Life Thoughts
Knowing God; The right way!
Have you ever been curious about knowing God? Have you been wondering how do you know if you really know Him? Well here is a littel food for thought, it comes from the Bible, the book of 1 John, chapter 2.
Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments. If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
My dear friends, I’m not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you’ve known it from day one. It’s always been implicit in the Message you’ve heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!
Anyone who claims to live in God’s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It’s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God’s light and doesn’t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn’t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.
To further push the point, consider what it says in James 2.
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? 18I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
So there is something to think about today. How are you living? What are you doing? Who do you know?
Feeling Crowded?
Every once in a while, I like to just read facts that get me thinking. One that has caused some thought lately is about our land use in the US. I remember as a kid hearing about over population and the crowding of our planet. I still hear about it today, particularly in light of the illegal immagrant issue and others. The following information is taken from the USDA website:
The United States has a land area of about 2.3 billion acres, of which, only about 3 percent is used for Urban development. Urban development meaning residential, commercial, utilities, mixed, transitional, and other urban land. The remaining 97% of the land in the US is used for agricultural (range, cropland, pasture, farmsteads, and roads)(46%), forest (28%), special use (parks, wilderness, wildlife, and related uses)(13%) and other land (deserts, wetlands, and barren land)(10 percent).
Think about that just a minute! Talk about crowded living! 🙂
For the Texters!
In SMS (texting):
“dad@hvn, ur spshl. we want wot u want & urth2b like hvn. giv us food & 4giv r sins lyk we 4giv uvaz. don’t test us! save us! bcos we kno ur boss, ur tuf & ur cool 4 eva! ok?”
In english now:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. for ever and ever. Amen
Look Mom, No Hands!
You ever think it is strange, the thoughts and memories that run through your mind at the strangest places and times? I know I do. For me, one of those places is church. I don’t know if I am easily side tracked or bored or the pastor says something that triggers a thought, or perhaps it may even be God stirring up something.
This past Sunday was one of those days. The worship was good, and the pastor gave a good message from 1 Cor 15:3-10. Strange as it was though, as the pastor was speaking on abnormal births and such, my mind began to ponder some interesting stuff! So I thought, why not share it?
It started with a series of mental questions: 1.) Does God have an expectation that we will not fail? or 2.) Does He anticipate us failing? 3.) How does He handle it when we fail? 4.) Does God ever give up on us? Now I know some of you theologians and Bible scholars are foaming at the mouth with a myriad of Scriptures to start quoting to me and mind you, some of them even raced through my mind, but where my mind went next was a total shock and what seemed like a forgotten childhood memory.
As I have shared before, I grew up in rural East Texas. For the first half of my life (up into Jr. High) we lived in a small community called Leverett’s Chapel and lived at the end of an oil/dirt road (for those of you unfamiliar with an oil/dirt road it is basically a dirt road and then a large truck sprays an oil based solution on top of it. Over time this gets impacted and has a similar effect/look of an asphalt road, just not the quality. Anyway, this road ran behind the little school (500 total kids K-12th). So I walked to school everyday. I can remember walking and seeing many of the other kids ride their bikes to school. Seems like ages ago!
The day in my life that came to mind was the day I learned to ride my bicycle. I remember it was a green Schwinn! It was used and had a few scratches, but it was mine! I remember pushing it and running beside it down the road, but unsure about riding it. When my dad got home from work that day and saw me, I guess he figured it was time to start riding. So I remember him setting his aluminum hard had, coffee thermos and lunch box down in the yard and walking over and said “On you go”. He held the bike steady as I climbed on. Then he started the push the bike and run behind and then wham. I crashed! What happen? He let go! Why would he do that. I scraped my knee pretty good and it was a bit bloody. I even started to cry! My dad walked over and said, get up and lets try again. We walked the bike back to where we started and on again. As we lunged forward, I fell again! I can remember that process several times and then all of the sudden, i remember I was riding! What an exhilaration! Then, i thought, How do I stop. Wreck and crash again! Strangely enough though by the time the evening was over, I was riding like a pro. Mom watched on and winched at every wreck!
It wasnt long before I became quite the bicyclist and even began riding without using my hands! I remember the first time I tried that, I ended up all tangled up around the handlebars and had a severe road rash, but then I tried again and mastered it. I was so proud, I even had to have my mom watch me do it! Funny, mom’s don’t have the same appreciation for such grand skills!
So as my mind pondered these things, I came to some conclusions:
My Dad encouraged me to step out ride!
My Dad steadied me as I learned to balance!
My Dad pushed me when I was unsure if I could do it!
My Dad picked me up when I fell!
My Dad helped me back on the seat!
My Dad knew I could ride, even when I couldn’t!
Then that one verse rolled into my mind that summed it up for me and I hope today gives you a word of encouragement as well:
Matthew 7:9-11 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 1f you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Remember we are His image! All the best things about us are a reflection of Him. Think about how you love your children and all you would do for them!
Blessing.s on your day.
