1 Corinthians 10:33 NLT
I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don't just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.
How often are we looking out for ourselves and looking to please us? Or perhaps helping others but looking for something in return. If I please them they will owe me one. Too often we expect the return and as such lose the blessing. We are too ME centered.
Now I believe the serendipity of doing what is best for others is a blessing for us. And it may come from anywhere; usually not from those we are helping. Yet, that is not why we are to be there for others.
So the next time someone is in need, Lord, send me. I am ready to be used as your servant to bless your people. Thank you, Jesus!
Monday, May 27, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Our Fragrance
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.
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 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.
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