It is sad to notice that many people in their 70's are still acting and responding the way they did when they were 17, as though they are stuck in a time warp.
This is what happens when we are not growing in Christ. Whatever flaws we had at 15 years of age are still there and enhanced.
Why are they often enhance? My observation is that when we get older we no longer are as concerned about our appearances as a 15 year old.
A teenager tends to hide a little for the sake of being accepted, but the elderly who have remained infantile do not hide anything anymore, they have no need to impress anyone so they hang it all out there without any expectations.
Proverbs 14:6-8 "…6 A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding. 7 Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of knowledge. 8 The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way, But the foolishness of fools is deceit.…"
Do we want to be wise and mature as we grow older? The way to do that is to seek Christ, obey His Word, confess our flaws as they are revealed, while continuing to give Him the glory for our progress, without Him, we would remain foolish.
Matthew 20:15-16 "…15 Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Our human minds have a tendency to elevate ourselves above what is reality. Mankind, since Eve in the garden, has always had a propensity for self aggrandizement.
When we have an elevated view of our own importance or accomplishments, it is likely that we cannot progress or grow spiritually or emotionally.
It is only when we see ourselves in truth, while admitting the flaws that we can progress in life changes.
Why would we focus on only the good in ourselves, that needs no fixing, we should be focused on that which needs improvement.
This summer, in a few weeks, we are going to paint the outside of the buildings on our property, they are looking shabby and in need of sprucing. Why would we ever say, "let's not paint, instead lets look at the spots that are still alright so we feel better." That would be silly, we notice the shabby because it is in need of repair, then when it is all fixed up we can enjoy the beauty of it all.
As fallen and prideful human beings we are always in need of repair. Christ lives in us not to praise us all the time so we can be full of self esteem, but rather to redirect our thinking, our deeds and our goals to match His mind.
If we are walking with the Lord, seeking Him for everything in our lives we will find ourselves growing and changing continually. God begins the cleansing process when we become born again and continues that until He takes us Home. We can be pleased and excited every time the Lord does a work in us. Those who refuse to look at themselves in truth miss that maturity and blessing.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
He will only cleanse us as we confess, God never forces anyone. Our rewards in heaven will be according to how we obeyed and honored Him in our lives.
Ephesians 2:10 "10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life."
When we become stubborn as His children, He disciplines us to bring us back into obedience to Him.
Impressing others with what we think is our greatness, is going to be a terrible embarrassment at the final judgment. All our sins and all our phony good deeds will be exposed for what they are, for all to see.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
The final question! Are we more interested in being "seen" as godly, than we are in actually "being" so?
December 3, 2015
When in discussion with people at length and most everything that comes up is of this world whether good or bad, we have an idea what we are dealing with.
Those who love the Lord can only talk about superficial matters a little while then everything said is interpreted in terms of God's principles and His character.
WE can't help but bring up the Lord, in everything. It is interesting to watch, so many are enthralled with a discussion about food and clothing, but as soon as the Bible is quoted the room goes silent, the looks are embarrassment, as soon as we are through the discussion returns to the superficial mundane and insignificant matters of life.
1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!"
A believer who thinks about the Lord continually, is one who will have to speak about Him, we think and speak about Him almost as often as we take a breath, that's why others call us fanatics or obsessed. Guilty I am a fanatic for Christ and I am obsessed with Him and His principles.
Matthew 22:37 "And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'"
So many people are getting caught up in this "ancestry" search hype.
Who I am is not based on who my ancestors were. Each of us is who God made us, we are unique from everyone else.
We have a job to do separate from those we were born to. They may be involved or we may be involved in the ministry of one another, but no one derives their ministry or purpose in life from their families of origin.
Understanding that this idea might make some people angry, I am convinced that the only reason to discover our genetic roots is to be able to brag about who we might be related to that might be famous. The people I have met have more to say about their exciting discoveries about ancestors than they ever speak of Christ.
Also, it is my considered opinion that ancestry discovery is a fun hobby, but has little if any value pertaining to our individual character or purpose in our lives.
All those I have met into the ancestry are gathering information about the people, where they lived, the jobs they did and their accomplishments in life, but they have nothing that relates to their character. Of course there will be some who have that information because of writings passed down from family members, but very few have much related to the character, beliefs or desires of those who are listed.
Even if we were delighted at the spiritual or character quality of our ancestor, that has nothing to do with our character or spirituality.
Everyone is responsible to trust Christ to be born again, no one will inherit from their ancestors any level of spirituality or character quality, each person must become born again personally.
If someone never knew anything about their past they could still trust Christ, still build character, still walk with Christ and possibly more effectively, because they have no one else to lean on or seek except Christ.
There is an element of "ancestor worship" involved in becoming obsessed with knowing our dead relatives. They can do nothing for us now, they have no input into our lives in the present, nor do they determine our eternal destination.
So many things that Christians do today has it's origins in paganism. Perhaps this is one of those things.
Just something to think about. How much time we spend on something is an indication of what we value the most. I am not saying it is sinful or evil to research ancestry, I am just challenging those who do it to check their heart for the reason for that research.
Ezekiel 18:19-21 "19"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity?' When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live.
20"The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
21"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.…"
Not only will we not be responsible for the sins of our fathers we will not gain rewards from their deeds either.
Why do I write so much correction? You might ask, the reason is that the good things need no help, they are already where they should be.
There is so much foolishness going on in the world today it takes a lot of energy trying to make sense to those who love being foolish.
Those of you who are not being foolish, wonderful, keep going! That's all you get from me because I don't want to remove your reward in heaven by praising you too much.
If you must rebuke me, good, I love a new growth spurt.
LOL
The news about the passenger who refused to leave the United plane and then was removed is ridiculous.
I am not angry at United, I am angry at the passenger who refused to obey authority. We have no right to resist authority just because we don't like what their doing.
"Resisting arrest" on a flight is foolish. The offender should have just gotten off the plane and resolved his problem another way. I have no patience for rebellious entitled people who refuse to honor authority.
God doesn't care about a person's skin tone or people group, He cares about their character.
I cringe every time I hear of a group of people that exclude others based on skin tone. I say skin tone, because I have never seen a "black" person, nor have I ever seen a :white" person. I see a lot of different shades of brown or tan, but no one is "red, yellow, black or white." LOL
It's alright to refer to me as "white" it helps others identify who to look for when I get lost, for the purposes of identification. But to base how I am treated on my skin tone is sin. And, no one else should do this to anyone.
I was once called "cracker" by a dark brown person, it made me laugh so hard I cried. Guess what, I am closer to the color tone of a saltine cracker than I am to a white piece of bread.
Racism for anyone is sin, I don't care what excuse one may give for holding bitterness toward a people group, it remains sin. Every person must be evaluated individually based on their character and their core beliefs.
Our beliefs will determine our actions. When we have contempt inside for someone, it will cause us to treat them in mean spirited ways, even covertly if not overtly. No one can hide what is inside, others will see what we do and judge our character on that.
Matthew 15:17-19 "…17 “Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.…"
I confess a prejudicial attitude toward cults and false religions because of their wicked belief systems and actions. However my desire is to help those in these groups to see the gospel to come out of them. The systems are evil and the people in them are deceived and need to be delivered from them through hearing the gospel.
May we look at individuals and actions to determine their character.
