Let God's word move your heart and feet today.

From desperate crying to joyful running...

"The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue." (Psalm 33:17 ESV)

"Though he slay me, I will hope in him;" (Job 13:15a ESV)

"Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, 'I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.'" (Jonah 2:1-3 ESV)

"O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!" (Psalm 130:2 ESV)

"I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!'" (Lamentations 3:55-57 ESV)

"yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places." (Habakkuk 3:18-19 ESV)

With whom are you craving an audience?

 Doing what with that...

Whether a gift is spiritual in nature or learned as a talent or seemingly natural to a person's genetic, environmental or trained individuality, it IS from God. You see, friend, if it is spiritual in nature, well, it is spiritual! It is a gift directly from the Lord of the Lord. If it is learned, it has been God that has sustained the life of such a one who has learned it. If it seemingly part of who someone is, they are how they are because made them who they are. Capisce?

So, no matter how one has come to have a talent, skill or gift, the question is not where it came from. The question is what is a person doing with what God gave them?

What do we do with the gain from our talent, skill or gift?
What do we do with the exercise of our talents, skills or gifting?
Whose glory do we seek with our talents, skills or gifting?
Who do we bless with our talent, skill or gifting?
Who do we credit for these things?

Let me press into a thought (in other words, be patient)...

The proverb writer says, "A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before the great." (Proverbs 18:16 ESV) In this case, I might paraphrase this verse like this: "A man's money can get him an audience with people he could never meet if he were poor."

Even our money is a gift from God. Sure, someone is thinking, "I earned that! No one gave it to me!" Such attitudes always stem from self-centered pride. IF you have "earned" it, it is because God has given you aptitude, health, willingness and opportunity, without which of any part you would not have made gain. So, surely, I can say, what we "earn" also comes from God.

Finally, then, whether we are talking a talent with which we barter or money with with which we buy, who do put ourselves in front of? Who do we desire audience with?

It can be as simple as taking what we have been given by God and wasting it on frivolity, or it can be as complicated as taking what God has given us and building a sanitary life filled with sanitary people, and it can be anything in between, and it can be worse.

The point is, who do we desire to be in front of with what we have been given? Why? The subject is worth the effort of meditation.

Slick speakers and sick listeners.

Unassuming wickedness...

Even the dictionary gets it (and that's not always the case); all of us would read the word "wickedness" and think of the word "evil", but few of us would think of the word "wickedness" and think of the phrase "morally wrong." Google dictionary nailed it in this case; it very appropriately attached both ideas to the word "wickedness."

Something does not have to be perversely evil to be wicked. In God's eyes, something morally wrong falls into the category of what is wicked.

We often only think of something being "wicked" when we think of witches, or perverse evil, so this idea of "wickedness" including ordinary moral wrongs may shock us.

Obviously, in more than one place, the Scriptures reveal this distinction, but I believe this proverbs embodies this idea perfectly: "An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue." (Proverbs 17:4 ESV)

Here, the moral wrong is taking counsel from people who are up to no good. Do you see it? The moral wrong, in this case, is not doing something wildly outrageous, but giving ear to people who aren't pursuing the Lord. It's that simple.

This nuance lands most of us regularly in the arena of "wickedness." The conversations we gravitate towards; the gossip we entertain; the music and other media we consume; those things we read...all of these could easily engage us in "wickedness."

Safe in Jesus?

There will be a reckoning...

It is nothing new that people do what they want. As a matter of fact, it's nothing new for people to think they are doing right when they are flat wrong: "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit." (Proverbs 16:2 ESV)

See that last part? "The Lord weighs..." On the one hand, that's terrifying, but on the other hand, we can trust God to settle all the accounts of the foolish and wicked.

It's happened before: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.'" (Genesis 6:5-7 ESV)

The only hope for any is the hope Noah discovered: "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6:8 ESV) Noah found favor through God's grace. That grace is available today through Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God.

As the ark was the safe place in the days of the great flood, so is Jesus the safe place in the coming Day of Judgment.

Many, many people are only doing what is right in their own sight, and such people believe their ways are pure. God weighs the heart.

There is a coming reckoning. Are you safe in Jesus?

Your relationship to God's word is absolutely critical.

The saint that is equipped
will be the saint that doesn't get whipped! 
The saint that is ready
we be the saint that stays steady! 

Know the profit in the prophets! 
Love the Lawgiver! 
Walk in the wisdom! 
Find power in the poetry! 

Heed the history! 
Glory in the Gospel! 
Linger in the letters! 
Revel in the revelation! 

Wait upon the Lord...I say, wait! 

Do not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine! Do not be blown away by every weird circumstance! Hold fast! Hold fast! 

Rebuke the enemy! Receive the Savior! Rest in the Father! Run the race by the Spirit! 

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)

Are you teachable?

From being teachable to being known...

"So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians." (Acts 11:25-26 ESV)

The first place disciples of Jesus Christ were called "Christians" was in Antioch. "Christian" means "a follower of Christ," and could most adequately be translated "little Christs." In other words, they were known to be like Jesus. 

Wow. Soak that in. 

There weren't known by their music station, or the fish on their welcome mats, or the cross around their necks -- by the way, no one would've worn a torture / execution symbol -- or any other thing we often measure people by today. They would not have been known as people who mumbled "I believe in God." 

These people were called "Christians" because they exuded the life of Christ. 

Notice something critical; "For a whole year [Barnabas and Paul] met with the church and taught..." 

These people were TEACHABLE! These people were RECEPTIVE! These people embraced GROWTH! These people expected themselves to TRANSFORM!  These people came under the WORD! These people lived lives of SURRENDER! 

Keep reading and you will quickly see the disciples at Antioch LIVED the gospel too. Their lives were not defined by cultural opulence. They were known to be like Jesus. They were known to be like little Christs, living lives focused on God, focused on others; lives focused on service and sacrifice. 

I am praying our area becomes known for having Antiochan type Christians.

A difficult yet necessary inventory.

An inventory verse...

Some inventory verses are hard. The verse I am pondering is just such a verse: "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4 ESV)

Ask 10 people what sin is and we'll probably get 10 different answers. Those answers will generally revolve around the things the person we ask dislikes, or those things hot in cultural discourse. 

However, 1 John 3:4 tells us exactly what sin is: 
"...sin is lawlessness." (ESV, NASB, NIV, RSV, NKJV)
"...sin is the transgression of the law." (KJV)
"...sin is the breaking of law." (HCSB)
"...all sin is contrary to the law of God." (NLT)

The Amplified Bible gives further understanding to 1 John 3:4 by stating it this way: "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness [ignoring God’s law by action or neglect or by tolerating wrongdoing—being unrestrained by His commands and His will]."

Now, though it's difficult to face, we can clearly see what sin is; it's breaking God's law. 

Indeed, we are not saved by keeping God's law, nor is a believer required to practice the rituals of the law, but the moral of the law has not changed one iota. If we live in such a way that constantly ignores God's unchanging moral nature and revealed law, we prove we have no regard for God.  Such lack regard might reveal we either (a) have no relationship, or (b) we've gone cold and need to return to our First Love. 

Blessed is the person who loves God's law, and meditates on it day and night. Such persons may not be perfect, but such people should be humble and willing, ready to seek God, constantly at His feet, and quick and constant in asking for His help. 

Let us look upon the law and ourselves; it will be a difficult inventory, but well worth it.

The Math to Measure in Moments of Madness.

More than the moment...

A wise person knows there is more to life than the moment. As a matter of fact, a wise person knows there is more to life than this lifetime. 

There is eternity...

A wise person weighs the knowledge of eternity against every circumstance. They consider the will of God across the scope of existence. Here’s the math: this life + His character + His command + the judgement + eternity. Having done the math, they respond with those things in due regard and balance. 

A wise person also considers others, and how God thinks of THEM and what God's will is for them too. 

A fool is only in the moment.
A fool is usually in their feelings.
A fool is usually only thinking of self. 

"The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult." (Proverbs 12:16 ESV)

Thinking of ourselves this fine day, would we be characterized more as fools or as prudent / wise people?

Do we respond to everything in the flesh / in the moment or do we weigh it and wait upon the Lord and respond with His wisdom?

"I must do something."

Just do it... 

We avoid taking responsibility. Whether it's in our job, or for tasks around our home, or even for our weaknesses and sin. 

We want everything to be someone else's work or fault.   

I can't remember the old adage in full, but the gist was Everybody is waiting for Somebody to do what Anybody could do, but Nobody is doing. 

When some folks approached Ezra about their sin, he told them they needed to repent themselves. He said, "Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it." (Ezra 10:4 ESV)

Don't blame sin on anyone but the man in the mirror, but don't forsake those repenting. Receive them. Help them. Love them. Keep them accountable. 

Also, about taking responsibility in general, just do it. The attitude that says "I must do something" will always solve more than the attitude that says "something must be done."  

Let's not wait for the hospital bed or the coffin to get straightened out. Let's take responsibility and get straight now.

Satisfaction will be thorough and complete.

 Your clock does not have enough time...

Check out this proverb: "The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked." (Proverbs 10:3 ESV)

You read that and immediately wonder if such a thing can be true. We've known, or possibly even now know, a "righteous" person who has been --or is-- hungry. So, we wonder can this proverb be an accurate representation of truth.

Likewise, we've all seen some wicked person who seems to be doing just fine, enjoying life and living it up. We wonder can the second part be true, too.

Here's the thing...our clock --our way of thinking about justice and time-- does not have enough hours, nor does our understanding reach far enough to understand these things in full.

Think about it in this way:
...the righteous will not be hungry forever!
...the wicked will not even be able to pursue their cravings forever!

Beloved, God always has the end in mind, even in the shadows of our moments that we call a lifetime. A righteous person --a person hidden in Christ-- will not go hungry, or hurting, or sad, or sick, or confused, or in pain, or broken forever. Because they are in Christ, all those things will one day come to an end!

Again, likewise, the wicked simply will not be able to pursue wickedness forever. Pay day is coming some day.

Do not think that God only considers the truth of Proverbs 10:3 in the length of a lifetime, or of several lifetimes. This truth comes to us in the balance of eternity. God is going to handle His business!