Forget Being a Goody Two Shoes, Lets Do Something EXCITING!

Being good is just so boring.  Someone who is always good is about as exciting as watching a snail race.  What is wrong with them?  Why don’t they get out and live a little.  Find some excitement in life.  You’re not really alive until your get that adrenalin rush from doing something that is not all boringly good.

What are the best movies?  The ones with explosions, killings, fast cars, danger and of course beautiful women.  The excitement is not found in watching someone driving down the road 10 miles under the speed limit.  Its exciting when they are driving 130 mph in downtown New York as they weave in between cars and shoot at the police who are chasing them.

Lets face it, good does not sell.  When advertising a car why do they have some beautiful woman in a bikini laying on the hood?  If she was in a nun habit, I guarantee the car wouldn’t sell. I also guarantee that people are not thinking good wholesome thoughts about that woman in her skimpy bikini.  They say that “Playboy has great articles”, but its not the articles which sell the magazine.

Christians are suppose to be seeking to be like Christ.  This means we are trying to be good, but we see sin as more exciting and tantalizing.  I admit it.  Sin is fun.  I enjoy sin.  I want to sin.  GASP!  That is terrible to say!  Maybe, but it is true.

After all, the Law itself is really concerned with the spiritual—it is I who am carnal, and have sold my soul to sin. In practice, what happens? My own behaviour baffles me. For I find myself not doing what I really want to do but doing what I really loathe. Yet surely if I do things that I really don’t want to do, I am admitting that I really agree with the Law. But it cannot be said that “I” am doing them at all—it must be sin that has made its home in my nature. (And indeed, I know from experience that the carnal side of my being can scarcely be called the home of good!) I often find that I have the will to do good, but not the power. That is, I don’t accomplish the good I set out to do, and the evil I don’t really want to do I find I am always doing. Yet if I do things that I don’t really want to do then it is not, I repeat, “I” who do them, but the sin which has made its home within me.  Romans 7:14-20     J.B. Phillips New Testament

What is strange about all this is that actually goodness is not only more beneficial to us, but it can be exciting.  A life in Christ does not mean 24 hours a day in a prayer closet.  You like to travel and see other countries?  Missionaries live a life that is truly on the edge all over the world.  They see and do things that they could never have imagined before.  Some people have ministries to surfers and that means they are out on the beaches everyday surfing and talking to others about Christ.

Christianity is a challenge for you to Change the world using music, words and actions.  You like riding your Harley?  There are groups of Christians bikers.  You like to sing or play a musical instrument? Form a Christian band.  You like to play sports?  You have a great platform for sharing your love for Christ.

Wherever your talents and interest lay, God can use you.  He made you the way you are for a reason.  You were not meant to sit on a cloud for eternity playing a harp with a stupid smile on your face.  You were meant to change the world and experience the excitement of life with Christ.

Photo Credit: Surf the Waves of Isla Grande - Panama City, Panama by whl.travel

God is Good. What does that mean?

There are two ways to define the word “Good”.  One is a moral definition where a person is good because they have the virtue of goodness.  “He is a good man.”  The other is a functional definition where something or someone is performing well.  “He does good work.”

Biblically, I don’t think you can separate the two.  “He is a good man, because he does good.”  You cannot have the virtue of goodness without having it showing in the life of the person.  Without works, faith is dead.

Matthew 19:17a "And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God:"

Who is good?  Jesus said that only God is good.  He is the sole person in the universe who is truly good.  He alone fulfills His function completely.  Every man and woman who has ever lived, including you and me, were uniquely created to fulfill a function in this world, but we failed.

Sin has warped us so that we cannot perform as we should.  We do not have the ability by ourselves to do the good work which God calls us to.  We are like broken tools useless for anything except to be thrown into the fire and melted down.

But God is good.  He has no sin.  He is capable of fulfilling any task He sets upon Himself.  He created us for a purpose and out of His love for us was willing to have Jesus sacrifice Himself on a cross.  That sacrifice saved us from the fire and gave us a new life where with His help we can fulfill the purpose God has for us.

God has set out for Himself the purpose of loving us.  His function is to love.  His love is so far above what can understand, that sometimes we miss seeing just how good He is.  It’s not just a inward goodness, but it is expressed in His constant blessings upon us.

Let us bless God with our love as well.  Our lives should be filled with our acts of love towards our Lord and towards the people He loves.

Photo Credit: Real Life Fun House Mirrors by Jeremy Brook

A Hateful God

The title to this post bothers me.  I don’t like it.  It seems to be opposite of the loving God I know and yet it is true.  Yes, there are times we should be full of hate. God is full of hate for some things but remember, He loves all people. 

Ecclesiastes 3:8 "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

God is a passionate God who feels far more intensely then we do.  His love is so pure and passionate that it drives His whole being.  His hatred is just as intense and pure.  Whatever you feel hatred for is a mere shadow of emotion to what God feels.  Where God loves, we should love like Him.  Where God hates, we should hate just as much.  Sadly, I confess, I love and desire some of what God hates.

Proverbs 6: 16-"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

1. Pride.  This is Satan’s original sin.  It is also a sin I have way too much of.  I want people to think best of me even at the cost of not giving God His glory.

2. Lying tongue. They say that within the first ten minutes you meet someone, you will tell on average 3 lies.  Hey, I just want to impress them. Oops, there goes my pride again.

3. Hands that shed innocent blood. Have you ever taken part in a joke on someone you think is some kind of idiot.  Laughed at someone else at there expense?  But, no blood was shed.  You plunged a knife so deep into them that a real one couldn’t have hurt less.

4. Wicked imaginations. Lustful thoughts.  Undressing someone in my mind? Holding a grudge against someone. Plotting what you would like to do to them?

5. Running to mischief. Ever do something just because you wanted to watch a person’s reaction?  Get that tattoo so shock you mother?  Protest something because it’s fun to yell and scream at people who disagree?

6. False witness.  This isn’t just lying.  It is not telling the truth about someone.  It means being quiet when you know what really happened.  God calls upon you to get involved so that justice is met. Not speaking up is being an accomplice to lies.

7. Sow discord.  I use to enjoy a good argument about politics and religion.  I would get a discussion going just so I could prove them wrong.  That was sowing discord.  My goal was not to find the truth, it was to argue.

God hates all these things.  I should be full of hate for them as well.  All sin is rebellion against God and I want to live my life in full compliance to His will.  I want to hate sin just as much as Him, but so often I fail.  Lord fill me with hate for the things you hate.

Photo Credit: Pride - Love me, Hate me but..... by blackout14

God Will Not Fail You

1 Corinthians 13: 8-13 "Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part;  but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.  When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."

God’s love never fails. He is forever faithful.  His creation could pass away.  Some of the gifts He has given will someday be gone.  Nothing in all the universe is as permanent as Him, unless He so wills it.  Prophesy, tongues, and the gift of knowledge are temporary.  They are simply gifts which reveal partial truth.  When we are perfected in our glorious new bodies, that which is partial will be done away with.  We will not need prophesy, tongues and knowledge, because we will be able to tap into God’s knowledge and know Him as He knows us.  He knows all tongues, all knowledge and we will know God’s heart about all things.

God does not take away anything in our lives without substituting something greater. If you are going through a trial, God is faithful to see you through that trail and to come out of it closer to Him with greater love and faith. If you lose a possession, a job, or even someone you love, God will be there  with you and help you through the loss.  He was faithful in the past.  He will be faithful in the future. He is faithful today.

Now faith (Trusting God for what He did in the past) hope (trusting God for what He will do in the future), Love (Trusting God for what He is doing right now in your life) abide these three, but the greatest of these is love.  It is easy to say we trusted Him and we will Trust Him in the future.  The hardest thing is to trust Him now when we are in the middle of a trial.  He is faithful.  God will not fail you.

Photo Credit: New Year's Prayer! by Jeanette's Ozpix

God is …. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

1 Corinthians 13 shows how His love is the source and foundation of His Character.  It is the Love of God which is the source of these attributes in Him. His love is also the source for these characteristics  in us.

 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

God is patient.  He is like the dog in the picture above who could eat that kitten in one bite, however he is patient with the kitten even while having his leg gnawed on.  God is the same way.  Even when we hurt Him God does not crush us like He justifiably could. Praise God He is patient.

He is kind and not jealous. The word jealous in the Greek means to covet.  We are not to covet.  Nothing belongs to us. We are to oversee what God has given to us to care for, but it all belongs to God.  God never covets, but then He owns everything anyway.

God does not seek His own.  He has given us so much to enjoy and use in this world.  He even gave of Himself totally, even unto death, in the person of Jesus.  He is not a god who only wants from followers adoration and sacrifice.  God desires to love and serve those who follow Him and help them to love and serve others.

God is not provoked to rain down fire on us out of frustration and anger.  He is only moved to do what is necessary, to bring us back to Him, out of His love for us.  He does not take into account wrongs we have done to Him, but rather He looks at how He can move our hearts back into alignment with His heart.  He does not rejoice in any trials which may come upon us, no matter how evil we ourselves might be.  He only rejoices in seeing us come to the truth.

God bears all things we might accost Him with.  He believes in us even when we do not. Hope is faith in what is future and God knows what is in our future.  He knows how much we will grow and please Him.  He will endure pain and heartache, which we cause by accident or on purpose, just so He can bring us into a righteous and more complete relationship with Him.

God desires only the best for us.  We were created so that our lives will be truly fulfilled and have joy when we are in a right relationship with God.  He will do anything possible to bring us to Himself.  He will even put up with our rebellious hearts for a time.  Eventually our time will run out and death will take us.  Then it is to late.  Now is the time to decide to follow our Loving God.  Christians and non-Christians alike must decide to make Him lord of their lives and live a Christ centered life of Love.

Read blog post on 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 click here.

Photo Credit: The Look of Patience by CaptPiper

The Essence of God is Love

God’s love is best described in 1 Corinthians 13. This one trait is the very soul of God.  1 John 4:8 states that “God is love.”  Love is so intrinsic in the character of God that without it, God would be a hollow form of Himself.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 If I speak with the tongues of men 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 all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body ^[a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

If God spoke every language in Heaven and on Earth but had not love, He would be a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.  If He knew the past, present and future of all things, and knew everything possible to know; and if He worked great miracles impossible to everyone else, but did not love, He would be nothing.  If God gave the whole universe to the poor and downtrodden, and surrendered Himself for crucifixion but did not love, it would profit Him nothing.

Even God would be as nothing without Love.  He would be all powerful still and know everything possible.  He could create and destroy at a mere whim but without love it would all be meaningless.

There is nothing God does without love.  There is nothing God says without love. There is not one particle of His being that does not radiate love.  If we do not understand how love it the motivation of everything concerning God, then we will never understand God at all.  How can we know what God desires for ourselves without knowing of His Love?

Read blog on 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 Click here

Photo Credit: Love is always.. by Sara Alfred

God of Anger and Wrath

An attribute of God, which most people would agree is negative, is His anger which brings the wrath of God upon men.  They envision God becoming so angry and frustrated with man that He starts to throw lightning bolts haphazardly at everyone in the area.  God is not some crazy gunman out to kill people He blames for some wrong that was done.

Not every bad thing which happens to us in this life is a result of God’s wrath. It is rare to ever see God’s wrath. Bad things happen in this life because of sin. Man brought sin into the world and now it saturates the world with its evil. Man chose a life of sin and God weeps at the result, but He will not stand in the way of man’s choice for ungodliness.

Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"

Romans 1:18 explains how God is angry against ungodliness and unrighteousness, because it calls the truth of God unrighteous. He is angry with the sin and not with the man, however it is the man who holds this untruth within them.  In order to rid the man of this sin, God is willing to do anything to cleanse him, including allowing man to experience God’s wrath.

An example of this is found in the Seven Years of Tribulation.  God’s wrath will come down upon mankind because of sin permeating their everyday lives.  For seven years one catastrophe after another strikes the population of the world until three fourths of the population is wiped out.  Why would a loving God do such a thing?

God knows that man does not seek God unless he comes to the end of himself.  When man has no other options; when he has lost everything in spite of his best efforts, he turns to God. It is better that he lose everything in this life so that he might have eternal life.

Matthew 16:26 " For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

God keeps putting man into losing situations in the hopes that he will come to realize that everything he has trusted in this world is worthless without God.  God loves all of mankind so much that He is willing to make life a living Hell if it will turn him around.

God does not enjoy hurting even one person, no matter how evil they might be.  God desires the best for us and will do whatever it takes to get us there. He is our heavenly parent who would rather suffer the pain Himself than to see us suffer.  He however is willing to suffer with us in order to bring us back to Himself. Any trials we go through in this life, God is there as well.  He does not abandon us.

Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon in 1741 called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” I want to end this post saying, I would rather be in the hands of an angry God than to not be in his hands at all.

Photo Credit: Destroyed Homes On Beach 130th Street & Newport Avenue, Belle Harbor, Queens, New York. by NYC Streamline