2 Corinthians 2:15 NLT
Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.
We are so careful to shower and apply deodorant before going out. We want others to see us clean and with a pleasant fragrance. Those of us who work at jobs where we perspire much come home and head right to the shower to wash away that not so pleasant fragrance.
Our dog is so aware of the presence of others. She wags her tail and shows obvious love to those whose fragrance is good. But let someone or even another dog come near with either a bad odor or an evil spirit and she is right in their face ready to protect us.
What about spiritual fragrance? Are our lives evident of a Christ-like fragrance? Do others "smell" Jesus in all we do and say?
Father God, may the fragrance of Christ through Your Holy Spirit be evident in all that I do and say. In Jesus name, I pray.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Malware
Proverbs 12:26 NLT
The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray.
I help others with their computers quite often. The biggest issue is malware or viruses coming from opening websites or emails that are meant to add apps unbenounced to us that corrupt our machine making it run slowly. Often these come from the extra toolbars we allow to be added to our browsers.
I suggest a number of tools to help fight these incursions into an otherwise good computer. These apps dig into the hard drive and pull out the offenders thus cleaning up the computer from the inside out.
Like our computers we must keep ourselves cleaned up all the time too. It is easy to let things of the world creep in like malware or a computer virus does. We need to always be on guard and clean it out right away before it affects the way we live.
We must choose our friends carefully and not continue relationships that can lead us astray. Often those longtime friends that have rejected the Gospel message have to be left behind as we move forward in our walk with Christ.
Monday, May 06, 2013
Transforming
Romans 12:2 NLT
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Back when I was growing up the behavior and customs of the world as I knew it was very much Biblical. This was back in the 1940's and 1950's in New England. The morals of society was pretty much the same as what the Bible was teaching me. It may not have been this way in other places as this was just my experience being raised in a Christian home.
It was in this period of time that the words "In God We Trust" was added to our paper money and "Under God" to our pledge of allegiance. There was a clear difference between right and wrong, good and bad.
Now what we knew to be wrong behavior is considered right behavior. Fifty years ago it was more difficult to tell the difference between a believer and nonbeliever. Their behavior and customs were similar. Not today! We can be considered a good person by today's standards and be way out of line with what the Bible teaches.
Thank you, Jesus for coming into my life. And thank you Holy Spirit for continuing to change me into the way He thinks. Forever transforming me to be more Christ like.
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Back when I was growing up the behavior and customs of the world as I knew it was very much Biblical. This was back in the 1940's and 1950's in New England. The morals of society was pretty much the same as what the Bible was teaching me. It may not have been this way in other places as this was just my experience being raised in a Christian home.
It was in this period of time that the words "In God We Trust" was added to our paper money and "Under God" to our pledge of allegiance. There was a clear difference between right and wrong, good and bad.
Now what we knew to be wrong behavior is considered right behavior. Fifty years ago it was more difficult to tell the difference between a believer and nonbeliever. Their behavior and customs were similar. Not today! We can be considered a good person by today's standards and be way out of line with what the Bible teaches.
Thank you, Jesus for coming into my life. And thank you Holy Spirit for continuing to change me into the way He thinks. Forever transforming me to be more Christ like.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Hope
Romans 8:24 NIV
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Hoping the traffic light will turn green while sitting there at the red light is pretty silly. You know it is going to turn, you just have to wait for it. Hoping it will be sunny tomorrow when the forecast says it will, is also pretty silly. It is like saying I hope an hour from now it will be 9:00 AM when it is 8:00 AM right now.
Of course the hope here, if you read a little before this verse, is in our ultimate salvation and the new bodies we will receive for eternity. This hope is grounded in faith. And faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1).
And our assurance of this faith rests on the belief in God, His promises, and the Truth of His Word that Jesus Christ came, died, and was resurrected for all. Thank you, Jesus!
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Hoping the traffic light will turn green while sitting there at the red light is pretty silly. You know it is going to turn, you just have to wait for it. Hoping it will be sunny tomorrow when the forecast says it will, is also pretty silly. It is like saying I hope an hour from now it will be 9:00 AM when it is 8:00 AM right now.
Of course the hope here, if you read a little before this verse, is in our ultimate salvation and the new bodies we will receive for eternity. This hope is grounded in faith. And faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1).
And our assurance of this faith rests on the belief in God, His promises, and the Truth of His Word that Jesus Christ came, died, and was resurrected for all. Thank you, Jesus!
Monday, April 22, 2013
Chosen
Acts 13:47 NLT
For the Lord gave us this command when he said, "I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth." When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.
You have probably heard the idiom about beating a dead horse. It has to do with continuing to pursue a situation where nothing is happening. One can spend all their energy to try to change someones mind about something. There is no moving them from their position on the matter. They just will not see your point of view. Going at it again with them is truly like "beating a dead horse".
In Matthew 10:14, Jesus tells the disciples "Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet." In other words, if they do not open up to receiving the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ do not keep beating a dead horse. Get up and leave them. Move on to a new place where you might find others chosen for eternal life.
God loves all His children, but those He chooses become believers.
For the Lord gave us this command when he said, "I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth." When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.
You have probably heard the idiom about beating a dead horse. It has to do with continuing to pursue a situation where nothing is happening. One can spend all their energy to try to change someones mind about something. There is no moving them from their position on the matter. They just will not see your point of view. Going at it again with them is truly like "beating a dead horse".
In Matthew 10:14, Jesus tells the disciples "Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet." In other words, if they do not open up to receiving the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ do not keep beating a dead horse. Get up and leave them. Move on to a new place where you might find others chosen for eternal life.
God loves all His children, but those He chooses become believers.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Who We Are
John 13:35 NLT
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
We all must have some type of identifying information with us. When we drive it must be a valid operators license for the state we come from. If we want to cross the border into another country, we have to have an up to date passport. Want to open a bank account, apply for a credit card, go to a doctor or hospital? Need identification relevant to what you are applying to.
It is hard to imagine in this culture that you do not have to have a card or a mark on you to prove you are a disciple of Christ. "The proof is in the pudding". That is to say, our actions tell others who we are. When we have Christ in us and we are in Christ it shows.
When we are with another believer, our love one to another is evident. And even when we are with non-believers our nonjudgmental actions and the love of Christ we display lets them know we are different. We are disciples of Jesus Christ.
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
We all must have some type of identifying information with us. When we drive it must be a valid operators license for the state we come from. If we want to cross the border into another country, we have to have an up to date passport. Want to open a bank account, apply for a credit card, go to a doctor or hospital? Need identification relevant to what you are applying to.
It is hard to imagine in this culture that you do not have to have a card or a mark on you to prove you are a disciple of Christ. "The proof is in the pudding". That is to say, our actions tell others who we are. When we have Christ in us and we are in Christ it shows.
When we are with another believer, our love one to another is evident. And even when we are with non-believers our nonjudgmental actions and the love of Christ we display lets them know we are different. We are disciples of Jesus Christ.
Monday, April 08, 2013
No In Between in 2013
2 Timothy 4:3 ESV
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
We look to what sounds good; what tickles our ears. Many go from church to church looking for what pleases them instead of allowing Holy Spirit to direct them. We say we are Christians and yet we do find ourselves caught in between the lure of worldly things and the hope of forever.
We spend time on both sides of the isle. And I not speaking about politics in Washington. One side of the isle I am referring to is our flesh and the other our spirit. We are about fun and that can lead us into many fleshly things.
We need the latest computer, cell phone, big TV, and vehicle. Our needs seem to be easily centered around things of this world. We spend our earnings and even go into debt to have them. Then we ask God in Jesus name to miraculously pay off our debt.
2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
The more time we spend hanging with other committed Christians, the less the worldly things matter to us. Our conversation is God centered instead of world centered. The only game in town is the race we are in to finish our quest to be more and more like Christ finishing the race He has set before us.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
We look to what sounds good; what tickles our ears. Many go from church to church looking for what pleases them instead of allowing Holy Spirit to direct them. We say we are Christians and yet we do find ourselves caught in between the lure of worldly things and the hope of forever.
We spend time on both sides of the isle. And I not speaking about politics in Washington. One side of the isle I am referring to is our flesh and the other our spirit. We are about fun and that can lead us into many fleshly things.
We need the latest computer, cell phone, big TV, and vehicle. Our needs seem to be easily centered around things of this world. We spend our earnings and even go into debt to have them. Then we ask God in Jesus name to miraculously pay off our debt.
2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
The more time we spend hanging with other committed Christians, the less the worldly things matter to us. Our conversation is God centered instead of world centered. The only game in town is the race we are in to finish our quest to be more and more like Christ finishing the race He has set before us.
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