Tag Archives: Paul

Living a life that reflect’s God’s plan (part 1)

Posted on May 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Living a life that reflect’s God’s plan (part 1)

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing (II Timothy 4:6-8).

On May 16, 2012, I had the honor and privilege of preaching/teaching at Gospel Light Baptist Church, my family’s home church since July 2011.  My pastor’s wife sent me a text message earlier in the day asking could I possibly fill in for the pastor as he was sick and would not be able to be in church that evening.  Having been roughly ten years since I have had the opportunity to fill a pulpit, I was unsure about what to present and even more unsure about my ability to present a message in a manner that would not only be biblically sound but practical.

The next few posts will be taken from the teaching presented on May 16th.  This will be a five part series aimed at teaching God’s divine structure for our lives.  When I first began working on this message I had no idea the direction that God would take me.  As I began to research the topic of the message I began to understand that oftentimes in my own life – and usually about the time when it seems that everything is coming apart – I have neglected certain aspects of my life and have placed other things higher on my priority list than they are on God’s.  When we are focused on the here and now it is extremely easy to put things as a priority that would not even be considered as important if we were to see the big picture.

There are four additional installments of this series.  Part 2 explains why we need to make God the top priority in our lives.  In part 3 we will explore why it is important to place our spouse (or family if we are not married) as the second priority in our lives.  Part 4 explains the importance of children within the home and finally, Part 5 explains the reason why our vocation must not come before God, our spouse, or our children.

It all begins in what we consider success.  According to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, success is defined as “a degree or measure of succeeding, a favorable or desired outcome, the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.”  With this in mind, there have been many scams claiming on how to help us attain the successful life that is supposedly at our fingertips.  Walk down any self-help aisle of your favorite bookstore, or do a search at Amazon or other book sellers on the Internet and what you find is that for around $20.00 you can buy a book that will tell you how to become wealthy, or lose weight, or to even gain popularity.

We see what a successful life means in the eyes of this world in which we live by the last portion of the definition of the word success – the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.  How many people have sacrificed their families, their relationship with God, and in some cases their eternal soul in order to achieve the world’s view of success?  Instead of focusing on the big picture, they simply see the world around them and focus on the things that this world tells us is important or what it takes to be successful.  In my own life, I thought that an advanced degree, a job with a lot of promotion potential, a large house, money in the bank, and all the related things were important and would define me as being successful; I was even working 16 to 18 hour workdays trying to attain those things I thought would define me as being successful.

Several times we are warned in the Bible not to look for these earthly treasures, but to seek the treasures in Heaven – you could restate it by saying we should not seek the accolades of men or to be successful according to how the world defines success; instead, we should seek the approval of God upon our lives.  God’s word clearly sets the order as to how we can achieve the ultimate success – hearing God tell us “well done thou good and faithful servant…” (Matthew 25:21).  What was it that gave the apostle Paul the ability to boldly claim that he had fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness (II Timothy 4:7)?  God actually has such a plan to help us live productive and successful lives according to his plan for prioritizing all that we do so that we, also, may have such confidence.  All we have to do is to recognize this order that God has set before us and allow it to become the way we live our lives.

 

Comments Off on Living a life that reflect’s God’s plan (part 1)

Posted in Christian Living, Christian Responsibility, Discipleship

Tagged , , , ,

A challenge from Paul – act as if you work for God

Posted on May 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on A challenge from Paul – act as if you work for God

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

 It’s the end of another semester at the local community college where I teach.  I enjoy the challenges that each semester brings, meeting new students, and watching the social trends that manifest themselves.  There is one social trend that almost everyone has been guilty of at some point in their lives and is a continual struggle to overcome – it’s doing the most minimal effort to get by.  Although it seems like a good idea at the time, it often causes more problems than it would have if we had just done our best to begin with.

Imagine, if you will, that whatever job you have – if it’s working at McDonald’s, 5/3 Bank, or even Wal-Mart – God was your employer.  Would it change how you did your daily tasks?  Would you go the extra mile to make sure you met all the expectations your employer set before you the day you were hired?  Would you make an extra effort to be on time each morning?  Would you gossip about other employees or your employer while on the clock?  Would you hear God tell you at the end of the workday as you clocked out, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things...” (Matthew 25:21).

Paul, in our highlighted passage for today, is reminding us that as Christians we are to do all things as if we are doing them for God.  With God, there is no “good enough for government work” standard. Paul wrote to the Colossians that whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men (Colossians 3:23).  Everything we do when we are at work we are to do it as if we are doing it for God; while in prison for his faith, Paul called himself an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly (Ephesians 6:20).  When others know we are Christians they have a tendency to watch us more closely, scrutinize our actions, and will judge our professed love for Jesus Christ by what they see us do.  If our work does not reflect the best that we can do then we are damaging our ability to be an effective witness for Christ!

As Christians, we should strive to serve Jesus Christ in all that we do.  This means we should not divide our existence between our Christian service and our everyday lifestyle – the two should be one and the same.  Our faith in Jesus Christ should be a very present factor in what we do at work, who we listen to for entertainment, and in our decisions at the ballot box.  Even during Jesus’ earthly ministry he taught about making a conscious choice about what we let become our “master.”  We can either choose and dilligently seek after the things of God or we must make the choice to be bound to the will of man (Matthew 6:24).  Even the apostle John warns Christians that If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: in other words, if we claim to be a Christian and our day to day life does not bear witness to what we profess, we are not demonstrating our faith (I John 1:6).

In a world where taking shortcuts and doing the bare minimum, doing your best can not only bring peace to your soul, but can bring about other benefits as well.  Solomon, a man gifted with wisdom that can only come from God, wrote that He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding (Proverbs 12:11). Although there are those that will claim this verse just applies to agriculture, this concept should be applied to whatever it is that we do for employment – whatever your job is that provides you with what you need to live.  If you are still a student, then do your assignments as you would do them for God.  If you are self-employed, conduct your business as you would conduct it for God.  If you work for another, then work for your boss as you would perform the same job for God.

Comments Off on A challenge from Paul – act as if you work for God

Posted in Chrisitian Philosophy, Christian Living, Standards

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Forgetting ourselves but judging others

Posted on April 23, 2012 by | Comments Off on Forgetting ourselves but judging others

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (I Corinthians 6:19).

[I originally began this post on Tuesday, April 17th, 2012, but because of everything that I had going on, was unable to finish it.  It is now posted as originally written.  I have also decided since I am struggling with obesity, to include a widget on the About the author page from a program I am using to record my weight loss progress.  No Christian currently living is perfect, but we do have an obligation to avoid being a stumbling block for others – and this includes the way we take care of ourselves.]

This afternoon, as my daughter took a mid-day nap, I ran the kitchen trash out to the dumpster near the row of townhouses where ours is located.  As I was on my way back to our home, I ran into one of the neighbors that lives in the building across the street.  Firmly believing that it is important to acknowledge others, I said hello to the young man; when we show common courtesy to others it may give us the opportunity to share the Lord with others and help us establish meaningful friendships (Proverbs 18:24).  I didn’t expect him to even respond to my greeting, but he soon began to ask me a series of questions.

He told me that he and his live-in girlfriend were having a disagreement over several things and had to leave the apartment and used the trash as his excuse.  The disagreement had begun over a seemingly small issue but soon had evolved (or devolved) into a discussion between the two over whose lifestyle was the worst.  He said that his was not as bad as what it could be, he was not into drugs or alcohol; he had a problem looking at pornography and had been caught looking at the stuff on the Internet.  I am sure he was looking for a sympathetic “you’re right,” or “at least you weren’t cheating…” either being the last thing he needed to hear.  He needed to hear about Jesus.

As I began to explain to him that it really doesn’t matter what other people think of his life, I did tell him what matters is how God sees his life.  I explained to him that in God’s eyes sin is sin. Where we seek to justify ourselves in our own eyes by placing sin in categories, God simply sees it all as being equal.  Simply put, sin is the act of violating the laws of God (James 2:10).  As we continued our conversation a bit more I began to see things in my own life in a slightly different manner.

Many Christians today make a big deal out of the body piercings and tattoos that many people have; we have all heard it preached from the pulpits that during the Old Testament times God had instructed the children of Israel that Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:28).  What we seem to forget – the very reason that God does not want us to mark our bodies – is the exact reason that Paul reminds us in I Corinthians – our bodies are not our own, but have been bought with a price.  Just as Christians claim that tattoos, piercings, and the use of illegal drugs are all sins that destroy the body, so is neglecting our physical health.  Obesity, anorexia, and bulimia are ever present in our churches yet they are rarely mentioned.

This is one of the many reasons that the lost will claim that our churches are filled with hypocrites.  We easily condemn those that are lost based on outward appearances but yet tell ourselves that others need to judge us by what is in our hearts.  Even Jesus warned those listening to him, And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5).

When we set different standards for others, including the standards of physical appearance, categorization of “greater” and “lesser” sins we are actually committing what God has labeled as an abomination.  Solomon, who had been given a great gift of wisdom by God, wrote that Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD (Proverbs 20:10). As Christians, we should not pass our own judgment on the lost or on Christians who are lingering after the flesh more harshly than we view our own shortcomings.  In the eyes of God, sin is sin – sexual immorality, murder, obesity, affairs, and even “white lies” – are all equal in the eyes of God.  They are all open rebellion against God’s righteousness.  We also must understand that while God hates all sin, he also has made a way for all sinners to be redeemed through his love (John 3:16).

Comments Off on Forgetting ourselves but judging others

Posted in Christian Living, Christian Responsibility

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,