake. God overlooks the mistake the first time. However, if we make the mistake the second time or keep on making it then God is not going to bless our lives. Wisdom dictates we cut out our mistakes and not repeat them.

Many people have died unnecessarily by taking a risk because they trusted God to save them. Did these people accomplish anything for God by dying an early death?

Only God knows the answer to this one. We can say we are taking a chance for God when what we are doing is taking a chance in hopes of earthly fame, fortune, or power. God is the only person who can fathom an answer on this question. Only God can look deep into the heart of the person who lost their life. The history of our faith is replete with martyrs who went to their death rather than renounce their faith. In these cases, these martyrs were not taking an unnecessary risk. When people take a risk unnecessarily then wisdom is not being used. If the person takes a risk unnecessarily and knows they are being foolish then nothing is accomplished for God, and perhaps, the work of God is diminished by this kind of foolishness.

#  Maturity

1 Corinthians 13: 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (NIV)

Each of us must push ourselves to grow and mature in Christ. We must make an effort to mature in our spiritual life, in our life with family and friends, and in our life in our workplace. We are called to be mature persons, even when we are quite young, for mature people have a dramatic impact upon those around them. A mature child, who possesses the wisdom of an adult, can direct or redirect the path of children who are not so mature. A mature family member can help a family through tough times. A mature employee can make a resounding mark upon a company and the other employees within the company. We are called by God to grow up in the Spirit, grow up in wisdom, and grow up in the love of God. The more we grow up or mature in His love, the more blessings He bestows upon us.

#  Scars

Where do the scars in our life come from?

Why do we have to live with scars?

What can we do about the scars we already have?

What can we do about the scars we get tomorrow and in the days that follow?

The scars of life come upon us as a race of God's creatures. Sometimes the scars are made before we are born as we are just being formed in the womb. Sometimes the scars of our life are made minutes before our death. There is often no rhyme or reason to any of the madness that puts the scars of living upon us. It is the satanic way of evil to inflict the scars upon our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies in a random fashion. Satanic evil lies hidden and inflicts its horrendous pain upon us from any direction.

In the world and in our lives there is war, hatred, violence, sin, corruption, natural disasters, man-made disasters, depressions, times of excess, and temptations. All of these can leave scars upon us that last a lifetime. As we look in the mirror, we may often wonder why God would let such terrible things happen to us and to others. As we look in the mirror, we must often wonder what to do about the scars, if we are able to look in the mirror at all.

In coming to grips with the relationship between our scars and God we must always rest our life in the palm of God's hand. We must remain in His hand in faith, hope, and love for Him. If you love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might, then your scars take on a new perspective. If you totally immerse your life in His love, eventually the scars are erased in His love and are no more. For if we love God enough, we eventually learn not to question Him about why things happen. As we grow in faith, instead of questioning Him about why things happen, we ask God how we can love Him and others more fully, regardless of our scars.

We get our scars not because God does not love us but because Satan hates us. This idea, the idea that Satan hates us, is an awful and inescapable truth. This idea that Satan hates us is a truth we do not want to think about, for if we tell the truth about this truth, we must tell the truth that we are nearly helpless against Satan in our physical existence. The truth is that we humans are in a war in which all of us will die. In the soup of good and evil in which we live, Satan is attacking us and attacking the work of God in us. In the last analysis, we cannot make Satan go away and stop bothering us, for we will all die and to those left behind life will seem like Satan has won. In the physical world, in the flesh, Satan will win when we die. However, in the spiritual, in the cosmic eternal everlasting energy of love we call God, we can win through Christ.

Christ came to show us that even if we carry our scars for a lifetime, that in the end...in the last second after we die...there is a land of spiritual milk and honey waiting for us where scars are no more. Christ came to show us there is a time and place where all our hurts, problems, bad memories, psychological scars, and physical scars are washed away and do not exist any more.

Obviously, we all want the washing away of our scars to be in the here and now. We all want to be ridden of our scars in this life so we can be happy and live in peace and contentment. Scars get erased by the healing energy of Christ's love flowing through us. Scars get erased by the healing energy of Christ's love that flows from the very hem of His garment as we reach out to touch Him.

Luke 8:42 As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 45 "Who touched me?" Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you." 46 But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." 47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." (NIV)

For those of us who have deep scars, the story of healing from touching His garment is particularly meaningful. For in this story, the healing comes not from Christ going to someone who needs Him. In this story, someone goes to Him. In this story of healing, we see an activist woman not wanting to be noticed by Christ. She does not request an audience. She does not stand up before Christ and request a healing. She does not conform herself to customs, rights, and rituals. This woman is determined and is full of faith.

Perhaps she is determined and full of faith as a last resort. For some of us take our scars with us each day and as each day passes we are burdened down with increasing darkness. Out of our desperation, we call to God just as this woman reached out to touch the hem of the Lord's garment. What we must remember that healing came to this woman because this woman reached out in faith.

Each of us can reach out in faith, because Christ's garment is just as present in our heart today as was His garment 2000 years ago to this woman. Christ is there for us to heal us and make us whole. Christ is there for us to take away our scars. It is a tragedy of the greatest proportions when we believe otherwise. It is a tragedy of the greatest proportions when we believe that Christ is somehow implicated in the making of our scars or in the causing of events that bring the scars into our life. Christ is not the enemy of our life. Satan is the enemy that will scar us and kill us. Satan is the enemy that will hurt us beyond what we think we can endure. Satan is the one who destroys every human life.

When we fully understand who the enemy is and we fully understand who Christ is, we begin to be in a position to choose Christ's way. For when we begin to doubt God because we see our scars or live with our scars, Satan has won a round against us. We must realize that Satan not only scars our lives. Satan also tries to convince us that God is to blame for our pain, suffering, and scarring. It is Satan's objective to get you to implicate God in every terrible thing in life. For when you implicate God in every terrible event, you can blame God and hold God accountable for the evil and suffering put upon you by Satan. Evil criminals do this blame game scenario. Criminals routinely blame others for their actions, even trying to convince a judge, jury, and victims that the criminal is innocent. Or if the criminal cannot convince others the criminal is innocent, then the criminal tries to convince others that others are really to blame for the criminal's bad behavior.

Satan will try to convince you that God is responsible for your scars. Satan will try to convince you that God is in total control of all things and that God made, permitted, or caused your trauma that left the scars. The idea of God being in total control of all things is a deception. God is not in control of us because we are not God's robots. We are not mind-controlled by God. God gave us freedom to choose between good and evil, right and wrong, God and Satan. When we are able to understand we have a choice, we are then able to make a choice for Christ and His healing touch. When we are under the illusion we cannot make a choice and that all things are moving in a direction under God's control and beyond our control, we can blame God for all the out of control scarring that goes on in our life.

There is, on God's part, a not-so-hidden agenda when it comes to our healing. God's agenda in our healing is to use our heart, mind, and soul to overcome our unbelief. God's agenda in our healing is to use our heart, mind, and soul to choose God and to choose to be unseen and unnoticed to touch His garment. For in our acts of humble contrition and faithful love, God is glorified. In our acts of humble contrition and faithful love, God wins victories. In our acts of humble contrition and faithful love, comes an erasing of scars.

Some of us will have our scars erased in this life. Some of us will have our scars erased in heaven. In either case, whether scars are erased now or later, scars are erased. Scars are erased because Christ loves us.

Christ's hand is reaching out to you today. For today, you need not try to touch His garment. Today you can touch His hand and feel His love erase the scars.

#  Worldly Objectives and Spiritual Objectives

Luke 12:29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)

The Lord Jesus knows about you and about your life. He knows how you are attracted and distracted by the things of the world. Christ knows about our difficulties. Christ knows we worry about food, water, and "things" of earth. However, in the kingdom of God there is at work a law of inverse proportions. The more you want and the more you run after the things of the world the less of these things you end up having. Human greed puts people in jail or at a minimum puts their heart into the burning pits of hell. If we stop running after the things of this world, we can focus our spiritual eyes on the kingdom of God within us. Then we will be persons of peace, love, and charity. Consequently, persons of peace, love, and charity never lack for the real things of life, or for any of life's essentials.

#  Power and God

Where is the power of God when we cannot sense it or when we are not aware of it?

Can we ever lose the power of God within us?

Is there ever a time when we are out of God's reach?

What is the secret to always having God alive in us, no matter what our circumstances might be?

Matthew 8:27 The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!" (NIV)

We all want and think we need power. When a windstorm or other weather phenomenon takes out power lines and we lose electricity, we understand our need for electrical power. We take electricity for granted and only see the evidence of it in what electrical power physically produces. Electrical power is invisible. In the same way, the power of God and God are invisible. We sometimes take God for granted and unfortunately, we often have faith in God based upon visible evidence of God in physical results produced. For persons who have little or no faith, the results produced by God are seldom connected to God. For persons of little faith, it is as if they see a motor running but refuse to believe there is an invisible electrical power in a cord or battery connected to the motor. Because God is invisible, people tend to not believe in Him or tend to doubt Him. For some persons, lack of faith ensues when they are not able to see the power of God manifested in some form. However, God is not in Heaven to manifest Himself for us, we are put on earth by Him to manifest His will in our lives.

What is striking about electricity is that it is, like God, invisible. Of all the modern inventions and scientific developments, electricity has made the greatest impact upon the world. Our lives depend upon the power of electricity. Electric power heats us, cools us, powers our tools, runs our appliances, flows through all our transportation systems, and runs our computers and media devices. The power of electricity or electric current is only a potential power in a wall socket. Actually, the power in a wall socket is not realized until a connection is made to the wiring in the socket. In the same way, God rests in our lives and remains unused until we connect to Him.

In the natural world of electrical current, in every electrical appliance or in every electrical device that makes use of electricity, there is resistance. When there is no connection to an electrical power source, there is, in scientific terms, infinite resistance. In the same way, when we do not connect to God, we represent infinite resistance to His will and desire for our life.

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." (NIV)

In a light bulb, the resistance of the tungsten filament is what causes the heating of the filament. When the bulb's filament gets heated to white hot, the white-hot tungsten gives off light. However, when there is no power permitted to flow into the light bulb there is no heating. In the same way, when we permit the love of God to flow into our lives then our spirits are warmed up by His presence and we give off the glow of His power within us. With God, some of the worst circumstances are and can be used to His glory when we let His power flow into us and through us. In all circumstances, we are to let His light shine out from our lives.

2 Corinthians 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (NIV)

In electrical devices, we have been able to find a way to use the resistance of the device to use the electrical power. We have been able to craft the nature of the resistance in wires, tubes, transistors, computer chips, and other electrical components into products for our benefit. We have only been able to use the inherent resistance of physical matter in these ways by the use of our human will. Likewise, we are able to deal with our built-in resistance to God by the use of our human will. Neither electricity nor God ever invades except in the case of lightning, that for some persons, represents an invasive act of God. When we use, submit, and act upon our resistance and weaknesses to the will of God, God is glorified.

In life, if we did not have enough built-in resistance to doing God's will, there is also Satan who comes to make our life even more difficult and extreme. Satan makes our life extreme by increasing our resistance to the flow of God's love in our heart. However, we are not helpless in this matter. God's power within us is a power of victory if we plug into it. God's power is a victorious power that annihilates the resistance Satan wants us to put up against God. Just the knowledge that God's power is a victorious power over the darkness of Satan is enough to bring His light into any darkness.

1 Corinthians 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (NIV)

Power is the ability to do, act, or produce. Notice that in this definition of power that power is expressed only in a passive form or as an "ability" to do, act, or produce. With God and within ourselves, there is always a potential or passive form of energy to do, act, or produce. There may be times in your life when you think all your power is gone. However, Satan deceives us, and Satan lies to us to try to convince us we have no power.

In the physical world, there is an expression or exhibition of various forms of energy. The expression of energy is an active definition of power. The power of God is within every person on earth every moment. Beyond the last moment of life, power of God through Christ lifts us up into heaven. In our Christian faith, when it seems all power is lost and we stand at death's door, we stand not at the door of no more power, but at the door of infinite power. What we must remember is that we do not have to come to the last moment in life to have the power of Christ's love flow though us. We can have the power of His love now, merely by opening the door of our heart upon which He tenderly knocks.

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (NIV)

When we think of power, we also can see that power is an active ability or faculty like the power of hearing or the power of thinking. God has given us power over our thoughts and over our life. God is glorified when we exercise the power He has given us to turn our life over to Him. God is also glorified by our willingness to follow His leadership and guidance for us.

There is no secret to finding, having, keeping, and using the power God. The power of God is so accessible that children are more able to tap into it than adults. Children are more able to access His power because children instinctively believe. This is why Christ said we must be as little children.

Luke 18:16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (NIV)

In contrast, the human and worldly idea of power is connected to strength, vigor, force, or will. Some persons who refuse to bend to the will of God act as they do because they do not see an active display of His strength, vigor, force, or will. In their arrogance, they refuse to believe in the reality of God's love because they have not permitted His love to come into them with any strength, vigor, force, or will. Because God chooses to not invade our lives but chooses to come into our lives only by invitation, we must not be arrogant and refuse to invite Him in. Christ comes to every person who wants Him. Christ comes into the life of every person who opens the door of their heart to let Him in.

#  Aiming for Perfection

2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. (NIV)

In your spiritual life, and in the kingdom of God within you, living half-way, or living a slipshod life produces nothing. In our life, we must have an objective of living in perfect peace within ourselves, with others, and with God. Our goal should always be to live in perfect peace and harmony. When we are at war within ourselves, we will generate war within our family, work group, or our social circle. With Christ living and alive within us, we have a way of calming the forces of war and destruction in our heart and life. With the love of Christ living in our heart, there can be no more turmoil, no more war, no more fighting, and no more anguish within us. With Christ, there is within us an eternally flowing spring of living water...living water quenching every thirst...living water putting out every fire of anger, turmoil, frustration, and discontent within our soul.

#  When Bad Things Happen

When bad things happen and it seems like everything is spinning out of control...

The first thing we should do is pray. We should pray because we feel helpless and we need help. We should pray because we trust God to do His work in us and through us even in adversity. We should pray because we love God and we know we can depend upon Him. After we have prayed, God says to us "O.K., its time to go back to work." After we have prayed, God expects us to take charge of as much as we can.

When bad things happen and everything is spinning out of control, the basic questions we should ask are:

  * What has happened?

  * Where have I been?

  * Where am I now?

  * How did I get here?

  * Where am I going?

The answers to these questions continually changes in a crisis. This means we have to ask ourselves these questions over and over again. In a crisis, the answers to these questions can change hour by hour. Continually asking ourselves these questions and reaffirming our answers gives us power over the adversity trying to assault us.

When bad things happen and everything is spinning out of control...

We should look around and make sure we are doing for God instead of just waiting around for God to do for us. When we have something bad happen to us, we are often frozen in place and we cannot move. When we are frozen in place, our first instinct is to quit what we are doing for God and wait for Him to do something for us. Think about this in terms of your life in the past. When something bad happened, you wanted everything to stop. The last thing any of us want is to have to start doing things again after bad things happen. We call doing things again "getting back to living again." Getting back to living again is not easy. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult. However, if our job in life is doing for God, instead of standing with our hand out waiting for God to do something for us, then God will supply us with real power to do for Him. Doing for God doesn't just apply to ministers. Doing for God applies to everyone everywhere. What would our world be like if everyone, all of a sudden, started looking out only for themselves?

When bad things happen and everything is spinning out of control...

We must take control of as much as we can. When bad things happen we can begin to wonder who is in charge. We must first realize we are in charge to some extent. To take charge of as much as we can, we must start taking charge of small things, minute by minute things, then build up to taking charge of larger things...the hour by hour things. When you conquer the minute, you win the hour.

When bad things happen and everything is spinning out of control...

When bad things happen, we lose sight of our goal. When bad things happen we are blinded to just about everything in front of us including our goals. We need to reaffirm our goal in life when bad times come. Many people don't have a goal in life they wander around as if they are lost, because they are lost. If we believe God will take care of everything, we don't have to really be responsible for anything so we don't need or have a goal. Let's be honest here. Thinking God will take care of everything so we don't need to take care of anything is a disaster waiting to happen. Unfortunately, many people believe and live like God will take care of everything and they sail along pretty well until...something bad happens and then all the wind disappears from their sails. With no goal in life we have no direction.

When bad things happen and everything is spinning out of control...

We need to stop trying to use God so we can let God use us. Too often, people try to use God. In addition, they do not worship Him in an unselfish way. Using God, or using faith in God to get what we want, is not acceptable to God. Our mission in life should be to give to God instead of continually expecting God to give to us. We are to be His servants rather than expecting Him to be our servant.

Many people try to use God to get what they want. Or, they try to use their faith to get what they want. This "using God" business is everywhere. When we see a demonstration of God's power we should be humbled. However, too often we scream for more....as if God's power is a show. All of us need to live in total and absolute humility before God. When we live in humility we open the way for God to do His work in us and through us. When we live in total humility before God, it makes no difference whether God gives us what we want.

#  Being Young in Christ

2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (NIV)

In our physical life, we are going in two different directions at the same time. Our bodies are wasting away as our hair gets gray, our skin wrinkles, our step becomes slower, yet in our spirit we can be constantly renewed and reborn. Every day we are spiritually reborn and we are a new person with a new hair color, new skin, and a young person with a spring in our step. Spiritually, we get older and yet we are eternally young. We may be getting old in our body yet we are young in spirit. With Christ, we are young in His spirit, young in His love, young in His forgiveness, and young in His mercy.

#  Humility

If you made a Top Ten list, what would be on your list?

A number of years ago, a man shot innocent young people in a church in Texas because of something the man did not like. What do you suppose was on his list of things that he wanted?

What do you suppose the survivors in Texas wanted in the following days?

If you had to choose between being perfectly healthy with a perfect body, or having a perfect spirit with a perfect heart, which would it be and why?

Here is an essential truth. It may be hard to swallow but here it is...what you want and the idea of humility don't go together.

Key Verses

" _Matthew 18: 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"_

2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 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. 10 "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." (NIV)

In his prime, Muhammad Ali would shout, "I am the greatest."

In private, he might have been a very different person. Ali once said, "At home I am a nice guy: but I don't want the world to know. Humble people, I've found, don't get very far." Muhammad Ali (b. 1942), U.S. boxer. Sunday Express (London, 13 Jan. 1963).

His loud mouth is now but a whisper.

He is learning about humility the hard way.

His strong body is now pretty weak.

In our world of wants we want status.

Someone once asked me, "Do you want to be big in the ministry?"

I am still appalled at the question and the thought.

We want power.

We want personal power, Holy Spirit power, healing power, power over pain, power over adversity, power over opponents, power over our health.

We will pay to get the power or pay to find out how to get it.

We buy a lot of books, watch TV, and a lot of folks go to church to get power

We want control.

We want control over our lives.

The disciples question to Jesus was about power and greatness.

I have secular books on secular power and greatness.

Some of you also have books on power and greatness.

I have read books by Napoleon Hill which deal with how to be successful.

In many respects the success books of the early part of this century, and many of the books of today, try to help people find a way of seeking greatness in the eyes of men.

Look at these verses again.

" _2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (NIV)_

Notice that Jesus used the word "Never."

Jesus said the only way the door to heaven is opened is if we are humble. He said the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are the humble.

Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (NIV)

If the man in Texas who killed these young people had adopted an attitude of humility although he might have been disturbed, maybe he would not have shot them. Maybe he would have been able to admit he needed help. Maybe he would have been able to admit his mistakes, his shortcomings, his faults, his pain, and his troubles.

Humility means being of humble spirit, and/or being a person of modesty. When we lower ourselves down, intentionally, on purpose, with our own self-control we are humble. Being humble or being a person of humility means we do not pretend anything. It means we have in us a quietness and peace about us. Being humble means we are harmless and defenseless. It means we do not take the offensive. Humility brings with it the idea of our being harmless and submissive.

Humility requires that we recognize we have fallen short of God's call upon our lives to change who we are. Humility requires we recognize our sin, and that we have fallen on our knees before Christ on the cross. This idea related to humility is an idea of contrition.

The world does not like humble people. Humble people are called names. A humble person is referred to as "a mouse," "a geek," "a shrinking violet," "a worm," or "a wimp."

An English judge, in the 1600's, poked fun (I hope) at the Christian's desire to be humble but he pointed out we have trouble getting there. He noted, "Humility is a virtue all preach, none practise, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity." John Selden (1584–1654), English jurist, statesman. Table Talk, "Humility" (1686).

Humility that is imposed on someone is called humiliation. Humility must never be imposed on someone. Humility is something we must find or come to in our spiritual lives, of our own free will. Not only will our pride, ego, and selfishness keep us out of heaven, our pride, ego, and selfishness will destroy other people by humiliating them in the here and now.

Humiliation is a horrible feeling. It can be devastating and hurt so deeply it can nearly rip out a person's soul. Humiliation can leave people scarred for life. People of humility never do anything to humiliate another person. Instead, we are called to build up others, not tear them down. Jesus calls us to go the extra mile with people, to love them, to care about them, to never be critical of them.

When we respect someone, we are humble with him or her. When we are humble we do not criticize others or find fault with them. In the church, we use the word penitence, which means essentially that we adopt an attitude of humility. When we are humble we do not try to take away another person's power.

Here Is Humility In Action

Matthew 5: 38 "You have heard that it was said, `Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

43 "You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighborH and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemiesI and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (NIV)

In raising children, we are to teach them humility but not humiliate them.

" _6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."(NIV)_

Our pride, ego, and selfishness keep us from being persons of humility. When we put what we want out in front of us, we are not being humble. Of all the things that keep people out of the kingdom of heaven, putting what we want in front of us is it. We can have our top ten list but we are supposed to burn it.

Greatness

In 1920, a British socialite had a great perspective as to how humility fits into our lives.

"The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth— the power to love— although I have put it last, is the rarest." - Margot Asquith (1864–1945), British socialite. The Autobiography of Margot Asquith, vol. 1, ch. 8 (1920).

Here is a verse about the aftermath of pride.

Proverbs 11:2 "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." (NIV)

There are advantages to humility.

The big advantage is we get to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Moreover, in many ways we can receive the blessings of the Kingdom here on earth by being a person of humility.

When we are humble before God, when we are kneeling at the cross, then we are transformed. By kneeling at the Cross, we go from being the ego-driven person, the selfish person, the person who is always "wanting" to a person who is always looking to give rather than receive. When we kneel at the foot of the Cross, we are transformed and we gain a peace and love which come to us because of our humility before Christ and His suffering. When we pray or we serve others, we should be anonymous about it because we are called to be humble. When we serve others and then want the recognition our pride and ego is driving us.

Most people think humility results in poverty, lack of fortune, being run over, pushed down, stepped on, or crushed. Instead, just the opposite in true.

In Proverbs, we read about some of the possible earthly benefits of humility.

Proverbs 22:4 "Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life." (NIV)

Humility cancels out fear. If you are afraid of something it may mean you are trying to handle it all yourself. Real humility can give you courage by giving whatever you are afraid of to God. There are some things in life over which we have no control. There are some situations that overwhelm us or overtake us. Humility lets us recognize there are things we cannot handle. Then humility enables us to give these things to God.

Life brings challenges to us every hour.

The world around us has many measures of success and it has many avenues to wealth, honor, and life.

However, Jesus' way to success is not like the world's way.

What is not widely known is that Jesus' way always works

Jesus' way works every time.

Jesus' way never fails.

His way is the way to the top.

Jesus' way is not only the way to the top in the spiritual world and but also Jesus' way can also lead us to the top in this world if we aspire to be at the top in the spiritual world.

Humility can also work in the real world. Here's how...

If you are humble, you begin to start thinking clearly about what others want instead of what you want.

By being humble, you are not always looking out for yourself. Instead, you are keenly aware of the wants and needs of others.

As you seek to meet these wants and needs of others then people begin to notice this quality of greatness in you.

As others notice that you are so often thinking about them, they start thinking well of you.

When new opportunities arise then the first person others think of is...YOU!

The apostle Paul was a giant of the faith.

We could not begin to measure his impact on the world.

In addition, he did it all through humility.

Look at Paul's words about humility.

Acts 20:18: "You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews." (NIV)

The Search for Power

As we said before, people want power. They want "personal power," "Holy Spirit power," "healing power," "God power," "you name it and claim it power," and in this search for power, humility is ignored. Be careful about what you read and hear from people of God. Be careful, because today humility is not attacked openly as much as it is ignored. In the Apostle Paul's ministry, legalism was the way to God. Not humility, but legalism. Legalism is making sure you celebrated the right festival days, ate the right diet, or carried out the right ceremony. Although these celebrations were supposed to be spiritual, they actually led people away from God. They led people away from humility and the kingdom of heaven. In our day, people want to hear about getting and staying healthy and how to be prosperous in the name of Jesus.

Paul wrote to the people in Colosse who were caught up in legalism. These people wanted a whole spiritual life. Paul tells this church (and us) that true fullness and true humility is found only in Christ.

Collosians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow." (NIV)

Humility and Leadership

Paul's letter to Titus deals with church leadership and the style of leadership we are supposed to exhibit. Paul tells Titus that humility in action is the way church leaders should behave.

Titus 3:1 "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." (NIV)

Peter also spoke of humility.

1 Peter 5:"Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

_6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you._

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (NIV)

Of all the people who needed to learn the lesson of humility it was Peter. Peter was the least humble of the apostles. He did not know what being truly humble and submissive meant early on in his faith. However, later, when he was crucified, he insisted on being crucified upside down, as an act of humility.

Conclusion

Humility is the way to heaven. It is the way to greatness in the eyes of God. Humility may bring with it sufferings in this life. However, at the split second beyond this life, there is greatness because we have chosen to be humble people of God.

#  Are These The End Times?

Genesis 6:5 he LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (NIV)

Matthew 24:36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Will we live to see the Lord's return?

Will we go through the tribulation?

Will we know when the beginning of the end comes?

Are these the end times?

No one knows when Christ will return. However, we can begin to use our common sense to see what is happening to the world in which we live. We do not need to be prophets to see what is happening in the here and now. We do not need to be prophets to see what our world will turn into as current trends continue. Some material in this essay was taken from "Ten Signs Of A Culture's End" by J. Bradley Keena, July 9, 1999. Mr. Keena's comments are italicized.

As we enter the end of what has been billed "the Century of America," our society is in the midst of a moral and cultural crisis unlike at any time in its history. Most Christians and persons of faith are concerned about the moral and cultural crisis of the world. What is not so apparent is how small of a minority persons of faith are in our civilized world. Our society, according to its current standards, is not in decline but is entering a new phase of freedom.

There are ten signs that depict the end of a culture. Great civilizations of the past were destroyed when people saw these signs but failed to act. Each of these indicators is with us today. The opposing view today is that our society is immune from any kind of destruction. The view today is that our technology and knowledge has become so power-laden we cannot be touched by any kind of moral issue. However, in just the last week, the AIDS crisis in foreign countries is now considered a matter of our national security, and the AIDS virus has, in large measure, been transmitted due to immoral behavior.

The first sign of the end of a culture is that of a society which no longer worships or acknowledges God. In 1998 it has actually become unpopular to advocate traditional Judeo-Christian values, such as the Ten Commandments. Thanks to Political Correctness, the popular culture ridicules those who worship God as the sovereign creator. Instead, it is popular to put our faith and trust in ourselves or in other creations of God. This essay is being written on May 5, 2000. Matt Drudge reported on his web site a few hours ago that NASA has banned prayer day. Granted, banning prayer day is just a small ripple in a very big pond, but many small ripples will combine to form a tidal wave that will empty the pond.

A second indicator of the end of a culture is the decline of the family. Today, statistics show divorce is at an all time high in the United States. After 25 years, we are now seeing the consequences of no-fault divorce laws. It is now so common for young people to grow up in divorced households that the term "broken family" is now a forgotten expression in the popular culture. Fathers are living apart from their natural children. Mothers no longer stay at home, but work as a head of the household. As a result, women in our society have lost their feminine identity. As worship has declined, the spiritual values communicated by mothers have all but ended with a generation. The moral authority of fathers is undermined by a society that no longer embraces the structure of the family. Spiritual and moral values cannot effectively be communicated by a father who is not present. A mother who is so exhausted from being both a mother and father often does not have time or the energy to communicate spiritual and moral values. What is so prevalent today is that moral values have a much lower level of importance and this level of importance keeps declining.

A third important indicator of cultural demise is a society's low view of life. Today, the popular culture now views abortion as a "right." The failure of our government to outlaw partial birth abortion demonstrates how intolerant of life the culture has become. Steadily, society's undermining of life has grown to include calls for legalizing euthanasia, assisted suicide, and scientific experimentation. But history warns no society can last without a high view of life. We have been desensitized to the gruesome ideas of abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and scientific experimentation. We no longer treasure life. We consider life to be expendable, unless, of course, it is our own.

Another sign of the end of the civilization is the prevalence of base and immoral entertainment. In its last days, Rome had become a society with an insatiable appetite for debauchery and immorality. Perverted entertainment translated into perverted speech and behavior. The Roman society began to accept and encourage open homosexuality. The people turned away from God and forgot his commandments and precepts, and Rome crumbled. And today, our culture has begun to embrace the same kind of entertainment. In music, a song eulogizing a murdered rap star has held the top spot on the charts for two months. Many of our movies now feature heroes who triumph by copying the vises of the villains. Television has scuttled its family hour for more dramas and sitcoms that treat perversion as normal behavior. Wholesome entertainment is becoming a forgotten relic. We no longer consider dramatizations of violence and death repulsive. We are not horrified by those scenes which are truly horrible. What might be most disturbing of all is that what we would consider repulsive, horrible, immoral, perverted, and a turning away from God is now considered normal and/or acceptable.

Still another troublesome indicator of society's demise is the increase of violent crime among young people. Riddled with gang violence, many of our inner cities have become powder kegs portending future collapse. Today, young people think about death and dying more than any other subject. In fact, surveys indicate they think about death even more than they think about the opposite sex. There's a popular new sport called extreme fighting, in which combatants injure one another like the gladiators of Rome. The demise of the traditional family and absence of religion have combined to create a culture of children who are morally retarded. In the wake of this, our Politically Correct society offers young people no consistent arguments against violence. In the light of recent gun violence in schools, what commentators fail to address, is the immorality inherent in the hearts and minds of the shooters. Indeed, the shooters got a gun and pulled the triggers, but there was no operating morality within that person. The reason so many commentators avoid the moral question is because, in the media, morality is avoided as an issue.

Another key cultural indicator is the declining middle class. Politicians have discovered one of the keys to reelection is to advocate more spending and government programs for the poor. The traditional middle class is now defined as rich. The work of the federal government has become the business of redistributing wealth through taxation and new government programs. After years of bureaucratic growth over the last fifty years, the United States has witnessed shrinking numbers of middle class wage earners, many of whom have become the working poor. The family structure has disintegrated over the last twenty-five years in part because of the economic pressure for women to join the workforce. This has lead to the increased polarization of the working class and the wealthy. Earlier this century, Russia witnessed just such a polarization before a revolution ushered in the communist era. The burgeoning lower class, trapped by low levels of literacy, and low- income jobs, is being pushed into a state of anger, desperation, and lack of self-control. The growing distrust and even disdain for government adds fuel to an inner-city populace with nothing to lose.

Yet another sign of cultural demise is that of an insolvent Government. The French Revolution occurred against the backdrop of a bankrupt government. Today, our government has not managed a balanced budget in nearly thirty years. Beneath the annual budget lies a debt of unmanageable proportions. History warns that a government rendered insolvent cannot quell its disenchanted masses. We are faced with an insolvent government and an insolvent nation of consumers. The generation that went through the Great Depression and retained the painful memories of those dark days has begun to die off. Today we have a nation of consumers that puts whatever it wants on a credit card until the credit card is maxed out. The ideas of frugality, conservative spending, and only buying what is needed are foreign to the electorate who elect our government leaders. Last week I posted an essay entitled "We Will Get What We Deserve" and we are getting what we deserve from Washington.

Related to this, a government that lives off of society's moral decay is another sign of the end of a civilization. The Roman civilization crumbled under the weight of an immoral and corrupt government. Over the years, our government has devised the creation of whole agencies that exist for no other reason than to manage some of the most immoral aspects of the culture. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Legal Services Corporation are examples of agencies that foster society's decline. Within the judicial branch of government, judges accountable to no one have helped undermine the religious freedoms that were once the centerpiece of our society. This kind of thing happens because not enough people care enough. When the governed do not care about their government immorality, corruption, and a slackard mentality will prevail in that government. We have a population who are more interested in the immoral than the moral. Should we be surprised to see no concern over the inaction and inattention paid to the immorality of government officials?

One obvious indicator that a culture is in decline is when the ruling class loses its will. Our nation's leaders no longer see the world according to right and wrong. Instead, the objective of today's foreign policy Establishment is to maintain the status quo. In like manner, our elected leaders have lost their moral authority. Elected officials no longer seek office for the good of the country but instead seek reelection to further lucrative careers within the Washington Establishment. Also, our nation's defense Establishment has traded military readiness for social experimentation with a feminized military. At the time of this writing, May 5, 2000, there is an enormous and alarming arms build-up in China, Russia, India, and other parts of the world. Missile technology is being sold to the Chinese who have avowed the destruction of Taiwan and the United States. Does anyone care? Does anyone know? Is anyone listening? The United States has lost top secret data stored in laptop computers. Does anyone care? If you lived through the nuclear scare days of the 1950's, the cold war and the Cuban Missile crisis you might care but you are in a very small minority. The top priority for our country today is whether or not they saw "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

The final indicator of the demise of a civilization is the failure of its people to see what is happening. In nearly every case, citizens of past civilizations which ended witnessed all of the signs of demise but failed to act. Today, the popular culture has helped society forget the lessons of history. One of the reasons we do not connect history to our current culture is that history is now taught in light of the socialist agenda of the textbook publishing houses, the socialist nature of the national education system, and the lack of insight and concern of the teachers or professors. Those persons who make decisions that control the lives of others are quite smug and comfortable with where we are. Those persons in the lower class have been conditioned to expect a constant safety net from the government. Welfare reform is working to wean people off the dole but the resources needed for upward mobility are not always readily available. The mentality to scratch and claw one's way out of poverty is lacking.

All of the signs of the demise of our culture are with us today: the hostility toward religion, the breakup of the family, the declining view of life, the appetite for immorality, the violence and crime, and the declining middle class are coupled with a federal government on the brink of insolvency, whose leaders are living off of society's moral decay leading to the loss of leadership and moral will.

In the days of Noah, God warned a faithless, immoral and violent civilization of the imminent catastrophe that was about to take place, but few listened. Tonight, our civilization is at the crossroads, but few are noticing the signs that are before us. It is time to take notice, and to pray for spiritual awakening in this country, before the light of our civilization goes out.

We do not know if these are the end times but what we do know is that these times reflect a lack of goodness, caring, compassion, and a true love of Christ. Perhaps we should ask a more direct question. The human race murdered God's son, and now most of the human race is ignoring God. Is God happy?
