How Do We Spend Our Time?

I have known people today who spend hours a day pouring over ancestry information to know the names of the people in their past that they have never met while neglecting relationships standing right in front of them.

We do not know much more than what the people in the ancestry book did for a living and where they were born or died. In most cases, they don't know what the heart of their ancestor was like but it seems satisfying enough for them to know their names and a few insignificant details about them.

I am convinced because of God's Word that we are to spend our time building living relationships. It is easy to become all warm and fuzzy over people we have never met and cannot ever know on this earth.

Perhaps the reason people love ancestry is that they are looking to find someone famous to be able to boast about their lineage. It's really amusing because everyone has someone famous in their genealogy, we have too, since there are so many people on the earth today all coming from the original couple, Adam and Eve.

I can prove through the Bible that I am related to every other human being on the earth. It would not be possible for me to be alive today unless the patriarchs of the Bible were not born first.

It might be fun to know some things about our ancestors from time to time, but placing so much effort into discovering it, to the point of neglected relationships of people still alive, seems strange to me. But that's just me, I see purpose in building relationships with people still living and those who love Christ.

There is a lot of fantasy thinking in this world today. People love to ponder in their minds what "could be" even more than they care about the facts. This is because our culture is more invested in "feelings" and "emotions" than they are in reality and relationships.

It is also the reason we have so many who are seeking alternative news sources that spew out lies, their sensationalism is far more titillating than the truth.

Spending our time pouring over ancestry information of dead people and the alternative news sources is safe, there is nothing invested in a living breathing person, no conflicts to resolve, no sacrifice given, and without any desire to engage in the hard work of caring about others.

We live in a culture that wants what it wants when it wants it, the needs of others seem unimportant unless they are glorifying self.

There is only one solution to this mess, which is to confess sinfulness and trust what Christ did for us on the cross. When we do this He changes our heart. All the things that seemed so important to us will fade as we seek Christ with all our hearts.

Do We Really Love God as We Say

There are so many Christians who would say they love God, but never will read His word. If someone told you they love you but never read your letters to them, or read them and never spoke to you about them, then we would believe they don't love us as they say.

Many Christians say they love Christ but do not care what He thinks about their decisions, even defying His Words of the Bible. We cannot know the heart of God or have His mind in us, if we don't read His Word to find all the nuggets of wisdom He has for us.

If you found a letter from your great-great grandfather whom you have never met, you would pour over it like it was a treasure, a man you have never met, never knew and was curious about the way He thought. God sent us His letters compiled in a book for us to read, but they are not treasured as much as that letter from the Grandfather.

Perhaps the problem is that most Christians do not believe that God is our Father and that He gave us those letters dictated to His prophets for us to not only enjoy but to follow.

The evidence that we love Christ is that we want to know Him, read His words for the purpose of obeying Him. When we love Him we know His words are for our good and for His glory.

John 14:15 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. "

Many people want to claim to have Christ for the feeling of safety. They want Him available if anything goes wrong and they need Him. They want His advice only when they are in trouble and can't fix it themselves, but will ignore the advice they don't like, that doesn't give them the answer they want.

We have experienced this mentality in parenting. Children act this way, wanting you only when you say what they like to hear but resistant to instruction when it does not suit their desires.

Children will accuse their parents of all kinds of things when all they were attempting to do was help the child learn to trust in Christ for their own benefit and for God's glory.

I remember a young woman who caused trouble all over the house with each sibling before leaving for the day. As she was leaving the house, bounding out the door she would say; "love ya." The "love-ya" was not a language of love but a demonstration of pompous control. She controlled the mood of the household with angst most days, she did not love anyone in the household but wanted to pretend she was a loving person.

It is so very sad to me in these last days that "love-ya" is merely something people say, there is little to no evidence that what they say is true. When we love people we treat them with honor and respect. We enjoy them for their personalities and quirks. They are allowed to be themselves without judgment when it has nothing to do with sin.

Fighting for our right to be first and best is an act of hate. Love happens when we care about the needs and desires of others more than ourselves. This kind of love can only come from Christ in us.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Loving people have no desire to control others, they want to help them reach their potential as human beings with the gifts and talents God has given them.

There have been many people in our church culture who interpreted love as forcing people to follow rules God never gave in order to appear godly on the outside and to elevate their parents.

Some parents counted themselves accomplished and righteous if their children glorified them in the eyes of the community. There is no love in this, only selfishness. Children can see the difference between authentic Christlike love and the love that demands them to glorify those who are making the rules.

May our love be that of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. May it not be only words that make us sound good, but actions and attitudes that glorify God.

1 Corinthians 13

The Excellence of Love

"13 If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3 And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,

6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7. it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

The two greatest commandments are as follows, they are the foundation for everything in our lives.

Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

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.’

38 This is the great and foremost commandment.

39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

We cannot possibly follow the second commandment to love our neighbor if we don't first love God above all else.

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy

The Accusations by Gossips will Increase in these End Days

Have any of you been accused of not being a loving and understanding Christian because you attempted to use the Scripture to correct someone?

If anyone has not been rejected, maligned, or mocked for their stand for Christ's principles in the Word of God then it might be because they haven't bothered to warn others of the consequence of sin in their lives.

Never allow rejection to cause you to feel false guilt. If we are guilty the Holy Spirit will make it plain to us and we will confess to be cleansed. However, the world will attempt to make us feel guilty over something we did that the Holy Spirit told us to do.

Christ and the apostles were accused of things that were not true because the world hated them.

Matthew 5:11

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account."

Proverbs 11:9

"With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered."

1 Peter 5:8

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

1 John 4:1

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us that the last days mentality will be so prevalent that it will be in the church and the world and it will be continual.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (Difficult: Means "ragingly insane"

Difficult Times Will Come

3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

When we understand the end times mentality of most people we can observe as if we are watching a stage production but we do not have to suck it into our souls to destroy our peace and joy. We only become devastated by the personal attacks if we are not focused on Christ and are ignorant of the devices of the enemy. Knowledge is power over the devil and his minions.

Feelings are temporary and fleeting, not worth pondering, except to dismiss them as irrelevant and not based on facts. The less we focus on feelings the better off we are, it is good to say to ourselves when feelings arise, "these are not based on truth" and dismiss them. It is amazing how much stronger we become and how much less we "feel" badly when we are attacked unjustly.

Lately I have seen the foolish humor in the attacks and have at times even laughed they were so silly.

1 Peter 3:17

"For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will, than for doing evil."

There was one instance in which the accuser was being so ridiculous as to accuse me of the very thing he just finished doing, that the Holy Spirit gushed forth in laughter without a desire to explain it to the accuser why I was laughing. I just walked away, I had such peace, I don't do this unless it is the Holy Spirit. In this instance, it silenced the accuser and he avoided me after that, it was a good thing to be avoided.

John 5:30

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me."

Jesus Christ said in the John passage that He did nothing without the will of the Holy Spirit, I want to be this way too. The more we seek Christ in us the more we will seek Him. His answers are so fulfilling and wonderful. There is nothing better than being in the will of the Father through Christ Who lives in me.

Hallelujah!!!!!

Be Delivered Through Confession of Sin

All of the things I share with my Facebook friends I have had to learn myself over the years. It would not be possible to accurately explain things I have not had to deal with in myself.

May all those who seek to glorify God speak openly and boldly about the lessons they have learned to help others come to the same blessings of freedom and wisdom in Christ.

It is an amazing blessing to be delivered from all the things that weigh down the unbeliever or the superficial Christian.

It is only in trusting daily in Christ that delivers us from our sinful nature.

Romans 3:23

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

1 John 1:9

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Romans 6:23

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Acts 4:12

"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Ephesians 2:8-9

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Pretenders are in the Church

I fear for the pretenders who are in the church because they are so full of self they expect to go to heaven but will find themselves in hell. So many people who are confident they are good people will be shocked when they end up in hell.

Matthew 7:21-23, are in my opinion the most frightening verses in the Bible.

Matthew 7:21-23 "I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Notice two things; one, they are expecting to go to heaven and do not, and two, they were busy doing what they thought were God's works, but doing it in the flesh to glorify self.

So many people think they must think up good works to do but in reality doing God's Work by His direction is the only way it will count.

Doing our own idea of good works to be seen as special by God and others will only bring us condemnation. We must seek God for His will for us, not our own ideas and it must be done to glorify Him and not ourselves.

Ephesians 2:10

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

What Does Leadership Really Look Like?

From Love Worth Finding: Heartbeat

PRAY OVER THIS

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.”

(Ephesians 5:25)

 

PONDER THIS

Did you know Jesus never makes me do anything? Husbands, you are going to be in severe difficulty if you think that when the Bible says you are the head, you read that as, “I am the boss.” “I am the dictator.” No. Jesus is not the dictator of the Church; He is the head of the Church. If the Church, as His bride, refuses to follow, then she is going to reap repercussions, but He never forces us to do anything. Any husband who takes the attitude of a dictator is going to see that his home is in severe trouble. He is seeking to use the Bible as a club saying, “I am the head. Submit.” This is not the way of Jesus and cannot be our way either.

• Who do you know who you would say is a great leader?
• What makes that person a leader you want to follow?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the positions of influence and leadership you have been given. How will you move toward Christ-honoring leadership?