Food For Thought Fridays

Last Saturday afternoon, we decided to play a little baseball in the backyard. Caleb and Isaiah were taking turns swinging at pitches until it was too dark to see.

Caleb was up to bat and Amanda tossed a nice underhand pitch right across the plate. Caleb took a huge Babe Ruth cut at the ball and made contact. The ball went up high in the air and Caleb's eyes followed the ball until it landed.

Right BEHIND him.

He turned around and instead of being disappointed, he shouted, "HOME RUN! HOME RUN!"

In the eyes of a lesser baseball enthusiast, his home run would have been called a foul ball.

Romans 8: 35-39 says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Sometimes we let life, the trouble, the hardship, the persecution, the bills, our health, our job, our family, our kids, . . . basically we allow all of the foul balls in our lives to interfere with our trust and dependence on Jesus.

We have to remember that no foul ball will keep us from shouting that we have the HOME RUN love of Jesus Christ and we are more than conquerors because His love hit a HOME RUN for us.

Keep swinging.

Food For Thought Fridays

Yesterday was a busy day for Amanda and the Langley family. Caleb and Isaiah had appointments with the allergist in Fayetteville. They are allergic to a ton of stuff. Amanda had to go to the store and by casings for the mattresses and pillows. All of the linens had to be washed in HOT water. The casings had to be put on the beds. The floors had to be vacuumed and mopped. And last but not least, Caleb and Isaiah needed to go to Vacation Bible School.

Amanda had to do all this on her own because I was working 9 to 6.

When I got home around 6:30, the boys were still there. Amanda had given them a choice to go to VBS or spend some time with Daddy.

The boys chose Daddy time over friends, food, fun (even though I am quite the life of the party).

In Luke 6:12 it reads, "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God."

Jesus' life was pretty chaotic and hectic. Pharisees, healing the sick, raising the dead, bringing the Kingdom of God. A little more complicated than filling prescriptions and mopping floors.

But in all the chaos, He never forgot to choose Daddy time.

He desired it, He needed, He lived for it, He depended on it.

Can we say the same?

Blessings

Food For Thought Fridays

WARNING: This may be a bit heavy.

Just thinking about this.

Romans 1:24-25 says, "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."

In these verses, whether they like it or not, everybody is worshiping.

We will worship something or someone because you and I are worshipers. It is what we do. We can't help it. We can't stop it.

Every day, there is a battle for our worship.

Money, entertainment, food, alcohol, sports, sex, popularity, the list goes on and on. . .

We call them addictions, but really it is a worship problem. We have chosen to run to these other things to meet our needs and desires rather than the Creator who is blessed forever and ever.

We may not be able to stop worshiping, but we can choose to make our worship count for today and for eternity.

Shalom.

Food For Thought Fridays

Ephesians 6: 12-17 says, "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

This is a very familiar passage. Unfortunately, many Believers don't practice the directive.

We take way too lightly our enemy and worse, our God. If we didn't, we would value His Word more.

If you look at the armor, it is not just the sword that deals with the Word.

The whole armor is based on the Word and the Word become flesh.

You learn truth through the Word.
You build righteousness through the Word.
You grow faith through the Word.
You understand the gospel through the Word.
You experience salvation through the Word.

Luther said, "Satan hates goose quills!"

I believe it because the Word has definitely done much damage to his kingdom.

But, if you don't know the Word, Satan will do much damage to you.

Stand.

Food For Thought Fridays

When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:25

If you are reluctant to forgive others, you are out of sync with God's character. And if you are out of sync with God's character your prayers are not going to be consistent with God's purposes for your life and this world.

Here is where my focus gets a little foggy.

When I am in a tough relationship with someone, sometimes I think Satan's warfare against me focuses on my relationship with the person.

But that really is a secondary problem. If he can cause bitterness or resentment in our hearts (no matter who is right), Satan hinders our relationship with God. This is what he is after.

Satan's desire is to destroy our relationship with God, regardless of the collateral damage.

Don't let Satan win, live a life of forgiveness.

Food For Thought Fridays

Sometimes believers let what has been perverted by culture or other religions keep us from examining important and insightful things in the Bible.

For example, we don't talk about the Virgin Mary very much (except Christmas) because Catholicism has placed so much emphasis on her life. Even though she was a great example of faith.

We don't talk a lot about works because we don't want people to get the idea that we are saved by works thanks to many other religions. Even though our works show our faith.

And we don't talk about the law of God because we don't want to be involved with legalism.

I ran across a curious passage in Proverbs.

Proverbs 22: 28 says, "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers."

We shouldn't shy away from anything in scripture, but, especially the law of God.

The law of God is a mirror for us to see our sin. It is a restrainer to help guide us. It is a schoolmaster leading us to salvation.

The law of God is an ancient boundary stone that we would like to move sometimes, but nothing can humble us like looking into the holy character of God through the law.

Remember, Proverbs 19:7 says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."

Nothing will bring us to our knees before God like seeing who we are before a HOLY HOLY HOLY God.

Don't move the stones.

Food For Thought Fridays (On Sunday)

Jamaican Sunset, originally uploaded by DocUNC.

We just got back from vacation and I did not have access to a computer on Friday, so here is a little snack to munch on.

As he looked at the beauty of God's creation, St. Augustine once said, "If these are the pleasures afforded to sinful men, what does God have in store for those whose hearts are His?"

How much do you get caught up in the worries and hurries of life and walk right by the blessings God lays in front of you today?

And if God does bless us now in some way, how great will it be when He comes and we see Him?

What does He have in store for us?

Shalom.

Food For Thought Fridays

I read a statistic the other day that is pretty scary.

50% of Christian men read the word one time or LESS (A BIG FAT ZERO) during the week. These aren't just men who say they are Christians. These are men considered to be the pillars of the congregation.

That is a sad statement. No wonder the church is viewed as wishy washy.

We are a bunch of starving people. We are so malnourished we can't stand up to fight.

John Calvin once said we should reverence the scriptures as we revere God.

I understand what Calvin is saying, but I think we say the Bible is Holy and inspired by God, then put it on the top shelf and never open the Word.

We revere it, we just don't read it.

Thats why we sway with every windy fad and smooth talk that comes by.

2 Timothy 3: 16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

If you want to be equipped, trained, repaired and taught; read the Word.

Shalom

Food For Thought Fridays

Psalms 1:1-2 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord and on it he meditates day and night."

This has been my memory verse. One thing that strikes me in this passage is that the blessed man will go to the Word out of delight NOT just duty. How many times do we read the Word thinking, "I just have to get 1 chapter or ten minutes in"

Also, I believe that the less time you spend in the truth of the Word, the more likely you will find yourself in the counsel of the wicked, in the way of sinners, and in the seat of scoffers.

I encourage you to continue to passionately seek the Lord through His Word. If you are not passionate about His Word, ask God why.

But I do know, as we seek Him, we can live lives that show Him the glory He alone deserves.

Food For Thought Fridays

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your cares upon Him; for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

Peter starts out this letter calling the recipients "strangers."

What if we lived as strangers in this world? What if we thought more about things from above than what kind of TV to buy? Why do we spend more time figuring out how to be comfortable than we do about how to serve God?

We pride ourselves on junk that doesn't even matter. "Look what I have done." "Look at me." We will not say it out loud, but what about when it's dark and you are alone? How much do we let the things of this world define who we are?

The roaring lion of pride in our accomplishments and stuff is seeking to devour us.

Give it up. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (v 5).

All we have, all we are, all we will be is Him. We have to keep this in the front of our minds.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your cares upon Him; for He cares for you.

Food For Thought Fridays

Are you anorexic or bulimic?

Spiritually that is.

Anorexia is a disease that causes people to refuse food in a desire to be beautiful and thin. Many Christians refuse the bread of life every day, yet expect God to do amazing things in their lives. How can it be?

Bulimia is a disease that causes people to binge on tons of food, then vomit to remove the impact of the food consumed. Many Christians binge on the buffet of God and can tell you everything about church, music, and His Word, but they don't apply any of it to their lives. They might as well vomit on the doorsteps of the church as soon as services are over. It is gross, but it is true.

I pray that you are neither and that you are like Ezra.

Ezra 7: 10 says, "For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel."

Ezra set his heart on the Word. He made a steadfast decision that he would not be anorexic.

Ezra set his heart to do the Word. He made a steadfast decision that he would not be bulimic.

Stay strong and be blessed.

Food For Thought Fridays

I was thinking of something for today and thought this might be appropriate.

Psalm 51: 1-12 says,

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

This is a Psalm by David after he had sinned against God with Bathsheeba, but it is suitable for us today.

During Easter, we need to remember, that God took action and why He did so.

Psalm 51: 7 says, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

One thing I notice as a theme through the chapter is who is doing the action (wash me, purge me, create in me, restore me, deliver me). David is not saying I will wash, I have purged, I created, etc. David is asking God to take action.

This is opposite of what most of us do. No matter how big or small the sin, we try to clean up our own mess in our own power. We might be able to paint the sin white for a while in our own strength, but eventually the dirt shines through.

But if we will let God take the soap of His word and wash us (even behind the ears), we will be white as snow. Snow isn't just white on the outside, it is white through and through.

Stop trying to do all the right things in your own strength and focus your attention on the character of God. We have to come to the King of All saying, "Wash me, filthy as I am, and I will be whiter than snow."

And He will.

Happy Easter!