Fitly Living, Clearly Seeing

Whoever falsely boasts of giving is like clouds and wind without rain. Proverbs 25:14

We're going to spend a little time in someone else's shoes today, though they might feel very familiar depending on your circumstances.

I want you to imagine that you're in need, and I mean really in need. I don't mean that there are things you want that you can't afford right now, or that you need to budget for them so you can buy them in the future, or that they're luxury items that would be nice and beautiful to have but you don't need.

I mean, imagine that if you don't have some sort of financial miracle, you won't be able to buy food this week. Your house is getting foreclosed on. Your kids don't have clothes that fit them and you can't buy them new ones. You are in need.

Now imagine that someone promises to help you. They boast that they are going to wipe out your credit card debt, make your house payments current, or give you a job that will more than cover your bills. But after all their promises, nothing happens. They never deliver. They disappear.

Obviously, this isn't good. In fact, our verse today compares this kind of person to clouds that promise to drop needed rain on the ground-rain that's needed for crops that feed animals and families and provide a living to an agricultural society-but blow away without giving anything.

This horrible, destructive deception is so important to the Lord that He gives us a New Testament illustration of it in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira. This husband and wife pair conspired together to deceive by boasting of a gift they didn't really give.

They sold some land (no one made them), and they promised to give the Church everything they made from the sale (though no one told them they had to give it all). The problem was that they only gave part of what they earned from the sale. Of course, this wouldn't have been a problem if they hadn't promised to give everything. They could have said they were only giving part, and then giving part would have been fine. But when they gave less than they promised, lying about their gift, they both fell down dead.

Listen, the problem isn't in not giving, though giving is good. The bigger problem is in being deceitful. Examine yourself today to make sure that there is honesty and integrity before the Lord, that you have character that is the same on the outside as it is on the inside.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You made good on Your promise to send us a Savior! Help me to guard my words so that I only promise things that I will actually deliver; then please help me to be generous in what I give.

Amen

Weighing What We Say

Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. 2 Corinthians 7:6-7

God meets us where we are. Can I just say how much I love that? I love it!

In our verses today, Paul tells us of a time when he needed God to meet him where he was. He was surrounded by trouble, filled with fear, and so much so that he could find no rest. This is where our verses pick up, saying, Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast...

Paul is saying that his circumstances were so bad they were enough to leave him depressed. That's what that word downcast means-depressed. He was depressed. He was burdened. He was upset about some words that had been said about him, vile language that was trying to destroy his reputation in the community.

But in that place, God met him and comforted him through a man named Titus. Paul tells us it wasn't just Titus' presence that comforted him, but also the report that he gave. Titus came from Paul's beloved church in Corinth and told him that things couldn't be better there.

Look at those words, When he told us. When did Paul receive comfort in his depression? He received it when Titus spoke.

Okay, stop right there. Tell me, did you do that for anybody this week? You say, Do what? Did you comfort them and encourage them and actually pick some choice words that lifted the burden off their downcast life?

Did you do that for anybody? Because, you need to know, that is why we're here. It's a part of the program as to why we're still on Earth and not in Heaven, so that God could use us and the words that come out of our mouth to encourage someone just as Titus encouraged Paul.

Look, this needs to be very practical for us, because it's very simple. Please don't tell me that you meant to do this, or you thought about doing it, because if you didn't actually do it then it didn't get done. That person in the cubicle next to yours is still depressed. Your wife still doesn't know that you think she's beautiful, that you really appreciate her hard work and love her cooking. And even if you've told them once, maybe they forgot and could stand to hear it again.

Your words are powerful. They really are! Choose today to begin to use them like Titusas God's tool of comfort to those who need it.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You are a God who comforts those who are downcast! It's amazing that You would use me to do that in someone's life, so please use me to comfort those around me who need it!

Amen

Can You Believe This?

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you...that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul,' or, I am of Apollos,' or I am of Cephas,' or I am of Christ.' 1 Corinthians 2:2

Remember yourself back in math class. Now try to answer this: 100 divided by 2 is-of course you know-50.

Alright, you got that one correct, so let's try one more: 90 divided by three is-you got it?-30, that's right.

In the church at Corinth had a problem with division, and I don't mean a math problem.

I mean that the church was split a bunch of different ways, schisms within one body over whose teaching they associated themselves with.

The church was splitting at its seams, but not because of growth. Imagine a political climate in America where instead of two main parties, there were four main parties, and each one's followers staunchly held their status as registered voters of that party. It's bad enough just with two main parties, yet this church had at least four groups duking it out for supremacy.

Paul heard about this and had one thing to say: Stop it! Stop being divided!

He went on to give them a vision of something higher than division to unite them. He said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

It's all the same, so stop arguing about it. In fact, realize that everyone who is working for God's benefit in your life is on the same side, and that it's you who are bickering and tearing each other down who are on the wrong side!

It's time for us to realize that Jesus has one body and that we serve Him best by building it up, not tearing it down.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You can work through anyone! I repent for any time that I have torn down Your body and worked to create divisions. Please help me to see Your body the way that You do and rejoice whenever it is built up.

Amen

Heaven: A Study of Our Home

He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Revelation 21:7-8

If you're only born once then you have to die twice, but if you're born twice then you only have to die once.

Did that make sense to you? If not, then it will soon. In fact, our verses today make it very clear. They contrast two eternal choices-living forever as God's son or dying forever an eternal spiritual death.

This spiritual death is a second death that is completely separate from the physical death that all of us will one day experience unless we're raptured. Everyone, both Christian and non-Christian, has to experience that physical death. But then comes the hereafter-eternal spiritual life or eternal spiritual death.

Now, let me tell you right now, you want to avoid that second death. It's bad news. And the only way you avoid it is by being born again. And I really like this, because it makes the focus of our life on Earth very clear.

See, when a baby is born, let's be very clear, that baby must die to the world of the womb in order to come alive in this brand new world that is so much better than the old world of the womb. This death to the womb is not an option. The cord must be cut. The old womb-world is put aside, passed away, but behold, all things have become new.

Life in this world cannot happen without a baby first dying to the old. Period.

Here's the point: A lot of Christians right now are not excited about Heaven because they're living for this world. But if we want to experience that second life, and if we want to avoid the second death, then it is time for us to cut the cord, stop living for this world, and start living for the world to come.

Start living today with Heaven as the beat of your heart and desire of all that you live for.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for making a way for me to be Your son and avoid the second death! Please show me what it means to die to this world and how to live for Heaven in my life right now.

Amen

One Way

What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. 1 Corinthians 10:19-21

Aren't you glad that we don't live in the Old Testament times? I am.

I mean, they had all those sacrifices they had to make, and that just sounds messy. Can you imagine at Passover time, when all the people in Israel had to come together at the Temple and offer sacrifices? I'm not trying to be graphic or anything, but that's a whole lot of slaughtered animals; that's a lot of mess.

But now that Jesus has become the sacrifice for sin on our behalf, are we done making sacrifices? Paul answers this for us in our verses today, making it clear that we still have sacrifices to make.

Now, listen. In saying in our verses today that he doesn't want you sacrificing to demons, that doesn't mean he doesn't want you sacrificing. It means he doesn't want you sacrificing to demons.

So what is it that you are sacrificing? We aren't sacrificing to make our sins right anymore; Jesus did that. But there are still sacrifices of worship and thanksgiving to be made, especially in light of all that Jesus did sacrifice for us.

Or is sacrifice a one-way street for us? Is that something that He did on the cross for me and, It's good, Bob, that we remember that sacrifice. Yes, but is it good that we disassociate ourselves so much from that sacrifice that it's only Jesus who sacrifices?

Paul says, Listen. The Gentiles sacrifice, but they're sacrificing to the wrong things. They're sacrificing to demons and not to God. I don't want you to have fellowship with demons.

Are we saying, I can juggle this. I can manage all of these plates. I can allow for Jesus to be one of many focuses in my life. I can allow for Him to be a spoke of many spokes on my wheel.

Listen, when we remember Jesus' sacrifice for us, we end that nonsense and say, This is my life. This is my hub. This is my center. This is my meaning. This is my purpose, and all else that the world might want me to bow down to and live for, I sacrifice to Jesus.

We have a sacrifice, and it is everything we are and have. Our sacrifice is to lay it all before the Lord Jesus alone, and not before any other thing, and let Him be God over all.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for giving everything for me! I'm sorry for any way that I have sacrificed to anything or anyone other than You. Please forgive me and accept from me all that I am and have!

Amen

The Measure of Our Days

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised. Song of Solomon 8:6-7

What is the greatest force in all the world? We can think of many things-tsunamis, tornados, hurricanes, nuclear weapons, volcanoes, earthquakes, and more-but the most powerful force in the world is love.

Look at God's description of love that He paints for us in our verses today. There are seven pictures for us in these verses of what our love relationship with God should look like.

First, it is personal. He says, Set me as a seal upon your heart. This is referring to the king's signet ring, a mark of identification as personal as our birth certificate or social security number. It is everything that defines who we are, now defined by and sealed by the identity of Christ.

Second, it is powerful. Throughout scripture, the arm is a symbol of strength. And here in these verses we see that love binds God's strength and our strength together-us holding fast to Him and Him being our strength for all our needs.

Third, it is permanent, as permanent as death. Nothing can beat death accept the love of our Savior who is more powerful and permanent than death.

Fourth, it's possessive. God is a jealous God, and His jealousy is fierce as the grave, yearning for our hearts to belong to Him alone. How jealous is your heart for Him?

Fifth, it's passionate. His love burns so passionately that He is called an all consuming fire. His love for us defines who He is. Can you say the same about your love for Him?

Sixth, it perseveres. We've seen a lot of floods in America in recent years. Katrina drowned a whole city. But not even those waters, not even all the waters of the ocean could put out the flame of God's love.

Seventh, it's priceless. Consider all that God's love is, and then know that you could never buy it, not with everything you have.

Come and experience this love the Lord has for you today; then love Him the same way in return.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You love me, and that's just incredible to me. Please help me to receive Your love in every way that You show Your love to me, and then help me to love You back, all day every day, with everything I have.

Amen

Wrong Way Worship

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all at the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 1 Corinthians 10:1-5

Hey, listen up, there's something I want you to know.

That's how Paul started 1 Corinthians 10. I think that's an interesting way for him to start this chapter. In some translations, it says, I don't want you to be deceived. And cer-

tainly if Paul thought it was important to know, then we should make it important to know as well.

He wanted them to know about Israel and how they got tripped up and distracted by idols, how they didn't even make it into the Promised Land. He names some of them in the next few verses so that we can make sure we stay free from them and avoid the same fate as those Israelites.

First, he names lust. It's an idol, lust. Sexual immorality, that's an idol, too, just a click away on your computer. Guys, gals, I'm telling you, get the help you need to keep this idol from destroying your life. Don't let it trip you up.

Second, he names tempting Christ. It's an idol, but what does it mean? It means taking the things God has given you for granted, even hating them, and wishing you had never come out of the world. That might be a surprise for some of you, because the way you're living, it's like you haven't come out of the world yet. Come out of the world, then be thankful for what God's done for you.

Third, he names complaining. Yes, complaining. It's an idol, taking your eyes off of God and all He's done for you and yelling at Him like He hasn't made things good enough for you. So what's the point of all this? I mean, surely you and I aren't going to fall into idolatry,

right? Well, don't be so fast, because Paul warns us to take heed, lest we fall.

In other words, we shouldn't just pass ourselves on this test and assume that we're okay. What we need to do instead is look to Jesus, because the point here is that we can't do life God's way by ourselves. We need help-His help.

Will you humble yourself today, asking God to help you live for Him?

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for giving me the Israelites as an example so that I can learn from their mistakes. Please help me today and every day to live for You, staying away from all idols and worshiping You alone!

Amen