Dress Appropriately

Have you ever been inappropriately dressed for an event or specific occasion? Were you asked to leave because you were inappropriately dressed? If not, did you feel embarrassed? Did you decide to leave early? Have you asked if you are appropriately dressed for eternity?

Being dressed appropriately is important for some occasions. There are black tie and evening gown events. There are casual dress events. And there are casual events. Even of them has a different standard for dress. At some of them, you will not be allowed in if you are not appropriately dressed.

In Jesus’s parable about the king who invited people to his son’s wedding banquet, there was someone inappropriately dressed. Jesus said this parable was like the kingdom of heaven. The one who was inappropriately dressed was bound and thrown out. What is Jesus talking about? We must remember that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) He also said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Jesus is not talking about clothes. He is talking about being clothed in Him. Jesus was not politically correct; He spoke God’s truth. If He had been politically correct or wanted to be popular with the leadership, He would have bowed to their pressure. Unfortunately, there are many today who do not want to listen to Jesus and may find themselves being turned away. Our hearts should break for them. We should pray that God softens their hearts and turns them to Jesus.

I pray we all are clothed with Jesus. I pray we accept Him as Lord and Savior, and we listen to His truth. I pray each one of us will pray for the lost and misguided souls, that God will soften their hearts and draw them to Jesus. Clothe yourself with Jesus. Accept Jesus as Lord. Accept Jesus as Savior. Pray for the lost and misguided. Ask God to draw them to him.

Matthew 22:11-12 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.”

Important Invitation

What is your reaction when you receive an invitation in the mail? Is your first reaction, “Oh no! Something else to take up my time”? Does it matter if it is the most important event you will ever attend? How do you feel when people accept your invitation but don’t show up?

Depending on the size of our families and our friend group, we may receive several invitations throughout the year. Sometimes, we simply want to reject the invitation. With all we have to do we just don’t have time for one more thing. But we may go so we do not disappoint them.

Jesus tells the parable about a king who invites all the “right” people to his son’s wedding banquet. When he sends his servants out to tell the invitees it’s time for the banquet, they decline to attend. This is arguably the biggest event they would attend in their entire lives, but they decline. They make an excuse that they have something more important to do or they are simply too tired. Whatever the excuse they do not go to the banquet.

Are we doing the same thing? Jesus invites us to follow Him. His invitation is to join Him at His banquet. We can attend “mini banquets” along the way to the final banquet. Unfortunately, too many people decline to attend. We can experience a foretaste of His final banquet each time we participate in Holy Communion. Yet, many will find an excuse for not participating with Him. The invitation is renewed each day. Jesus never rescinds His invitation. We can accept the most important invitation we will ever receive. Will we?

I pray we all know that Jesus has invited us to join Him? I pray we understand the importance of His invitation. I pray each one of us will accept Jesus’s invitation and participate in the “mini banquets” as we proceed toward the final banquet. Jesus has invited you. Accept Jesus’s invitation. Know that Jesus’s invitation is the most important one you will receive.

Matthew 22:1-3 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.”

A Better Life

What do you think about? What occupies a significant part of your time? Is it the tasks at your job? Is it the wellbeing of your children? Is it wondering how you will pay the bills this month? Do you allow thoughts of this world to overcome your ability to think about God?

We have many things on our minds. If you are like me, your brain never shuts down. Honestly, I must read what I call a brain candy book for a bit when I go to bed so I can go to sleep. Otherwise, my brain continues to think about all that didn’t get done that day or what’s going to happen next.

The Apostle Paul tells us what we should be thinking about. Take a look at his list. We are to think about what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellence, and worthy of praise. Paul is telling us to focus on God. Jesus is truth. He is honorable. God is just. Jesus is pure, and we can be, too. Focus on what pleases God. Do those things that God has placed before so you will be the faithful servant. Whatever you are doing, do it for God. Praise God and seek to do his will.

Folks, it sounds like a tall task, and it is. However, we can do it. We start by taking the first step. After that, we take the next step. We work at following Paul’s advice to focus ourselves on Jesus Christ and God the Father by taking one step at a time. As we take those steps, we will notice our fear, anxiety, worry, and frustration will dissipate. It won’t happen all at once. But if we start now, we will be able to look back five years from now and see a significant difference in how we are living our lives and our mental health.

I pray we all recognize what is taking the preponderance of our time. I pray we choose to focus our attention on Jesus. I pray each one of us will begin taking steps to better our lives in Christ. Recognize what thoughts take up most of your time. Choose to focus on Jesus. Take steps to better your life.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Experience God’s Peace

What are you anxious about? What has you worried? Is it your job? Is it your children? Is it your parents? Are you worried about your friends? Do you feel overwhelmed with the tasks you have on your to-do list? Would you like to experience peace? Do you know you can?

Anxiousness seems to have consumed our lives. We worry about our children, parents, and jobs. We have a task list longer that stretches from the floor to the ceiling. It seems as though we will never catch up and have time to rest and relax. So, we are constantly on edge.

The Apostle Paul tells the church in Philippi not to be anxious. That is easier said than done when there are many things weighing on our minds. But Paul doesn’t simply tell them not to be anxious, he gives them the means to eliminate their anxiousness. He says to be in prayer and to thank God. He says to make all our requests to him. The result is peace that comes from God. In fact, that peace goes beyond our understanding and it will guard our hearts.

Let’s make no mistake about it. We cannot pray once today and assume all our worries will go away and peace will settle on us. We must pray throughout the day and pray every day. In our prayers we must build our relationship with God, we must build our trust in him. Just as we do not inherently trust someone we do not know, we will not fully trust God until we get to know him better. The more we get to know God, the more we experience him working in our lives, the more we will trust him. As we trust him and lay everything at the feet of Jesus, our anxiousness dissipates and peace overtakes us. That is the peace of God that goes beyond understanding.

I pray we all spend time in prayer to build our relationship with God. I pray we make our requests to God with thanksgiving. I pray each one of will experience the peace of God that goes beyond understanding. Spend time in prayer. Build your relationship with God. Thank God for everything. Make your requests to God. Experience God’s peace.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice in the Lord

What happens when you rejoice? Are you more generous? Are you kinder toward others? Do you feel better about how things are going in your life? Does rejoicing only occur when something good has happened? Or are you rejoicing regularly?

We often associate rejoicing with celebrating. When we are celebrating, we are certainly rejoicing. But celebrating is not the only time for us to rejoice. We can rejoice every day. We have reasons to rejoice every day. Perhaps we simply haven’t thought about it.

First, let’s define rejoice. It means to make glad or to take delight. Too often we only thing about being glad or happy. If we are not happy, we are not rejoicing. But that only accounts for half of the definition. The other half is to take delight. We are to delight in God and what he has done for us. Paul says he delights in the law of God (Romans 7:22).

Now, let’s define delight. It means a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment, joy, or rapture. We know that pleasure and joy feed directly into our rejoicing. But rapture? That’s a word we don’t use often. We associate it with the end of time or Jesus’ return. Yet, rapture is something we can experience now. We do so by delighting in God’s law, in Jesus’ commands, by following Jesus’s instructions. As we serve others and meditate on God’s Word, we can be filled with delight and rejoice every day. Give it try for a couple weeks. See if you don’t experience a different outlook on life and rejoice.

I pray we all understand what it means to rejoice. I pray we delight in God’s Word and his commands. I pray each one of us meditate on God’s Word and are filled with joy. Delight in God’s Word. Read God’s Word. Meditate on God’s Word. Be filled with joy. Rejoice in the Lord.

Philippians 4:4-5 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

Be of the Same Mind

Are you an encourager? Do you urge your coworkers to work toward the same goal? Are you of the same mind, being in agreement of what needs to be done? Are you seeking to complete the goal as a unified team? Are you doing the work to spread the gospel, to tell others about Jesus?

We all need encouragement. Therefore, we all should encourage one another. We are to be unified in Jesus working toward the same goal, which is to spread the gospel. The disagreement may occur when we discuss the mode in which we spread the gospel.

Some may believe spreading the gospel is done by passing out pamphlets, talking to people, and inviting them to worship services. Others may believe it entails serving the community by serving meals, offering clothing to the homeless, and mentoring school kids. Still others may believe it means treating everyone they meet like children of God, being a cheerful person, and seeking justice for the oppressed. Though we may think this means we are of a different mind, we are not, if we are all seeking to spread the good news of Jesus.

The Apostle Paul encourages the workers in Philippi to be of the same mind in the Lord. Being of the same mind, seeking to be like Jesus, does not mean spreading the gospel in the same way. Jesus used multiple methods including teaching, preaching, miracles, prayer, and comforting others. We, too, can spread the gospel in many ways while being of the same mind. May we encourage one another to use the gifts we have received from the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel with the same goal in mind—bring people to Jesus.

I pray we all are of the same mind. I pray we seek to spread the good news about Jesus. I pray each one of us will use the gifts we have been given by the Holy Spirit to bring people to Jesus. Be of the same mind. Have the same goal. Spread the gospel. Use your gifts. Bring people to Jesus.

Philippians 4:2-3 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.

Perfect Timing

Are you impatient? Do you hate to wait? Do you want things to happen immediately? Has your impatience gotten you into trouble? Have you ever wished you had just waited a while longer? If you had to do it over again, would you wait? Have you learned to have more patience?

Patience can be hard. I remember a specific case of needing patience. Our mission team missed a flight in Madrid, Spain by just a couple minutes. We had to wait a couple hours to get all our luggage … along with waiting on several other things. Though frustrating, we laugh at it now.

The Israelites were impatient. Moses had gone up the mountain and remained there for several days. Rather than continuing to wait for Moses to return, the Israelites asked Aaron to make them gods. Rather than trying to convince them to wait a little longer, Aaron went along with the crowd. He tells them what to bring him so he can make them gods. Aaron was the second in command and crumbled under pressure.

We can be impatient, desiring God to fix a situation for us. Rather than waiting, we take matters into our own hands. We do what we think is right, which may not be in line with God’s plan. Patiently waiting for God to act on our behalf can be a challenge. In our culture of instant gratification, we want it fixed now, we want answers now. One thing we should remember as we wait is God’s timing is always perfect.

I pray we all choose to wait patiently for God. I pray we ask God to move in every situation. I pray each one of us remember that God’s timing is perfect and forgo our desire for instant gratification. Wait patiently for God. Ask God into every situation. God’s timing is perfect.

Exodus 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Living Life

What are the priorities of your life? Do you prioritize your family, your job, or your friends? Are there material things that are high on your priority list? How much do these priorities affect how you live your life? Are they the driving force? Or is it something else?

We allow many things to hit our priority list. Some of them are right at the top. We may even experience a conflict amongst the top few priorities. One is at the top one day and another the next. We can wrap our entire lives up in negotiating various priorities.

John tells us that our life is in Jesus. It is only by being in Him that we truly live. Living in Jesus is a relationship. We build our relationship, growing closer to Him by spending time in prayer, seeking to know Him more, seeking to follow His will, giving up our personal preferences, and allowing Him to change us into the person we were meant to be.

Can we live our lives without Him? Sure. But that life becomes meaningless. We have no positive impact on the world. We end up being forgotten after we are gone. We do not have a lasting legacy that carries on beyond our short time spent on this earth. Worse yet, we do not have eternal life spent with God.

God has given us eternal life. How will we respond? Our response should be to live our lives in Jesus. We should acknowledge that He is the reason we have life. We should seek to grow our relationship with Him. 

I pray we all make Jesus our number one priority. I pray we live our lives in Him. I pray each one of us will strive to build our relationship with Jesus and allow Him to guide us in everything we do. Make Jesus your number one priority. Live in Jesus. Build your relationship with Jesus. Allow Jesus to guide you.

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Cornerstone

Are you good at deciphering brain twisters? Do you like solving puzzles? Are you a good detective, discovering bits of evidence and piecing them together? Do you look for symbols? Are you willing to do a little research, a little digging to better understand God’s plan?

Deciphering brain twisters can be a challenge and fun. Solving puzzles are entertaining … and perhaps a little time consuming. Collecting evidence and piecing it together can be exhilarating. Some people enjoy looking for symbols or signs that indicate something special.

God provided clues to his plan in the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. He provided signs to look for. Jesus quoted some of them. One of them He quoted was Psalm 118:22-23. Jesus was stating that He was the fulfilment of the prophecy. He is the cornerstone. But what does that mean? The cornerstone is the first stone placed and the rest of the building is built based on it. The cornerstone had to be perfect for the building to be built well.

Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s plan and the church. Each of us are the stones that make up the rest of the church. In God’s plan, we are all placed in the right place based on our relation to the cornerstone. We each fit in the spot God designed for us to be. We may not always think we are where we are supposed to be … and we may not be there yet. But God continues to work out his plan to put us where he wants us. We simply must be willing to follow his plan.

I pray we all know Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s plan and the church. I pray we know we are stones that make up the church. I pray each one of us is willing to follow God’s plan and be placed where he wants us. Jesus is the cornerstone. We are the church. Be willing to follow God’s plan.

Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: 

‘The stone that the builders rejected 

has become the cornerstone; 

this was the Lord’s doing, 

and it is amazing in our eyes’?”

Honor Jesus

Who do you respect? Anyone? Do you think you are above everyone else? Do you have a high and mighty attitude? What is your vision of the future? Have you planned out the steps you need to climb to move up the cultural ladder? Are you seeking to undermine someone to make that climb?

Respect. Something we all want. Unfortunately, we do not give it to others as we should. We often think of ourselves as being better than others. Maybe because of our education level, which means less and less each day. Our vision of success will ultimately lead to our downfall.

Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who planted a vineyard and hired tenants to tend to it. The landowner sent servants to collect what was due him at harvest time. Though he made multiple attempts, the tenants beat, killed, and stoned his servants. Finally, he sent his son, thinking they would respect him. No, tenants decided to kill the heir, thinking they would inherit the land. When Jesus asked the listeners what they thought landowner would do, they responded by saying the landowner would kill the tenants and find new ones.

This parable was told to be an alarm sounding to the Jews. However, it only further angered the Jewish leadership, causing them to want to kill Jesus even more. We can be just like those Jewish leaders. We have been given the opportunity to respect the Son. We are given each day as a gift to honor and worship Him. Still, we often turn our attention to climbing the status ladder of our culture rather than honoring Jesus. It’s all about choices. We can choose Jesus or we can choose the world. We don’t get to have them both.

I pray we all meditate on the parable of the landowner. I pray we see that Jesus is speaking to us as much as He was the Jews. I pray each one of us will choose to honor Jesus every day of our lives. Meditate on God’s Word. See how Jesus is speaking to you. Honor Jesus every day.

Matthew 21:37-38 Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’”