High Priority, Or Not So Important?

"Then He said to another, "Follow Me."  But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father".
Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."
And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."
But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Luke 9:59-62 (NKJV)

People talk about having "me time," time to do things that they want to do.  There is a principle in that statement that is valid, but there can also be a problem with this idea.  Often people want some time to themselves because they have been busy, and they are looking for a break from their hectic schedule.  In reality, the problem is often not that we do not have enough time for ourselves, or other things we might need to do, the problem is how we are using the time that we have.

The world is a very busy place.  It seems like people have almost every moment of every day filled with some kind of activity, like taking care of daily needs, work, or just trying to "relax."  Our real issue is how we spend our time.  We all have the same amount of time, 24 hours a day, every day.  But it is how we are using our time that is causing us trouble.  If we take account of how we are using our time now, it is very likely that there are some things we are spending time on that are not so important, and there are things that should be priorities that we are not taking care of.

Our highest priority has to be our relationship with God, spending time with Him through His Word and prayer, and following the path and plan God has for our life.  We see an example of this in Luke 9.  Jesus called some people to follow Him, but rather than make the plan and calling of God in their life the highest priority, they wanted to do something else first, and this can happen to us too.  If we put our relationship with God and His plans first, rather than spending our time on things that are not so vital, we will find that we have the time to do what is best, and also have the time for the things we need and want to do.

Do You Already Have What You Are Looking For?

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)

Have you ever seen someone looking for their glasses, and all the while their glasses are on their head?  That person may have been distracted for a moment, and so they began looking for something that they actually have.  In the same way, if we are looking for something we already have, because we do not know what we do have, we can waste a lot of time and energy trying to find what is already ours.  For example, if we thought we had lost our glasses we might go and buy a new pair of glasses, even though we already have what we need.

Not knowing what we have, naturally or spiritually, is not a good thing.  If we do not know what we have, we might think we need to get something that is already ours, or we might think that we have to do something, when nothing is actually required from us.  In the same way, not understanding something we have, or the value of it, is just as bad.  For example, if you have something that is very valuable, but you do not realize its true value, naturally or spiritually, it would be as bad as if you did not have that thing in the first place. 

As Christians, we need to know what belongs to us as a part of God's family, and we learn about this through God's Word.  Although we do need to grow and develop spiritually, we do not have to go and find something that we are still somehow lacking to do so.  As Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, God's Word has been given to us to help us and show us what we have in Christ, what we need to believe, and what we need to do.  If we do not know about and take advantage of what God has provided for us and what belongs to us, then we might spend our time trying to find something that we already have.

Too Much Trivia?

"Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
2 Timothy 2:14-16 (NKJV)

Trivia can be defined as facts about something, or someone, that are not well known and usually not very important.  For example, in my own life, it is a fact that so far, I have traveled with 19 different airlines.  That is something that most people do not know about me, but it is not really very important.  In your own life, when was the last time you mentioned something to someone that was a little known and possibly unimportant fact about yourself?  We usually only focus on what is relevant and really important, and that is the way it should be.

Technology is wonderful, but what we get through technology is not always so wonderful.  Today, there are many ways for us to hear all kinds of teaching and preaching, which is generally good, but unfortunately much of what is available to us is not very good.  Anyone can create a video of some kind and post it for all the world to see, and anyone can write something that is available all over the Internet, but that does not mean that it is good and worth listening to.  In fact, much of what is available is not really spiritually beneficial, and it is often more trivial than helpful.

In the letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul warned them both about getting involved in questionable teachings, obviously wrong doctrine, and trivial things that simply do not matter.  Paul's encouragement for Timothy and Titus also applies to us.  We do not need to become experts at doctrinal trivia, but we should focus on clear, biblical truth that really matters.  Sound teaching from God's Word is something that will build us up spiritually rather than just entertain us mentally.  We need to focus on major Bible truths, and not minor or questionable issues. 

A New, And Better, Year

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
Joshua 1:8 (NKJV)

With every New Year, people have a great deal of positive expectations, or at least hope, that things will somehow improve in the New Year.  But rather than just passively hoping for something good to happen, or for things to somehow just work out, we need to be proactive and do the things we know we should be doing, and improve in those areas.  We need to see what we have done successfully in the past, understand why, and then continue doing those things, while making any necessary adjustments to be successful in the coming year.

Everyone can be more successful this next year than they were last year.  We can take "new" steps in the New Year by building on what we have been doing with God, and growing in that.  We can spend time in God's Word every day, pray more, walk in love at a higher level, as well as being more generous with our time, ability, and finances.  We do not have to find some "new" and different thing to do, but we can continue to increase in what we have already succeeded in, and add to that any other things that we might have left undone in the past.

When Joshua took over the leadership of Israel from Moses, it was a new thing for him, and in Joshua 1:8, God told Joshua how to succeed.  God told Joshua to stay focused on what the Word says, to do what the Word says, and say what the Word says.  God did not give Joshua some completely different plan, but God told Joshua to continue doing what he already knew, and to keep doing those things.  We too need to stay in God's Word, doing and saying what it says, and allow the Holy Spirit to help us fulfill God's plan for our lives.  With God, our future is bright, and that is how our New Year should be!

The Best Gift Of All

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 (NKJV)

Christmas is a time when people give and exchange gifts.  Some people give and get more gifts than others, some people may receive something that is not exactly what they wanted, and some people receive a gift that fits them perfectly, and it is just want they wanted.  There are all kinds of gifts someone can give, but the best gift would always be something that the other person has needed and hoped for.  Giving a gift that no one wants would be a mistake, but giving a gift that someone had only dreamed about would be the best gift of all.

At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, at least that is where our focus should be.  Today, the emphasis of Christmas is more about family, celebrations, and gift giving, which is fine, but we should not forget the most important reason we have to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus.  Some believers get concerned and even upset when others lose their focus on the true meaning of Christmas, and while getting upset with people for any reason is not very helpful, it is good to understand the real reason for celebrating Christmas and to remember how God sent Jesus to save us.

Although we do not usually think of John 3:16 as a Christmas verse, what that verse tells us is at the heart of what Christmas is all about: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  The gift God gave us of Jesus was the perfect gift, the best gift of all, and it is just what we needed.  God loved humanity so much, that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to the earth to die in our place, so that we could be reunited with God.  That was, and is, the best gift of all, and it is exactly what we needed!

Where Is It, And What Are We Doing With It?

"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NKJV)

Nearly everyone has a smartphone, and they can be very useful.  But what if you bought a new smartphone, or someone gave you one, and it was the newest smartphone available with all the apps and features you needed and wanted, but you never used it?  What would it be like to have that new phone and never take advantage of all that it could do, and what if you not only never used it, but you only took it out of its package and then put it back?  That would be very strange, and it is something no one would ever really do.

We are very fortunate today, because we have the complete Bible, where in the past some people did not own a Bible, or even have the complete set of Scriptures that we have today.  God gave us His Word to help us, to show us how to follow His plan, and live the kind of life He planned for us, but it is up to us to do something with it.  God's Word should not just be in our head, on some paper, in a book, or in some audio or video file, God's Word needs to be in our heart, and an active part of what we do and what we say.

Deuteronomy 6 says that God's Word should be in our heart, we should teach it to others, we should talk about it, and it should be a vital part of our life.  If the Word is in our heart, it will come out of our mouth, it will direct our actions, it will be the focal point of our life, and the basis for how we live.  If God's Word is just in our head, on some paper, or in a video, then we won't think about it, we won't act on it, we won't talk about it, and it will not guide our life.  Where is God's Word in our life, and what are we doing with it?

Living In The Right Spiritual "Time Zone"

"giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Colossians 1:12-14 (NKJV)

In my personal life and ministry work, I have done a lot of traveling.  When I travel overseas, there is a several hour change in the time, and that means adjusting to a new time zone.  My strategy is that once I am on the airplane I change my time from the location where I am to where I will be.  Some people keep their watch and devices in their former time zone during the entire trip, and even after they have arrived in their new location, which only makes adjusting to the new time zone more difficult.

When someone becomes a Christian, a born-again follower of Jesus, they move into a new kingdom.  So there has to be an adjustment from living the old way of life, in the devil's kingdom, to a new way of life in God's Kingdom.  If we try to continue to live the way we have in the past, then just like trying to live in the wrong time zone we will have some problems.  We have left the past behind, and even though we may sometimes feel like we are still a part of that former kingdom, we need to make the shift and adjustment to living in God's Kingdom.

Colossians 1:13 says that we have been conveyed, transferred, out of the kingdom and power of darkness into the Kingdom of God's Son, Jesus.  You could say that in God's Kingdom we are in a new spiritual "time zone," and we need to make the necessary adjustments to live there properly.  In our new kingdom, we have an inheritance and redemption through the blood of Jesus; we are in a new kingdom, and we have to live that way.  No matter how we may feel, or how much we may remember our former kingdom and spiritual time zone, we have to leave all of that behind and live in the reality of our new kingdom. 

Your Piece Of The Puzzle

"But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
But now indeed there are many members, yet one body."
1 Corinthians 12:18-20 (NKJV)

Putting together a puzzle can be an enjoyable way to spend time.  When a puzzle is completed, you have a beautiful picture of something, or you at least have an interesting picture, depending on the puzzle.  But, for a puzzle to be complete, you have to have all the pieces in the right place.  Some pieces may look similar, but each piece will only fit in one specific place, so each piece is uniquely necessary to create the entire puzzle.  If a piece is missing, you cannot complete the puzzle, and you will have an incomplete picture.

Many people lack purpose in their life, and they live without a real purpose.  That is one reason so many people have problems.  If someone does not have a true purpose in life, if they are just existing, their life is not as full as it should be.  God has a plan, a purpose, for each and every person, whether they are born again or not.  But, until someone receives Jesus as their Savior and Lord, that person will never really connect with the true purpose that God has given them.  If people understood that there is a place and purpose waiting for them in God's family, it would make a difference in their lives.

The Bible refers to believers as the Body of Christ, and we each have a part to play in the Body.  This is just like every piece of a puzzle being important for the complete picture.  If someone is not filling their place in the Body, then something is missing, just like if you were missing a piece for a puzzle.  God has a purpose for our life, and it is up to us to discover it.  This comes through spiritual growth and development in God's Word and with the help of the Holy Spirit.  We are all valuable parts of the Body of Christ, and God needs us all to take our place so that His will can come to pass.

Thankful And Peaceful

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful."
Colossians 3:15 (NKJV)

It has been said that for every cloud there is a silver lining, meaning that even when things are less than perfect, something good can still be found.  However, some people seem to have this concept backwards, because for them it seems that every silver lining has a cloud.  Two people can be looking at the same thing and see it completely different, it is simply a matter of perspective.  We can choose to find a silver lining in a cloud and find something positive in a situation, or we can see a dark cloud, no matter how bright things might be otherwise.

The Thanksgiving holiday in the USA happens every year in November.  But that does not mean that we cannot be thankful for things during the entire year.  We can see the positive in things and be thankful all year long, or we can wait for some special thing to happen to give us a better reason to be thankful.  Being grateful and thankful for things will help us beyond just having something positive to say in every situation.  If we are actively looking for something to be thankful about, it can create an attitude of thanksgiving in us that will be a benefit to us in other areas of life.

Thanksgiving is a great time to be thankful, and by being thankful, we are choosing to focus on something positive rather than something negative.  Colossians 3:15 talks about allowing the peace of God to rule in our heart, and being thankful.  God wants us to live a life of peace, as well as being thankful, and I do not think it is just a coincidence that these two things are linked together.  In every situation, we need to see what we can be thankful for, not just on Thanksgiving.  Being thankful can help us live at peace, rather than being agitated by things we are unhappy about and not thankful for.

Nothing Else Will Satisfy

"Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work."
John 4:34 (NKJV)

Have you ever gone to a restaurant, with a high expectation of enjoying a wonderful meal, but when you finished your meal, you were not very satisfied with what you had?  Maybe the food was not prepared properly, or maybe your idea of what the food would be like did not match what you received.  Or maybe you had the experience of being hungry, finding some food, and then what you ate did not satisfy you, and you wanted something else.  But no matter what, having an experience like this that does not satisfy you and leaves you disappointed is not good.

Just like someone can eat some food and not really be satisfied, there are a lot of things that people fill their lives with that may be nice, but they ultimately do not leave them feeling satisfied.  People put an emphasis on things in their life like sports, family activities, a career, money, social status, and other things, but none of them bring lasting satisfaction.  But by following the will of God we see in the Bible and following the direction of the Holy Spirit in our life, we can live a successful and satisfying life.

Doing the will of God and fulfilling His purpose in our life is the only thing that will truly satisfy us.  This is what Jesus was telling the disciples in John 4:34 when He talked about His "food" was doing the will of God.  There are many things that people try to substitute for God's will, but those things never bring the ultimate satisfaction that following God and doing His will can bring.  The only thing that will really satisfy us is following God's plan for our life, living according to His Word, and doing the will of God.  Jesus' satisfaction in life came from doing the will of God, what about us? 

Called, And Excited ... But Trained?

"And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen."
Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)

Imagine a situation where someone is hired to do a job that they are excited about, some kind of a job that they have always wanted.  For example, there are some people whose dream job would be that of a barista.  The person who was hired for the job would be happy that they were hired, and they would be very excited about the job and motivated to do the work.  But if the person who is employed as a barista does not know how to operate the coffee machine, they are ineffective, they still have to be trained.

Many Christians understand that we have been called to go into all the world the preach the Gospel.  Once someone is born again, they are an ambassador for Christ, but not all believers are as focused on, or as excited about that as they should be.  And while some Christians understand that they are called by God to do something, and they are excited about reaching the world for Christ, their level of spiritual development is too low for them to be effective in going out into the world to make disciples of all nations.     

When Jesus gave us "The Great Commission" (Matthew 28:18-20), He was talking about making people disciples, not just converts, but people who had been taught and then observe, do, what they were taught.  Some believers know they have been called, and they are excited about doing the will of God, but they have no training or spiritual development, so they are not really equipped to do the work the God has called them to do.  Being called, and being excited is good, but we need to be trained and equipped to be the kind of disciples that Jesus expects us to be.

The Bible Is Not Clickbait

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, then much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Psalm 19:7-10 (NKJV)

In the world of the Internet, things are not always what they seem to be, or what they claim to be.  You have probably seen something that talks about a celebrity who may have died, some amazing thing that you have to see, or an unbelievable situation that just happened.  But if you click on the story, it is not really worth looking at.  These types of things are often referred to as "clickbait."  Clickbait is defined as something that tries to get a person to click on a link or story, but the content is actually of little value or real interest, and could even be something bad.

The Bible is a book that is easily available, but even so, not everyone reads the Bible.  People are sometimes skeptical about the Bible and what it says, and there are also people who think the Bible is too confusing, out of date, unreliable, or not really relevant any more.  But the real problem is that people do not spend the time in God's Word that they really need to in order to get the benefit from it.  While we cannot just figure everything out in the Bible with only our natural intellect, God will help us to understand the Bible and show us how we can apply His Word to our life.

People have a lot of different ideas about the Bible and how important it is for us.  God gave us His Word to help us and to guide us, and not just to try and attract our attention and then not give us what we need.  God tells us plainly what the truth is; He's not trying to hide things or make it difficult to find what we need for our life.  God's Word is not just some clickbait that is trying to draw us in with a promise of something it cannot deliver.  God's Word is life changing, and what we learn from God's Word can make an amazing difference in our life. 

Why Aren't You Walking Together?

"Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?"
Amos 3:3 (NKJV)

Recently, when I was out for a walk, I saw two other people walking.  These were people I had seen before, and it seemed to me that they were probably husband and wife.  But, in this recent time when I saw them, they were not walking together.  The man, presumably the husband, was walking about five feet in front of the woman, who I took to be his wife.  But for some reason on this day, they were not walking together.  It made me wonder what had happened that they did not want to near each other, and I hoped that it was not some permanent problem.

In the Bible, our life and relationship with God is compared to, and even called, a walk.  And our walk with God should be with God, not separated from Him.  Sometimes Christians talk about how they do not feel as close to God as they once did, but God is not changing, and if anyone has moved, it is certainly not Him.  It should be that what we do in our life is done in unison with God, and that we walk along with Him in our life, following His plan and direction, and not wandering off on our own way, which would definitely be a bad thing.

Amos 3:3, says, "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?"  Sometimes Christians do not "walk" as close to the Lord, so to speak, as they might at other times, but why is that?  Are there times in our relationship with God where He changes or somehow moves?  Or could it be that there are times that we are not in such a close relationship with God because we are somehow not really in agreement with God?  Our goal should be to have a life, a walk which pleases God, where we are walking along with Him and not somewhere behind Him. and certainly not ahead of Him. 

What Is Our Source?

"Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."
2 Timothy 4:2 (NKJV)

Many times, when reading a story, listening to a report, or researching something, you can find sources listed for the material that someone is writing or talking about.  To be accurate with a story, a news account, or any information that is being shared, a reliable source needs to be quoted or made note of.  Anyone can say something or cite some information that has no actual basis in truth, so to be certain that what is being said is worth paying attention to, a good source for the given information is necessary.

There is so much information that we have access to, and that is both good and bad, because while there are good things available, there is a lot of information being given out today that is not correct.  This is true in every area of life, and unfortunately it is also true with Christians and people who talk about God and the Bible.  There are so many things I have seen and heard from various sources, talking about some supposed Bible truth, which is not right, and it sometimes goes into completely wrong teaching.  To be accurate when talking about biblical things, we need to base what we say and teach on God's Word.

God's Word has to be our source for what we believe and for what we use to teach and share with others.  As Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2, we must "Preach the Word!" to not only be accurate but also helpful.  Paul encouraged Timothy that if he was going to be helpful to others, he could not preach about his own ideas or opinions, but Timothy had to be sure to use God's Word as his source.  What is the source for what we do and say?  Is our source really God and His Word, or are we taking our source materials from someplace else?

If I Had That, I Would Do This

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."
Luke 16:10 (NKJV)

Have you ever heard someone say, "If I had a million dollars, I would ..." talking about something that person would do with a large amount of money.  Or maybe someone talks about what they would do with more time, a certain ability, or if they lived in some other place.  If we are honest about it, we have all probably said, or thought, something like this at some time in our life.  But the point is not what we would do if we had something different or we were in some other place, the question really is, what are we doing right now with what we do have?

It is easier to talk about doing something than it is to actually do it, and it is easier to talk about what we might do in the future, rather than looking at what we can do now.  This is really something that is a universal type of thing, and pretty much everyone, including Christians, are guilty of this kind of thinking.  We can all fall into the trap of looking at something someone else has, wishing we had that thing, and dreaming about what we would do if we had it.  But rather than looking at something we do not have, we need to see what we do have and make use of that.

In Luke 16:10, Jesus said that if someone is faithful in a little thing, they would be faithful in a big thing, and if someone is not faithful with something small, then that is how they would deal with something bigger.  This relates to all of us in some way.  If we are not making the best use of our time, our resources, and our abilities now, then what makes us think things would be different with more time, resources or abilities?  Instead of looking at what we do not have, and dreaming about what we would do if we had that, we need to see what we can do now, where we are, with what we do have.