People try and do things that cause them to feel joy or pleasure. As Christians, what would cause you to throw a celebration? To dance? For me, the best day ever is when I get to witness someone putting on Christ in baptism, having their sins forgiven and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In Luke 15, the Jesus tells a story about a son who took his inheritance and left his family. He blew all his money and eventually returned, destitute. His father was overjoyed, and there was "music and dancing." The father who welcomed the son back said, "We had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”
What causes God to celebrate should do the same for us, and like all things that are joyful, we should seek out such opportunities! Let's find more souls to redeem!
"For the entire Law is fulfilled in in this one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."—Gal 5:14
Satan doesn't have to get you to become a mass murderer.
Satan doesn't have to get you to become a mass murderer to defeat you. In fact, all he has to do is get you to give up, and that's partially why Jesus " was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart." (Luke 18:1)
Is the world beating you down? Does Satan want to get you to grow weary of doing good and just throw in the towel? Don't let him! I may be a surly curmudgeon myself, but I'm always willing to lend some of my stubbornness to help someone overcome, and lots of people are even better at that than me! Pick a prayer partner, too. It's a fantastic thing to have.
Help people get past the past.
"Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past." (Is 43:18) People will make mistakes. Perhaps they're terrible mistakes—maybe you know someone who has cheated on a spouse in the past, even.
People cannot effectively overcome if we remember them as they once were; if we keep them trapped in the past. Imagine if we only saw Christ dying on the cross and never admitted that YES, He rose from the grave. Let's be like God, who said, "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Heb 8:12)
Help people get past the past. Don't keep them stuck in their past mistakes.
Star Wars and evil people.
Did the Empire consider the Jedi evil? Have you considered the horror of the recent killings in Paris and California? In Peter Haas’ book, "Morality after Auschwitz," he noted,
....far from being contemptuous of ethics, the perpetrators acted in strict conformity with an ethic which held that, however difficult and unpleasant the task might have been, mass extermination of the Jews and Gypsies was entirely justified. . . . the Holocaust as a sustained effort was possible only because a new ethic was in place that did not define the arrest and deportation of Jews as wrong and in fact defined it as ethically tolerable and ever good.
Haas’s point is that the Nazis were not moral relativists or nihilists, but rather objectivists who had a different value system than those of us who see all persons as intrinsically valuable. Something similar could be said of Islamic terrorists today.
Without a God, there is no such thing as objective evil or good—that is, good or evil apart from what any of us believe about it. That's a scary world.
A suitable helpmate...for what?
In Genesis, God describes a good partnership in marriage as being that of a "suitable helper." In Luke 10, Jesus told His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (v2)
When looking for a spouse, what's your primary concern? Mine's to get a fellow laborer for Christ, who is thus truly an ideal helper in the work for God!
How to smooth out a rough marriage.
How can marriages last? How can people get along for so many years? Nowadays people often get tired of each other's foibles and get divorced. I like something that God said, and I've been considering it in the context of marriage:
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8)
A humble spirit of appreciation showing true love through action can smooth out the roughest times of a marriage. <3
Am I genuinely concerned? Are you?
It's true that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Pure and undefiled religion truly is taking care of widows and orphans in their distress; keeping ourselves unstained by the world. (Jms 1)
Paul wrote of Timothy and said that he sent him because, "I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus." (Phil 2)
Let's be genuinely concerned for the welfare of those around us, which is the interest of Christ Jesus!
How long should I date for?
I've heard various thoughts on dating and whatnot. I've heard some Christians tell me that you need at least 1000-hours of contact before marriage, but I've known others who have successfully had marriages after knowing each other for short times.
It reminds me that God said in 1 Cor 7, "If they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." For some, it might be better to avoid extended dating and, once they know it's a good match, just go for it.
How many times does God mention a worship service?
: How many times does God talk about a worship service and how it is to be conducted? Do you know the things that have to be done in a worship service?
Interestingly, God talked about worship services only 0 times. Although people have devised ways to make a "worship" service through things which can be counted on five fingers—preaching, singing, praying, communion, giving money (don't worry about Bible class, that happens before the worship)—the New Testament never calls these acts of worship nor are they ever enumerated as such.
The New Testament does mention assembling, such as when Paul chastised the Corinthians, saying "But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse...when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper!" (1 Cor 11)
Being subject to others.
It's Thanksgiving! God says that we should be "always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the reverence of Christ." (Eph 5)
I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be subject to someone else! It is a blessing to have spiritual family that I can be around, who enhance my own spiritual performance and truly make my heart smile!
A fraudulent bomb-detection device.
There is a fraudulent bomb-detection device that has sold thousands of units to countries around the world, and may be responsible for untold numbers of deaths. When a member of the company approach the CEO with his concerns, the CEO replied, "It does exactly what it's supposed to—it makes money." ( http://j.mp/fraudbomb )
In Ephesians 6, God tells us to put armor on. He says, "and take the helmet of salvation..." Helmets, like bomb detection devices, are meant to protect us. Satan is the great deceiver, though, and would love to give you a fraudulent lookalike. Would you take a helmet that was missing a critical part? That looked so good but was made by an enemy? Could you tell which was which?
Would you reject even one thing that God says saves you? Can you name different things that God says are a part of our salvation?
Being offended too easily?
It seems like people today get offended very easily. College students are upset over "microaggressions" and having even minor differences of opinion is too much! Don't express them! The boat can't tolerate being rocked.
"A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, And a man of evil devices is hated." (Pro 14:17) It's not good to get angry quickly, but it's also not good to get easily offended and upset. Jesus, after all, didn't display hypersensitivity. As Christians, we show unity with one another by not being easily offended, and toward those outside of Christ we should have incredible patience. :)
The carrot or the stick? Should we beat people into spiritual health?
If you really lay into someone about their sin, they should come around, right? Let 'em have it about their transgressions? God says that we should be,
"With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition...and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." (2 Tim 2)
When we attack someone for their sins, we put them on the defensive. The fight-or-flight response kicks in. Catecholamine hormones, such as adrenaline or noradrenaline , facilitate immediate physical reactions associated with a preparation for violent muscular action. Our digestive systems shut down, along with the parts of our brain associated with cognitive deliberation. We lose the ability to calmly reason. In effect, we truly lose our senses.
Someone trapped in sin doesn't need to be attacked. They need our gentleness and patience, which can help them come to their senses and reason together, which is what God wants. (Isaiah 1:18)
Do you know what to avoid?
Fact: I used to be kind of a "son of thunder" and would take the hammer of truth to people who were wrong about the slightest thing.
Fact: I overlooked God's reminder to "avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife." (II Timothy 2:23)
Sometimes it's better to be at peace than to show off how right you are, if you catch my drift.
Because "because" doesn't cut it.
If you say that you believe in God and someone asks you why, "Because" doesn't cut it as an answer. And neither does, "Because I have faith..." In fact, the word for faith in the New Testament comes from a Greek word meaning, "strong persuasion."
When Paul was spreading the gospel, Acts 18 says, "he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. "
"Because" doesn't strongly persuade anyone. Our faith, our strong persuasion, needs to be reasonable. We need to be able to reason with other people in order to reach them. Are you ready, willing, and able?
How serious is deception?
God lamented in Jeremiah that the religious leaders had led His people astray. 2 Timothy 3 addresses this problem in the lives of Christians and says in part,
"But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of...All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
Christians can't "just trust" the preacher, but there are very FUNCTIONAL reasons for that beyond just hysterical paranoia. Getting very familiar with God's word is what equips us for "every good work," and part of that good work is sometimes pointing out Satan's deception.
So let's get to know the word for ourselves and become stronger warriors! :)
So why didn't Jesus say....?
In Matthew 18:1 when Jesus was asked ``Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven,'' why didn't Jesus name a person or an office instead of a child?
"“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Humility's where it's at!
Building up...or being right?
It's important to evaluate our passion when talking about "what God actually said." Sometimes I've found myself arguing just so that I could win and be right. The "why" behind my actions was not to help someone or change a life through God's power, but to assuage my own pride. Now I remind myself,
"It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. He does not forget the cry of the humble." (Proverbs 16:19; Psalm 9:12)
It's NOT about about ME being right, it's about God's truth having the ability to transform the lives of others. Being right and looking over the spoils of my prideful war is worse than nothing, because it can hurt others in the process.
Unity of what?
So I mentioned that God calls us to the unity of faith and Spirit in Ephesians 4, and that allows for some variance, since it's "the unity" and not "the uniformity." At the same time, though, God does give a list of 7 things that we have to be united on; namely that,
"There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." (4-6)
From what I can tell, most people will buy into 6 of these, but shy away from baptism. Since they are listed without preference, it seems that God equates denying baptism with the same denying the Spirit, or the one God. I certainly feel free and unafraid saying that I agree with God on all 7 counts!
Are you a damnable heretic?
I've been called a false teacher, damnable heretic, and even son of Satan before, and often over very slight differences in understanding over scriptures. With that said, God is looking for us to learn, and He has a goal in mind. Check it out:
"...to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith." (Eph 4:12-13)
God wants unity. Before we throw out the "false teacher" line, we should recognize that unity isn't the same thing as uniformity. When we start looking for uniformity, we can become hyper-critical and prideful, looking for any deviation, supposing that we know everything with 100% accuracy.
Let's build each other up instead of living by the rule, "The nail that sticks out gets the hammer." There's a place for teaching, but a place for learning from our differences, too. "Now the eye is not able to say to the hand, "I have no need of you." Or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." (1 Cor 12:21)
—Lucas