Perfection is Coming

Are you experiencing suffering? Are you going through a difficult time? Are there health issues you are battling? Do you like suffering? Are you only happy when you are facing a mountain to climb? Would you like for things to be easier? Do you know of the glory that is come?

Suffering happens in this world. If we simply open our eyes and look around us, we will see it. We see the homeless trying to melt into the shadows. We see people battling diseases. We see the spiritual effects of people turning away from God.

This world is decaying. Sure, we can enjoy the new growth that comes in the spring. We see trees and flowers blooming. They promise a newness or renewal of life. But in the end, we know the overall situation is one of decay. Everything grows old and dies. The Apostle Paul compares our earthly bodies to seeds that must die to become what we are destined to be, which is a heavenly body (1 Corinthians 15:35-58).

As we suffer through various situations in this life, we must remember that everything on this earth is temporary. We will all be transformed into a perfect body, one without sin. We will be glorified in the same way Jesus is glorified. Even the best possible life on this earth does not compare to the glory we will experience when we die. This is not to say we should seek death, but neither should we fear it. Death has no hold over us, just as it had no hold over Jesus.

Therefore, as we suffer while on this earth, we must hold on to the promise of eternal life. The promise of glory forever is the hope we have, and it can carry us through the toughest of times. God has promised. We can count on his promise to come to fruition. Glory is awaiting us.

I pray we all trust in God’s promises. I pray we do not allow sufferings in this life to overcome us. I pray each one of us know we will be glorified and hold on to that hope. God has promised. Trust his promises. Hold on to God’s promises when suffering. You will be glorified. Perfection is coming.

Romans 8:18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.

God Knows

Do you allow others to get to know you? Are you an open book? Are you reserved and hesitant about opening up to others? Are there some parts of your life you never reveal to someone else? Do you know God knows everything there is to know about you?

We all know someone who tells whoever they meet everything that is going on in their life. We may even say they expose far too much of their life, more than we want to know. They are an open book that we wish was closed or not quite so open.

We also know people who keep to themselves. They do not reveal much about themselves. Perhaps to the point that we wonder what they are hiding. They may open up and begin to reveal things about themselves after they get to know us. We may fall into one or the other of these descriptions. Yet, even the person who is considered to be an open book is not as well known by someone else as they are by God.

We may acknowledge intellectually that God knows us inside and out. But I wonder if we fully understand that. God knows our thoughts. He knows what we do not say. He knows why we choose to say some things and not others. He knows why we do some things and not others. In other words, he knows our motives. God even knows what we are going to do or say before we do. But this does not eliminate our freewill. It simply demonstrates the awesomeness and power of God.

We cannot hide from God, even if we hide from other people. So, what are we to do that? We are to be honest with God and ourselves. We are to confess our shortcomings to God and ask him to help us correct them. We are to recognize and give him the glory for how awesome he is.

I pray we all recognize the awesomeness of God. I pray we know that he knows everything there is to know about us. I pray each one of us will give God the glory he deserves to receive. God knows you. He knows your thoughts. He knows your actions. Confess to God. Give God the glory.

Psalm 139:1-2

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; 

you discern my thoughts from far away.

Commemorate

Are there places that remain very special for you long after you were first there? Do you have fond memories of what happened in that place? Is it a place you revisit from time-to-time? Did you put a memorial there to commemorate what happened?

We all have a place or two that are very special to us. That place may be where you and your spouse were engaged. It may be where you were when you first met your spouse. It may be where you were when your child had their first haircut, or made their first basket, or caught their first fish.

We can remember, even picture them in our mind’s eye, the exact spot where something special happened. We may remember the weather conditions of that moment. Those special memories never seem to leave us, even if we do not remember them every day.

Jacob did not want to forget his experience with God. He had laid down with his head on a rock and dreamt of a ladder with angels going up and down it. He heard a promise from God shortly after the dream. He took the rock he had lain his head on and placed it as a pillar to commemorate his encounter. He even renamed the place to Bethel, which means house of God.

We may not be able to rename places quite as easily as Jacob did, but we can remember those special places. One special time and place to remember is our baptism. Another is the baptism of our children. Perhaps another is a time and place we heard God speaking an important message to us. He still speaks to us. I have heard him myself. He just doesn’t speak to us in a booming voice like he did to Moses from the burning bush.

I pray we all remember those special places in which we encounter God. I pray we listen attentively for God to speak to us. I pray each one of us will commemorate special places. Listen for God to speak. Be always attentive. Commemorate those special encounters. Remember everything about them.

Genesis 28:18-19 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

God’s Messages

Have you ever received a special message? Was it an unexpected message? Was the message overwhelming? What did you do with the message? Did you act on it? Did you ignore it? What would you do if you received an overwhelming message from God?

Sometimes we receive unexpected messages. Sometimes those messages are very good. In fact, they may sound too good to be true. We may not want to believe them so we will not be disappointed when they do not come true. Then we are amazed when they do.

Jacob received a message from God that sounded too good to be true. He was receiving a message he may have had trouble believing. However, he had just had a dream of a ladder reaching to heaven with angels going up and down it. So, his ability to believe what God was telling him was likely very high.

Jacob is told that he will be given the land in which he is sleeping. He is told that his offspring will be like the dust of the earth. That means it would not only be numerous, but his offspring would spread across the earth. Being followers of Christ, we become part of Jacobs offspring. As Paul states in Romans 11:17-24, we are grafted into Israel, God’s chosen people, because of Jesus Christ.

God gives us messages as well. Sometimes they come in odd ways. They may come through a dream. They may come from someone else. They may come in a small, quiet voice. Our lesson to learn is to listen and believe God’s messages, just as Jacob did. When we learn to listen for his messages, we will find that God speaks more often than we ever knew.

I pray we all believe that God gives us messages today. I pray we learn the lesson of Jacob. I pray each one of us listen for God’s messages and learn to hear him more often. God gives us messages today. Believe God’s messages. Listen for God’s messages.

Genesis 28:13-14 And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.”

Grow to Fruit Bearing

Do you like to eat? Do you like fruit and vegetables? Have you ever thought how miraculous it is that a tiny seed grows into a plant, and it produces fruit? Are you growing and producing fruit?

We find seeds of all manner of sizes and shapes. Some are flat and oval shaped. Some are hard and teardrop shaped. They come in a variety of colors. And all sprout into plants.

You know…how well a seed grows depends on a lot of things, not the least of which is the type of soil it is planted in. But even some of the harshest soil can be cultivated so that plants will grow. It is a matter of spending time, energy, and adding the right nutrients to it. I have seen trees and bushes growing out of the side of a rocky cliff.

Jesus says God is constantly spreading seed to grow in human hearts. Some hearts are hard and as harsh as a desert. Others are as soft as a sponge. Human hearts can be anywhere between. Perhaps that is why Jesus included four different possibilities in His parable.

For those of us who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior, we fall in the last category—the good soil that will produce fruit. It is not a matter of if we will, but a matter of how much we produce. How can we produce more?

To produce more fruit, we need the right nutrients. That includes reading God’s Word, participating in Bible studies, attending worship, and joining fellowship discussions about God. All these nutrients are available to us. Our decision is to receive them or reject them.

I pray we all know we are good soil. I pray we desire to produce more fruit. I pray each one of us will receive the nutrients available to us to produce more fruit. Know that you will produce fruit. Receive the proper nutrients. Choose to participate in worship. Choose to study God’s Word.

Matthew 13:23 “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Sow God’s Word

Do you know how to grow things? Do you have a garden? Do you have flowers or potted plants that you care for? Are you a farmer or have you worked for a farmer? Do you understand the analogies, the parables Jesus speaks concerning farming?

We grow a wide variety of plants. Some of us have potted plants and flowers in or outside our homes. Some of us have gardens, growing a variety of vegetables. Still others are farmers who plant large fields of grain and harvest them for the rest of us.

If we spend much time growing things, we know the environment can play a significant role in how well things grow. The composition of the soil plays key part. Hard clay and sand do not grow much. On the other hand, dark, rich, fertile soil provides the food plants need to grow. Besides the soil, we can add nutrients to help things grow. They come in a variety of compositions. Depending on our soil, we can mix the right amount of different nutrients to help things grow. And, of course, plants need water. For potted plants and even gardens, we can water them when there is a shortage of rain. In some places, farmers use irrigation to water fields.

When Jesus told the parable of the sower, there was not much the average farmer could do to add nutrients. They could add sheep or cattle manure, but they didn’t have the vast array of nutrients and technological understanding of the soil we have today. Neither could they control the rain any more than we can today. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the ability to irrigate their land as easily as we have today. So, when Jesus speaks of the different types of soils, they knew the soil made a big difference for how things grow.

We need to prepare our hearts to be like the good soil to receive God’s Word. We also need to recognize the type of heart someone else has so we can determine if they are ready to accept God’s Word. If they do not, we can help prepare them for it.

I pray we all evaluate our hearts. I pray we take time to evaluate the hearts of others. I pray each one of us will prepare hearts for the Word of God and plant seeds in the hearts that are ready to receive it. Prepare your heart. Help someone else prepare their heart. Plant the seeds of God’s Word. Help those seeds grow.

Matthew 13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.”

Death or Life

Do you know where you live? Do you live in the here and now? Do you live in the past? Do you live in the future? Do you live for fleshly desires and pleasures? Do you live for spiritual satisfaction and completeness?

We all live someplace. I’m not talking about a place, but a mental state. True, the physical place is part of that, but it is driven by our mental state. Mentally we are focused on what we can gain in the world or on the spiritual things of God.

Those who are focused on this world strive for improving their status as their peers define it. They focus on moving up in their jobs. They seek the right mate, too often based on their position or physical looks. They also complain quite often when what they are seeking is out of their reach or something doesn’t go their way.

Those who are focused on the spiritual things of God seek God’s desires. They pray that God reveal to them what he would have them do. They desire to serve others as Jesus served. They spend time with God both in prayer and in reading his Word. They have an aura about them, there seems to be an internal peace that cannot be explained. Of course, they know how to explain where it came from—God.

The Apostle Paul tells us our bodies are dead because of sin. Obviously, Paul is not saying we are physically dead yet, but is saying that our bodies will die, they let us down, and we fail because of fleshly desires.

On the other hand, the Spirit is life because of God’s righteousness. The Spirit that lives within us grants us life as well. Therefore, we are to live by the Spirit rather than by our fleshly desires. Unfortunately, none of us can do that perfectly. Thank God for his grace and mercy. Thankfully God forgives us for our shortcomings.

I pray we all choose to live by the Spirit. I pray we realize our bodies are dead. I pray each one of us will spend time with God to discern his will for our lives and follow the path he desires. Know your body is dead. Know the Spirit grants life. Choose the spiritual life. Choose follow God’s path.

Romans 8:9-10 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Free From Condemnation

How would you like to rid yourself of all that guilt you are carrying around? How would you like to dismiss the accusations made against you by others? Would it be nice to be free of the burdens you carry with you each day?

Carrying around the guilt of our past can be a heavy burden. We may regret saying some things we have said to a family member, friend, or co-worker. We may have done something we wish we could take back. We may have thoughts we would like to be rid of forever.

Living with the guilt that comes from bad decisions in our past can weigh heavy on our hearts and minds. Even small things pile up and become a heavy load. Each time we said something we wished we could take back is like putting a rock in a backpack. Some of them are small, some are medium sized, and some are large. But they are all rocks, and the weight continues to get heavier.

When we make bad decisions that have lasting consequences, we carry that weight. Some decisions may impact the rest of our lives. We regret those decisions each time we are reminded of them. That regret may turn to depression. But we can also use it to motivate us.

The Apostle Paul tells the church in Rome there is no condemnation for us if we are in Christ. We no longer live by the rules and laws of this earth, which is death. Our sins are forgiven, and we are set free. As we learn to live more by the Spirit, we become freer. We no longer experience the same regret nor carry the heavy burden, rather we learn the lessons we need to learn and move forward in freedom to do better in the future.

I pray we all choose to live in Christ. I pray we live by the Spirit of God. I pray each one of us know that we are set free when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Be rid of your guilt. Live no longer with regret. Learn the lessons. Live in freedom. Live by the Spirit.

Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Heritage

Do you have a family heritage you live by? Do you plan to leave a heritage behind for your family? What does it mean to you to have a heritage or leave a heritage? Have you considered how long it takes to build a heritage?

Whether we realize it or not, our family has a heritage. Typically, we think of heritage in a positive light. But heritages can be negative as well. If our own heritage is negative, it can take years to reverse it and turn it to a positive heritage.

To leave a positive heritage for our children and grandchildren, we must consciously think about our actions, behavior, and attitude. Heritages are not built on words alone, though words are a good place to start. Yet, those words are empty unless we follow them up with actions, behavior, and attitude.

To build a good heritage takes commitment and discipline. There will be times when it will not be easy. The easy path will be to shortcut, cheat, or otherwise a bad action. We may think of a heritage as a legacy. We may think of it as how people remember us when we are gone. But our heritage is also part of who we are in the here and now. Our reputation is part of it. It is how people think of us day-to-day.

We may tell ourselves we don’t care how others think of us, but we would be lying to ourselves. Now, that does not mean we must worry over it. Yet, most people who say they don’t care are not positive in their actions, behavior, and attitude. They are being self-centered, doing what they want rather than what they should. We can care what others think while not allowing ourselves to worry about it by doing good. We can have a good reputation and leave a positive heritage when we choose God’s way over our selfish way.

I pray we all take time to think about our heritage. I pray we decide to leave a positive heritage. I pray each one of us will take the necessary steps through actions, behavior, and attitude to create a positive heritage. Consider your heritage. Determine to have a positive heritage. Commit yourself. Develop discipline to be positive.

Psalm 119:111-112

Your decrees are my heritage forever; 

they are the joy of my heart. 

I incline my heart to perform your statutes 

forever, to the end.

Foolish Decisions

Have you made foolish decisions in the past? Have you given up something that would turn out to be very valuable later to satisfy a short-term desire? Was it done out of laziness? Was it done because you did not want to wait? How do you feel about it now?

Sometimes we make snap decisions. Far too often they don’t turn out well in the long run. Making decisions in a hurry and with limited information can be extremely costly. On the other hand, we cannot allow ourselves to experience paralysis by analysis.

Esau made a very bad decision. He gave up his birthright for a bowl of stew. We may look at it and say it was silly of him. Couldn’t he have waited long enough to fix a meal? Therein lies the rub. He was hungry. He was tired. He didn’t feel like fixing a meal, and certainly didn’t want to wait. But it is hard to believe he would have starved had he waited another thirty minutes.

We may scoff at Esau, but we sometimes do the very same thing. Personally, I have tossed something on a shelf or in a drawer with the thought that I will put it back where it belongs later. It never seems to happen, and I spend significant amounts of time looking for it the next time I need it.

I know people who will spend their money on something that looks nice in the moment, only to experience it being cheaply made and not lasting but a few months (or less). Had they saved their money and waited until they could buy something of quality, they would be able to keep it for years. Unfortunately, it becomes about the moment, what they want, and having no discipline nor desire to wait.

There are times God wants us to wait. He is teaching us a lesson in patience. Our part is to take a deep breath…and wait. When it is the right time and if it is right for us, we will receive what we desire. This requires faith and patience. God is always teaching us. We merely need to learn.

I pray we all strengthen our faith. I pray we practice patience. I pray each one of us will look for the lessons God is teaching us and learn from him. Don’t allow the moment to overrule the long run. Be wise in your decisions. Be patient. Trust God to provide. Strengthen your faith.

Genesis 25:29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.