Thoughts on Christ and His Word

Nacho Libre once said "I t sucks to be me right now!" Life wasn't giving him what he wanted, and Nacho was frustrated. In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes about such frustrations in life: "Every time you forget that character is one of God's purposes for your life, you will become frustrated by your circumstances." As Nacho found out, life is not easy. There are many difficult situations and difficult people that come our way. But here is what I need to remember. God has surrounded me with frustrating people and circumstances to stretch my character. For it is in the stretching of my character that I most become dependent on Christ and and His Spirit's power. This produces great glory for Christ since I am becoming more like Him and truly allowing Christ to live through me. This is why Paul wrote: "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I deli...

"Stay here" is a popular command for children. When my kids were little we would often have to tell them to "stay right here, don't move" when we wanted to find them quickly and not have to search all over for them. Jesus tells us, his children, to "stay". He told his disciples: "remain in my love" (John 15:9). To "remain" is to abide, stay put, endure, or continue in his love. In the next verse He told them how: "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love ." Jesus gave many commands - love one another, don't lust after money or women, have faith, be humble, be servants, pray constantly, etc...So if we obey Christ we will remain in His love. To obey Him I also need to know Him and his commands, so prayer and meditation on His words become indispensable. It is interesting that Paul told us that if we walk in the Spirit and don't quench ...

Years ago I used to use a self-image test that revealed if someone were caught in some type of self-image trap - finding our self-worth in something other than God. One trap was called the Approval Trap, where a person finds their worth and value from the opinion of others. If others approve of them, they are happy about themselves. If others disapprove of their actions, they feel worthless. This must have been the trap of many rulers in Israel during the time of Christ. ...even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. John 12:42-43 These "rulers" weren't real God-fearing leaders. Although they were in positions of authority, they cared more about what others said about them than about what God thought of them. Pleasing, serving and loving others is good, as long as God gets the glory in the end. But to not ...

Most people hate tests. They fear that the test will reveal their incompetence. They also don’t like that they have to put in time and discipline to study for the test. God seems to love giving tests to his children. He tested Abraham, David, Paul, and even Jesus Christ. Psalms 11:4-5 says God’s “eyelids test the sons of men. The LORD tests the righteous” But why? Why does God “torture” us with tests? In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren give us the best answer I’ ve read: “God continually tests people’s character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty…character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test.” God tests us every day in small and big ways for our good. He gives us opportunities to grow in our character and love for Him and others. Don’t fear the test – embrace it, for “the Lord test the righteous”, and you are His beloved righteous child. .

What do you boast about? Your new pair of jeans, new shoes, new ring? Sometimes we believe that “things” make us more valuable and so we display them and talk about them and we glory in them. In Psalms 3 David spoke about what (or who) brought him glory: But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head. Psalms 3:3 NKJV David said that God was his “shield” (protector) and his “glory”. What does it mean that God is “my glory”? It means that God brings me glory and the one I boast about. It’s not that I deserve glory; it’s simply that God bestows glory on me because I am associated with him by spiritual birth – I am his child. When I boast about my material possessions (my sports car, or my house, etc…) or my social position, I live an illusion of importance. All these things are fleeting and will disappear in due time. They are an illusion of glory since they are so temporary. But when God is “my glory” (the one I boast about; the one who gives me importan...

How is your Greek Mythology? Do you know who Mentor was? In Greek mythology, Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor in charge of his son Telemachus when Odysseus left for the Trojan War. When he returned from the war he found that his boy had grown up to be a man, thanks to his friend Mentor. We use the word “mentor” today to mean a father-like teacher or a wise and trusted counselor. In the early church we could see this type of relationship between Paul and Timothy. Paul wrote: But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. Philippians 2:22 Pastor Johnny Hunt encourages pastors and Christian leaders to look for men to mentor. He gives two qualifications to look for: “men who are hungry, men who are teachable.” I wonder sometimes as I am praying for our church how many men do we have in our church that are “hungry” and “teachable”. How many men do we have that are hungry for more of God in the...

In the old sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, German Colonel Klink was a very insecure leader. He so lacked confidence in himself and his ability to make right choices, that he often sought after and accepted the advice of his enemy - American Colonel Hogan. Klink distrusted everyone – Sergeant Shultz , the Gestapo, General Bulkarter – except Hogan, which is why we won WW II. But seriously, insecure leaders don’t know how to trust others because they constantly feel inadequate themselves, believing others are out to take away what they have – their position, job, wealth, etc… In his book on leadership, Johnny Hunt writes: A secure leader believes in others…a secure leader only increases in confidence when those around him succeed and become more secure themselves. They derive no pleasure from seeing others going underchallenged or kept under wraps. The secure leader’s desire is to see as many people as possible released for viable and effective ministry. They want for others what they want for...