No Celebrity Treatment

"For there is no partiality with God."
Romans 2:11 (NKJV)

Have you ever seen the different magazines or even television shows the talk about celebrities and the lives they live?  Many people are fascinated by celebrities who seem to live in a different world than the rest of us do, they seem to live a life that most people never experience.  Celebrities often have people who help them with the food they eat, the clothes they wear, and who tell them how to do things to live the celebrity lifestyle.  It can be hard to imagine these celebrities working at some regular job or doing some everyday task because they seem to be in some different category than the rest of the world.

Some Christians have developed a celebrity type mentality when it comes to spiritual leaders thinking that they are not like other Christians.  One misconception that people have is that spiritual leaders are in some elite class of Christians and that is wrong.  Spiritual leaders are no more a Christian than anyone else, they simply have a different position and task in the Body of Christ.  Another misconception that people have is that spiritual leaders have some special deal with God and things in the Bible work differently for them than for the average Christian.  People often seem to think that some things will work for spiritual leaders but not for anyone else.

Romans 2 tells us that there is no partiality with God, He shows no favoritism and no one gets a special deal with Him.  God's Word applies the same to every believer and what God has done for one He will do for another.  Salvation works the same for every Christian as does being led by the Holy Spirit, getting answers to prayer, possessing the promises of God by faith, and so on.  If we have the idea that God will not work in our life the way He will for someone else we have been deceived because with God no one receives special, celebrity treatment; God's Word will work the same for everyone!

Was That Written To You?

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Hebrews 8:6 (NKJV)

What if somehow you mistakenly were receiving emails or text messages that were meant for another person, what would you do?  Would you just keep reading the emails or messages and begin a correspondence with the other person and maybe start asking for their advice?  Most people in a situation like this would reply and let the sender know that they somehow have the wrong person.  This other person may be very nice and even have some encouraging or helpful things to say but those things were not really meant for you, those things were written for someone else.

Today, because of Jesus, we have a new covenant with God.  Through His death on the cross Jesus opened the way for all mankind to have access to God; now we just need to put our confidence in the work of Jesus and be born again.  In the Bible we have the Old Testament, the old covenant, and the New Testament, the new covenant.  Jesus came to bring us this new and better covenant.  It is vital that Christians become familiar with and base their life primarily on the New Testament, the new covenant.  This is not to say that we completely reject the Old Testament, but we must realize that the New Testament was written directly to us.

Under the old covenant no one could be born again and have their sins washed away as we have in the new covenant.  We have a completely different relationship with God than the people in the Old Testament had.  The Old Testament was written to give us natural examples of the spiritual truth that we find in the New Testament.  If we do not spend the majority of our time with the New Testament we may develop an inaccurate view of our relationship with God and what belongs to us today as Christians.  To fully live out the life that God has provided for us through Jesus we need to live in the New Testament, that is what was written to us!

Job Descriptions

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 (NKJV)

Many companies today have job descriptions for their employees.  The purpose of a job description is to give someone guidelines about what they will do for their employer.  Very often the job description fits with the qualifications that the employee has and sometimes to even get hired a person has to be able to carry out all of the tasks given in the job description.  Someone's job description shows you what they do and who they are.  If someone's job description is to clean the bathroom he would not be a cook and if someone's job description was to cook he would not be the cleaning person.

In John 10:10 Jesus gave us what we could call some job descriptions.  Jesus said that the thief, talking about the devil, only comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  Those are the things that the devil does and we can see that all of those things are bad.  Jesus said the He came to give people life, a more abundant life, and that is a good thing.  But people have sometimes thought that if something bad happens to them that it just might be something that God did for some mysterious reason.  But, according to the "job descriptions" we see in John 10:10, the devil does bad things and Jesus does good things.

Acts 10:38 says that Jesus was anointed by God to do good and heal people who were oppressed by the devil.  Here we see again that Jesus does good and heals while the devil is the one who brings sickness and oppression.  1 Corinthians 14:33 and 1 Timothy 1:7 tell us that confusion and fear do not come from God but peace and love do.  The Bible gives us a clear understanding of what Jesus does while exposing the tactics of the devil.  We need to accurately know who Jesus is and what He is like to live the abundant life that Jesus came to bring us.

Finish In Faith

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
Romans 4:20-21 (NKJV)

Where you finish is much more important than where you start, this is true in many different settings.  In auto racing a driver may start in the pole position but have a bad race and even end up in last place.  On the other hand, someone could start in last place and do well enough to finish in first place.  Another example would be learning some new skill or studying a subject in school.  When you start you would obviously not know how to perform the skill or you would not understand the subject, but if you applied yourself you could master the skill and learn the subject.

In Romans 4 we read about the promise that God gave to Abraham about having a son. When God first gave this promise to Abraham in Genesis 17, Abraham fell on the ground laughing! In Genesis 18 we see that Sarah also laughed when she first heard God's promise of a son.  Laughing at the promise of God does not sound like something someone who believes what God says does, it sounds like someone who does not believe what was said. The good news is that after Abraham's initial reaction he did become strong in faith.  Abraham and Sarah did not start so well but they did finish in faith.

At first Abraham did not believe what God had said. But Abraham developed in his faith to the point that he was not laughing at the promise but expecting the fulfillment. How about you? What is happening in your life and what does God's Word have to say about it? You may look at God's Word and what God has said about your situation and it looks as impossible as God's promise did to Abraham. But if you continue to focus on what God has said and continue to speak God's Word, you too can finish in faith and receive the fulfillment of the promise and then you will really have something to laugh and rejoice about!

Giant Killers

Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.
1 Samuel 17:36 (NKJV)

Smart phones are great because there are so many different things that they can do, especially through their apps.   One app on my phone that I really like is the weather app.  Almost every day I use this so I can be ready for whatever weather I might face that day.  Knowing in advance if it is going to be hot or cold or it if will rain is a big help.  The weather app is great and what would even be better is if there was some app that could show future events we will deal with so that we could be ready ahead of time.  Unfortunately, no such app exists that can predict the future for us, but there is something we can do to be ready for our future.

Just about everyone has had some experience where if they knew about it ahead of time it would have been great because then they could have prepared and been ready for it.  We certainly don't go looking for problems in life but they will come anyway and we are often taken completely by surprise.  In the story about David and Goliath, David did not go looking for Goliath.  But, when David met the giant, in the normal course of his life, David was ready.  How was David able to fight and defeat Goliath, how did he prepare?  Did David go to giant killer school?  What did David do to be ready for this situation?

David was ready to fight Goliath because David had been doing other things that helped to prepare him, like defending sheep from a lion and a bear.  In the same way, God will bring us opportunities to do things that will help us grow and develop spiritually so when problems come we are ready for them.  Too many Christians wait until they face a challenge before they do anything for their spiritual development.  God will bring us opportunities today to prepare us for tomorrow.  By following the leading of the Holy Spirit, taking advantage of opportunities that God brings us, and being faithful to do what God has called us to do, we too can be giant killers!

The First Step

Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 
Colossians 1:12 (NKJV)

With every journey or trip that we make and with everything that we do there is a start, there is a first step.  If we don't take the first step, we will never get started and if we try right away to take the second step instead of the first step we will have problems or be unsuccessful in what we are trying to do.  If we count to 10 we have to start with the number 1, if we want to recite the alphabet we have to start with the letter "a".  How we begin our journey and how we start the things we do will have a direct influence on the rest of the journey and the complete work we are doing.

It is wonderful to read in the Bible about all of the things that God has done for us through Jesus, about how God has great plans for our future, and how God will always lead us in triumph.  But, the first step in all of those areas is not what God has done but how we view ourselves in relation to those different things.  For many people the first and biggest step in living a life filled with the best that God has is to believe that this is really something that is available to them.  Over the years I have talked to many people who were familiar with what the Bible says but who thought that for some reason they don't qualify.

The first tactic the devil will try to use against us is to keep us ignorant of what the Bible says.  If the devil fails to keep us from discovering the truth, then his next tactic is to make us think that somehow we do not qualify or are not good enough for what God has.  But, the things that God has for us are not based on who we are and what we have done but who God is and what Jesus has done.  Our first step in living the God kind of life that Jesus came to bring us is to realize that everything God has said is available to us through faith because of Jesus; Jesus qualified us to receive the blessings of God.

Who Do You Know?

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NKJV)

Not knowing who you are is a bad thing.  Knowing who we really are is important and losing your memory is not something to be taken lightly.  If somehow you lost your memory and completely forgot who you were it could create some major problems.  But what if somehow, someone could convince you that you are not who you really are?  What if you met a person who claimed you were somehow tricked into thinking you are not who you really are?  If this person could convince you that your identity was something other than what it really is it would be that same as losing your memory and not knowing who you are.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul made an interesting comment when he said that at one time we only knew Jesus according to the flesh.  Paul was saying that while he and others once only knew Jesus in a natural way that now they know Him for who He really is.  Paul went on to say that from now on he would not just consider who someone is based on the natural side of life.  Paul was talking about the fact that we need to see Jesus, other people, and even ourselves from a spiritual perspective.  If we only know Jesus, others, and ourselves from a natural point of view we will have some problems.

Some only know who Jesus is naturally, a teacher who did some good things.  But, if we know who Jesus really is and that He died on the cross for our sin that is a different perspective that will change our life!  If we only see ourselves from the natural point of view, we will not know who we really are.  Who we really are is found in Christ, we are a new creation in Christ.  God has given us His Word to help us understand who we really are based on our true identity in Christ.  If we only know about the natural side of who we are we are living under a mistaken identity and that will cause us to live below the best that God intended for us to have.

Fruit Or Fun?

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 (NKJV)

There are things people do because they have to do them, but there are other things people do that they like to do and they look forward to doing them.  Many people have a job they dislike but look forward to their weekends and vacation because that is when they can do what they like and have fun.  Some people are fortunate enough to have a job that they enjoy but even then there are often aspects of that job they are not happy with.  It usually seems as though our work and the things we enjoy do not go together and most of the time we have to choose between one or the other.

Often Christians have difficulties because ideas and concepts from the world get into their thinking.  Many Christians either completely believe, or they at least accept the idea, that we can either serve God and do His will or we can have a wonderful life.  For many Christians the idea the Jesus came to give us an abundant life is something that they only consider for their personal well-being and it is not usually seen as having anything to do with the Church or serving God.  Too often people, including Christians, think that Christians have to choose between bearing fruit for God or having fun in life; the good news is that we can have both. 

When Jesus talked about people having an abundant life He was talking about a life lived fulfilling the will of God.  Too many people try to live a life fulfilling their own wishes and desires, not realizing that by following God's plan for their life they would not only be in line with the purpose that God created them for but that as they follow God all of their personal goals would also be fulfilled (Matthew 6:33).   God created us for a purpose (Ephesians 2:10), He has given us a gift to use for His glory (1 Peter 4:10), and His plans for us are always good (Jeremiah 29:11).  Living a godly life should include both fruit and fun.

What Did God Say?

"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
Genesis 3:1-3 (NKJV)

Good communication is wonderful and miscommunication can cause problems.  Communication is more than the words we speak, it is also how we say those words and our intention behind them.  It is important to be clear with what we say and it is equally important that we understand what was said.  Reflective Listening is a communication method that involves the person listening repeating back to the speaker what they believe was just said to make sure the message was clearly understood.  This can be a good way to make sure that what was said and what was heard are the same so that there is no miscommunication.

Most people know the story of Adam and Eve and how the serpent talked to Eve.  It is interesting to see how a misunderstanding of what God had actually said created such a huge problem.  We can see the strategy of the devil, who was speaking through the serpent, as he worked to deceive Eve by questioning what God had said.  But, the real problem started when Eve, who should have known better, misquoted what God had said and how even Adam who was there with Eve did not correct the misquote.  Unfortunately, today people are still misunderstanding and misquoting what God has said and creating problems.

The importance of accurately understanding what God has said cannot be overstated.  Sometimes people talk about what they say comes from the Bible but it is either a misunderstanding of what God has said or not something God ever actually said!  We put ourselves and others in great danger spiritually and even naturally when we misrepresent what God has said.  We need to be sure we know what God has really said and not just what our interpretation of what He said is.  A steady, continual diet of reading and studying God's Word is the way to combat this problem.  Rightly understanding what God has said will help us and the people around us.

Sowing And Reaping

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will reap everlasting life."
Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV)

The are some general principles in life that will always work no matter what.  For example, every morning the sun will rise and every evening the sun will set.  No matter what you think about it, no matter how you feel about, or what others might say about it, this is going to happen.  In the same way, if you drop something it will travel downward, because of gravity; if you save and invest money you will end up with more money in the long run than you had when you started saving and investing your money.  The things we sow in life, what we do, will produce results.

People often think of the principle of sowing and reaping only in connection with money, but it works in many different areas.  The principle of sowing and reaping is something that God has established and no matter what people want to think about it, that principle is going to work.  The Bible says that God is not going to be mocked concerning this principle.  One Greek dictionary defines the Greek word used here for "mocked" as "to turn up the nose at".  In other words, some people may think little of this, or even scoff at the principle of sowing and reaping, but it still works.  What you reap is based on what you sow.

Galatians 6:7-8 talks about sowing and reaping, especially in the area of spiritual things.  While this principle can be taken in a negative way with showing how people will reap bad results by sowing wrong actions, the positive side of this works just as well.  As we spend time doing godly things others may look at us thinking we are wasting our time.  But, God's standards and principles always work and we will reap rewards for the things we do.  We may not always reap an instant harvest of what we have sown, but as we continue to follow the Word of God we will reap the positive consequences.  As we carry out the will of God in our lives there will be rich rewards.

Choosing The Best

"But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me.  
And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  
But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10:40-42 (NKJV)

There is a class that I have taught in Bible school called Time Management and the title describes what the class is about, learning how to manage your time.  When I tell people that I teach this class they often respond by saying that learning to manage time is a subject they would like to hear more about.  Managing our time in the right way seems to be a more important topic than ever before because people somehow seem to have less time today than in the past.  But, our problem is not usually one of not having enough time or having too much to do, usually our problem is with the choices we make about how we spend our time.

One thing we can learn from the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10 is about the importance of making right choices.  Every day we face choices about what we will do, how we will spend our time.  In the story about Mary and Martha we see that they both did something, so they had both made a choice.  Martha was busy serving and Mary was sitting, listening to Jesus.  While Martha had chosen something to do that was good, there was something at that time that was better.  It was not as though Martha had chosen to do something unimportant or was wasting time, it was that Mary had chosen what was best.

We can fill our time with activities, even good and godly activities, and never really make the right choices about how we spend our time.  Rather than allowing our time to be filled with just running from one thing to the next we need to take a look at how we spend our time in light of God's Word and His plan for our life.  Is what we are doing helping us to live out the Word of God in our life and accomplish what He wants us to do?  We need to base the priorities of how we spend our time on God's Word and His will.  It is our choice how we spend our time and we need to make the best choice.

No Pressure

"And I have led you forty years in the wilderness.  Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet."
Deuteronomy 29:5 (NKJV)

Have you ever felt under pressure in a situation where it seemed like if you did not do everything right there would big problems?  There are some legitimate pressure situations that people do have to deal with, like a doctor performing surgery, a pilot flying an airplane, or someone operating a sensitive piece of equipment.  Most of the time, however, people are not in real pressure situations like this but they do feel like they are under pressure.  The reason we sometimes feel like this is because we believe that the outcome of our situation is depending completely on us and if we make a mistake we will end up with a disaster.

There are times in life where we do have to use some skill and ability to get a certain thing done, but generally speaking we often only feel pressured because we place too much emphasis on what we do and our own efforts.  We can have the same attitude in our relationship with God where we think everything depends on us and we forget how much God loves us and what Jesus has done for us.  The story of Israel in the wilderness is good to remember because even when they had done wrong God still took care of them.  They missed God's best and did suffer through some negative consequences, but God still found a way to work in their lives and help them.

God is so loving, gracious, and merciful that He did all He could to help Israel in spite of their failures and shortcomings.  This is not to say that it does not matter how we live or that disobeying God is alright, but too often we feel pressured in a situation because we think if we fail God will forsake us and we will be doomed.  Yes, we should live according to God's Word but we should also learn to rely on our wonderful Heavenly Father to be there to help us in every situation.  Next time you feel under pressure to perform in life remember everything that God has done through Jesus and realize that the pressure is off of us and good things are ahead!

Building Trust

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

Some things can take longer to build than others and this can depend on a number of factors.  One thing that determines how long it will take to build something is the quality of what is being built.  You can build something very quickly, but most of the time those things do not have a very high quality to them.  It may take longer to build something the right way but it is always better to build something the best way possible so that it will stand the test of time and not be something that falls apart quickly.  In the same way, trust is not something that is normally built quickly but something that develops over time.

To trust someone means that you know them; the better you know someone the greater your trust can be.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says that we should trust in the Lord with all of our heart and acknowledge Him in all of our ways.  It can be easy to trust in the Lord a little bit and to trust in ourselves a lot and to acknowledge God in some ways but not in others.  In our walk with God it may seem that our level of trust in Him is very high, but when difficulties arise then we come to find out that we don't really trust in God and acknowledge Him as much as we thought we did.  The solution to this is to get to know God better through His Word and by spending time with Him in prayer.

It is one thing to know that the Bible says God does not lie (Hebrew 6:18), He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), and He will supply everything we need (Philippians 4:19), but it is another thing to completely trust Him about these things.  To develop our trust in God we need to be in an intimate relationship with Him.  Then, no matter what happens in our life, we are confident that God will do exactly what He has already said because we completely trust Him.  Wherever you are in your walk with God take it to another level and learn to trust Him more than ever before.  Trusting in God and acknowledging Him in every area of our life is the best way to live!

Inspiration Or Perspiration?

"And the Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."
Exodus 14:15-16 (NKJV)

Balance is very important.  If you lose your balance you might fall and get hurt.  If you are setting up stereo speaking you need to put them in the right place to balance the sound.  In religious circles there has been a debate for many years about the sovereignty of God and the will of man.  Some believe that because God is all powerful He can and will do whatever He wants to do, no matter what people might think or want to do for themselves.  Other people believe that while God is all powerful it is up to us who believe in God to act on His Word in faith and if we don't then God will not do anything. This is how things often are, there are two extremes and in the middle is where you find the truth.

Everything is not just up to God, inspiration, and everything is not just left to the work of man, perspiration; there is a part God plays and a part we must play.  While God is all powerful there are still some things that He wants us to do.  We repeatedly see situations in the Bible like what happened with Moses by the Red Sea, God had already given Moses something to use in the situation.  Moses had to stretch out the rod believing that God would do His part, but if Moses had never acted then God would have had nothing to work with.  The rod that Moses had was not some magic wand but it was symbolic of the power of God that would and had worked in the life of Moses.

Another example is in John 9 where Jesus put clay on the eyes of the blind man.  Jesus then told the man to go to the pool of Siloam and wash off the clay.  When the man did so he could see.  But what if Moses had not stretched out his rod, or the blind man had not gone to the pool?  Then neither one would have received what God intended.   In every situation God is ready to act but we must realize that it is not all up to the inspiration of God or the perspiration of man.  God's power alone or our work alone will not bring the right results, we must find our part and act on God's Word to receive the results we desire.

Deposits And Withdrawals

"Then He said to them, Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and things old."
Matthew 13:52 (NKJV)

There are many different banks and all of them have some unique characteristics and rules.  But, there is one rule that all banks have in common; if you want to withdraw money from an account you have to have money in the account.  That sounds pretty simple but people have been known to try and get more money out of their bank account than what they have in the account.  It is nice to be able to withdraw a lot of money from your account or to use your bank card for a purchase, but all of that is based on the idea that you have made some deposits in your account to cover the withdrawals.

In Matthew 13 Jesus compared a scribe to a householder.  Someone who owns a house would normally have some things in their house that they could bring out whenever they chose to do so.  Jesus said that a scribe, a person who spent their time studying the scriptures, who was taught about the things of the kingdom of heaven would also have some things that they could bring out.  In both cases, for a scribe or householder to bring something out of what they have, they first have to have it.  You can't give someone something you don't have and you can't bring something out that you have not first put in.

God's Word is filled with many wonderful things that will help us and other people, so we need to learn about everything that is in the Word.  As we spend time reading and studying God's Word we will make deposits into our heart that God can then bring out to help us and others.  But to bring out the truth we first have to know that truth.  John 14:26 tells us that the Holy Spirit will remind us of what Jesus has said, but to remember something means that you have already learned it.  By having some regular time of depositing God's Word into our life we will be ready for God to work in us and also through us to help others.