A Friend

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.  But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

How great it is to have a friend.  Someone who is there.  The best friend is the one who doesn't always agree with us and is willing to call to us when we are going in the wrong direction.  Unfortunately, most people consider that person a non-friend as they view such support as judgment or non-support.  I know people who claim the verse from Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."  Yet when you confront them about something in their life that is wrong and they disagree with you they then stop communicating with you.  I think that people, in general, want a friend to agree with them and not to hold them accountable for their actions or behavior as it relates to God.  But what kind of fair-weather friend is that?  How does that build up or make sharper?

When I read these verses I immediately think of my wife (especially the keeping warm part) and I would hope that every spouse would also think first of theirs.  Together we have a better return for our work.  Together we can pick one another up when we are down.  Together we can stay warmer.  And together we can defend ourselves.  Marriage is a together work, not a one working with another one working and they just happen to live together.  These verses describe the benefits of being together.

Again, how great it is to have a friend.  Someone you know you can call anytime with a real need and never have to worry about them providing the support to pull you out of the need.  You know and do not doubt that they will be there for you, even if you haven't seen or talked to them in a while.  You trust them.  But how many of us Christians do not have that same regard for the living Christ?  Jesus said that He is closer than a brother.  Jesus called us friends.  Do we know and have confidence in Him?  Do we know that with Him we will have the best return for our labor?  Do we know that He will always pick us up when we fall?  Do we not know that He will always dwell in our heart and keep our spirit warm?  Do we not trust that He will defend us?  Walk with your Master today and let Him walk with you.  How great it is to have Him as a friend!

Apr 25

Ecclesiastes 4: ⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: ¹⁰ If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.  But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. ¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? (NIV)

I noticed many years ago that I work much better & faster when I have help.  When I work alone, my mind wanders and I have little reason to bring it back into focus.  So, I work at an overall slow pace with short bursts of productivity separated by lulls in activity as I daydream.  When I have help however, I want to make maximum use of my counterparts time and therefore stay focused.  In reality its a synergistic effect wherein one plus one is more than two. 
My walk with Christ is no different.  When around other Christians and I'm expected to behave as one, I pay attention to my walk: actions, words, deeds, attitudes, and Christian disciplines of prayer, study, worship, etc.  When separate from other Christians, my true character and moral compass come into view.  It is at these times, when I don't have immediate and obvious accountability from others that my true nature can come out and be exposed. 
This exposes my need for an accountability partner.  Besides the obvious advantage of having someone who daily lifts me up in prayer and is always there to support in times of any kind of trial or simply celebrate in times of joy, I need someone who helps me grow.  Someone who expects to see these posts daily and "bugs" me when he sees my walk slipping.  I was blessed as a child growing up to have parents that filled this role (and my Mom still does so well!).  Later, God has placed a very key individual in my life who has continued to challenge me to grow. 
I've learned, however, that good, true accountability needs to go much deeper.  I need to be willing to expose my vulnerabilities - those areas where I know I'm susceptible to temptation and where my partner needs to both pray and probe to ensure I'm not falling into sin.  This has proven difficult in my life.  I've been willing to have accountability partners that hold me accountable for Christian discipline, but I've not been as willing to blatantly expose my known vulnerabilities.  First, I don't want to admit them, but second I think I secretly want to hold onto them as if they were some sort of source of temporary fulfillment. 
I know deep in my heart that Christ is challenging me to overcome several issues with which I struggle.  I pray about them, turn them over to Him, but then at weak moments pick them back up.  Accountability is only as good as the honesty put into it.  When I'm unwilling to be honest with my accountability partner, he cannot know how to pray, support, or probe.  In the end, I'm the loser.  I'm the one remaining shackled in sin, and its my fault. 
How about you?  How is your walk when away from Church or Youth Group?  Is Christ your source of fulfillment and contentment or do you seek worldly satisfaction?  Do you have an effective accountability partner?  If so, are you willing to be transparent and honest about those things that trouble you the most or are you content to simply be superficial?  Superficial accountability has cost me and my closest friends dearly.  Don't waste your time!  Go deep or go home!

Serve As Unto the Lord

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.  Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.  Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.  And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him. - Ephesians 6:5-9

The term "slave" is such a terrible term in today's world.  Yet Paul calls himself a "slave [bondservant] to Jesus Christ" in Philippians.  Being a slave to anyone or anything other than Jesus is a terrible thing, yet we all are even if we don't admit to it.  However, in these verses the term is used and since we are not very familiar with the concept in our society in its real form except through history books, praise be to God, our best ability to relate to it is to relate this to our work.  That is, the work we choose to do in what we are able to do and that we hopefully enjoy doing.  All of which is very unrelated to a "slave".

Even so, in our "work" we are to serve with pure hearts doing our very best for the betterment of the place where we work.  We do not do this for the people there but for the God the lives within us.  By serving Him with our best work we serve others.  This concept is so hard to teach except by example.  For some people I just feel cause to wonder if they are even able to grasp it.  Yesterday I had a conversation on this very topic discussing how hard it is to find people who will willingly work hard from their own desires to do so.  Yet, I find myself lacking in this area at times.  I have worked very hard for many years and there are times when I feel it is someone else's turn.  But as I look at these verses I do not see an exception clause for previous services rendered. 

We do not "work as unto the Lord" for extra rewards for ourselves from our extra work but because we know that the Lord will reward each person for how they have worked diligently as unto Him.  Too often, we are willing to do that extra bit of service but only if we are getting compensated for it.  This is a worldly view and too often it carries into all of our relationships.  We forget the abounding grace and mercy we have received and put ourselves in a position of only showing grace and mercy to the other person IF we are going to get something.  And if we don't then we are mad about it.  We did that extra thing and they didn't notice or they don't care so we're never doing that again.  ...  Really?  Did you just do that Mr/Mrs Baby Christian?  ...  "Work as unto the Lord" KNOWING He "will reward each one".  I imagine that His reward is substantially more suited for you and beyond your expectations than anything any person could provide.

And once we've been a worker for many years we find that we are then the masters, or managers, bosses, supervisors, etc.  The word here is that as such we are to treat those we are in charge of "the same way."  That is, reward each one for the good that they do, and work for them as if you were serving the Lord.  The Scripture goes further with masters as it specifically instructs to not threaten them.  Do not rule with an iron fist looking to crush whomever you can.  Do not create circumstances where the workers feel as though they might lose their job at any instance.  This is a commonplace threat method in today's world.  Look at the workers as your greatest resource and do your best to make them the most productive people they can become and in so doing you are serving them, but really you are serving the Lord.

Apr 23

Ephesians 6: ⁷ Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, ⁸ because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. (NIV)

These passages in Ephesians are some of my favorite in all of scripture.  Chapter 5 tells us to be imitators of God and to avoid sexual immorality and all other kinds of sin.  It also defines how spouses are to treat each other: husbands are to love their wives like Christ loves the church and wives are to submit to their husbands.  There must be hundreds of books written about this chapter alone as people grapple with just exactly what this means and how to do it. 
Often we overly complicate rather simple things in scripture and miss the true message.  Truly learning how to agape, phileo, and eros my wife is a life-long task that I am a very long way from mastering.  Submitting in every sense of the word is an anathema (look it up!) to almost every wife I've ever met, yet scripture isn't vague here.  It is clear that husbands are to love and wives are to submit.  The thing I like most about this section of scripture isn't that I find it easy, but that scripture gives me the how.  In order for me to love Reja like Christ loves the church, I must put on the full armor of God daily. 
I confess that I've been lazy for most of my life about the command to daily put on the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the "shoes" of gospel message that provides us with readiness (for what?), the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation (daily! - another interesting command to contemplate...), and finally our only offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit - scripture.  It goes on to urge us to pray daily.  So why does scripture go from commanding the impossible (love and submission) to arming us for battle?  Because at least for this 1 person out of about 6 billion currently living, I struggle.  I battle.  I'm at war with my sin nature and when I don't take time each day to arm myself, I fail miserably.  When I fail, Satan wins.  He takes over my witness, my relationships, my service, and my kingdom effectiveness. 
So, this is why I write these every day.  I don't do this because I know you need it.  You do, but that's not my primary reason for writing.  I write these because for years I've been lazy about DAILY putting on my armor.  Therefore my relationship with my wife isn't what it should be and its my fault.  My relationships with others aren't what they should be and its my fault.  My witness to and about Christ isn't what it should be and its my fault.  My, well you get the picture.  Scripture doesn't give us the opportunity to blame others for our sins.  They are our fault.  Yet scripture does provide us with the key to overcoming sin.  It begins with suiting up for battle, but doesn't end there.  Once suited for battle we are to be in constant prayer.  
How is your battle going?  Have you suited up today or are you accepting less than what God intended for you by being lazy?  Carpe Diem!  Seize today not with your own skills and talents, but with the full armor of God.  THEN we are prepared to SERVE wholeheartedly.   

Time, Time, Time

According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.   And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words. - 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

It seems that the congregation there at Thessalonica had some questions about those that had died before them.  Paul writes this to assure them that the grave is not the end for the Christian and he proceeds to prophesy about how Jesus will return.  His main point, which we should always take great care to acknowledge and remember, is that we will all be with Jesus together one day.  The dead are not left to the grave and we are not left in this life.  All of us are with Him.

"Time, time, time, see what becomes of me" sings The Bangles in the late 80's tune Hazy Shade of Winter (although someone old like Russ will say that Simon and Garfunkel sang it).  Time is really confusing for most people although it is apparently very simple and steady in how we exist in it physically.  I don't think about it much but I do get lost in it occasionally (they just keep coming!).  None of this has anything to do with these verses except there is an element of time in it.  The description purposely  indicates that the dead will rise first and then those alive will rise and all will be together "to meet the Lord".

I comprehend this as follows.  Time is irrelevant to God.  He is in the past, present, and future at the same time.  We see life one day, minute, and second at "a time".  Each moment is separate.  God is in all moments at the "same time".  (It's kind of like the old slide show projectors, we see a slide at a time while God sees all the slides all at once.)  If we grasp that then we can understand that to God all people die at the same time.  And so "that to [Jesus] every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess" (Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11) and give account of ourselves to God at the same "time".   If you dwell on this concept it can be confounding, but at the same "time" if you consider it in light of many of the promises of God it makes a lot of sense.  God knew us before we were born (Jeremiah 1:5).  He goes before us (Isaiah 45:2).  He is with us (Matthew 28:20).  (Past, future, present)

We can get confused and bent on how to comprehend time, but it really doesn't matter much in light of these words.  "And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words."  In fact, does any topic really matter much by comparison?  What a glorious thing to comprehend!  We ... Will ... Be ... With ... The ... LORD ... Forever!  Not maybe, not could be, not might be, not wannabe, but WILL BE.  Praise God that He took mercy on me!  (Be encouraged :) !)

Apr 22

1 Thessalonians 4: ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. (NIV)

I'm always amazed at how my mood tracks with the weather.  Easter weekend was cloudy, windy, and gloomy and so was I.  I had no reason to be so, except the weather just made me feel that way for some reason.  In fact, I had every reason to feel differently.  Kerianne was home and the church services leading up to Easter were superb.  Yet, I was in a gloomy mood all weekend.  I really didn't realize how gloomy until the drive to work on Monday.  The cloudless sky, moderate temperature, and light wind combined to make a perfect weather day and I arrive at work feeling energized and optimistic. 

Often I see Christians lead gloomy lives.  It seems that rather than focusing on the ultimate victory in Jesus, we get overwhelmed by the clouds of this day, the uncertainty of our future here on earth, or the issues we can't control.  Often our focus is on us and our problems rather than Christ and His victory.  We are discouraged and lead discouraging lives.  We bring others down with us into our cesspool of self pity and depression. 

I challenge you today to focus on Christ, not on today's issues or circumstances.  Don't let today's issues drive your response.  Be kingdom minded.  Focus on the victory Christ has already won.  Be encouraged and be an encourager.  Not because of what you've done in the world, but because of what He has done in you! 

He Sends Us

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.  And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. - Mark 16:19-20

God sent His Son and so His Son sends us.  We are the carriers of His grace and His mercy.  We demonstrate His love.  If not us, how will the world know?  I find that I have been much too quiet (although that is my nature) about the truths of God.  Worse still, I have been much too flippant with the knowledge of God.  This wisdom is "pearls" of truth (Matt 7:6)!  Not marbles to be played! 

Can there be a more defined purpose than to believe with your whole heart and soul in the living presence of God?  Then to simply live completely in that believe?  Then to tell others about how you live in that belief?  ...  It is the first two sentences that cause most everyone to stumble.  They might want to believe but can't quite get there or they might actually believe but can't live it.  How can someone who doesn't know tell others?  How can someone who can't live it tell others without being a hypocrite?  ...  An overflowing love will spill onto everyone around you.  When you are so very grateful for God's grace and mercy, for your very life, you will give it everywhere you can.

The stone that was rolled away at Jesus' tomb was not rolled away by the angel who sat upon it so Jesus could get out.  It was rolled away so that we could enter into His resurrection.  His resurrection is God's grace and mercy applied to us because of who He is as Love.  Close your eyes and enter into the tomb and see the linens there with no body, see a resurrected Christ.  Enter into the tomb and be willing to die to all that you are, hold nothing dear, be willing to go to heaven right now.  Is there even a spot of unbelief?  Does anything hold you back?  We cannot hold onto this world and have a belief with our whole heart.  And if we don't believe with our whole heart, how can we tell others?

Apr 21

Mark 16: ¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]. Amen (so be it). (AMP)

 

As I re-read the message of Easter this year, I was struck by how many opportunities there might have been to save Jesus from the cross.  If Pontius Pilate had just listened to and acted on his own internal voice of reason or even his wife's encouragement, He might have been saved from a terrible death.  Yet He came to die.  It was God's plan all along.  Jesus couldn't finish His work on Earth without experiencing a cruel death.  After all, the sins of the entire world were placed upon him, those sins must die or we have no hope of a relationship with God.  Jesus knew this all along and had been dropping hints to His disciples for quite some time.  The good news is that in dying, he crushed sin.  In rising he demonstrated his command over life giving us hope.  I maintain without rising, there is no hope at all in the world.  There is no hope for a good fishing season, no hope for a good hair day, no hope that I have on two matching socks.  There is simply no hope at all without the resurrection. 

Finally, our hope is made complete in the ascension.  Jesus made it plain to the disciples that He had to leave (John 16:7).  Without his departure, they couldn't have someone better: the Holy Spirit.  Why is God's Holy Spirit better than Jesus?  First, recall that God is triune and they are all the same, but the benefits to us are different.  Jesus lived with and ministered to the disciples.  As long as he was around, he could point them in the right direction.  When God sent His spirit, it indwelled the apostles.  They never lived another second of their life apart from God! 

We have an almost morbid fascination with life in this world.  Jesus had the advantage of knowing that life didn't end in physical death, but that in the end, He would be in Heaven seated at the right hand of God.  We have an opportunity to share in His victory.  All we must do is accept his offer of grace.  Our acceptance, however, comes with a price - we must surrender our attachment to everything we know to be true and latch on to the hope of what faith tells us to be true.  Life is not all about living to the fullest we can imagine in this world.  It is about living in His will such that we live life in eternity to the fullest He can imagine.  Given the choice between life as good as I can make it, and eternal life as good as God can make it, I pick God! 

Unequally Yoked

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.  How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?  What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil?  How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?  And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols?  For we are the temple of the living God.  - 2 Corinthians 6:14-16

This concept can be difficult to discern where the line is regarding interaction with unbelievers.  I think this is a very clear direction regarding marriage.  Don't team with, be a partner with, or live with an unbeliever.  Pretty much impossible to be married and not be one of those.  The NKJV says "do not be unequally yoked" and asks "what fellowship" or "what communion" does right have with wrong or light have with darkness.  How can you be married and not be pulling the same weight together or have no fellowship or communion? 

I don't want to chase a rabbit here at Easter time, but where in your marriage are you "unequally yoked"?  In what areas do you lack fellowship or communion?  Can you look at these areas and determine why?  Is there a difference of right and wrong per the Biblical standard or of light and darkness?  Since there shouldn't be such an area among two married believers, this is an important introspective look that needs to be discussed.

The trouble with a partnership with an unbeliever is the foundation or root of the goals, purpose, and methodology simply will and can never be the same.  I remember having difficulty with this concept when teaming with an unbeliever "friend" to coach football.  I ultimately did it and viewed it as ministry outreach since it was temporary and non-threatening to our beliefs.  However, even in the simplicity of that there were moments when we disagreed over things that he simply didn't "see".  For example, he brought music out to play before games to try to charge the kids up.  The first time he brought it I was in game prep mode and wasn't paying much attention to it until I caught a bad word from a song.  Then I started listening and realized he had inappropriate songs for 11-12 year olds to be listening.  I had to tell him to stop bringing music or to change the songs and he obliged and changed the songs.  But he could have just as easily created a big conflict over it by refusing to since he didn't know why it was a problem.  What could I have done then but stop coaching and remove my son from the team?  Very awkward position to be in caused only because a believer was teamed with an unbeliever.

An unbeliever simply doesn't have the knowledge to know something might be inappropriate or they purposely don't care if it is inappropriate.  How can a believer be teamed with that IF the believer is truly following Christ?  That "if" is a crucial one.  I think too many an unbeliever is around too many Christians who aren't following Christ so they don't see a difference, especially when the Christian won't stand up for what the unbeliever even knows is sketchy.  I'm not sure there is a more damaging thing to the gospel of Christ than a lukewarm, not fully believing Christian or a Christian who refuses to address sins but accepts them rather than cause a conflict with another person.  If you are a Christian, you already cause conflict with other people.  The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can be useful.

Ultimately, I think this is the larger problem with every occurrence of a believer being teamed or partnering with an unbeliever.  By this, I mean the believer who isn't purposefully following Christ actively.  This is also an area where we should hold one another accountable.  When we see in a friend where there is an idol or something that doesn't show Christ we should approach him and ask about it.  There should not exist both light and dark inside of us or we are not a team inside of ourselves.  It is important to be accountable to one another and to be willing to confront someone and be willing to be confronted regarding our heart and its commitment to following Jesus.

Apr 17

Hebrews 4: ¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,^[a] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (NIV)

As I look forward to celebrating Easter, I'm mindful that the most important work Christ did was to take my sin upon himself and in dying provided me an opportunity to boldly approach God.  Prior to His work on the cross, no one could approach God.  Sure, God approached Moses on Mount Sinai, but to my knowledge, not since Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden had man been able to approach God.  To me, this is a big deal.  Recall that this freedom was symbolized when curtain separating the Holy of Holies in the Temple was torn immediately upon Christ's death providing clear evidence that God accepted this as adequate atonement for the sins of mankind.  

How awesome is it that we serve a God who became flesh like us, lived with us, suffered the same frustrations, disappointments, denial, and temptations that we face and yet in spite of his perfection took our sins upon Himself then crushed them with His own sacrifice.   We do our ourselves and Him a great disservice when we fail to take advantage of the access He has provided.  Rather than seek Him first, we often seek Him last, throwing up what I like to call that 9-1-1 prayer that starts out with "Oh God!"  Perhaps we don't want to bother a "busy" God, or we don't think He needs to concern Himself with our little issues.  I strongly believe, however, that God wants to prove His faithfulness to us to increase our faith in Him through these little things so that when the big storms of life come, We can remain faithful and avoid sin, further complicating the situation.  By abiding in Him constantly, our life becomes a testimony not of our own accomplishments, but of what God does through His faithful, thus bringing Him glory and increasing His kingdom. 

As you approach Easter, are you availing yourself to God daily?  How about constantly?  Are you sitting at the throne of God or are you worshipping at another alter?  God is always available to us.  This in and of itself is miraculous.  There is nothing we can do on our own to approach a Holy God.  Yet through His own sacrifice, He has provided a way to do so, not annually as in days of old, but all the time.  May we not just be intellectually aware of this, but take advantage of it and live in His presence.

Persecution

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. - 2 Timothy 3:12-15

I, being a Christian attempting to live a godly life, will be persecuted.  It doesn't say might be or could be, it says will be.  Why then am I appalled when I see the news where there is another societal event where a Christian is persecuted while another religion is not?  Why am I befuddled when I read where an obvious wrong belief system that will lead to hurting others and manipulation is encouraged while the Christian belief system is condemned?  This Scripture plainly says we will be persecuted.

Do I really understand what that means?  Someone will dislike me or even hate me and actively do something to cause disruption, pain, oppression, or confusion directly towards me.  Not because I'm a man or a woman; not because I'm white, black, yellow, or red; not because I live in the South or anywhere else; not because I'm American or any other nationality; but only because I am trying to live "a godly life in Christ Jesus".  (My experience is that this persecution will not come from some obvious person whom you know hates you or is opposed to you.  It will come from someone who will fool you into thinking they are a good person and are your friend.)

It also says the evildoers will get worse.  So, no matter how appalled or befuddled I am now I need to prepare for even more than I want to envision.  But, I am to be encouraged and to continue in what I have learned and believe.  This is absolutely the critical statement in this text.  Do not be overcome by the evil that persecutes you and its worsening.  "Continue in what you have learned".  Do not stop.  Know that what you believe in is real and will not fade.  Know that the evil is temporary and does not lead to life.  Though the whole world opposed Jesus, He followed His Father and fulfilled His will.

As a Christian having chosen to believe through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you are wise.  Believing in Christ is wisdom.  Trust it.  Know that your belief is real and all that the evildoers say and do to change your mind, cause doubt, or to persecute you will not change your choice.  Even when you are pushed to the end of yourself and you cannot see a single logical reason to choose or not choose Jesus Christ, choose to believe knowing that this is life and apart from Him there is nothing.  We do not love Jesus so we will have a better life.  We love Jesus because He first loved us.  We love Him because He is.

Apr 16

2 Timothy 3:¹⁴ But as for you, continue to hold to the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you learned [them], (AMP)

 

Often I feel like the whole world is against me.  I can't seem to do anything but argue with Reja.  I can't carry on a conversation about school and work with my kids.  Things at work are hectic, I can't get everything done, and no one seems happy with me at all.  Now is one of those times.  I guess I'm getting older and perhaps disappointing people on a more frequent basis as I can begin to recall similar occasions in the not-to-distant past.  In addition to the physical and emotional exhaustion that accompanied these times, I also recall the emergence from some of them.  Often it came with words of encouragement from the very people I thought were the most disappointed.  Often these words were thanks for what had been done, yet I saw so much more that wasn't getting done. 

Perhaps others don't see those things that aren't getting done and instead are simply appreciative of what was done, I'm really not sure.  What I do know is that I am my harshest critic.  I set expectations that are sometimes unreasonable and aren't being set by others for me.  I also tend to receive assignments and immediately begin to feel like I've got to do it myself, forgetting that I've got hundreds of coworkers at least some of whom need to be actively engaged in this tasking.  I've finally learned that failure to get them involved sends a much more negative message than "overloading" them (many of them complain regardless!).  So, with many, I've got to pick my poison and choose to consciously get them involved in spite of the fact I know that they will complain and/or give me products that aren't what I would produce or aren't done the way I would do it.  I'm finding this "letting go" difficult, but necessary in my relationship with my kids, especially Ryan, with my coworkers, and with the people in my church.  The worse option I've finally learned is to do things myself and deny others their "blessing" of learning, contributing, and feeling valued.  By doing it myself, I'm not properly loving others. 

Additionally, I've had trouble my whole career balancing priorities.  I give lip service to God, wife, kids, myself before work, etc, but I'm afraid my "lifesong" sings to my work.  Currently, it is consuming my physical, mental, and emotional energy.  Just yesterday, however, I stood up for what I know to be a high priority for my family.  I've had a long-term tasking to get a briefing up to several key leaders and they set a date for 12-13 May.  I responded to my leadership that I wouldn't be able to support that week.  Although I don't currently really have plans, this is the first week both kids will be out of school and if we're going to take a vacation, this is the most logical time to do so.  I don't see a scriptural reference to vacations, but God was very strict about a "Sabbath."  I don't dislike my job at all, but I can tell it's time for a "Sabbath." I need a break and so does my family. 

"...continue to hold to the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you learned [them],"  I know that in the end, very little of what is currently stressing me out has any eternal value.  It is here today, causes me great distress and distraction, but will be gone tomorrow.  The same with people's opinions.  My God, my family, and my closest friendships, however remain.  To these I must remain faithful.