Monday, May 27, 2019

Church Reasoning

   "Churches are filled with hypocrites." "I don't need to go to church to be a Christian or to believe."
   I have often encountered this response when inviting someone to church or if I ask someone if they go to church. Their response often caught me off guard because I realized there was truth to some of their answers.  
   Since then I've had the time to question it myself and God has opened my heart with this truthful response.
   "I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and was saved while going to church. It was at church that I first heard the gospel. It was also at church that I discovered it was filled with people who are broken, searching and in need of forgiveness. It was at church that I found out these same people really do love and care once I looked beyond my own self-righteousness."
   Where else will they hear about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice to save and change them? Are You Going To Tell Them?

Romans 10: v. 14
   "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"

Monday, May 20, 2019

Believers: Salt & Light?

   Does my life make an impact for Christ? As a Christian I have to stop and ask that question and so do we all. As Christians it's not just what we say we believe but how we live and stand out to the world. The world's mold of kindness, love and doing good consist of rehabilitation, rules and often regulations. It consist of a stamp of approval that says, "Look at what I've accomplished."
   What Christ did in His death and resurrection was more than just kindness. It made an impact that was felt and seen around the world. Those who accepted the salvation He offered stood out as shining lights in a world of darkness. The light within them didn't come from a self help class, advice from friends or even going to their place of worship. It came from within and it was instant the moment they believed and let Christ in.
   God calls us to be salt and light. Are we trying to make a difference through our own efforts or are we truly filled with the Spirit of Christ that causes others to take notice?
   I include myself in this examination. I remember when I was a young Christian, so full of joy and amazement of how Christ had changed my life. I had a strong desire that others might know and experience this change and freedom also.
    At that time my husband and I had invited a couple over. He often went hunting with the guy but this was my first time meeting him and his wife. There wasn't any preaching or push toward what I believed. It was just a social visit and a way for the guys to talk hunting.
   The very next day though the girl called me and said, "I saw something in you that I feel I'm missing. Can you tell me what it is?"
   Wow! When's the last time someone said that to me, to you? Now that's impact. That's the salt and light Christ is talking about in Matthew 5: v. 13-14. Do we exhibit that kind of "wow" in our lives today? Have we forgotten to let Christ ignite the light that He has placed within us or have we let it fade, maybe even let it go out?
   We can be kind, nice, reach out to others in need and pray but whatever we do has to go beyond the standard mold. It has to be done through Christ and in the power of His Spirit to be truly affective.
   May we be filled once again with the joy and urgency we experienced at our salvation knowing we can be the salt and light to others as He would want us to.

Matthew 5: v. 13 "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?"... v. 14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."
 

Monday, May 13, 2019

The Unconditonal Heart of A Mother

   It's the day after "Mother's Day." I'm sure most mothers experienced joy and the company of their children or flowers, etc. sent if the distance perhaps kept them apart.
   For some mothers yesterday or any day might be a tough one. They are the mothers who may be struggling with a child with addiction, mental illness or just has walked away from family values and faith in God. It's in times like this that mothers with courage and perseverance show what unconditional love truly is.
   They feel their children's pain when they experience disappointment, struggles and also when they have made bad choices.
   She's one that would trade places during those hard times and wishes she could shield them. But it's also the same mother that knows she can't even if she could when those trials are the only thing that might save them too.
   The mother who after giving the wayward one all the loving advice she can also has to step back and watch as her child struggles to get out the pit he has dug for himself. She cries to God daily with her pain and tears for that child.
   While everyone else has written them off or when she hears someone say, "He'll never change", she refuses to give up and waves her battle flag higher.
   Though this child has grown into adulthood and the life he has chosen has taken its' toil, she still fights with faith, prayers and tears to replace the story he is writing for his life.
   And while others see a defeated and washed up individual, she sees with her heart the child she carried as a baby, the child walking with his hand in hers and she sees the smile when he presents his first drawn picture or something he made just for her in school.
   These memories don't fade, they aren't written away or washed up in her heart or vision. They are seared deep within and they are surrounded with hope.
   She waits to finish writing her child's story with true victory that says, "Happy Mother's Day" every day.

3 John 1: v.4 KJV  "..I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."