Bible

by

Short cut!


Short cuts…

Short cuts

they save time and gas money on our journeys.  We love them.  Most of us know all the ones around our area.  Then there are the short cuts on computers.  Recognize any in the picture?  I love them … they save time AND brain cells.

Got any boxed mixes in the cabinet?  Oh yeah, love those too … save time, energy and it is a fast road to something good to eat.

I guess I really love the computer ones; especially the one at the top that helps with all of my “too quick to click” problems.  (UNDO or Ctrl + Z.)

Our short cut mentality takes over in every area of our lives.  Once we start incorporating it in one area, it slips over into another, then another.  But, we get the job done.  Or, do we?  You see people taking “short cuts” in their work, raising their kids and even in their spiritual lives.  They use quick fixes … putting off the inevitable.  Unfortunately, like our little computer menu, they need an  “UNDO” because eventually short cuts catch up with you.

Remember the movie “SANTA CLAUS” where the elf, Patches, designs a machine to shortcut production?  That turned out well., right?  How about at your job, or as a mom … a dad, an employee, or a church volunteer; taking any short cuts and “getting ‘er done”?  Sometimes it is not about finishing, in fact most of life is not just finishing, it is how you got to the finish; the journey.

Many  are wiping their brows, “whew, got them graduated”.   A diploma from high school, college, etc. is nice.  You “got ‘er done”.  Now comes the hard part, where you sit back and see if  all the short cuts you took raising them are going to back fire.  Are there “holes” in their so-called education?  Oh, they can read and write, but where are they on a spiritual level?  Where are they in character?  What values do they have, if any?  Did you just raise them the way you were raised, or maybe you insisted on raising them “better than your parents raised you”.

Look at your work ethics.  Will they work like you?  Is that a good thing?  How about your spiritual life; will they walk like you?  Is that a good thing?  Have you passed on a “short cut” mentality to the next generation?  Is saving time a good thing?  What did you really save?

The good news is, in the Christian life there is an “UNDO” button =  Control + Christ.  Did any of those “too quick to click” maneuvers backfire  in an area of your life and  you do not know how to fix the mess you have made?  Put it in His hands.  It is never too late to turn it over to Him.  He has been waiting  for you to relinquish control.  At work, at home, raising kids, volunteering at church … put the control in Christ’s hands.

PROVERBS 3: 5-7 “5  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 7  Do not be wise in your own eyes…”

Short cuts in your work life, your home life, children’s lives or church life will bring forth poor results.  Take time to seek Him, read His word and talk with Him … often.  Then, as we all will need to do, use the UNDO daily.

(Disclaimer:  NO, this was not inspired by any of my friends who happen to have high school and college graduations right now :-D).

by

Shhhhh….


Yesterday seemed to be the day for screaming kids in our store.  I am continually amazed at parents disrespect for others’ places of work (and even other customers).  I work in a bookstore.  People are trying to read, select books and study materials.  I am not talking about a sudden outburst, but an out-and-out continual loud crying tantrum.  The kind where you cannot hear yourself think.   The mom’s idea was to ignore the kid.  That is fine, but only if it is at her expense, not that of the store’s employees and other customers.  Take the kid to the car, let them scream and sit and ignore them all you want.  Never let your kid scream or carry on, run around, etc. in another person’s place of work.  Could you or your husband work under that condition?  Of course not.  Remember, stores and restaurants are somebody’s place of work.  Respect that.  Let others hear themselves think as they shop and/or work.

So I have vented.  Now to my point.  Quiet time.  For us, for kids.  Learning to be quiet, so you can hear… not just all that is around you, but the Holy Spirit’s quiet voice leading you.  Teaching you and giving you discernment.

My husband has always thought I have bionic ears when it comes to children.   He swears I would hear our daughters change breathing patterns during the night.  I am a light sleeper.  I treasure my quiet, quiet is a valuable thing.  The least little sound wakes me.  Quiet time, something to treasure.  Any mom can tell you that.  Unfortunately, through the years of multimedia, we have grown accustomed to…

LOUD

Is it any wonder when we feel we have not heard from God?   We never slow down, we never get quiet … we are on the go … over stimulated with noise and sights … leaving no room for His

 still, quiet voice.

I could always hear when my children awoke, when they breathed differently, coughed … I was tuned into my girls.  I hear my grandchildren during the night when they visit.  The house is still, all asleep, and I am in tune to the changes of my quiet.

Would it not be wonderful to be so still in my spirit and so attuned to Him that I could hear His still quiet voice anytime day or night?  If only we could hear His voice no matter the clamor all around us.  It is so important to find a quiet time in the day to keep that open line of communication so we KNOW His voice.  It is important for our children to know we have that quiet time as well.

Does He always have to get our attention the hard way?  If only I felt His breath on me … He’s there.  I just need to listen.  Be still.   Shhhhhhhhhh.

1 Kings 19:11b-12  “…And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.”

by

It’s their decision.


Recently I have had traffic to my blog from “past Christians, now atheists”.  That boggles my mind.  How do you have the truth, doubt it and then walk away.  It stands to reason, they never understood the truth?  They were more about self?

How do they turn and walk away?

Have you ever thought about what it was like when satan* decided to leave Heaven?  He made a conscious choice to leave all he knew about God and Heaven.  First, he had the free will to make the choice.  Second, God did not stop him.  Third, he stuck with it and never went back.  God was not a puppet master.  He did not pull the strings and force satan* to walk His walk.  He ALLOWED it all to happen.

So these  “former Christians turned atheists” came across my blog and they want me to understand and help me to leave my faith.  They have proved to themselves they were raised wrong, and that all they believed is a myth.  They want to “UNconvert the converted … UNsave the saved”.  Wow.

So how could they think that way?  Well, how could satan*?  That is pretty heavy thinking on any scale.  That you could KNOW God, BEEN in Heaven and just walk away, basically denying God’s love and power.   So satan* thought to take it all, succeed on his own, and did his own thing.  Daily, here on earth, people do the same thing without a second thought.

A young man I know is going through a very tough time.  His fiance  CHOSE to leave him, leave the church, leave the walk they had professed.  The young man is understandably hurt and confused.   He thought the person he loved was a Christian walking the walk she talked.  Now it all seems to have been a lie.   This is not a new phenom, I have seen it throughout the years; people pretending to be a certain way in order to “get what they want”.   This young woman got the ‘coveted ring’, only to decide it was not enough and walked away.  He is very fortunate, although he will not realize this for sometime.

(Have you ever considered how God felt when His creation walked out of Heaven willingly?)

I have friends who have children they raised to love the Lord who simply chose to walk away.  I know of couples where one chose to leave their vows before God, the church life they shared, the children they had.  All of these made a choice and must live with the consequences.  Sadly, they leave a path of grief in their wake.

Can you imagine how God grieved over satan*?   Look at the wake of grief he brought on this earth by his choice.  Was God to blame because He did not stop satan*?  Why did He not stop Eve?  It had to grieve Him.  Was it God’s fault because He did not stop satan* in his temptation of Eve? No.  It was satan* who made the choice.  It was Eve and Adam who made choices.  It was their decision, just as your decisions are yours.  God is NOT a puppet master.

The day comes when we as parents allow our children to make their own decisions.  The day comes when as adults they are out of your control and you are not to blame for their choices.  You can be a great parent but, one day they will make their own decisions.  God is a perfect Heavenly Father.  But, daily we make choices that hurts and grieves Him because we can.  We have free will.

For those that have been hurt by a loved one who walks away … a child, a friend, a spouse …. you cannot and should not blame yourself.  Sometimes you can do all the right things and the person will still make the wrong choice.

Each day in our lives we come to the point where we make a conscious choice…. FOR or AGAINST God.  Free will.

Not so free … it cost a lot.  Jesus died on the cross for what satan’s* free will cost.  Many broken hearts and lives have paid a heavy price for someone else to have free will.

Today will you make a conscience choice for Him?   Will you celebrate the resurrection in earnest?   When you take the Lord’s Supper  will you  truly “do this in remembrance of Him”.  Never take it lightly, never take Him lightly.    Remember the cross … Remember the cost.

*satan – I know people capitalize the “S” but, I don’t.  I refuse to give him any status of importance.  He’s a snake, so satan, devil, etc. are lower case, as he is one.

by

Not going to be any dust in Heaven …


Dust … dust and MORE DUST.  It’s that time of year when there is dust, pollen dust and more dust… EVERYWHERE!   Seconds after you dust, there’s DUST!  Makes you sneeze, makes your head hurt, makes your eyes water.  Itty, bitty, tiny particles that are too small to do anything on their own, but let them get together and you’re dust. 

The good news is there is not going to be any dust in Heaven.  There will not be any housecleaning, spring cleaning … sinus headaches or allergy attacks.

Dust.  Such a nuisance.  But, we ARE dust.  Dust and water on a skeleton frame. (Of course, sometimes we wish there was a little less dust and water on our particular frame).   Wonder if God thinks of us as a nuisance sometimes?

He made us from nothing.   From “nuisance” to man.  (And sometimes to “nuisance” again?)  Amazing how God looked down on the earth, took the dust and breathed life into man.

Genesis 2:7
“Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.”

He made us valuable in His sight from dust.  These bodies we value so much … we decorate with clothing and jewelry.  We tan them, exercise them and yet is that what part of us is valuable?  The things we put on ourselves?  The things we collect?

Matthew 6:19  “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.”

Matthew 6:20  “But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.”

I wonder what would happen if we “dusted off” our spiritual “body” … exercised it, exposed it to the Son, clothed it in righteousness, purity and honor?

by

How did we get there from here?


Webster’s Definition of TOLERANCE

1: capacity to endure pain or hardship :endurance, fortitude, stamina
2a: sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own b: the act of allowing something :toleration
3: the allowable deviation from a standard; especially: the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified dimension in machining a piece
4a (1): the capacity of the body to endure or become less responsive to a substance (as a drug) or a physiological insult especially with repeated use or exposure
As parents, grandparents; neighbors, employees; voters, bystanders … we have taken tolerance as an excuse to become apathetic.   We are tired, we do not want conflict, we just want to live and let live.  We do not want to be bothered.  We all have a reason for allowing things to just be.  With each year we just throw up our hands, turn away, give up and sit.  Hoping it all will go away, or “IT” will get better on it’s own.  “IT” can be many things in our lives.  People, situations, habits = “IT”.  Our attitude towards “IT” did not happen over night.  With each generation of neglect, apathy, or however you want to label the response to “IT”, we strengthen “IT” until it is insurmountable to overcome and take back control.  We do not like labels, society does not tolerate labels.  So we do not call “IT” by what it is.  The truth is, “IT” was, and always will be SIN.  When we first tolerate SIN and turn away, we strengthen SIN and begin to be tolerant.  Slowly we quit naming it SIN and create “IT”.  Unnamed and harmless.
I hope my ramblings are not confusing.  To best sum up my thoughts I offer this quote:

“One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin. ‘If we walk in the light as He is in the light. . .’ (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person.” ~ Oswald Chambers

I think Chambers sums it all up nicely.  So what do we do?  We acknowledge we turned away.  We stop denying and return to the truth.  As Chambers says, only the Holy Spirit can do this work in our lives.  Yes, we pray but we pray specifically for the Holy Spirit to renew us, to open our hearts to the Word we read each day.  We ask for discernment and we ask:

Psalm 51:10 (ESV) “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Philippians 4:8 (NASB)  “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

At the risk of repeating myself, JUST DO IT (previous blog).  Stop and call “IT” by the right name, SIN.  Tolerance by Bible standards = love thy neighbor as they self.  You can love someone and not love what they do.  We should not let anything that the Bible calls SIN become “IT” simply because we have become desensitized by the world and we do not want to deal with “IT”.