|
Friday, 03 February 2012 15:30 |
|
Blame is an easy thing to pass. When we get caught, the first thing we like to do is point the finger… at the circumstances, at who set us up and/or who should have stopped us. The harder thing, is to stand up and take ownership. When you are faced with punishment and consequences… that’s when you find out what kind of man you are, what you are really made of. When you get pulled over for speeding, whose fault is it? The poorly marked road, the traffic that is too fast and tricking you, your car that just loves to go fast?
When you get laid off, whose fault is it? The boss’ because they never really liked you? The kids that made you so tired that you couldn’t function? The customer that pushed your buttons? God’s?
With sin, the same rational is all too easy. We can blame our circumstances, we can blame our parents for the way they raised us and we can even blame God... the last thing we want to do is take the blame. I am really encouraged and challenged by what Paul says in Romans 7: 21-24; “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! “
Paul realized that it was the sin living inside of him that was causing his actions. He was a slave to this sin and therefore the good that he intentioned never came out. James has this same teaching in the metaphor of tongue as a spring. James 3: 10-12 says “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
What Paul and James are trying to tell us is that the blame for our sin can be found within ourselves… it is the master that we have enslaved ourselves to… it’s a result of the condition of our heart. Satan can only tempt us, he cannot burrow into our head and force us to act. He cannot make you do something or force you to walk away from God… those are all decisions we make on our own! Our sin is a result of our choices, our sin separates us from God, but “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25) If you want to change, start at the root. Take a good look at your heart. Make the changes needed so that God can live inside of you through the Holy Spirit and allow all of his fruit to flow out of you.
Striving alongside you for the prize,
Jay Cline
|
|
Friday, 20 January 2012 11:22 |
|
God :
• Created you.
• Loves you.
• Sent Jesus to make a way back for you.
• Works for the good of those that love him.
• He protects you from evil?
Like it or not, acknowledge it or not… this is the progression a lot of us subscribe to. Last night in class we talked about why God created and why he does not always stop evil. It was really interesting to hear people talk about how they think God should be in the business of preventing pain and suffering while others disagreed and sited good reasons concerning free will and love. It is really easy to see where you fall in that discussion just as soon as you have really painful things happening in your life. When you are hurting, for whatever reason, it is easy to feel alone and uncared for. When people in your life die, it is easy to blame God or think that he doesn’t care. Mandy was running through some quotes today and read one that really struck me. It said “It doesn’t say that God’s love will keep us from evil; it says evil cannot separate us from the love of God”.
Some of us live in a dream world here in America where we feel insulated from the reality of life by our money, houses and neighborhoods. What we need to remind ourselves of is that Satan is alive and active. This world is broken and corrupt. We are living in a fallen world, but in spite of that we have a God who is pure and holy and amazing. We have a God that made the ultimate show of love when he sent his son to die for us. From cover to cover the Bible tells us of the Father’s business, and that business is the redemption of mankind.
My prayer for this week is that you will take time to look through your Bible and be reminded (or see for the first time) the story of the Father’s love. My prayer is that we will all be able to stand in the face of pain and anguish in this life and still be so full of faith that we are able to say “For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. “
Striving alongside you for the prize,
Jay
|
|
|
Thursday, 29 December 2011 15:57 |
|
I really like the Toyota TV ad that was on a few years back in which several people are making resolutions – to “give something back,”
to “be more romantic,” to “spend time with my children,” to “find something good in someone I don’t like,” – everyday!
It’s the “everyday” part of the ad that attracts me most. It reminds me that real resolutions are not just token good deeds we perform on
special days, but permanent changes which must be reinforced on a daily basis. The Bible emphasizes that fact. Trust in God’s providence
in sustaining our physical lives must be exercised daily (Mt. 6:11; 7:34). Jesus said our commitment to a life of self-denial and cross-bearing must be reaffirmed in practice daily (Luke 9:23). And Paul attributed his ability to keep life in a spiritual perspective to the fact that he was being inwardly renewed “day by day” (II Cor. 4:16).
We were all made in the image and likeness of God. Somewhere deep inside, there is a constitutional yearning in us all for fellowship with our Maker – something calling us to higher ground. But the important lesson here is that while the impulses urging us to embrace loftier ideals and more godly behavior may be inherent, the practice of righteous living is not natural to us. It must be learned, and frequent, routine repetition is part of the learning process. However well-intentioned we may be, we will never make the kinds of changes in thinking and behavior that are necessary to develop character and improve relationships on an “every now and then” basis.
As we approach a New Year, we may be especially inclined toward making resolutions. Let’s not be merely impulsive or reactionary or guilt-motivated in making our commitments. If we really want the “more abundant life” Jesus promised, let’s be realistic enough to recognize that the only changes with a chance for survival are those we are willing to reinforce with faithful regularity.
Think about it. What resolutions for betterment in yourself and in your relationships with God and man are important enough to you to cause you to accept the responsibility of practicing them “everyday?”
From Guest Editorial VI
By R. Dean Catlett
Minister of the church of Christ in Bend, OR
|
|
Friday, 16 December 2011 12:34 |
|
In the teen class this week we looked at how we would go about answering someone that asked us to “Prove that God is real”. We dealt with some of the naturalistic arguments, that is, arguments from nature that came out of Romans 1 where Paul says that all of creation cries out that there is a creator so that men everywhere are without excuse.
When you look the “matter” of the universe, it is logical to ask where it all came from.
When you think about the motion of the universe, from orbiting planets to reverse orbiting moons, to the spinning of electrons… it is logical to ask “what
started it all and why does it continue?”
When you look at the design of the world and universe you see order and creativity and harmony. Why is there so much diversity and what sustains it all?
When you look at the immaterial aspects of man you see our moral nature, our desire for community and love. It is logical to ask why we have these qualities.
In Romans 1, Paul answers all these questions by looking at the one who created. He says that he created everything and sustains it all by the power of his hand, and that you can see God’s nature in his creation (our immaterial aspects). The evolutionary hypothesis tries to explain how the universe was created and explain how things came to be, but it severely fails at answering the question of why. Why did it all happen? Can we attribute it to a long and intricate series of completely random chances that somehow happened to work and then constant adaptation to our environment?
One of the coolest things that I found through this study concerning this question of “why” concerned the human brain. The author asked, if we evolved to adapt to our surroundings then why do humans have such vast brain capacity and function that no super computer can even begin to rival… yet is never even close to being fully used by any individual? Why have we evolved SO far past our surroundings and need? God says though Paul, that the evidence is so clear and undeniable that to deny it puts you without excuse. The fact is, the evidence that the atheist and agnostic claim to seek is staring them in the
face all day long.
Striving alongside you for the prize,
Jay
|
|
