Monthly Archives: May 2016

Which are you?

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Have you ever heard God’s voice? His actual, audible voice? I have not but it would be awesome if ever I had the chance!

I have, however, heard God speaking to me. The other day, a short bible story came to mind. After having thought about it for a while, I realize that the Holy Spirit dropped this story into my mind. 

I needed to learn something.

Luke 10:38-42 describe a scene that I am all too familiar with in my life. Here it is:

“38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”41“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but few things are needed—or indeed only one.f Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Italics mine.

There are two main characters in this story (three if you count Jesus). 

Martha and Mary.

Martha worked while Mary worshipped.

Martha stood while Mary sat.

Martha lamented while Mary listened.

Martha prepared while Mary pondered.

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I have been Martha the last couple of weeks. I want to be Mary. 

Which are you?

More?

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God is working. But I don’t always see it. I feel like there is more. Not that I am unhappy or discontent. I am blessed beyond measure. Here is what I mean by blessed.

  • My wife is about to enter another decade on her birthday next week. She is all things amazing. God has given me a tremendous (understatement!) gift in my wife.
  • My son is incredible. Between the legos and video games he still has time to excel in school and volunteer at church. At eleven, he is awkward and awesome at the same time!
  • My daughter is fantastic! It is fun to snuggle in the morning. She still lets me snuggle at 8. Her smile brightens my day like no other. She also knows more Spanish than I do. Wow.
  • Our church is wonderful. A healthy church is so encouraging. And we get to help in various way! The people are incredible. We can grow at our church.
  • We live debt free mainly due to the choice we have made to tithe.
  • I can still play hard on the softball field even though I am one of the oldest persons out on the field!
  • We are surrounded by friends and family that love us.

But I feel like there is more to God. I want more of Him.

Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”

Psalm 84:2, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The great thing is that God wants to be found by us. He will satisfy our longings. His character is one of generosity. 

So today, I am asking for more. What are you asking for?

“What’s in this for me?”

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This post took a left turn this morning. I had other plans. There are a couple of ideas running through my head that I am going to write about but not today. Something else caught my attention today. Let me explain.

Every morning, I feed my kids and get them on the school bus. It is a short amount time but I get to influence my kids for God, hopefully. After I make breakfast, there is a captive audience. They eat and I read. We are in Matthew right now, specifically chapter 26. My kids are 11 and 8 so we read from the Message translation. Sometimes I wonder if they even are listening or remotely understanding what I am reading. But it is God’s word.

Can’t go wrong with reading the Word.

Here are the verses that hit me. I normally use the New International Version when quoting scripture but this is from the Message version just as I read it this morning.

“That is when one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the cabal of high priests and said, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They settled on thirty silver pieces. He began looking for just the right moment to hand him over.” Matthew 26:14-16

Judas was many things. But if I could narrow it down to one word, Judas was selfish. It was all about him. And that is what led him to do what he did.

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When we encounter Jesus, we must ask ourselves a question. There are two questions and we have to pick one of them.

Question #1 “What’s in this for me?” 

Question #2 “Will Jesus be glorified?”

In the case of Judas, he asked question #1. And what the result? He killed himself. Death.

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I would like to submit to you that if we ask question #2, the result will be life, not death.

Choosing God will always end with life. The alternative is choosing anything but God. What will come of choosing someone or something other than God? You know the answer.

Just like millions of people before us, we have a choice. If you make the right choice, He will empower you to live it out. But it starts with our choice. So make the right one today.

God will not disappoint you. Ever.