![]() Fear is a great motivator. It can actually save your life. If you are standing on the side of the road and all of a sudden hear a loud horn and screeching brakes, you immediately jump out of the way and avoid being hit by a car. You can be walking on a trail in the mountains, and when you hear a certain swift noise, you know there is a rattlesnake nearby. Fear is not bad. In a perfect world, fear would be strange. But on planet earth, it is a great motivator. But there is a motivator that is more powerful and productive than fear. It is faith. Faith is greater than fear for several reasons. Fear and faith are both about belief. But fear is a negative belief, while faith comes from a positive place. Here are some ways to understand the differences between fear and faith... Fear is a belief that something bad is about to happen. Faith is a belief that something good is already happening and will at some point come to full fruition. Fear can cause you to get out of the way of something bad. But faith will cause you to get in the way of something good. Fear is reactive. Faith is proactive. Fear is the harvest. Faith is a seed. Fear paralyzes. Faith produces. Fear looks at reality assuming the worst. Faith looks at reality affirming the best. Fear replaces hope. Faith reinforces confidence. Fear is discouraged by God. Faith is honored by God. Fear destroys people and families. Faith secures people and is a great heritage to pass down through families. The Bible talks a lot about fear and faith. Depending on your translation, a form of the word fear is found around 340 times. A form of the word faith is found 540 times. Sometimes the word fear is used in the context of fearing the Lord... which is the only acceptable form of fear... actually more of an awe and ultimate respect. Here are some things God has to say about those who live by faith... My righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life. Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it. (Hebrews 10:36-11:1) Fear and faith are both powerful. They are both beliefs in things that are not seen. Every time you come to a dark place, you can fear it, or you can faith it. You have the choice to move forward in either one. God never approves of fear. He always approves of solid faith. There is absolutely no benefit in believing that horrible things are going to happen, but great blessing in believing that God is up to something in your life. I'm not saying we should live without concern. But our concern should result in a life of believing God for the best, and not instantly thinking the worst is going to happen. If you are a Christian, faith comes in your package. Just use it. Exercise it. Recognize the result. Then build on that the next time you come to that scary place. You cannot live in fear. You can only die in fear. You can die in faith... or rather for your faith. Many have. But on the other side of dying in faith is living forever... which is what our faith is for anyway. Today, choose to believe the promises of God. Do not fear. God is with you, and He is not afraid. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] This website is an absolutely free resource. But it does take time and effort. If you would like to support this work, feel free to give via the above link.
![]() Laws are serious, except when they are hilarious. Some laws are just weird. You have to wonder how some of them came to be. Every state has its own fair share of laws that just make you scratch your head. Some of them are simply antiquated and made sense 150 years ago. But there are plenty that make you question why anyone would pursue such legal prohibitions. Here is a sampling of some of the legislative craziness. For a pickle to legally be called a pickle in Connecticut, it must bounce. Taking a snooze in a cheese factory, bake shop, confectionery, or creamery is illegal under Illinois’ Sanitary Food Preparation Act. You may not catch fish with your bare hands anywhere in Indiana. Exploding golf balls are not allowed in Massachusetts. Carrying seaweed “from seashore below high-water mark” after the sun has set is a violation of the state’s fish and game provisions. Giving fish alcohol is prohibited in Ohio. The Bible includes many laws… literally hundreds of laws. Some of those laws make a lot of sense, and create the framework for a workable society. Others make a lot of sense because they explain how to make things right in a society. But there are some laws, even in the Bible that make you turn your head and go, “Really?!?” But there are two laws that rule the whole universe. These are not the law of gravity, or some other natural law. On multiple occasions Jesus was asked by people who were covered in laws what is actually the greatest law? Here is what Jesus said… “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:37-40) There is nothing silly about these laws. There is nothing wrong with these laws. These laws are truly the cornerstone of a successful life and civilization. Obeying these laws brings life and order. The more people obey these laws, the less we will have to make other laws, because when these laws are kept, the activities curtailed by other laws will not exist. Today you will be faced with various decisions about how to treat people, or what to do with difficult situations. I challenge you that before you try to figure out all of the ramifications that can or should… or shouldn’t happen depending on your actions, just ask yourself this question… What decision in this situation would honor God the most, and at the same time truly make life better for the other people involved? [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] This website is an absolutely free resource. But it does take time and effort. If you would like to support this work, feel free to give via the above link.
![]() It is difficult to worship freely when darkness is thick in your life. It may be a personal tragedy or a cultural train wreck that has you groping for stability and a clear line of communication and worship with God. The heart hesitates to sing when evil is so thick you could cut it with a knife. When defeat hangs in the air, it can easily draw our attention from the victory that awaits, and is even already present. We cannot wish the dark away. We can’t pray it away. We can’t outrun it. But the good thing is, we don’t have to. The dark is subservient to the light. So when God is in us, darkness is overpowered… even when it is so thick you can cut it with a knife. In the beginning was God. He created the heavens and the earth. Then, because of rebellion, darkness flooded the space. With one word, God created light. Darkness did not cease to exist. It just had to obey the light. God divided the darkness and light. He determined that it would have its boundaries. Today darkness still has boundaries. It still exists, but it has boundaries. King David put it this way, “Even the darkness is not dark to You (God). The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.” (Psalm 139:12) If God dwells in us, His light gives us the same experience. So as you worship today, I would not diminish the fact that there is darkness in your life and in our world. These are truly dark days in the world. But the darkness is not dark to God. It shines like the day. Open your eyes, lift your hands, worship with all your heart the One who is the origin of all light, and watch the darkness become invisible. The apostle James wrote to the early church, “Don’t be deceived, my dearly loved brothers. Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the first fruits of His creatures.” (James 1:16-18) [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] This website is an absolutely free resource. But it does take time and effort. If you would like to support this work, feel free to give via the above link.
![]() If you don’t promote yourself, who will promote you? This seems to be the philosophy of the day. It is one thing to be confident in who you are and share your strengths. But some people have crossed a line and promote themselves at a level that would make Don King blush. Self-promotion is a mixture of bragging and selling yourself based on the bragging. I think as social creatures, most of us want to know about other people. But in a day where everyone can have multiple sites to advertise their worth, it can become a little much. It is one thing to communicate your accomplishments at the appropriate time. It is another thing to give your resume every time it is your turn to speak. I think most of the time self-promotion occurs because an individual wants to be significant. And don’t we all want to be significant? The question is, how far will we go to achieve it? Our culture seems to agree that self-promotion is the best path to significance. Just look at all of the ‘reality shows’. Players are all about getting to the next round. And to do so they need to impress the other players, or the judges, or the viewing audience, or all three. Every other player becomes a step ladder for them. This mentality has crept into the general life and culture. This is not playing out well in our workplace or relationships. Self-promotion is basically us shining a spotlight on ourselves. The problem is, we weren’t designed to walk in God’s light and at the same time bask in our own light. Even looking at the life of Jesus, one may think that wherever He went He was promoting His miracles, teaching, Messiahship, etc. But He wasn’t. Jesus’ ministry was not a self-promotion tour. In fact, He always deflected glory to the Father. His primary purpose on earth was not to get people to believe in what He could accomplish through signs and wonders. Everything Jesus did on the earth was to show us who the Father is. He is the Way… not to Himself, but to the Father. At one point Jesus actually said, “I do not seek my own glory.” You know who was seeking the glory of Christ? The Father. Even in God there is no selfish ambition or self-promotion. Jesus is the Light of the world. A light does not exist to bring attention to itself. You can’t actually see the sun very well. It a very bright star, but it doesn’t shine so we can see it. It shines light so we can see everything else. In simply fulfilling its purpose the sun becomes incredibly significant.We would surely miss the sun if it disappeared tomorrow. Yet we rarely think about the sun. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Light of the world, who coming into the world brings light to every person. In that process, as we surrender our lives to Him, we become the light of the world. We aren’t the source of light. Jesus is. But His light shines through us. We aren’t the light of the world so people will see us. We are the light so they can see themselves in their condition and look to see Jesus who would save them. So Jesus came to testify to the Father. We now live unto Christ by the power of His Spirit who resides in us. The original question was, “If you don’t promote yourself, who will promote you?” Well, God will. The apostle James was the brother of Jesus. Talk about living in a large shadow. Eventually James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He had this to say about self-promotion, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:6-10) Be confident today in what you have accomplished. Look for opportunities to succeed. But do not push yourself forward so much that you become the main attraction. Shine a light. Make sure you are shining in the right direction. If you shine bright enough, people will not be able to avoid you, and will see exactly why you exist. This website is an absolutely free resource. But it does take time and effort. If you would like to support this work, feel free to give via the above link.
![]() I like a good joke as much as the next guy. I’d like to think I have a decent sense of humor. I can laugh hard at funny stuff. Laughing actually contributes to good health. That’s some good times. I know some really funny people, and when we get together, we have the best time. I once knew a man who was against people having a good time. He would say, “If God wanted you to be laughing, you’d have been born laughing. That dude didn’t know it, but he was funny in his own way, and many people to laugh at his comments. Ironic, don’t you think? But mostly it was sad, because he just wasn’t a happy man, and it seemed like he was determined to make everyone else as unhappy as he was. No… I believe laughing and humor are gifts from God. But there are some things that are out of bounds. There are some areas where we should not go. Just because something is funny at some base level does not mean it is fair game to joke about. And other things just aren’t funny. It seems like we have lost the ability, or will to determine what is appropriate and what is inappropriate in the area of humor.Most people will laugh at anything. It seems like the more base or common the joke, the more people will laugh at it. ‘Bathroom humor’ is the easiest way to get a laugh today. Say something vulgar and people just crack up. This kind of ribald humor takes the least amount of thinking. Yet it is found throughout our culture, from blockbuster movies to the board room, and even the basement of the church. But this is not right. The Christian needs to draw a line about what is appropriate and what is not. We should have a higher standard. When you hear that dirty joke today, you do not have to laugh… even if it is ‘funny’. When we receive and enjoy such conversation, we allow poison into our soul. Take the higher path today. Refuse to allow crude and obscene humor to determine your values. And to take it a step further, much of this crude humor that invades our lives is sexual in nature. We have allowed the most sacred of human acts to become a punch line. Nothing gets people to snicker or roar with laughter faster than a sexually explicit joke. This is messed up. There are some things that are out of bounds. Why? Because these are unhealthy ideas that will destroy the fabric of our soul. God created us for more than an easy laugh at the expense of holiness. My dad, who is a preacher was once on a jobsite where the workers were often telling dirty jokes to try and see how he would respond. At one point he started laughing uncontrollably and said, “That joke is as funny as Hell.” The guys were shocked and visibly disturbed as they knew this man of God shouldn’t talk like that. My dad finally stopped laughing, and with the straightest face said, “And Hell ain’t funny!” He went on to explain how Jesus Christ will clean up a heart and mouth. Scripture even talks about vulgar humor, and apparently not much has changed over the last couple of thousand years. Paul instructs Christians to, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. Coarse and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.” (Ephesians 5:1-5) |
AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
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