Month: July 2022

My friends and I were discussing all of the negativity in the world today and then I saw this quote on social media. “Just because I laugh a lot doesn’t mean my life is easy, Just because I have a smile on my face doesn’t mean there is nothing bothering me. I choose to not dwell on the negatives, keep my head held high and move on with my life.” It is a noble goal, but it isn’t always easy, is it?

I don’t know a single Christian who is having an easy life or is not bothered by some things. Even though we share our troubles with each other, we still can find plenty of things to laugh about and we end our conversations with smiles on our faces. That is because we put our faith and hope in God’s powerful hands. That is how to deal with personal negative problems, but what about all of the negative people and beliefs around us?

We are living in a world of false information, propaganda, stereotypes and false accusations. People are offended or triggered by anything other than the lies they believe. Because of that, many Christians are remaining silent when we should be positive in our reactions. The word of God is positively true; we have experienced the positive effect of God’s mercy and grace in our life. We don’t have to attack false stereotypes or beliefs; we simply are called to state the truth and that will shine a light on what is false or negative. As far as our actions are concerned, love and kindness are always positive. The more positive words and actions we add to the world around us the better. Never allow the world to make you react negatively.

Will our positive words and actions always be well received? No, but that should never stop us from saying and doing them. The more people resist the truth, the more ridiculous they appear. As ridiculous as it seems to us, because Jesus healed the lame and sick on the Sabbath, the religious leaders said His power was from Satan. When we stick to the truth in our words and deeds, the opinions of others (no matter how vicious) are not important as long as God is pleased with us. God will see to it that some of the seeds of truth we plant will grow to maturity in the hearts and minds of some, turning them from negative to positive. With all Christians spreading truth under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can make a difference in the world.

I have written about how little things can mean a lot to us. The older I get, the more I realize the importance of some of those things that seemed so insignificant at the time. However, there are also some little things that can spell trouble or even disaster for us. They are often minor distractions or maybe a combination of little things that begin to weigh us down. This past Wednesday, I was unable to post to my blog as usual because of a series of minor technical problems that eventually forced me to buy a new laptop and then get used to a different computer system. In essence, this old dog had to learn some new tricks in order to get back on track with my blog. A series of little things can seem as irritating and disruptive as a major storm in life.

Anyone who has driven for a while can testify that a minor distraction taking your eyes off the road for just a few seconds can cause the car to drift to the shoulder of the road, or worse, cause it to drift into the path of oncoming traffic. Just as driving requires our complete and constant attention, living an obedient Christian life requires our awareness and concentration. Satan loves to create little distractions to cause us to shift our attention and drift off course. How can we avoid getting off track like that? I read somewhere about the “5 by 5 Rule”. If it is something that won’t matter five years from now, don’t spend more than five minutes thinking or worrying about it.

There is also another way to identify and avoid those little tricks the enemy loves to employ. There are some Christians who claim to have a “gift of discernment”. I believe all Christians have access to that gift by simply asking the Holy Spirit within us to help us see clearly what is important and what is not; what is true and what is false; and who we can trust and who can’t be trusted. The more we pay attention to His guidance and respond accordingly, the more natural and stronger our discernment will become.

Throughout my life I have heard that “actions speak louder than words”. Sometimes it might be worded differently, but the meaning is clear. This week I ran across a quote from Alistair Begg that put it into a Christian context. “When my children hear godliness coming from my mouth and then see wickedness coming from my life; I am pointing the way to heaven, while leading them to hell.”

Our influence goes well beyond our children. Sociologists have stated that the average person influences 10,000 people in some way during their lifetime. We may not know the names of many of those people because they are observing and listening from a distance. I may have exceeded that number because of my advanced age and the popularity of this blog. Some special people, like Billy Graham, have had a tremendous influence on the lives of millions of people. The question is this; are we influencing them in a positive or negative way?

Good news! There is a simple way Christians can always be sure our influence is positive. All we have to do is be obedient to God’s Holy Spirit within us. He will guide our actions and our words. He will never prompt us to set a bad example or use our words to hurt or negatively influence others. If you pay attention to and obey the Holy Spirit, those people seeking to label you in a stereotypical way as a hypocrite (or something even worse) because you profess Christ as your Savior will be disappointed. Even if they accuse you falsely after learning the truth, you can rejoice because the prophets and even our Lord was falsely accused as well.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to thanking people some day for the positive influence they had on my life without even knowing me; and then meeting all of the people I have influenced and finally learning about them. Until then, I will do my best to keep my influence positive and helpful.

A friend posted this on social media recently and I laughed, but it got me thinking. “Someone called me normal today. I have never been so insulted in all my life.” It reminded me of a line from the old Saturday Night Live TV show (when it was still funny). “I always wanted to be somebody. Now I realize I should have been more specific.”

You and I are one-of-a-kind originals. Now that science has indexed the human genome, we can see how unique we really are. Even identical twins who share the same DNA have different fingerprints. Why would we ever want to sacrifice our uniqueness in order to “fit in”? Templates work for documents, but not for people. There will never be a stereotype that comfortably fits any individual. I love the way the Phillips translation of Romans 12:2 describes it. “Don’t let this world squeeze you into its own mold.”

The biggest trap we fall into is comparing ourselves to other people. If the grass on the other side of the fence looks so perfect, it is probably Astroturf. Life, even the Christian life, is not a competition. Every Christian I know, including me, is heading in the same direction with each of us in our own lane and traveling at our own pace. God knows our unique qualities and he has a different plan for each of us. We truly enjoy the fellowship we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we are each the special person God created us to be.

There is nothing like the peace of mind when you are comfortable with who you are and the only approval you need is from the Holy Spirit dwelling within you; and the only person to compare yourself with is the person you were yesterday. I praise God every day that I am special in His sight and that I continue to become the person He created me to be.

My favorite book of the Bible is the Gospel of John. When I was a route salesman for a coffee company many years ago as a young man, one of my customers was a restaurant in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, that was owned by two Amish ladies. In addition to serving delicious meals, they had Christian literature for sale by the register, I bought a paperback titled, “How to be a Christian without being religious.” It was an illustrated version of John’s Gospel. Many years later, when I was a service manager for a pest control company in the Chicago area, one of my technicians announced that he was quitting to go into full time Christian ministry, and I gave him that well-worn paperback. He looked at me and asked, “Do you think I need this?” I smiled and answered, “We all need it, my brother, we all need it.”

In his account of Jesus’ ministry, six times John refers to himself as “the disciple Jesus loved”. It sounds like bragging, especially since John and his brother were nicknamed the sons of thunder. In 1 John chapter four, one of the letters he wrote to the church, there are several very familiar verses about love. “God is love.” “There is no fear in love. Perfect love chases out all fear.” “We love because he first loved us.” “Whoever loves God must love his brother.” I don’t believe John was bragging at all, I think he was in awe of, and obsessed by, Jesus’ love for him; love that Jesus wanted him to share with others. Having experienced that love myself, I fully understand the wonderment John felt.

The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ earthly ministry were religious to the extreme, but that isn’t what God wants us to be. He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (as Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well) and then let our actions be directed by the love in our hearts and minds, instead of by rites, rituals or traditions,

A theologian was asked to sum up the entire Bible in one sentence, He replied, “Jesus loves me this I know, because the Bible tells me so.” Spend some time each day in awe that Jesus loves you so much that he gave his life that you can have eternal life by believing in and following him. Then live your life each day sharing that love with those around you,

We need to spend less time worrying about our reputation and more time developing out character, because character is who we are, and our reputation is simply who others think we are. We naturally want both a good reputation and a good character, but if we build a strong character, everyone who knows us and is important in our life will know and acknowledge it. There will always be some who will attack our reputation out of jealousy or some other selfish motive, but those people aren’t important in the big picture.

When I think about character, the first person in scripture I think of (other than Jesus of course) is Jonathon, son of King Saul. Jonathon, as the king’s oldest son, was the presumed heir to the throne, but God had chosen David to be the next king. Instead of being jealous of David, Jonathon became very close friends with him and his faithfulness to that friendship made him warn David when the king was planning to hunt him down and kill him. In spite of warning David, Jonathon remained a good and faithful son of King Saul to the very end when he and his father were both killed in battle with Israel’s enemies.

As children of God, you and I have the power of the Holy Spirit to help us build a strong, solid character. In addition to the faithfulness Jonathon exhibited, the other eight fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 are signs of character. Those signs are not what we do – they are who we are, our true character.

I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad that at the final judgement I will not be judged by a jury of my peers. I will be judged by the One who knows who I am, inside and out. The relationship I have built with Him in this life through faith in His sacrifice for my sins, prayer, worship and study of His word will be all that matters.

I saw two quotes on social media that caught my interest. The first was from that prolific author, Unknown. “The church can never be the salt of the earth, if we keep sugar coating the gospel.” The second was a quote from one of the wisest men in our country, Thomas Sowell. “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” Those quotes reminded me of Paul’s admonition to Timothy. “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the good news, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.” (2 Timothy 4:3-5) Let’s take a closer look at each of those quotes.

As Christians, we are the church. Jesus teaches us as His followers that we, not just church leaders, are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We don’t need to sugar coat God’s word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in particular. That sweetness might satisfy some people looking for a little fire insurance without a change in their life; but it won’t satisfy the hunger of true seekers of God’s love, mercy and grace.

I haven’t heard it in a long time, but when I was a boy people would say, “I swear. What I’m telling you is the gospel truth.” There is nothing truer than the Gospel. Jesus himself is the personification of truth. If we really want to help someone, we will tell them the truth even when it is not what they want to hear. If we just want them to think highly of us, we can tell them what they want to hear, even if it doesn’t really help them.

Paul’s prediction has come true and is as current as the evening news. He encourages his young pastor friend to hold fast to the ministry to which he was called even if it costs him followers and may even cause some to ridicule him for preaching the Gospel Truth. I introduced someone to my blog that I encountered on social media this week. The reaction was, “You are sure set in your ways.” I take that as a compliment, whether it was meant that way or not. When you know and share the truth, there is really no other option to consider. May we, as children of God, share His truth with others. We can always be sure that will be pleasing to our heavenly Father.