Tag Archives: christian life

Enough is enough.

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Faith. Most days I don’t even feel like I can find the words to type. Can my faith really move mountains? Will I really see healing in someone’s body? It seems that with all of the stuff of life, faith is hard to come by. And when we do have faith, it feels small or insignificant.

By the way, if you want my idea of ‘stuff’, click here.

My first two posts about faith were in regards to Altitude and Attitude. Feel free to go back and read them again. =-)

The Altitude of Faith is that Jesus is supreme. He is above all else.

The Attitude of Faith is reflected in my actions in life.

But is my faith enough?

Faith6

I say yes. But again, don’t take my word. God says yes as well.

I John 5: 4-5 tell us, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

What?!?! My faith is the victory that overcomes the world?!?! I guess I will take God’s Word at face value here. It is not normal to think of myself as an overcomer but I like it. There is a small catch though…I need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. If that is in order, than I am victorious.

So to answer the question in the opening paragraph, yes, my faith can move mountains. I can see people healed. My problems and issues are suddenly not so life-choking.

It seems that enough is enough. My faith is enough. God can do anything because He is all-powerful but He chooses to let me use my faith. Enough is enough.

And that, my friends, is the Amplitude of Faith.

Amplitude –

“the state or quality of being ample, especially as to breadth or width; largeness; greatness of extent.”

It all boils down to the fact that God has given each one of us a measure of faith. Some people have more than others but everyone has some. And that faith is enough.

Can I come full circle? This is how I ended my first post in this month:

Faith has nothing to do with feelings. (Thank you God!!!)

If we look at faith and understand it (even if it is only a little understanding), there is nothing essential about how we feel as it relates to faith. My feelings do not always line up with my Altitude, Attitude, and Amplitude but they can certainly influence it!

So go and exercise your faith today. And when you don’t feel like it, that just might be the best time to act.

Another aspect of Faith

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Quick summary of last week:

We all have faith in something. We can choose to put that faith into anything we desire. Jesus, being the Ultimate of Everything, is the highest location for our faith. Our Altitude of Faith should be in Jesus.

Jesus. Isn’t He awesome? Because he is above all else, he rightly deserves our honor, trust, respect, love and yes, our faith. We may know that in our heads but how does that faith translate to our hands? How does having faith in Jesus play out in everyday life? Back to I John 5. I copied the first three verses here.

“1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,”

We can see the Altitude of Faith in the first verse, “that Jesus is the Christ.”

The last part of verse 1 and verses 2-3 give us the Attitude of Faith.

Attitude –

“manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind”

What is your disposition towards faith in Jesus? Do I have positive tendencies with regards to faith? My manner is evident of my faith, right?

The word love is used 5 times in these 3 verses. Let that be a clue as to what our attitude should be. Here is a little example.

When I went to North Central University, it was actually called North Central Bible College. Among my friends, there was one in particular that I remember. He was rather intense. We would be talking about a subject and he would often times use the phrase, “Chapter and verse.” He was asking for proof for my ideas. It was one thing to talk about something we had heard in class or Chapel. This guy always wanted to know what the Bible said. He wanted proof.

Remember, love is a clue since the author used it so many times in a short span.

While the object of our faith (altitude) is Jesus, the proof of that faith (attitude) is our action or love.

My dad often said to me, “You will always have time to do what you want to do.”

I have faith in Jesus. He was a perfect man. He was killed, buried and then raised from the dead. His sacrifice is enough to wash me from my sins. My life is now completely in His hands. I am free in Christ!

All of that is my Altitude of Faith.

I put others before myself. I serve at home and at church. I refrain from swearing or crude language. Drunkenness is not an issue. When the gossip starts, I leave the room. I smile even when I am having a bad day. I invite people to church. I sing on the worship team. I try to be the best version of me that I can.

All of this is my Attitude of Faith.

Go back and read those three verses again. Our actions stem from God doing something that we could not. I DO NOT do good things to get something from God. I do these things because He has already done something for me.

This post is not about doing good works to get saved. But rather, it is about doing good works because you are saved.

Hope…so what?

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So what? That is the question. We have the Person, Plan and Place of Hope. But why? There is a Purpose of Hope and to illustrate it, there is an Old Testament story that most beautifully describes Hope.

Jericho. You remember the story, right? The promised land was right there in front of them. The Israelites just crossed the Jordan river. BUT in the way was the massive, walled city of Jericho. Joshua gave the orders that came from God. The people marched. The people shouted. The walls fell! Praise God!!! Now the conquest of the promised land could get under way. Hold on…we need to take a closer look.

walls of jericho

Joshua 6: 15-19 says, “15On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 17The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”” You can read chapter 6 here.

The people followed God’s directions and the city was captured. Verse 18 says to “keep away from the devoted things,” Let’s keep that phrase in mind.

The first verse of chapter 7 give us a telling picture of the heart of man.

“But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.” Italics mine.

Achan stole some plunder for himself. And, as a result, was stoned to death along with his family. Here are the last two verses of chapter 7, “25Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.” Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.”

The Valley of Achor. This is where we meet the story. Yes, we are living thousands of years later but the principles are the same. We can “covet” the devoted things of this world. In fact, that word, Achor, means trouble or disturbance. You know what I am talking about here. Not all of us deal with the same stuff but we all have that sin in our hearts. You might be a chronic liar or filled with anger. Does gossip push your buttons? For me, I was addicted to pornography for years. I am sure that all of could identify with Achan. We want things. We can live in the Valley of Achor.

That would be depressing if we live in a valley of trouble all of our lives. So now we get to the Purpose of Hope. Turn in your bibles to Hosea 2.

The prophet Hosea comes on the scene. Israel is being unfaithful to God. Just like Achan, I might add. Kind of like us at times. The prophet is describing how God will bring judgement. Not good. But then in verse 14 of chapter 2, God starts pursuing Israel. Here are the verses, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.”

The Purpose of Hope is to show us how much God loves us. He decided to allure her (Israel). They were adulterous. He will lead her, speak to her, give back to her the vineyards. In fact, what ever was trouble, God will turn into hope. Israel was in the Valley of Achor both literally and figuratively. But God changed things. That valley of trouble is now a door of hope. That is how much God loved Israel.

He loves you and me that much also. Romans 8 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God. We always can come back to God.

And that is the Purpose of Hope.

To remind us that there is Hope even when all hope seems lost. God will not forsake you. Come back to Him. Enjoy Him and all of His glory. Surrender your life to him. Let Him turn your Valley of Achor into a Door of Hope.

wooden door

Jars, the final episode.

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Have you had your fill of jars yet? One more post today about these wonderful and boring items. Let’s look at John 2:1-11

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

This is an interesting story about Jesus just coming onto the scene with a big-time miracle. He even said that it was not his time to be revealed. But I don’t want to focus on that part of this story. As you may have guessed, let’s focus on the jars.

There were six jars. Huge jars. They were nearby. I am not sure what they had been used for in the past but at the present time, they were empty. Not being used.

Jesus said to fill the jars. First point to us: Jesus might want to use something in our lives that is, presently, empty and not being used.

What is in your life that is collecting dust? I am not specifically referring to an item but something more like a talent or ability. Do you sing? Maybe you are an artist of some sort. Can you build stuff with your hands? These things and so many more are like the jars from the story. We have them nearby. They are empty but may have been used at another time. Listen, is Jesus asking for the jars?

So they filled them to the brim. Second point to us: Whenever Jesus is asking something, go full tilt. Do it all the way. 

20 to 30 gallons. That is a lot of water. Even half of that would have been a lot. But the servants filled the jars all the way to the top. I think Jesus would have turned the water into wine regardless of how much water was in the jars. That is my view. So, why not fill them completely?

Whatever God is asking of you, give him your all. Fill your jars to the brim. Maybe even fill them to the point of sacrifice. It may cost you, yes, but it will be worth it all. Like the old song says, “It will be worth it all when we see His face.” From the song entitled “It Will Be Worth it All”

I will end with a question that I am asking myself as much as I am asking you.

What jars is Jesus asking me to fill in my life today?

Chemistry, Christ, and Colossians

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Today is the first day of Lent so I thought I would post my wonderings about it. To do this, I want to make a comparison from the realm of chemistry. Please keep reading even if you hate science! This will worth two minutes of your time. =-)

The Law of the Conservation of Mass states that mass cannot be created or destroyed; it is merely rearranged.

Here is a chemical equation with chemical symbols: CH4 + 2O2 = CO2 + 2H2O

Same equation in word form: methane gas + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water

Again but in picture form:

conservation of mass 3

If you look at all the atoms, they are the same on both sides of the equation. There are four different substances but the amount of matter is the same.

 

Now let’s take a look at the idea of giving up chocolate for Lent. Fred is pretend. I am using Fred as an example so anybody named Fred is not to be directly associated with this post. =-)

Fred has 100 units of energy to spend each day of his life. These 100 units can be divided up however he wants to divide them. Fred really likes chocolate. He devotes 10 units of energy to chocolate. Thinking, buying, making and the eating of chocolate takes up 10 units of the 100 units that Fred has each day. The other 90 units are spent on everything else. Fred is disciplined so he only devotes 10 units for chocolate. Never more and never less. For Lent, Fred decides that he will give up chocolate. It will be difficult be he thinks he can do it. Now, he has all 100 units of energy to delegate to whatever he wants. Just because he always gave 10 units for chocolate does not mean that he loses those 10 units when he gives up chocolate. He has 100 units and will always have 100 units to spend. This is the law of the conservation of mass working in his life.

Let’s see if we can put this all together.

I can pursue God however I would like. Reading my Bible, praying, going to church, worshipping, or having coffee with another believer are all ways I can do this. I have the same amount of time that everyone else has. There may be a myriad of ways to spend it but it is there everyday. For Lent, the idea is that I am supposed to give up something. Great! But now what do I do with the extra time I have? Fred has 10 units of energy (that he used to spend on chocolate) that he gets to spend on some other thing. Maybe he will read or write or play a board game.

If I give up something, what will I do in place of that thing?

 

Whatever you are doing this Lenten season, I hope it helps you to draw closer to God. If you need to fast or give something up for these weeks leading to Easter, than do it. Make an effort to find God in a new way. I think Lent is about clearing the clutter and listening for our Lord. Whatever actions that means for you, awesome.

Remember the law of the conservation of mass. You will spend your effort on something so you might as well make it something great.

Colossians 3:17 says “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”