Our views, our beliefs is what we base our life on. Those views and beliefs make up the foundation of our life. We build our life upon and around the views and beliefs we have. Upon that foundation we view and interact within our world.
Each of us have our on unique view of the world around us base on the information we received throughout our life. The information is imperfect from imperfect people. We had to decide whether or not to believe it. Those of us with an open mind will question that information and others will think it is the absolute truth.
I believe there is an intelligence that knows the absolute truth but with my limited mind I will only come to a partial knowledge of that truth. I can build my life on the perfect information from God but I can never come to a complete understanding of it due to my imperfect condition. So in faith I have to live my life until the day God makes my mind perfect.
I have come to a conclusion in my life that Jesus Christ knew the absolute truth and in his compassion he shared it with us. So I choose to build my life on the foundation of his word.
Each of us have built their life around something and each of us believe in something and our life is built on the foundation of that belief.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
What's Inside of the Box?
It won't be long till Christmas and you will be seeing beautifully gifted wrap presents. Some will be store wrapped and others will be done by yourself. The decorative paper and ribbon will make the present look impressive. But even with all that work done on the outside we will still judge the value of the present of what is on the inside. No matter how beautiful you make the gift wrapping its whats on the inside that counts.
Another example if we were to buy a car that caught our eye, meaning will were impressed by the outside package. Then we get inside and take it for a drive and the car breaks down on the road. What happens to our opinion of the car? We would probably hate it. Even if the car looks good to us, our value of the car would be low.
Again here is another example. When we go shopping at a grocery store, we see many cakes, cookies and pastries that look good to us. We judge them to be delicious by what we see but it is when we actually buy them and taste them we know for sure how good they are. What we see on the outside can be deceiving.
God also places more value on what is on the inside than the outside. In first Peter 3:3,4 Peter said, "3Do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of the hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear-- 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." First Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
God is looking past our appearance and looking inside our heart. God is not impressed with pretty wrapping but with the content within. So if our appearance is less than society's standards God will still accept us if our heart's condition is right. Who are we trying to impress anyway God or man? The one who gives eternal life or those who worship the temporary.
What's inside of the box? We have to guess but God knows.
Another example if we were to buy a car that caught our eye, meaning will were impressed by the outside package. Then we get inside and take it for a drive and the car breaks down on the road. What happens to our opinion of the car? We would probably hate it. Even if the car looks good to us, our value of the car would be low.
Again here is another example. When we go shopping at a grocery store, we see many cakes, cookies and pastries that look good to us. We judge them to be delicious by what we see but it is when we actually buy them and taste them we know for sure how good they are. What we see on the outside can be deceiving.
God also places more value on what is on the inside than the outside. In first Peter 3:3,4 Peter said, "3Do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of the hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear-- 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." First Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
God is looking past our appearance and looking inside our heart. God is not impressed with pretty wrapping but with the content within. So if our appearance is less than society's standards God will still accept us if our heart's condition is right. Who are we trying to impress anyway God or man? The one who gives eternal life or those who worship the temporary.
What's inside of the box? We have to guess but God knows.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
A Righteous Soul's Torment
How hard it is to be a righteous man and to live in an evil world. Lot was greatly distressed while he was living in Sodom and Gomorrah. In 2 Peter 2:8 the apostle Peter talk about Lot's mental condition he said in verse 8 "(for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);"
Living in today's world as Christians are we not also tormented by people's lawless deeds? We who work hard on improving ourselves through God's word the Bible are sometimes made depressed by those who bathe themselves in sin. As we grow in Christ our conscience is made more refine. What we could live with before, we have a hard time living with it now. We want to live perfectly and to be perfect just as Jesus Christ. The people of our world have other ideas in how to live their lives usually in a sinful manner and not a righteous one.
We endure and wait for our Lord's arrival. I hate to say it but I think that our world is slipping more into darkness than enlightenment. The programs on television seem to be more and more violent. I believe that wholesomeness in programming is a thing of the past. Where are the role models in today's society? I do not think that people are taking what Jesus Christ had to say seriously. They are living their lives the way they want to and caring not for what harm that they may do to others.
We are many ways like Lot, living in our own Sodom and Gomorrah. We ache inside and pray for a better world. We all know how Sodom and Gomorrah ended by the judgement of God. Our world will also be judged when Jesus Christ returns. We know this to be true, where our world seems to ignore it. Lot was rescued by God and God will rescue us as well. Even though we live in a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah we will not be destroyed, God will carry us through.
Living in today's world as Christians are we not also tormented by people's lawless deeds? We who work hard on improving ourselves through God's word the Bible are sometimes made depressed by those who bathe themselves in sin. As we grow in Christ our conscience is made more refine. What we could live with before, we have a hard time living with it now. We want to live perfectly and to be perfect just as Jesus Christ. The people of our world have other ideas in how to live their lives usually in a sinful manner and not a righteous one.
We endure and wait for our Lord's arrival. I hate to say it but I think that our world is slipping more into darkness than enlightenment. The programs on television seem to be more and more violent. I believe that wholesomeness in programming is a thing of the past. Where are the role models in today's society? I do not think that people are taking what Jesus Christ had to say seriously. They are living their lives the way they want to and caring not for what harm that they may do to others.
We are many ways like Lot, living in our own Sodom and Gomorrah. We ache inside and pray for a better world. We all know how Sodom and Gomorrah ended by the judgement of God. Our world will also be judged when Jesus Christ returns. We know this to be true, where our world seems to ignore it. Lot was rescued by God and God will rescue us as well. Even though we live in a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah we will not be destroyed, God will carry us through.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Am I More than Just a Reader of God's Word?
I have asked this question of myself. Am I more than just a reader of God's word? I do sometimes struggle with my understanding of the Bible. It's words are very wise and carries a depth of understanding, an understanding I try my best to know. Even with my best effort I still far short. I have to admit to myself I am just an imperfect man trying my best to know the perfect ways of God. It feels sometimes like I am just reading about God's words and not knowing how to really apply them.
In this blog I am trying to remain true to myself. Meaning I will not tell you to love if I do not know how to love or will I tell you to forgive if I do not know how to forgive. I will tell you what I do know. I want to share my discoveries with you. Discoveries about God's word that makes a difference in my life. I do not consider myself to be totally spiritually mature but that is my main goal in life.
I try my best to apply God's words to my life, I fail sometimes but I never do give up. To me serving God is my whole purpose in life and if I fail at doing that I have wasted my entire life. By the hand of God we were made and in his hands lies our future. I want to be apart of that future so learning God's word is high on my list in things to do.
Reading and then doing is sometimes hard because of my lack of understanding. I think that I am to hard on myself for not knowing. I do research in what I do not know but then again reading about it then doing it is two different things. I can go through the motion of doing but I do not feel sincere about it. I want to live God's word and to feel it not just go through the motion of doing it.
I do not like to be judgmental about people but I do sometimes question about those that do preach God's word. Are they just reading the scriptures to us or they really living and feeling the spirit of those scriptures in their life? I will keep looking into God's word so to try to keep making the spirit of God come alive in my life. I want to be a willing doer of God's word and not just a reader.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Messages of Hypocrites
Jesus Christ gave good instructions to his disciples about the messages of hypocrites in Matthew 23:3 he said, "so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice." Many times I have been given advice by hypocrites. They tell you what to do but yet they do not do it themselves.
They will overly criticize you and try to make you feel guilty for not following their advice. Their advice in which they do not follow themselves. They will tell you to do many positive things but in secret they do the opposite. They will give you their best advice on many different subjects but yet they fall short in taking their own advice. I do listen and even sometimes take their advice if it's helpful.
I have listen to sermons by preachers who was later found out to be immoral in someway. Their preaching at the time was well researched and was according to the scriptures. They preached what was right but practiced what was wrong. Just as Jesus instructed I done what they said but I did not do as they do.
They will overly criticize you and try to make you feel guilty for not following their advice. Their advice in which they do not follow themselves. They will tell you to do many positive things but in secret they do the opposite. They will give you their best advice on many different subjects but yet they fall short in taking their own advice. I do listen and even sometimes take their advice if it's helpful.
I have listen to sermons by preachers who was later found out to be immoral in someway. Their preaching at the time was well researched and was according to the scriptures. They preached what was right but practiced what was wrong. Just as Jesus instructed I done what they said but I did not do as they do.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
We Feed Our Mouth but not Our Spirit
We struggle everyday trying to make a living for ourselves and for our family. Our time sometimes become so limited to do anything else. Our dedication to the material out weighs our dedication to our spiritual well being by a large margin. We become spiritually empty but materially we have many things. We strive for what we can see and touch and ignore the rest. Behold our world isn't it beautiful(on the outside only)?
I feel a lot of the time we focus more on the icing on the cake than we do the cake itself. We make our outer appearance our main concern while our inner self waste away. I always feel I need more even though I have much. When your soul is spiritually empty no amount of food or material possessions can fill it.
In the Bible Matthew 4:4 Jesus says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." You see we are flesh and bone and we need material food to live but we are also spiritual beings and we need spiritual food(God's word) to live. If we only pursue the material then we are not living a full life according to God's Word. We must take care of our spirit as well as our physical body.
I feel a lot of the time we focus more on the icing on the cake than we do the cake itself. We make our outer appearance our main concern while our inner self waste away. I always feel I need more even though I have much. When your soul is spiritually empty no amount of food or material possessions can fill it.
In the Bible Matthew 4:4 Jesus says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." You see we are flesh and bone and we need material food to live but we are also spiritual beings and we need spiritual food(God's word) to live. If we only pursue the material then we are not living a full life according to God's Word. We must take care of our spirit as well as our physical body.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Jesus Represents God's Kingdom on Earth
Right now the physical kingdom of Jesus Christ's kingdom is no part of this world. In John 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." But there will be a time in the future that it will be apart of this world. Daniel 2:44 "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,"
The Bible speaks of a spiritual kingdom of God. Luke 17:20,21 "20Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. 21nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!" or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." Jesus Christ was saying that he represented the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God is now among you.
The apostle Paul tells us the kingdom of God is not about fleshly matters but about spiritual ones. Romans 14:17 "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
God is trying to change us from our fleshly ways and make us suitable for his kingdom. For if we do not change we will not be welcomed into his kingdom. Jesus spoke about this in the parable of the weeds. In Matthew 13:24,25 "24He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away."In the following verses the master of the house told the servants not to try to pick out the weeds from the wheat at this early stage of growth for fear that they would pull out some of the wheat along with the weeds. And in verse 30 he said, "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn." It is interesting that he did not pull up the weeds in the beginning. He let them grow up together maybe to see if one would influence the other, to see if some of the weeds would become the like wheat or some of the wheat would become like the weeds. In away he gave them freedom to choose how they grew up until the day of harvest in which in reality is their day of God's judgement.
(ESV)
The Bible speaks of a spiritual kingdom of God. Luke 17:20,21 "20Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. 21nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!" or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." Jesus Christ was saying that he represented the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God is now among you.
The apostle Paul tells us the kingdom of God is not about fleshly matters but about spiritual ones. Romans 14:17 "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
God is trying to change us from our fleshly ways and make us suitable for his kingdom. For if we do not change we will not be welcomed into his kingdom. Jesus spoke about this in the parable of the weeds. In Matthew 13:24,25 "24He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away."In the following verses the master of the house told the servants not to try to pick out the weeds from the wheat at this early stage of growth for fear that they would pull out some of the wheat along with the weeds. And in verse 30 he said, "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn." It is interesting that he did not pull up the weeds in the beginning. He let them grow up together maybe to see if one would influence the other, to see if some of the weeds would become the like wheat or some of the wheat would become like the weeds. In away he gave them freedom to choose how they grew up until the day of harvest in which in reality is their day of God's judgement.
(ESV)
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