Crossing the Line
"How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?" And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15 NLT)

In the movies we often hear the old adage everyone has his price. This usually occurs when someone is being tempted to do something they would not normally do. They have been asked to cross the line. Initially they say no. Then the price is increased until they succumb to the offer.

Daily we are asked in various ways to cross the line. It may not be money that gets us to say yes, when no would be more appropriate. Often money is the driving force. However, sometimes it is simply what feels good, what looks like a fun thing to do.

Judas sold out Jesus for his thirty pieces of silver. Daily we need to evaluate the temptations that come our way. What does it take for us to sell out? What rewards on earth are important enough for us to cross the line?

The Invitation
"Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see." (Matthew 28:9 NLT)

This comes from the story of the wedding feast. If you do not know the story, I suggest reading from verse 1 through 14.

The Jews were God’s first choice, but most of them refused His invitation to the wedding feast. They did not acknowledge who Jesus was; they were blinded to the Messiah they had waited hundreds of years for.

Jesus was the messenger. He brought the invitation for all from God, the invitation for eternal life, the invitation to be the bride of Christ. When the chosen people refused, God went to the street corners and invited everyone to come.

Some sneak into the wedding because it is an open invitation. To partake, one has to be a believer. Jesus must be their Lord and Savior. They are the ones dressed in wedding clothes, the ones who have put on Christ.

The imposters are weeded out even though they desire to stay for everyone loves a party. Only the believers make it to the wedding for many are called but few are chosen. Jesus is no longer walking among us, but He left us with the job of inviting. It is up to us to go out to the street corners and invite everyone we see.

WYSIWYG
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away." (Matthew 15:8, NLT)

We are excited about the computer applications we now use. Most are WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get. As we type in our word processor, what appears on the screen is what we expect to see on the printed paper. Even better, applications like publishing and web development allow us to build intricate pages and be confident in the results.

It would be great if everyone we met were WYSIWYG. Most are dressed the part and may even know the script, but inside lurks something else. They have the right words to say and put on a good show.

You might think I was referring only to people you meet during your walk in the world. Just because someone uses the right words and can quote scripture and verse does not make their heart right. However, those with a right heart will have a genuine exterior.

How do we tell the difference? Praise and worship does not generate fruit, only a pure heart does. We must look to the fruit in someone’s life to know if their heart is with the one they honor with their lips.

More Understanding
"To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them." (Matthew 13:12 NLT)

In school, we listen to the instructor and study the material he recommends. To show we have done the work, he tests us along the way. At the end of the course, we are given a final exam to see how much we absorbed.

If we are studying how to use a particular Windows application, we need to listen to the instructor doing what he tells us to do as he steps us through the new process. If instead, we spend all our time searching the Internet and reading material on how to grow tomatoes, our knowledge and understating of the Windows Application will not increase at all.

As the instructor moves ahead to give us more input, we will not understand because we have not spent the time going over what has already been given to us; we have not practiced what he taught us last.

As we use what the Holy Spirit has taught us and are open to His teaching, more is given to us. Bookwork is great, but the material we work hard to absorb from books, tapes, and others may have nothing to do with what Gods wants us to understand next.

If you want to build a house in our city, you first have to have plans drawn. Then the plans must be approved by the building inspector. There at two sets of plans which have the appropriate stamps and seals. Any other copies are just copies of the original drawings, not the approved set. The contractor in charge has one approved set and the city holds the other one.

God holds the approved plans for our lives; not us. As we look to Him and are open to His teaching, more will be given

The Written Word
"Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises." (Romans 15:4 NLT)

With computers and word processors, we take the written word for granted. It is so easy to create and duplicate documents. Many are not even sending their computer documents to paper anymore. They simply email them to others or burn them onto CDs to distribute. Everyone I know is able to read; some in more than one language. We live in an advanced and educated society.

Words written today not only affect thinking today, they can have a profound affect on future generations. However, not all written works will go down in history as profound. With the Internet, anyone is able to publish their own work online. Many use web logs or blogs to do just that. Their thoughts, profound or not, are placed in cyberspace for all to read.

The Bible was written almost two thousand years ago. God instructed many to write an account of their time in history. Their words were painstakingly written, letter by letter, for others to read. The printing press and copy machine was yet to be invented. Very few had written documents to read. But then again, most people could not even read.

The beginning of our Bible was used to instruct the Jews in their history and law. It gave them encouragement as they waited patiently for God’s promises. Those who have yet to accept Jesus as the Messiah still wait. Paul’s letters were used as current instructional material. They were like the tape recorder or CD of a message sent to another church today. Other believers listened to the words read from his letter and were encouraged in their walk with Christ. The Gospels were written to tell the story of Jesus and His walk on earth as a man.

Everything in the Bible, from beginning to end, has a purpose. I believe it is the inspired Word of God. As we delve into His Word, He shows us little pieces which relate to us. He reveals to us that which we are ready to see. His words give each of us hope and encouragement. The key is to take the time each day to read them.

Get Out of the Box!
"No one else dared to join them, though everyone had high regard for them." (Acts 5:13 NLT)

Most of us grew up in a family filled with traditions. Some traditions came about because of life circumstances. For example, ours is a blended family with children from both my wife and I. As they were growing up in our house, the holidays could have been disastrous with both sets of parents demanding equal time on each holiday. We established a tradition of having them at our house for Thanksgiving and allowed them to go to their other parents for Christmas.

Some grew up in homes where the tradition was to attend church every Sunday. Others had a Christmas and Easter tradition instead. Church may have even been fun, but it was a tradition to attend. It really did not have anything to do with a walk with the Lord or a relationship with God the Father. The Holy Spirit was not involved and perhaps never even mentioned except at the end of the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father, depending on your tradition.

My wife was healed in 1991 from an incurable disease. One miraculous touch and our church traditions went out the window. We moved from our traditional weekly experience to places supporting our newfound belief and encouraging our relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Others saw what had happened in our life, but stayed in the box they had always been. Like this verse, no one else dared join us even though each had seen what had happened, even though they saw her healed. Most of them continue to go to their traditional Sunday services. What about you? Isn’t it time to take a chance on Jesus and step out of the box?

Unlimited Resources
"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit." (Ephesians 3:16 NLT)

When our computer starts to run slower and slower, one of the things we need to look at is the amount of hard disk space left. With these new digital cameras, it is easy to use up the bytes quickly. The pictures we upload take up to one megabyte each. When we upload one hundred pictures after that last party, we have another one hundred megabytes filled.

This is like my desk. The daily snail mail seems to accumulate at an every increasing pace. Before I realize it, my desk is loaded and I have to push paper around to find things. My desk needs defragging as much as my hard drive! The desk is only so big and my hard drive has limits, too. It would be great to have an unlimited amount of hard disk space so whatever we wanted to save would fit.

Everything has a limit. We can only fit so much on our computer. Our car’s trunk can only fit so much stuff. a credit cards has a limit, too. When reached, we cannot use it anymore and may even be embarrassed at a checkout counter when we have to come up with the cash.

God has no limit. His resources are unlimited. Whatever we need, He can supply and all we have to do is ask. If our request lines up with His will, He promises to supply it. He does not send it by UPS or FedEx. They are quick to deliver the items we purchase over the Internet. God does not have to fulfill our request long distance. He gave each believer the Holy Spirit; Christ within. The Holy Spirit lives in us and gives us the inner strength to accomplish anything He has for us to do.