Thursday, August 29, 2019

What Time Is On Time?

"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do?  Or has He spoken and will He not make it good?"
Numbers 23:19 (NKJV)

What time is on time and when is something late? People have different ideas about this.  For some people, if something is going to start at 10:00, then they will be there by at least 10:00 and maybe a few minutes earlier.  For others, they believe it is fine if they are there close to 10:00, but they don't necessarily need to be there before that.  And for some, no matter when you tell them something is going to start, they will usually arrive after that time.  But what time is on time?

Is God on time all the time, or is God sometimes behind schedule?  Some people believe that God will do what He has said, but they are not sure when God will do it.  Our problem is that sometimes God does not fit into our time schedule and He does not do things as soon as we would like Him to.  But we can trust that God will do everything He has said in His Word He would do and we should not spend our time wondering when or how something will happen.  Even though it seems that God is often not early, God is never late.

Just because something has not happened as soon as we wanted it to does not mean that it will not happen or that God has somehow forgotten us.  As we take a stand in faith on God's Word, we can be confident that what God has said He will do.  We need to learn to walk by faith in His Word and continually trust in Him to meet the need, give us the answer, and show us the way to go.  Whatever the situation and no matter the need, God is faithful, He is always on time, and He will always to do what He has said He would do.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Choice Is Yours

"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."
Romans 6:12-13 (NKJV)

A choice is something that is made based on one or more options that are available.  For a choice to be a choice, there has to be more than one variable involved.  For example, you might have the option of choosing to eat a pizza or spaghetti.  But a choice is not a choice if there is only one thing available.  If you wanted to buy shoes and there was only one style and one color available, then there is really no choice involved, you have to take what is there, whether you like it or not. 

Some people think that they really do not have a choice in some things.  They believe that everything is up to God and even their own personality and actions are more in God's control than their own.  But, the choice of what we will do, say, and how we will act has been given to us.  What we choose to yield to and follow will either allow God to work through us or allow sin to reign over us.  By choosing to allow God to work through us, we will benefit our own life and the lives of those around us.

Romans 6:12-13 tells us that we have a choice as to whether we will yield to and follow the desires of our natural, fleshly nature or choose to yield to and follow what God's Word shows us is possible for us because of Jesus.  We do not have to live a shallow, sin filled life of problems because we always simply yield to our carnal desires, God has provided something better for us.  Each of us can choose to live a life above the natural tendencies we have and live a life that pleases God; the choice is ours; the choice is yours. 

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Alternate Routes

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye."
Psalm 32:8 (NKJV)

When you are planning to go somewhere, you start with a destination and then figure out how to get there.  When you plan your route, there are several options you could choose.  You may have an option of how you want to travel, whether in a car, by airplane, or even with a train or other public transportation.  You also need to decide if you want to go directly to your destination or if there is something along the way you need to, or want to, do or see, there are many alternate routes you could take.

As Christians, there is a destination we all should have, to find and fulfill the will of God.  Spending eternity with Jesus in heaven is not our main goal in life; it is certainly something to look forward to, but God has a plan for us while we are here on the earth.  In doing the will of God, there are different routes available to us and we want to be sure to take the right one and not some alternate route that does not help us.  The good thing is that we don't have to try and figure out the entire route for ourselves, God said that He would guide us.

Psalm 32 talks about God instructing and teaching us in the way we should go.  God has given us His Word that we can read and study to get God's general direction and the Holy Spirit will direct us.  If it was up to us, we might take a route based on some things we want to do, but that alternate route may actually take us off the path that God has for us.  We need to leave the route planning in our life to God so that we don't find ourselves on some alternate route.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

Regular Checkups

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
Colossians 3:1-3 (NKJV)

We need to have checkups for things like our cars and our teeth.  By having regular checkups, we can be sure that everything is working the way it is supposed to.  It can be easy to let things go with our car or our teeth and not think about them until there is a problem, then we really think about them and dread the expensive consequences we may face.  A regular schedule of maintenance and checkups for our car and regular dental care and checkups for our teeth can help prevent major problems in the future.

In Colossians 3 it says that if we are believers in Jesus, we need to have our focus on heavenly things; we should not have our focus on things in this world.  We need to use the standard of God's Word to see if we are in tune with God's plan or if we need some adjustments in our life.  If we use the standard of the world to try and live our life we will be out of tune with God and His plan.  We all need to be sure we are having regular maintenance and checkups through the truth we find in God's Word.

To know who we really are, we have to find out about our true identity, our life that is hidden in Christ.  God has given us His Word to see who we really are and how we can live the life He has called us to.  This of course means that we need to have a regular time of reading and studying God's Word to be sure we are in line with God's plan and purpose for our life.  Reading and studying God's Word is a checkup for us, it helps us to see who we really are and what we should be doing.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Telling Stories

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

In the past couple of decades, social media has become more and more poplar.  People can share pictures, comments, and even videos about themselves and what they are doing.  People telling their stories and sharing about their life experiences through videos is a current trend that seems to be increasingly popular.  Some people like to do short videos or an update on a daily basis, while others do it weekly or sporadically.  But whatever the method may be, many people around the world are telling their stories.

When I see people sharing things and telling their stories on social media, I sometimes wonder about the significance of what is being shared.  As Christians, we have to be careful that we are not so caught up in our own story that we miss out on the fact that God has a plan for our life and a story He wants us to follow.  Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God's workmanship, we are His creation, and God created us to walk in and carry out some good works that He has pre-planned for us.

Are we following God's plan and His story for our life or following our own plan and living out our own story for our life?  To really live a happy, satisfying life we have to follow God's plan and get involved in His story for our life.  The great thing is that God's story for our life is a good one with a happy ending.  Our own story may not always be so great, but God's story is.  Instead of only thinking about what we want to do and what we have done, we need to think about what God wants us to do, what is His story for our lives?  That is the story we need to live out and tell to others.