Don't go against the grain

^9-11"If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up."  Rom 2 (Message Bible).

Seems like I was always the one going against the grain.  The saying is: you can do hard time or easy time but your're going to do time.  Well, I almost always did it the hard way.  Instead of going with the flow of God - asking each step for guidance and then following it - I usually tried it my way first.  I preferred not asking because it was easier to seek forgiveness instead of permission that I thought would be denied anyway.   As a teenager (so many years ago) I thought that what God had for my life was like green beans.  You know, "eat your green beans, they're good for you."  I hated green beans and wouldn't I hate what God thought was "good for me," too?

Now, 60 or so years later I can look back and see that God only brought me good - true good.  So I can look ahead and know that only good is in my future.  I don't have to go against the grain.  I can embrace the way God does things and get the wonderful payoffs: peace, joy, happiness and that full feeling that comes with a very satisfying meal. 

What God do you worship?

Today I'm beginning my Blog from the Book of Romans.  This was written by Paul and it shows what a scholar he was. "They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. ^24-25So God said, in effect,  'If that's what you want, that's what you get.' It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!" (Rom 1:23-25 New Living Translation)

These words seem harsh and they may not mean a literal pigpen but when we don't worship the true God it can seem like our life is filthy.  It comes down to what am I worshiping?  What makes my day bright each day? Is it food? Is it shopping? Is it drugs? Is is alcohol? Is it TV? Or is it communing each day with the God that made me?  King David had an uneasy relationship with God.  Sometimes very good and sometimes he sinned greatly.  But in Ps 139:23 (NLT version) he said: ²³ "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts."  The deal is to be always open to the God that made me and not to invent a fake god - such as food (speaking for myself.)

So what do I do today?  I give the day to God and ask him to lead and guide me with whatever it is I have to do, always making sure that I serve the true God.

Be sure to protect the mind

"Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.^{[d] 16} In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.^{[e] 17} Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph 6:13-17)

Salvation is turning to Christ and accepting that his death on the cross buried all of my sins if I simply accept Christ as my Savior.  Prov 18:10 says, "The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."  When I start to feel discouraged I simply call on the name of Jesus and the discouragement is gone.  When I am fearful I call on Jesus and the fear is gone.  When I feel guilty I turn to Jesus and He reminds me that He paid for the guilt on the Cross.  So I am set free. 

Most of the battles I fight today are in my mind.  The mind is very powerful. Someone once said to me, "If you want to know what you believe, look at your life."  The mind is constantly turning our thoughts into reality so it is important to have my mind covered by the helmet of salvation.  When God rules our mind, all of our true hidden desires are continually being thrust into reality.  I know that God knows better than I do the true desires of my heart. That guy I wanted to marry but it never worked out.  Thank God!!!  That car I thought I wanted but when I got it, what a disappointment.  I still felt the same emptiness.  Only God can satisfy the emptiness inside.

This is the last chapter of Ephesians and what a teacher it is.  Paul sitting in prison talking about the faithfulness of God.  May God show you God's faithfulness today!!!

Extravagant Love to imitate!

^1-2"Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." (Eph 5:1&2 - Message Bible)  Just as children copy their parents, we can copy the love that God has for us and show it to others. 

I was at a very low period in my life.  I had just been terminated from a 15 year very successful job.  I was making the most money I had ever made in my life and living in a penthouse-like condo by the water with a view of the City.  I thought I had made it forever.  I had a year to adjust my standard of living but I just couldn't seem to do it.  After 10 months I was stuck in my material stuff.  How could I give it all up?  What would happen to me?  Then it seemed like I heard God say to me: "Have I ever let you down?"  I had to cry out, "No Lord, you have never let me down, ever!"  The answer came back, "Then why would I start now?" 

Almost 10 years later I can say that even though I struggled through disbelief at times, the way was really smooth before me.  God's love surrounded me and kept me first in the desert of Palm Springs and then with my family in a little town in South Central Pennsylvania called Shippensburg.  So now I must pour out this extravagant love to others who need to hear God's word: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Heb 13:5)  In this scripture the writer is saying, "Don't depend upon material things.  I will take care of you."  I can attest to the truth of this.  He never left me, not once, and always took care of me.

You can have this same assurance in your life.  Rest in the extravagant love of God!

A Divine Business on Earth

"He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ." (Eph 4:11&12 The Message Bible)  Obviously, the apostle is the CEO of the church.  The prophet is in charge of Strategic Planning.  The evangelist is Director of Sales and the pastor-teacher is the Supervisor.  This model of Church Operation shows that God understands how a successful business needs to operate.  But the model also applies to our individual lives.

As we organize our lives so as to be successful and fruitful, we have to emulate these offices every day.  Our apostle is Jesus Christ showing us which choice to make because He has an overview of our life and knows what way is best.  So each day I closet with God and get in tune with His will for my life.

The prophet helps me to look ahead and either avoid pitfalls or turn into green pastures.  The evangelist helps me to show the way to others so that my life is fruitful for the Lord.  The pastor-teacher leads me in the path of righteousness and teaches me through scripture and through my church's teaching what I need to know.

How could I ever have thought I could live my life all by myself and make all my decisions without any help from God?  There was a time when I tried to ignore that I needed to connect with God each day so as to put myself (or keep myself) on the right track.  Now that I am older and wiser hopefully I have learned better.  God keep me in your way and on your path so that my life will be successful and fruitful.

God can do anything!

^20-21"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."  This is from Ephesians 3 in the Message Bible and it comes near the end of a chapter where while sitting in jail, Paul is explaining about the wonderous riches of God that we have when we allow Christ to live in and through us.

As I sit here this morning I look at my life and I can truly say that God can do anything.  Maybe not on my time table but on God's.  This morning I have to hurry to eat breakfast and get dressed because this is my Silver Sneakers morning and I have to be there by 9:30 a.m.  Now I can't say that I love exercising but it is something I know I have to do in order to keep the blood and oxygen in my body flowing at a good clip.  The same is true about my morning time with the Lord. It is needed because I need to connect each day to the power source that runs my life.  Just as the blood and oxygen keep my body moving, the power of God flowing through my life keeps me on track to fulfill His love.

So as I live this day I know that God is working in me and through me to reach out and place me where I need to be and what I need to do.  This includes, for me, going to Silver Sneakers even though this is not what I thought was part of my "wildest dreams."

To eat or not to eat, that is the question.

²²"Your personal convictions [on such matters]--exercise [them] as in God's presence, keeping them to yourself [striving only to know the truth and obey His will]. Blessed (happy, ^[a]to be envied) is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves [who does not convict himself by what he chooses to do].
    ^23"But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats [perhaps because of you], stands condemned [before God], because he is not true to his convictions and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful]. " This is from the 14th chapter of Romans and it is talking about your convictions concerning food.

How often do you eat something and then say to yourself, "I'm being bad!"  We all have convictions concerning food but how often do we tie them to our life through Christ and ask Him to reveal to us the choice we should make concerning food?  My body might need something different from what your body needs.  So I should work my own program (as we say in Overeaters Anonymous) and let you work your own.  So I need to look to Christ and seek His help as I choose what I eat each meal and then thank Him for my daily meals.  I know that for some of  you, this seems like nonsense.  You think,  "I'll eat what I want and never give it another thought."  But for those of us who labor over each meal (and sometimes even all day long) over what to eat or what not to eat, this is a continuous problem.

The above scripture says, "whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful."  Wow, kind of harsh but it is true.  If we are living in and through Christ in our lives we know what food that we eat is "approved by God" and we know what is not.  But I don't know what food God approves for you.  What you eat is between God and you.  What I eat is a personal conviction between God and me.

When you lose weight people always ask, what diet did you use?  They want to use the same one so they can lose weight.  How many magazines have you bought because the cover contained the promise of a great new diet?  Eating prayerfully asking God to confirm your food convictions is not about a diet.  It is about acting on your God given convictions through faith.

The 14th Chapter of Romans is all about how the Church in Rome got caught up in a food fight.  Did you have to observe the Jewish dietary laws in order to be a Christian?  Paul spells out very clearly that what you eat is between God and you.  He clearly condemns judging.  Let's use these words to speak to us today, especially to those of us who have a need to judge what we (or anyone else) eats or does not eat.  It is a personal conviction between God and each of us!!!