Wise-Up

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:6-8

The opposite of belief isn't atheism. That might be news for some of you, but it's true. The opposite of belief isn't atheism, it's idolatry.

The people in Corinth in Paul's day had a long list of things they worshiped-power, wealth, intelligence, sex, youth, beauty, luck, music, healing, comfort, and more-and our society worships these exact same things. In fact, in our culture this has simplified into one looming image as we worship ourselves; mere mortals worshiping other mere mortals.

I watched a secular concert once on television and the whole crowd was up on their feet with their hands in the air, swaying back and forth. That was far more exuberant worship than it ever gets in most churches, but who was it for? For Taylor Swift? For Cyrus? For Eminem?

The problem here is that we become like that which we worship. You run by the local middle school and you see a bunch of Eminem look-a-likes running around. You have an outof-control issue with ten, eleven, and twelve year old girls who want thong underwear because that's what is being held up as the standard for our society.

But Paul breaks in to the middle of this scene and says, Hold on, church. This way the world is going is nonsense. And you can easily hear the world's response, and maybe you're saying this, too: But I want it, so I want you to tell me that what I want is right.

I won't tell you that what you want is right.

But I want it!

Even if it's wrong? Even if it hurts someone? Even if it breaks the heart of God?

Yes, I don't care. I want it. That's what the world says; that's what pride says, digging in its heels and insisting on what it wants, never honoring God.

But wisdom honors God, and is rewarded for it. Jesus asked, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36). We can idolize ourselves and worship all the gods of Corinth, but it's a perverted, pride-filled life destined for Hell.

Choose wisdom today. Honor God in your choices and worship Him alone. Only then do you have hope, both now for this life and for life everlasting in heaven.

Prayer Father God,

You are the only God worthy of worship! I'm sorry for any way that I have worshiped the gods of this world-the gods of self-but I repent now and ask You to lead me in the way of wisdom.

Amen

How to Live a Holy Life

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?' says the LORD. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats...Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.' Isaiah 1:11,16-17

Israel had a major problem, but they didn't even know it.

Like much of America, they thought they had it all together. They did everything they thought they were supposed to do. They brought the lawful sacrifices, they gathered for all the prescribed festivals, they were even a praying people, lifting up their hands to the Lord in prayer.

But God said, I've had enough of your worthless sacrifices. I don't want sin offerings from a people who have no desire to stop sinning, and I don't want praise offerings from a people who do not worship me in their lifestyle.

God called Israel to Cease to do evil, learn to do good. He knew that we need to have a positive action and focus to replace the negative one, or we are guaranteed to end up in the same place. God is calling us to live holy lives, and He has shown us how to do it.

First, we care. We love God enough to give a rip about what He thinks and feels. And because we care, we are not willing to just give lip-service to our repentance and then keep on sinning like it's no big deal.

Second, we focus on the new things that replace the old. God says, Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. This is the ultimate heart of God, important enough to Him that He saw an orphaned planet and sent His Son so that He could adopt us as His children.

There is a world around us that needs to encounter God's love, and He wants to use us to bring that encounter to those in need. This may not be easy and it may not be comfortable, but it is what it means to live a holy life that is pleasing to God.

Are you willing to do what it takes?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for seeing an orphaned world and sending Your Son so that we could be Your children! Please help me to be like You; help me to see those around me in need and then help me to know what I can do to help them.

Amen

Lost In Passion

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful...Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:12,18

Watch out, you might get burned!

Your passions are a fire, and if that fire burns in the wrong place at the wrong time, it can destroy both you and all others who get near it.

Paul knew how important it is for us to exercise our passions in the right way and time, so he warns us against sexual immorality. And let me define that quickly-sexual immorality is any sexual interaction that goes on outside of a marriage, even between a man and a woman.

We need to understand-both for ourselves and to communicate to our children-that loose living, sleeping around, sexual immorality has a painful consequence. When we fail to establish guardrails on our lives and wander around like an animal in heat, just trying to find someone to sleep with, or when we allow ourselves to be seduced by someone's external beauty (including images on a computer screen), it will eventually destroy us.

The pain will rise up inside our soul as we give ourselves away again and again and again, only to have those relationships broken and our heart broken along with them. I'll tell you something-our hearts can only be broken so many times before walls go up and we don't let people in anymore.

Do you know what happens then? We can't find intimacy anymore. We become bitter shells of a person looking for love, longing for the fulfillment of a truly loving relationship, but we can't. And why can't we? Because we're hiding in an internal bomb shelter, trying to stay safe from the pain of another broken relationship. We become relationship junkies, going from one to another to another, trying to fill the ever-increasing void, but none of them work.

None of them work because only one will work-a relationship with Jesus and a life lived within the guardrails He gives us. When we love Jesus, experience His love for us, and live faithfully with one spouse just as Jesus demonstrates in His faithfulness to us, then we will find everything our hearts are longing for.

And in that place, only in that place, we find freedom for our passions that will be blessed by God.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for Your good gift of sex. I confess that I need help putting right guardrails on my life to avoid the pain of broken relationships. Please help me to break free from the draw of this culture and live within Your plan!

Amen

Hijacking the Lo-Jacker

And the LORD said to Satan, From where do you come?' So Satan answered the LORD and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.' Then the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job...?' And the LORD said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.' Job 1:7-8,12

Have you ever wondered about Satan? A lot of people do.

The Bible teaches us that Satan is real, just as real as God, you, and me. But hopefully this is not where our understanding ends, because Satan is not the opposite of God, His evil arch nemesis, or the yin to God's yang.

The fact is that God created Satan, not as the fallen angel he is now, but as one of the chief archangels of Heaven named Lucifer. However, Lucifer fell when he became selfish and proud, desiring God's position for himself.

Our verses for today show us three important things we should know about the devil, three limitations to his abilities and strategies.

First, he is not omnipresent-he can only be in one place at any given time. This is unlike and unequal to God, who can be in all places in all times.

Second, he is not omniscient-he doesn't know everything. This means that he doesn't know what you're going to think before you think it. God does, however, and as a result, you can trust in a God who knows your thoughts and can give the devil a royal beat down in your life. Satan can't know anything except what he learns through observation, but God knows your heart.

Third, he is not omnipotent-he is not all powerful. He can only do what he is given permission to do. This is a truth you can take to the bank. There is not anything that happens to you or in your life that is outside of God's control. Satan cannot hijack God's plans for your life and ruin you, because God is in charge and He is watching over you to make sure that His plans come to pass.

The trick is that we have to trust God even when times are hard. Don't let yourself curse God when life is hard. Instead, remember the truth that God will redeem you and hold fast to the end.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that You are Lord and God, and that the devil has no authority over my life! I choose to trust You no matter what, and believe that You will restore good to me no matter what happens.

Amen

Vision: A View from the Top

Then I said, My lord, what are these?' So the angel who talked with me said to me, I will show you what they are.' And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are the ones whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.' Zechariah 1:9-10

It's one of the more uncomfortable things to think about, if you ask me, to think about someone watching me without my knowing. So it's a good thing for you that I am about to expose those who have been watching you, whether you knew about them or not.

You already know, I hope, that God is always watching you. In fact, it's very easy for Him because He is always with you.

What you probably didn't already know is that God has a particular kind of angel, or a group of them, actually, always going to and fro throughout the earth. It is these angels who go throughout the whole earth searching for those whose hearts are loyal to God (2 Chron. 16:9).

You might also not realize that Satan goes to and fro throughout the earth as well. The book of Job records him telling God just this very thing, and it was in his going about that he had already seen and considered Job (Job 2:2). We know Job wasn't unique, either, because Jesus told Peter in Luke 22:31, Simon, Satan has asked for you by name. He wants to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.

How does it feel to know that you have been watched your whole life? Welcome to the spiritual war that surrounds us!

But here's the good news: You're covered. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit, a seal that Satan can't break. You have the armor of God to keep you safe from all the fiery darts of the enemy. And let me tell you that you are in the war, whether you've ever known it or not, so arrows are coming your way, so you do need to wear your armor!

Here's another secret: The battle was never from or against your parents, your boss, your ex, or any other human being. The battle has always been against the prince and principalities of darkness.

Let me give you the bottom line: Jesus won, and when we rest in Him, we win, too. Rest today under His watchful care.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Your victory! Thank You that You watch over me, and You know when the enemy is taking aim at my life! Please guard and protect me as I rest in You and what You have done. Lead me into victory in every area of life!

Amen

Hope and Healing Are on the Horizon

All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE. Ezekiel 48:35

Do you want to get to Heaven someday? I'm sure your answer is yes, but why do you want to get there?

I imagine that there are a lot of different answers that people would give to that ques-

tion. Some people want to get to Heaven because they think all their loved ones will be there. They're sad that their loved ones have died and they want to be reunited with them.

Or some people know that Heaven is a place where pain and death are no more, where every tear is wiped away, and where sickness and disease aren't even a memory. With good reason, every person who has experienced pain, sickness, or loss in this world (i.e. everyone) would want to go to Heaven for these reasons.

For many Christians, there is yet another reason we look forward to Heaven. Reaching Heaven means that all fleshly struggles are over and that we enter the everlasting joy of an undivided existence. We'll never have to ask whether something is right or wrong again, because there will never be any sin in Heaven.

There is one more reason we should want to go to Heaven, and it is that the Lord is there. A lot of us might be afraid of that part of Heaven-that God is there-but here's why it's good: He's the reason for everything else that's good in Heaven.

God is the One who will wipe away our tears, heal our diseases, set us free from sin and death forever, and take away all our sorrows. More than that, Psalms tells us that in His presence is the fullness of joy!

But it's important for us to begin living for Jesus here and now, and I'll tell you why-the only way to Heaven is through Him. We can't get to Heaven just because we want to. We only get there because we believe in Jesus, letting Him take away our sins and give us everlasting life in return.

It's a good trade, I'm telling you, but it's not one that everyone will make. In fact, I have to warn you-those loved ones you long to see in Heaven, you'll only see them there if they believed in Jesus.

Heaven is a wonderful place, as the song says, but the best part about it-and the only way to get there-is Jesus.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for offering me life in Heaven forever! I want to go to Heaven, and I know You're the only way to get there. Please save me from my sins and save all my loved ones, too, so that we may all experience the wonders of You in Heaven together!

Amen

Better Christians

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3-4

What did your daddy teach you growing up? Many dads teach their children the manly things in life, like how to skip stones, tie fishing knots, or change a car's oil. We can remember back to those moments with our dads and hear their voice calling out to us today, And whatever you do, don't forget to _________.

Our verses for today are this kind of statement. It is a father's words to his son, saying, Above all else, do this. Within this father's command we find a conundrum, for he tells us to bind both mercy and truth around our necks, to write them on our hearts.

I don't know about you, but the last time I checked, mercy requires us to move past the truths of harmful things people have done. In order to grant someone mercy, we have to acknowledge that painful truth, but then move past it. How is this supposed to work?

Actually, it works a lot like simple addition. Think about the equation 2+3=5. Two is a fact. Three is a fact. But both two and three together create a different fact altogether.

Let's say that the two is something terrible that you or someone else has done, and the three is mercy, granted either by God to you or by you to that someone else. Both the truth of the terrible action and the mercy are real, but here is where I think most of us think about it the wrong way.

We think of the mercy as a negative instead of a positive in a mathematical sense (2[sin]()2[mercy]()=0), meaning that the mercy takes away from the terrible act, working to cover up the truth of what happened. In reality, this is not the way mercy works, for mercy comes upon a terrible deed and transforms it into a completely new reality. Without the three, the two would never have become a five.

Or to say it a different way-You (sinner) + Mercy = You (saint). When God added His mercy to your life, He broke you out of the truth-prison in which you had been bound and set you free into a greater reality than you could have ever accessed without it.

It does the same thing for the people around us when we grant them mercy. It does not simply cover up the truth of what they have done; it goes beyond that to transform them into something new.

Who can you give mercy to today?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for giving me mercy through the cross! Help me to understand truth and mercy and to choose to give mercy to the people around me.

Amen