The Called

Luke 5:32 NLT 
I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.

I heard a pastor say recently that unless you know you are a sinner there is no way you will know that you need to be saved. And how true that is.

We can talk to someone until we are blue in the face and never get them to want to know Jesus; to want even to come to church with us. If they believe their life to be perfect, why would they want to change it?

It is easy for us who believe to expect others to want the same. Fact is to them we are the strange one. Our definition of fun differs from theirs. It is not about our taking time to go to church on Sundays. It is about our not wanting to do all they do on the other six days of the week anymore.

Until they hear that still small voice calling, they will not be convinced of any need to know Him. That convincing does not come from the words we speak. It comes from who we are and the Love of Jesus we project as we live our lives.

Are our lives producing fruit evident to others?

When They Ask

1 Peter 3:15 NLT 
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.

Most would have a lot to say if they were asked about their football, baseball, or hockey team. And all they do is watch the games on television. Rarely do they have the opportunity to actually see a game live.

We can even spend long periods of time telling all about the jobs we have had and perhaps the one we have right now. We can go on and on sometimes from a positive aspect and for some the reverse.

As believers we are in the marketplace and the workplace daily. As we allow the light of Jesus shine through us, they will ask us. Are we ready to explain who Jesus is to us as quickly as we are the statistics for our favorite team or the latest gossip about work?

Rules

Colossians 2:23 NLT  
These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires.  

We live with rules everywhere we go. How many have said to their children something like "When you live in my house you live by my rules!"?

There are rules in church and rules in school and rules everywhere we turn. They make clear what we can and cannot do according to those who made up the rules.

And the rules are always in a state of flux; always changing or being added to. Seldom are any removed from the list and the list gets bigger and bigger.

I have often said "You cannot legislate morality." No matter how many new laws or rules the governing bodies pass and impose on us they never change the populations evil desires. Who we are deep inside does not change just because we are told to change. Not even when there are penalties if we don't.

After a while we accept the new rules and even forget when they were enacted. We go with the flow being like everyone else. But who we are does not change no matter how strongly we believe in the rules.

The guiding force in our lives is either evil or good. Only God can change us so that under pressure we follow Him. Satan and his evil ways were defeated at the Cross. He can no longer control us or our actions, unless we decide to bend to him under pressure.

"Father, God thank you for sending Jesus to save me and be Lord of my life. Thank you for the encouragement and guidance of Holy Spirit each day of my life. Thank you for making me more Christ like each day so I follow Your ways and live up to your standards. In Jesus name I pray."

Please Everyone

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!

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.

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.

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.