Tuesday, October 26, 2010

How's Your Heart?

My former Sunday school teacher used to remind our class that God judges a man by his heart.

"For this people's heart become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes." Acts 28:27

How's your heart for God? Do you desire to please God or to please man? Is it important what God thinks when he looks at your heart?

A hard heart is far from God. It is unyielding, judgmental, uncaring, self-centered, and stubborn.

A hard heart hates, it is unforgiving and exudes death. Conversely, a soft heart yields. It gives the benefit of the doubt. It considers the needs of others. It cares. It loves. A soft heart provides rich soil for a fruitful walk with God and one another.

We are living in times when people heart's are hardened. We don't care if people are unemployed, have families to support, can't pay their mortgage notes, or need food and clothing. We just don't care. We are only concerned if we can make it. We don't love our fellow man or have any compassion for him. We are only concerned if we have a job, if we can pay our mortgage note or rent, if we have food or clothing. We live in a society today that only cares about themselves, not considering that it could happen to them.

Jeremiah 17:10 says, "I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

Today, some people will put their own relative out of their houses; you can be their relative and they will tell you that you have to find your own way. I guess everyone is entitled to what they believe they should do, but I have a sadness about it. If a relative can't find refuge in a family's home, how will they find it elsewhere. There are people who have been out of work for a year, or more. We can't turn our backs on our own family members!

I think God is going to judge our hearts. I think God is looking down at men and women today to see how big is their heart.

God has a heart for his people. Once God's love was poured into the heart of the Apostle Paul, he yielded to the Holy Spirit. God's love transformed him. He received a new heart that was soft and eager to share Christ. We, too, were given new hearts when we were baptized. Still, do you agree that our tendency to develop a hard heart is not completely gone? I would have to say it has not completely gone.

I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit's conviction; because He lives in me, I cannot keep a calloused heart for very long. Hardness of heart is uncomfortable within me now. I used to be a selfish person until Jesus came into my life, not only has my heart changed, but I am a new creature in Christ. My desire is to please God and because God is expecting me to have a big heart, I can't just think about myself any more. Everything comes from God and God is expecting us to be hospitable, to share what with have with those less fortunate.

The more we yield to the Holy Spirit, the softer our hearts become, open to receive and give the love of Christ, who is our life.

Thought for Today: The heart of the matter is matter of the heart. Don't let your heart become hardened. God is watching.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

"Outside the Temple"

The Bible recognizes the power of words. God spoke His creation into existence, and the gift of speech is one aspect of man's creation in the image of God (Genesis 2:19-20).

In the revelation of God's law, words as well as actions are assigned moral values. Lying, blasphemy, taking the Lord's name, and cursing are examples of sinful speech forbidden in the Mosaic law.

I want to talk about the use of profanity and how offensive it is.

Profanity is a part of agressive behavior and also a form of bullying. I don't like it and I don't want to be around people who use it. It shows disrespect towards the person who it is directed and also it shows disrespect to God.

What is profanity? the word, "profane" literally means "outside the temple." The term originally identified people or things that were secular as opposed to religious. Profanity is used for shock value in expressing anger and humor. The words often are associated with sexuality or filth.

The New Testament commands believers to be pure in speech by controlling their tongues. "With the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father and with it, we curse men who are made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth comes blessings and curses. James 3:9-10 says "these things should not be this way."

Christians should honor the purpose of speech by using their mouths to praise God and leading others to obey the Lord through faith in Jesus Christ. Every word we speak should be "gracious" and "seasoned with salt" (Colossians 4:6). We should always ask, "what would Jesus say?"

Christians are called upon to live differently and to act differently than the world of unbelievers. An unbeliever is one who does not believe there is a God or who choses not to follow Christ as Lord and Saviour. That is their choice. God gave man free will. God does not force himself on anyone.

So if profanity is "outside the temple," what is inside the temple? Our bodies are inside the temple as well as our mouth which is part of the body. Our bodies, including our mouth, are the temple of a holy God. God is holy and pure and He expects His creation to be the same way.

The scripture declares "may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14)

Ephesians 4:29 states "do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Peter 3:10 says, "for, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech."

Cursing and using profanity should not be the norm, nor should it be acceptable speech.

Thought for Today: Stay inside the temple, be holy and pure, as God is. You are a part of His creation.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Off The Record!

I should be writing something scriptural, but forgive me. I will try to post something soon. I am just speaking off the record here.

What is the big deal about being skinny? Is it part of being "hot" or sexy? If it is, it is some kind of sick in my opinion.

As badly as I would like to lose a few pounds, I guess I am not in the "hot" or "sexy" generation. Thank goodness for that! Who started this "thin" business; you have to be thin to be accepted. Thank goodness, the Bible says nothing about thinness, but it does say that our bodies are the temple of God. I can't imagine that God would want us to look emaciated to get a man or a husband.

I am sure there a men out there who set this standard for the woman they chose to be their girlfriend or wife. If so, forgot about them! Be healthy, not sickly. There are many people in foreign countries that look emaciated and it is because they can't get food. Americans don't have that problem.

I had the worst experience today at Walmart's. Yes, I am one of those people who occasionally shop there.

I saw a very thin female teenager fall to the ground. There were two older adults with her. At first I thought she was sick because she just looked like she was not going to get up! Then I thought these people had kidnapped this girl and she was weak from them starving her, or maybe she was trying to draw attention to herself and get away this couple. The world is so sick with evil people, you don't know whether you should call for help or just stand there, like I did and look. After the girl got up, she put her arm around the woman like she was familiar with her, but what does that prove? Nothing, the woman could have told her to do that.

I am frightened for young people, the babies, the toddlers who get raped, and parents who don't love their children. You should be frightened also if you have children or teenagers. It is scary out here! Keep your children away from negative influences.

I did not know what to think. She was so frail, less than a size 1. It made me sick! Maybe she was anorexic. I didn't know what to think except that young girl is in trouble!

This obsession with being "thin" needs to stop. She is not the first person I saw this thin. I played tennis with a woman who was thin and claimed she couldn't gain weight. I saw another young woman in Dillard's who stopped to visit someone at the cosmetic counter, saying she just got back from some clinic where she had being treated because she was anorexic. I know an adult women who volunteered at a place where I had once worked; she ate lettuce for lunch all the time. Okay, people, Weight Watchers has a lot of people who have lost weight; there are better ways to be slimmer and healthier.

With Halloween around the corner, these ladies look as though they are part of it, like a skeleton. Now, I ask you, this cannot possibly be sexy or hot as I hear many people using these terms. It is downright disgusting!

Share your opinion if you do read this blog. I don't get it!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Be Imitators of Christ

Gosh, I am not sure how to start. It has been a while since I have written but the Spirit continues to impress upon me the need to talk about being imitators of Christ.

One thing is for sure, I don't want to be like the movie stars and other celebrities who are rich and never happy; who live drug filled lives and commit suicide. I just wonder are there any celebrities who are happy. But I am certain of one thing: I desire to be more like Christ every day.

I am becoming turned off more and more of watching these celebrities in the movies or supporting their lifestyle by going to movies or watching TV. They are going to have to show me a little bit more! They need to follow Christ's standard and not the world standard.

After watching these movie starts and athletes just waste their lives away and never seem to be satisfied with all that they have, I know for sure I would never imitate or desire to be like any of them!

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:1 "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. " Just as children imitate their parents, we should imitate Christ. His great love for us led him to sacrifice himself so that we might live. Our love for others should be of the same kind --- a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service.

It goes on further in this chapter to say, "But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. (v. 5)

God is holy and perfect, and it is His expectation that those He chose, us, be holy and perfect also. I hear the cliche that only Christ is perfect and how can we be perfect because we are humans. No human is perfect.

Guess what? God is expecting for us to try to be perfect as His son was. We need to follow and imitate Christ's standard.

There should be not even a hint of sexual immorality, and yet the world is preoccupied with what is hot! And I ask, just what is hot! Sex, immoral conduct? No, just our own lustful thoughts and desires. All of which are not pleasing to God. Any kind of impurity, or greed, both of which led us to selfishness and darkness, living out our own desires which led to sin. Sin which separates us from God.

We are impure because we refuse to come out of the darkness and into the light. We like darkness because it gives us an excuse to hid; to sweep our sins under the rug. We are greedy and seek only what we desire and not what God desires of us. We live in a "me" society; it is all about "me." Later for compassion, sincerity, and concern for those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

The sad thing about greed is that it never satisfies. The more a person gets, the more the person thinks he needs. Only God can satisfy our needs. We are reminded that our love for others should be of the same kind of love that Christ had for us, an unselfish love.

I feel those who are very fortunate financially should be happy and content, but yet they desire to be sexually immoral, impure and greedy, only thinking of themselves. What good is it to have the world and lose your soul?

Thought for Today: When you think about imitating someone, think about imitating Christ, who gave His life so you could live.