Submit to More

Do you get upset when you see people who are not followers of Christ reap rewards in this life? Do you ask why you are not receiving rewards? Do you wonder if God is paying attention? Do you ask God why?

We see people who are not followers of Christ become rich and famous. We know people personally who reject God but become wealthy. If we are honest with ourselves, it sticks in our craw. We think it is unfair.

Yet Jesus promised that we would be rewarded. In fact, He stated those of us who have will be given more. What was He talking about? Many of us do see that we are given more. Might I suggest we open our eyes, ears, and mind.

When Jesus made this promise, He was not promising us that we would be rich and famous in human terms. No, He was telling us that as we submitted to God, and began listening for him to speak to us, we would start hearing his small quiet whisper more and more in our lives. We would be granted more insight into how God is working in our lives and the lives of those around us.

In other words, we would be granted a deeper spiritual understanding. This deeper understanding would lead to us relying more on God. The more we rely on God the more he works in our lives. Blessings come in abundance, even if not financially.

I pray we all submit to God. I pray we seek to hear his small quiet whispers. I pray each one of us will receive a deeper spiritual understanding and blessings from God. Open your eyes. Open your ears. Open your mind. See God working in your life. Go deeper in your understanding of God.

Matthew 25:29 “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

Given Talents

Have you ever been given a large sum of money? Did it change your life? Have you been put in charge of a large sum of money for business? Did it make you nervous? Did you feel like you had a huge responsibility? Do you know you have been given a lot already?

If we move up into management level, we gain more responsibility. The higher we go the more responsibility we are given. Depending on the company, we may be put in charge of a very large amount of money or the responsibility to make money for the company.

Jesus tells the parable of a man giving his slave or servants extremely large sums of money, making them responsible for it. In fact, a talent was the weight a typical soldier could carry. In today’s money, each talent would be about $800,000 in gold. The one who received five talents would have been given the responsibility for $4,000,000! Can you imagine?!

The first two servants did a good job. In fact, they doubled the money they were given. The third servant did not do so well. He simply buried it for safe keeping, which was a common way to keep your valuables safe. He did ensure he did not lose it. But he did not make any more money with what he was given.

We have been given quite a lot by God. Not necessarily money. We have been given talents, gifts, and grace. God expects us to do something with the blessings he has blessed us with. We can use our talents to do work for God, help bring people into his kingdom. We can use our talents to educate people on God’s Word. We can use them to serve others in our community. Whatever our talents are, God wants us to use them for him.

I pray we all use our talents to serve God. I pray we give thanks to God for the talents he has blessed us with. I pray each one of us will help build God’s kingdom, educate others, and serve our community. Thank God for his blessings. Use your talents for him. Bring others into the kingdom.

Matthew 25:14-15 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.”

Know Your Future

Are you looking for hope? Do you yearn for a guarantee? Would you like to know what the future holds for you? Do you long to know your destiny? Do you want to who can guarantee your future? Do you know that He already has?

Wishing to know the future is nothing new to us. We often wish we knew. We want to know if we will meet the right mate. We want to know if we will land the perfect job. We want to know if we will become rich and famous, or if we will be just another average person.

Wanting to know the future is not all bad. However, we cannot know specifics about our future here on earth. We don’t have a crystal ball that can tell us exactly what will happen. Though we can foresee possibilities based on the talents we have been blessed with by God and through our hard work. Yet, the unexpected still happens.

But there is one future we can know with certainty. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can be assured we will obtain salvation. We can know that regardless of whether we live until He returns, or we pass from this life beforehand, we know our destiny, which is to spend eternity with Him.

There is comfort in knowing the future. Knowing the future relieves us of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. It also allows us to live our lives at a slower pace and take things as they come. We live with confidence that we will overcome, regardless of what is thrown at us, because we know the battle has already been won.

I pray we all accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. I pray we know our future with certainty. I pray each one of us will live a fearless life at a slower pace in the comfort of knowing. Accept Jesus as your Savior. Make Jesus your Lord. Live your life without fear. Know your future.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.

Thief in the Night

Do you like to be surprised? Does it depend on what the surprise is? Do you like unexpected bad things? Are you happy when an unexpected, good thing happens? Are you on the lookout for surprises? Are you ready for the biggest surprise ever?

Surprises can be fun, or they can be downright horrible. Having a vehicle breakdown on the interstate is frustrating and can be scary. Getting an unexpected bad diagnosis from your doctor can be a shock and terrifying. Being surprised by bad news causes a range of emotions.

On the other hand, being surprised with good news can be exhilarating. Winning an award can lift our spirits. Receiving an unexpected pay raise is a joyous occasion. Being surprised by an unexpected visit from your child who lives far away, or an old friend makes us happy. Good surprises are welcome and can boost our energy level for a few days.

There is one surprise coming that isn’t a surprise, but it will come unexpectedly. Jesus will return, but we don’t know when. A variety of people have tried to predict His return. Predictions have happened for hundreds of years, and yet, He has not returned yet. The truth is, we know not the day nor hour He will return (Matthew 24:36, 25:13, Mark 13:32).

We are told to be ready every moment of every day for His return. That means we are to live according to God’s commands. It means to expect the unexpected. There is no need to live in fear of that day so long as we are following Him and living as He as instructed us. It is also the primary reason for us to tell others about Him and convince them to follow Him, too.

I pray we all live according to God’s commands. I pray we live as though Jesus will return today. I pray each one of us will live as He instructed us and tell others the good news about Him. Expect the unexpected. Be ready for Jesus’ return. Tell others about Him. Live as He instructed.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Bow to the Master

Are you head-strong and bent on being your own boss? Or will you work for someone else, and do as they instruct you to do? Are you seeking to be independent and not need assistance from anyone else? Or are you willing to accept the help of someone who can provide all you need?

We can be very head-strong, especially when we are young. We go out into the world thinking we are in control, or we believe we can be in control if given half a chance. It seems it is not until we have fallen flat on our faces a few times that we realize we are not in control.

The wiser we become, the more we realize there is someone far bigger than us who is in control. Our next step to take is to go beyond recognition of that person and submit to him—God. God is the one in control. When we realize that AND submit to him, we discover a new way of living. One that will lead to our success.

Seeing God as our master and the one who will direct us is the proper way of seeing him. Submitting to him and his will is the only way to live a truly successful life. We may never have more money than we can count. We may still go through troubling times. We may experience loss and heartache. But we will live a successful life because God will ensure it.

When we submit to God, we can be sure that his grace, mercy, and love will shower down upon us. We can be certain that God will light the pathway for us to follow, even if it is only one step at a time. The question we must wrestle with is, will we submit to God. It all boils down to whether we want a truly successful life or not.

I pray we all submit to God. I pray we know he is in control and will guide us down the path he desires. I pray each one of us will accept God’s guidance and live a successful life in him. Know that God is in control. Submit to his will. Follow his path for you. Trust God to lead you. Live a successful life.

Psalm 123:2

As the eyes of servants 

look to the hand of their master, 

as the eyes of a maid 

to the hand of her mistress, 

so our eyes look to the Lord our God, 

until he has mercy upon us.

In Need of Rescue

Have you been in dire straits and desperately seeking someone to help you? Have you been in an organization that seemed to be doomed to fall apart? Did someone come to the rescue? Were there a handful of people who pulled the organization out of the gutter?

Being in great need can be extremely stressful and can get to the point of being overwhelming. We may come to the point of thinking there is no need to keep going. We may be on the verge of bankruptcy. We may be about to lose everything we own.

There are cases of organizations that are poorly run and continue to sink. There comes a time when they have no choice but to close. Perhaps there is one last ditch effort that can be made to save the organization. Maybe there is a consultant that can be called in who has the required skills to bring the organization back from the brink of closure.

The Israelites had disobeyed God and he had allowed them to be ruled by a foreign king. They were being mistreated and oppressed. Finally, they cried out to God for help. They were afraid the king was going to annihilate them. He had nine-hundred iron chariots and had been oppressing them for twenty years.

Deborah was ruling the Israelites at that time as their judge. God heard the cry of the Israelites and sent Deborah a message. She was a woman of God who listened to God’s command and called Barak to lead Israel’s army against King Jabin. But she did not merely sit on the judgment seat and send Barak out. No, she went with him onto the battlefield and the Israelites won the day. God freed them from their oppression.

We may find ourselves being oppressed. In fact, in many ways we are being oppressed, even if we do not recognize it. Our spirits have been and continue to be attacked little by little. Our culture continues to whittle away at our belief and faith. Deep down, we wonder if God is still in control. At some point, we must cry out as the Israelites did to have God rescue us from our oppression. Otherwise, we face an enemy we cannot overcome on our own.

I pray we all recognize the oppression we face every day. I pray we cry out to God to rescue us. I pray each one of us hold on to our faith and pray that God will relieve us of our oppression. Believe God can rescue you. Cry out for him to do so. Pray that God move mightily in our culture.

Judges 4:4, 6a At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel…. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you,…”

Fall From Grace

How well do you hold it together? What or who is the reason you can hold it together? What happens when that reason is no longer there for you? Do you fall apart? Do you start going down a bad path? Do you feel like you have been left all alone?

Sometimes we are able to stay on the straight and narrow because there is someone in our life that we aspire to be like. The inspiration the other person provides is enough to help us continue a good path. Then when that person is gone, we fall apart and lose control.

We may stay on a good path as we pursue a goal. We strive for it, putting all our effort into achieving it. Then we accomplish our goal, and we stop doing what got us there. We let out all those pent-up desires we didn’t dare allow ourselves to do while pursuing our goal. The next thing we know we have fallen from grace.

The Israelites had this occur to them on several occasions. In today’s passage, it happened after Ehud died. He was a man of God who was sent on a mission to free the Israelites from fear of the Moabites. He carried out God’s plan and the Israelites continued to follow God until he died. But when he died, they fell apart and started pursuing everything but God.

When our stabilizing force in this life is gone, it can be challenging to continue on a righteous path. There is only one way we can stick with it. We must rely on God to guide us. He has given us his Holy Spirit to be with us through everything we experience and to be our guide when we feel as though we are rudderless. We have the gift of the Spirit the Israelites did not have. We are blessed to have the Spirit of God living within us.

I pray we all seek God, especially when our inspiration on this earth is gone. I pray we listen for the Holy Spirit to speak to us. I pray each one of us will continue the righteous path for our entire lives. Hold onto your inspiration. Make God your inspiration. Listen for his Spirit to guide you.

Judges 4:1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died.

Always Be Prepared

Are you the type of person who likes to be prepared? Or are you more of a handle it on the fly kind of person? Do you ever find yourself ill prepared and wish you were more prepared? Are you prepared for Jesus to return?

Some of us work hard to be prepared. Others are less worried about it. Most of us fall in between the two extremes but will lean more one way than the other. It is all about choice and what we are comfortable with. Or is it?

Jesus tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids to make a single point. We are to be prepared at all times for His return. We do not know when He will return. There is no appointment to put on our calendar. He did not set the date while walking this earth. In fact, He stated that neither He nor the angels in heaven knew when He would return, but only the Father knows (Matthew 24:36).

What does this mean to us? It means we are to be ready today, tomorrow, and every day of our lives. In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, five of them were wise and ready, five of them were foolish and not ready. The bridegroom came and the wise went into the banquet with him. The foolish were locked out.

We do not want to be counted among the foolish. It is far better that we be among the wise. This means being ready to greet Jesus at His return, whenever that may be. Always being prepared is a wise choice.

I pray we all are wise in our preparation. I pray we choose to be prepared for Jesus’ return. I pray each one of us will seek to be prepared each and every day of our lives. Be counted among the wise. Be prepared for Jesus’ return. Commit to becoming like Jesus.

Matthew 25:13 “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Wise or Foolish

Do you like using analogies? Do you like it when someone else uses an analogy? How many analogies do you hear each day? Are some of them cliché? Are some ones you have heard many times? Have you learned anything from the analogies or parables Jesus told?

Analogies can help us understand complicated things. They can help us understand something we otherwise wouldn’t by give us an example of something we know. But there are also times when the analogy is of no more help than if we hadn’t heard it to begin with.

Jesus told many parables about what the kingdom of heaven is like. He used commonly understand analogies to give us a glimpse into what it is like. Some of them are relatively easy to understand and others not so much. One reason we do not always understand the analogies is that we do not understand nor take the time to research first century practices.

The ten bridesmaids or virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom may not make sense to us. But when we take time to understand first century practices, it makes a lot of sense. For first century Jewish weddings, the bride’s parents would pay a dowry. The groom and his parents would count it to verify what was promised was delivered. This process may cause a delay in the bridegroom arriving.

The bridesmaids would wait between the bride and groom’s houses. When the groom came, they would escort him to the bride’s house where he would meet her and take her to his house. The bridesmaids would light the way with torches since this normally occurred after dark. Now that we know this, we understand why there were five wise and five foolish bridesmaids.

We need to strive to be among the wise. To be wise, we need to be prepared for the groom to be on time and to be delayed. In other words, we are to be prepared at all times. Jesus is the groom who will come to take His bride, the church, for the ultimate wedding, eternity spent with Him.

I pray we all are prepared for Jesus to return. I pray we look forward to the day He will come to take His bride home. I pray each one of us seeks to live our lives for Jesus in all that we do. Be wise. Be prepared. Know that Jesus will return. Be ready for His return. Look forward to eternity with Jesus.

Matthew 25:1-2 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.”

Trumpet Call

What is your long-range plan? Where do you see yourself twenty or thirty or forty years from now? What will you be doing? Where will you be? Who will be with you? Will you even be alive? Where will you be when Jesus Christ returns?

If we have been in professional classes or in business, we have been asked to make plans. Some plans are short-term, and some are long-term. But even long-term business plans do not usually go beyond ten years. So how can I ask you to think about forty years down the road?

Those are the terms we should be thinking in as a follower of Christ. Our view should be a long-term view. There will be hiccups, stumbles, setbacks, and troubles in this life. But they are only short-term things we must deal with. The good news is, we do not need to deal with them alone. Jesus promised a helper for us, that is the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17).

When we take the long-term view, we can withstand the short-term interruptions. It takes focus and discipline to maintain a long-term view. We must continually remind ourselves that Jesus will return, and we will be with Him for eternity. Yes, there will be a resurrection. Yet, we will not stay in our old bodies. We do not know what we will be, but we will be like Christ (1 John 3:2).

When Christ returns, no one will miss it. Everyone will hear the command. Everyone will hear the archangel’s call. Everyone will hear God’s trumpet. Everyone will see Christ descend. We cannot fathom how that will be, but God knows. We do not need to understand everything to believe. What we need to do is be ready for His return.

I pray we all take a long-term view. I pray we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us get through the short-term interruptions. I pray each one of us are ready for Christ’s return. Lean on the Holy Spirit. Know there will be a resurrection. Know you won’t miss Christ’s return. Be ready when He does.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.