I'm gonna make it after all

What purpose do we have for this life, if not but to serve God and serve others? I believe the latter is more important the former, since we shall also serve God for eternity.

Today at work, as my thoughts focused again on all the hurt and pain inflicted on me in past and recent times by those who are closest to me, I was reminded of the pain Jesus must have endured throughout His life. Not the physical pain of the crucifixion, but emotional pain as the ones He loved the most turned their backs on Him. He was not always well respected. And I'd wager that even some of those He helped eventually shunned Him. Yet He did not respond with indignation. He did not feel sorry for himself, nor pull Himself away emotionally to keep from being hurt again. He continued to love the people who spat on his face, who treated Him with contempt, or who were just too self-absorbed to realized what was needed of them. And He never demanded what was needed. His love and affection was never conditional. It was always about the other man, never about Him. And in that regard, I still have a long way to go.

Judas is always looked upon as the villain. But really, he was just a man who had a moment of weakness, and put himself before others. Before the Lord. We do that every day. Judas' real fault was that he didn't know how to make things right within himself again. To ask for forgiveness and change for the better. Instead he just gave up, and never made things right. Sadly, many of us do that far too often, too. I hope that I never become one of those people.

J O Y

Philemon 8-9 - Because of the faith of Philemon, Paul knew that, although he had the authority to tell Philemon what he should do, he did not have to, because Philemon was already sound enough to do what was right.

Do I take the initiative to do the right thing because of my faith and love for God, or do I wait until God puts me in a situation where I have my hand placed for me, where the only way to get out if it would be to completely disobey? I should not wait until I have no choice but to do good. I should offer myself when the situation is available, before anyone is given the chance to ask.

Matthew 25:33-46 - Sheep and goats

We are commanded to help others, and help each other. Especially each other, our brothers and sisters. We should not have to wait for God to always say "go." Anytime we see someone with a need, we should do what we can to help. This also includes spiritual needs. "If a brother is caught in sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." Most people will not ask for help until there are no other options. We can not allow our family to get to that place, especially in regard to their relationship with God. In order to be proactive in helping others, we must always be aware of what is going on in their lives. If we focus everything on ourselves, we can not look outward at others. We may not always be able to help, but we must always be prepared and ready to help, or use our resources to find help. it is our responsibility to look out for others, and in turn, they should look out for us. This is not to say that we do nothing to take care of ourselves. But our needs are secondary if they prevent us from serving others. "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor." (Romans 12:10). "Carry each other's burdens and, in this way, you fulfill the Law of Christ."

Let's be alone together

"It is not good for a man to be alone..."

God is to be first in our life. Always. But from the beginning, it was never meant for God to be the only One in our life. God designed it that we would need each other, especially those in the church. We can worship God anywhere. So our physical place in life really only affects others. It decides who we can impact, and who impacts us. So when we reach a point where we are not making a difference where we are, should we remain there, or is it necessary to leave? Should we focus so much on our relationship with others, or is it an unnecessary distraction?

Notes from Tuesday study

"Each branch in Me that does not bear fruit, he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." - John 15:2

Loving each other is a way we can bear fruit. 

Other ideas about fruit: Galatians 5 - Fruit of the Spirit; Matthew 7:16-23 - known by our fruit; Colossians 1:10 - good works are fruit.

If we are producing bad fruit, then part of us is not connected to the vine. We need to correct our problem with the source, and the behavioural problems will fall into line. We can not produce good fruit unless we abide in Jesus.

Sometimes it is necessary for God to take us back to a place we once were, so that we are not hanging on to dead "branches." 

Hebrews 12:10-12 - We will always go through times of testing, but afterward, we are able to produce more fruit.

How are my hobbies, interests and relationships fruitful?

Inspired by the Conestoga Valley CoC service

"Treat others in the same way you want them to treat you." - Luke 6:31

Christianity is pro-active. We are not called to just refrain from doing bad things, but we are to make a point to do good things.

When people treat us poorly, we can ignore them and not retaliate in a negative way. But that is not enough. We must go out of our way to do good even to those people. We must treat them in the same manner that we treat those who do good to us.

Inspired by Chaz's sermon

"But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." - 1 Peter 5:9

When we think about the sufferings of others, we usually think physical things or spiritual persecution. But rarely do we think about struggles with our faith. We often believe that our faltering is an uncommon struggle with those who are strong in their faith. But in actuality, it is usually the most common struggle we go through. None of us are strong enough on our own, yet our pride always fools us into believing it, even if for a little while. We must remember that doubt is not a weakness, but a time for renewal. Because in our questioning we find answers, if we are willing to search for them.

Let my pride fall down

I have many non-Christian friends. I have many lukewarm Christian friends. Yet I have never been zealous in sharing the gospel with them. I pray generally for them, and that I may be a light to them, but there are so many opportunities that I let pass by. Does this make me lukewarm, too? I don't hesitate to recommend music or books or movies to a friend, but when it comes to speaking to them about eternity, I put it off. Maybe it's not apathy on my part. Maybe it's pride. I am afraid they will reject me. yet, is it more important that I keep my good name, or that I risk it all to help one? I'm not a perfect Christian, and many have seen that. But instead of letting that be a hinderance, perhaps it can be a help. People will see my imperfection and realize that we all have faults. I don't like that I am so comfortable. Then I am willing to step out of my comfort zone to do what needs to be done. It is my prayer that I learn to sacrifice my comfort for the sake of others, that I lead others to Christ, not for selfish gain, but because I love them, and I love Him.

Action!

James 4:7-10 - These verses are full of verbs: submit... resist... draw... cleanse... purify... humble yourselves. To truly live a life that God wants, we must be people of action. The desire to be good is not enough. Temptation will always be there, and we must be active in squelching the desire to give in. We are inherently sinful, and it doesn't taken any effort to give in to our sinful nature. It is when we desire to go against the worldly view that we must work hard. We must be people of action, and recognize that the strength that is necessary can come only from God.

Submit - allow God to take control, and show us the way to go. We do not have the power to resist temptation, yet He does. Thus He is the only one who knows the right way to go about it, and we learn by following Him.

Resist - recognize temptation. We do not just find ourselves in sin, there is always a time of temptation, yet many of us do not recognize it. Satan's techniques rarely change. if he can get us to sin one time, he will continue to tempt us in the same way, until we learn to resist his advances. If we keep our eyes focused on God, we will be able to see when Satan is tring to trick us. only by focusing on God can we resist the devil.

Draw - we must actively work to be close to God. It is not enough to think of how we want to be Christ-like. Daily we msut work to draw near to Him and learn more about Him so that we can live by His nature.

Cleanse, Purify - when we reist temptation and draw closer to God, He will cleanse us and make us pure, so that there will be no sin found in us.

Humble yourselves - none of this is possible if we are proud people. We must become humble in order to accept God's direction. Satan loves our pride, because it disillusions us into believing we are stronger than we are, and Satan uses those weaknesses time and time again. We must submit to God in complete humility, so that we do not give in in any way, but are always able to stand.

Suffering Savior

Much emphasis is put on how much Jesus suffered on the cross (and for good reason). But there is not much attention given to his emotional pain, both on the road to the cross and while he was hanging. The walk to the hill, he had to carry his own cross, while guards whipped him and harassed him. Surely he passed bystanders whom he had taught or healed. Many were probably confused, or hurt, or perhaps even angry. Maybe they thought he had deceived them. Maybe they were upset he didn't fight. When he became too weak to carry his cross, many may have thought about how he had the ower to heal even raise people from the dead, but now he could barely stand. His time on the cross was equally humiliating, as people stood around to watch the spectacle. How hard it must have been to be filled with such love for these people, and realize they had no idea what was happening, to them it was just a show.

Am I willing to humble myself to do the work of God, knowing that the world won't understand, that to them I may seem strange? Do I value their life and their salvation more than I value my name and reputation?

Righteous faith

Abraham was credited as a man of great faith (Hebrews 11:11-12, 17-19; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6-9). Yet he was not a man of perfect faith. After God called him to leave his country and go to the place God chose for him to go, at least twice he took matters into his own hands by saying that Sarah was his sister, instead of trusting God to keep him safe (Genesis 12:10-20, 20:1-18). And instead of trusting God to allow Sarah to have a child, Abraham listened to Sarah and had a child with her maidservant, Hagar. Yet God did not hold these misgivings against him. We will never live perfectly and trust perfectly in God. But, like Abraham, we can be sure that our focus is constantly on Him, and we too can be credited as ones of great faith.

Cain's downfall

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." - Genesis 4:7

Cain's biggest problem was not that he did not present an offering that pleased God, but that he allowed this rejection of his actions to cause him to become downhearted, instead of using it as a wake up call to change his ways. Cain could have repented, and found favor with God. Instead, he let his anger take over. Yet God did not give up on him. Even though Cain turned his back on God, God promised to grant him protection (Genesis 4:15). This is a great demonstration of God's love for all of us, even those who reject Him and refuse to acknowledge who He is.

Inspired by Steve's sermon

In Matthew 14, Jesus was saddened by the news of John's beheading. he tried to go off into a solitary place to mourn and to be alone. But instead of that happening, the crowds followed Him. Instead of sending them away, He paid no mind to His desires, but only of the desires of those who came to Him.

Matthew 14:29-30 - Peter's focus was solely on Jesus, and because of this, he was able to walk on the water. But then he noticed the winds and the waves - his circumstances. By shifting some of his focus to these things, his sights were taken off of Jesus, and that is when he began to sink. but when he cries out for help, immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him.

Hebrews 12:1-2 - We can overcome trials when our focus is on Jesus (Proverbs 3:5)

Matthew 14:29 - Peter stepped out of the boat. Are we - am I - willing to defy the odds and do what goes against logic?

1. Peter went against popular opinion - Are we more influenced by the world, the church, friends, family, than we are Jesus?

2. Peter defied modern wisdom - Are we too analytical? Do we rely more on logic? (Gideon, Joshua @ Jericho)

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

3. Peter stepped out of the boat, into the storm - He left what was safe, went into the midst of their problems. 

Jesus left the comforts of heaven into the turmoil of this world so that God's will can be done.

Peter asked, received and acted. Often we ask for God to work, and when He shows us His will, we make all sorts of excuses as to why we can't do them. Things didn't work out perfectly for Peter. But the worked out. And he walked on water.