Faithfulness

But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Luke 12:31

I want you to think right now of the top five characteristics you want in your close friends. I’ll give you a second to think.

Alright, got them? I can almost guarantee that somewhere on that list is faithfulness.

Maybe you said it differently-loyalty, dependability, steadfastness, trustworthiness, or integrity-but we all want to surround ourselves with people who are faithful.

So faithfulness is a big deal, right? And if we want to be around faithful people, how much more does our God, who is perfect in faithfulness, desire for us to be faithful? Let me spell out for us today five things that often get in the way of us being faithful. Ready?

First, being superficial gets in the way of being faithful. Here’s the deal, the root of faithfulness is faith, but how deep do the roots of your faith go? Is your faith in Jesus superficial, only skin deep? Or has it gone deeper than that, changing who you are deep inside so there is no longer a question of who is your God and for whom you live your life?

Second, fearing the wrong thing can damage our faithfulness. A lot of people are afraid about things in this world. Will I make enough money? Can I afford the house I want? What if I lose my job? What if I’m rejected when I stand up for Christ? Jesus says not to fear for those things because God will meet those needs. Instead, fear God, because He has authority to cast you into Hell if you aren’t right with Him.

Third, being stubborn kills faithfulness. Listen-sinning isn’t what sends you to Hell. We’ve all sinned. You say, What sends people to Hell then? Being stubborn and not accepting the salvation and forgiveness that Christ has provided for our sins is what will land us there.

Fourth, covetousness robs us of faithfulness. Here’s why: Because when all you can think about is the stuff others have that you don’t have, then your heart belongs to the stuff and not to God.

Fifth, greediness crowds out faithfulness by turning our commitment into something that’s for sale. Suddenly our faithfulness can be bought by whatever opportunity comes up for the next promotion, raise, or increase. Yeah, I know church and family are important, but I’ve got to work Sundays if I’m going to get that raise. Maybe you need to ask what you need more-that raise or Jesus.

Everyone wants faithful people around them, especially God. Commit to Him today and become someone He can count on.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for never changing! I always know what I’m going to get when I come to You. Please help me to be faithful, so that You always know what You’re going to get when You come to me.

Amen

Wise Up

For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ …Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:19,25

What picture comes to your mind when I mention wisdom?

Do you think of the Karate Kid’s mentor, or Morpheus from The Matrix? Perhaps you think of Gandalf or Elrond from The Lord of the Rings, or, outside of movies, you think of your favorite teacher, someone who knows a lot about things. In any case, chances are good that, for you, wisdom is some sort of abstract idea, hard to nail down or define. It is represented in philosophy and related to how smart you are, but has no more than a theoretical application to your life.

For the Christian, living wisely means living in harmony with God’s will. It means finding a wisdom that existed before Creation and applying it to God’s will right now.

Here’s the catch: The wisdom of God is foolishness to the world.

In other words, you won’t find the wisdom of God being exalted in the world. You won’t find it taught mainstream in the secular schools. You won’t find it leading the way in the business world.

The biggest difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God is that the wisdom of the world is all about your intellect. How smart are you? It believes that if you are smart enough then you can do anything. It is why we look for education sometimes more than we look for experience when we hire someone for a job.

But the wisdom of God is all about your heart. God does not ask you to know Him intellectually or to analyze Him or to computerize your relationship with Him. In fact, if you do that to your relationship with Him then you don’t have a real relationship!

If you only know God at an intellectual level then you are not living in real faith and you will miss out on Heaven by about twelve inches-the distance between your head and your heart.

God wants us not just to know Him intellectually, but to know Him intimately, to love Him with all our heart and with all our mind.

If you want to know God, then know this first: God doesn’t just want you to think about Him or know about Him. He wants you to love Him. He wants your heart.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for Your wisdom! I want to know you not just in my mind, but in the deepest parts of my heart as well. I love You, and I ask You to help me love You more!

Amen

Lost In Passion

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 1 Corinthians 6:12

Here is a truth you must know: Either you will be master, or it will be master over you. This truth could apply to a lot of things, but today we are talking about our sex drive. Either you will master your sex drive or it will master you.

And the thing about if you let it master you is that it will never relent. The minute you give it control without the confines of a proper marital relationship then it is like a river without banks, which is called a flash flood that destroys everything in its path.

Let me give you a picture to help you understand: With boundaries, our sex drive can be wonderful and life giving, just like a river brings life wherever it goes. Without boundaries, our sex drive will destroy everything wherever it goes, pushing its own desires on all that lies in its path.

The boundaries on our sex drive are not supposed to be a dam, capping them and cutting them off. Rather, they are supposed to be a channel, focusing them for their intended and blessed purpose-our marital relationship.

What if you aren’t married right now? What do you say to your kids to help them keep themselves for their spouse? You keep this reality in front of yourself, or in front of them, and understand that the value of what you give your spouse, whether now or later, is in the price you paid to keep it special for them.

What if you have already given yourself away? What if your gift of virginity was gone long ago? There is redemption, and all you need to do is repent. Just as Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

Keep yourself for your spouse from this day forward; pay the price to make purity valuable. And then, one day when you get married, you will have a priceless treasure to give your spouse on your wedding night.

Do not be carried away by your passions. Instead, master them, and channel them for God’s intended and blessed purpose-Marriage.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for being the ultimate example of a true bridegroom who keeps Himself faithful to His bride! I choose now to put guardrails on my passions to keep them for my spouse and my spouse alone. Please help me to stay far away from unfaithfulness and bless my marriage as I work to honor You in it.

Amen

Refined

Woe to the rebellious children,’ says the LORD, Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked My advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!’ Isaiah 30:1-2

When you need advice, whom do you ask for help? When your marriage is in trouble, who is the first person you go to for counsel? When you have children and don’t know how to raise them, where do you go to learn?

I hope that your answer to these questions is God, that you ask God what He thinks about these things before you turn to anyone else. And that having turned to God, you have no need to ask anyone else, because God gives you everything you need for all the questions we face in life.

What I often find as a pastor, however, is that people come to me as a last resort to ask how God could help them. Or one spouse will come to me and tell me all the things their partner hears from their counselor, which usually, of course, has nothing to do with God.

All this makes no sense to me. I mean, as Christians we have a direct connection with the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us, the Spirit who searches the deep things of God and reveals them to us, the Spirit by whom we can say that we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:7-16).

We also have the Word of God, His counsel written down for us from ages past that addresses every difficulty that we might face. In this Word, we have whole books dedicated entirely to wisdom, which teaches us what to do in every situation. This Word teaches us how to pray, and in so doing obtain help from God for our every need.

And all of this is from God Himself, the One who created the universe, the One who existed before all things, the One who is sovereign over all things, the One who holds the entire world together by the power of His word.

When I consider all this, I wonder why on earth Christians would turn to the counselors of the world or the worldly counsel of friends before they think to ask God His opinion.

God is our answer and our hope. He is our wisdom that meets our every need. Let’s forget the wisdom of this world and start asking God what He thinks.

Prayer Lord God,

I’m sorry for turning to worldly counselors for advice when I didn’t know what to do. Now I know that the first thing to do is ask You what You think. Please surround me with wise, godly counselors and help me to follow You in everything I do!

Amen

Going All the Way

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones. Proverbs 12:4

Did you read that verse? I want you to know that it goes both ways; an excellent husband is a crown to his wife just the same way.

I want you to look at your marriage today and ask yourself, What am I doing to be a crown for my spouse? Or maybe you can think if it this way, Am I a crown of glory or a crown of thorns?

This only goes one way or the other. You either become a crown or you become rottenness in the bones.

You can see the difference between the two very easily. A person who has become a cancer eating away their spouse’s bones is one who tears their spouse down with their words and actions. They neglect their spouse in the home, give their attention and affection to other hobbies and relationships, betray trust, bring shame, disappoint hope, and ultimately abandon ship.

Is this what you want your marriage to be? Or do you want your marriage to be filled with hope, affection, love, dreams, desires, and fulfilled passions for life and for one another?

If you want to be a crown on your spouse’s head, then capture your words before you say them. Capture your thoughts before you let them into your heart. Make sure your words and thoughts are honoring and loving toward your spouse. Don’t get so comfortable in the relationship that you forget to take it seriously that your spouse is a real person who matters.

Choose today which you are going to be-a crown, or a cancer. The choice is up to you.

Prayer Lord God, thank You for my spouse. I’m sorry for the times I have been more like a cancer than a crown, but I ask for Your help today to be an excellent partner for my spouse. Help me to be a blessing to my marriage.

Amen

Going All the Way

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

What is marriage? Why is it so important?

I’m glad you asked, because I am going to tell you. If I could sum up marriage for you, I would define it by three important components that will help us all to go all the way in our marriages.

First, marriage is a spiritual covenant. It is a lie to think that marriage is just a piece of paper, something you can casually sign your name to and then rip it up the moment you wish it didn’t exist.

Too often, we want to continue walking down our own path, saying, God, bless me as I walk down this path. If we think of marriage as just a piece of paper then we need real repentance, repentance that gets off the path on which we are walking and gets on to the path that pleases God.

Second, marriage is a picture of the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Church. I think this is the reason that marriage comes under so much attack, because Satan wants to mar the God-ordained image of His relationship with man. If we act treacherously with our spouses, then how will the unsaved world see a picture of God’s faithfulness?

Third, marriage is the foundation of our society. If you mess with marriage, then you mess with mankind, because it is the fabric, the heart and soul of our entire society. Study after study shows us the truth we already knew-that divorce causes trauma to everyone involved, especially the children. This trauma lasts, leading to lower grades, less successful relationships, worse job performance, higher rates of depression, and much more. If we want our society to endure then we must leave a better legacy to our children than a nation torn and shattered by divorce!

These are the reasons why marriage is so important. If you are considering divorce, then realize that there is far more at stake here. Your divorce attacks all of these things. Do not put this off and think you can be the exception.

Instead, cry out for God’s mercy and grace to come and save your marriage, and in saving your marriage, save one more part of that covenant, that picture, and that foundation.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You can help my marriage! I know that my marriage could be more than it is now, but I need Your mercy and help to get there. Please have Your way in my marriage and family so that we can be everything You made us to be!

Amen

Rewarded

Love…does not seek its own. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that you are the best thing that could possibly happen to your marriage. The bad news is that you could also be the worst thing that could possibly happen to your marriage.

How can both of these be true? Well, it comes down to whether you will die to yourself for the sake of your spouse, or whether you will be selfish, insisting on taking care of yourself first.

Hands down, selfishness is the number one problem in marriage, the biggest reason for divorce. Selfish expectations, wanting things the way you want them, are marriage killers.

God designed us so that the blessings come when we die to ourselves, and this is especially true in our marriages. Yet for some reason, it’s easier to be unselfish with our children, friends, or even sometimes with strangers than with the one person who is our first responsibility. Somehow it suddenly becomes about the way we want things, expect things, or about what we need and want.

Selfishness is a black hole whose desires are never fulfilled. Selfishness is never happy, never satisfied, and never whole. It never stops making demands. The result of this is that, at best, one unselfish spouse works their tail off to satisfy their partner, but it’s impossible and they become increasingly frustrated as their efforts to love are met with ingratitude and an even longer list of entitlement-minded demands. At worst, two selfish people make continual demands of each other and become repeatedly offended with one another as these demands regularly go unmet.

Finally, the selfish person’s desires cannot be met and they decide to look for someone else to meet their needs. Since marriage was about them to begin with, of course, this is no great sacrifice to walk all over their spouse’s and children’s hearts, needs, or lives.

Love, on the other hand, does not seek its own. It seeks to benefit others. And when we actually embrace love in a marriage then not only are all our needs met, but trust and true intimacy are built over time that makes our marriage and our family a rock-solid pillar of love in our communities.

Doing family right is the ultimate witness for Christ, and it starts when we reject selfishness and choose love.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for not being selfish with me! Please help me to be loving and unselfish like You are so that my family will not only survive, but so that it will become even better than I have ever imagined that it could be!

Amen