Perhaps you have been married for just a few years, or maybe your anniversaries are teenaged, or perhaps the life of your marriage is middle-aged or even approaching elderly. You have settled into a life, a routine, a comfortable and loving existence. You have God in your life, you make Jesus a part of your everyday, both as individuals and as a married couple. Have you started seeing little chips in the floor, tiny frayed places, a noticeable crack now and again? This isn’t a description of your house or apartment, it is about little problems with the marriage…or maybe they are more than little.
Husbands, does this familiar to you? You talk about how well you take care of your wife, you have a good job, a nice place to live, you remember birthdays and anniversaries without being reminded or prompted, or even having to have a popup on your smart phone a couple of weeks ahead of time. You tell her she looks nice, or beautiful, or how much you appreciate how hard she works, outside the home if she has a job, and certainly inside it. Isn’t all of that part of your job as a husband? And if you have kids, you try to give them as much time as you can, to nurture them and bring them up right, to grow into good Christian adults. Do you, however, sometimes get an itch you just can’t scratch? Do you occasionally get that feeling there is something more that you could do to make the marriage better? You firmly believe you are a good husband, that you are doing everything a husband is supposed to do, but somehow it seems the marriage is a little out of kilter, out of focus just a tiny bit. Maybe your verbal comments or silent thoughts about your wife aren’t always that Christian, or you sometimes don’t get around to accomplishing the things you say you will, or at least not in a timely manner. You casually mention that special night your friend’s wife prepared, just a little jab. You aren’t looking for greener grass, but lately you have noticed a few weeds springing up in your marital yard. You are walking a good mile, but it isn’t necessarily a cheerful, Christian mile. Maybe there is the rare dark and stormy day when you think you should have married what’s-her-name.
Wives, does this sound familiar to you? You brag to all of your friends and relatives what a great guy your guy is to you. You tell them how well you take care of him, how you make sure he has a nice home. If you work outside the house, you make sure you balance both levels of responsibility. You tell him he looks handsome, and if he is like a lot of men who have a poor sense of clothing, you take care to make sure his wardrobe is right. If you have kids, you make sure they are taken care of, doing the job of mom-chauffer-doctor-teacher-counselor-coach. Do you get that feeling there is something more that you could do to make the marriage better? Do you also have that same unscratchable itch? You believe you are a good wife, that you are doing everything a wife is supposed to do, but somehow, it seems the marriage is a little out of kilter, out of focus just a tiny bit. Maybe your comments or silent thoughts about your husband aren’t always that Christian, or your criticisms are too frequent, too sharp. You casually mention the romantic thing your friend’s husband did, just a little jab. You aren’t looking at the greener grass, but lately you have noticed a few weeds springing up in your marital yard. You are walking your mile, but it isn’t necessarily a cheerful, Christian mile. Maybe there is even the rare dark and stormy day when you think you should have married what’s-his-name.
Have you noticed something missing in the two above paragraphs? How about L-O-V-E? How about F-O-R-G-I-V-E-N-E-S-S? Well, of course you love your spouse. Don’t you say so at least daily? Don’t you do all of those little things mentioned above? Matthew 5:41 talks about walking not just one mile, but two, with the implication that it is not done while moaning and groaning, but in a cheerful manner. How is your first mile progressing? Maybe that second mile is doing more than what is expected, or doing it not because it is your spousal duty, but doing it out of pure love. Maybe for you that second mile is that F-word above, the one that is tough for all of us. Remember that Forgiving includes Forgetting. If you aren’t forgetting, then you haven’t forgiven. Do you think that once God has forgiven you of your sins, He will keep reminding you of them when you fall again…and again? We Christian spouses are expected to forgive not just seven times or seventy times seven times, but every time. For those who have a problem with that second F-word, then perhaps you need to walk a third mile, if that is what is necessary.
Whatever your mile is, it will lead to a second, a third, and more after that. Some miles will involve a heavy burden, others not so heavy. With Jesus Christ as our partner in our marriage, He is always there to help us when we need it, to carry a part of the load, or sometimes all of it. Remember, He once carried a heavy burden up a lonely hill, just for you. You can struggle under a heavy load, be you husband or wife, or the two of you together, or you can call on Him who is always there. So walk your miles with joy and cheer, in love always, hand in hand with Jesus, the One who taught us to walk.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Friday, June 26, 2015
Paid In Full
This is about a pleasant experience. We have all bought something on the installment plan. It may have been something small as prices go, like furniture or clothes or a present. Perhaps it was something more expensive like a car or boat, or that largest of expenses, a house. We make the payments each month, regularly as we agreed, until we finally get to the last payment. Once we send in that last payment, we give a sigh of relief and wait for the response to come back, the invoice or contract or title that is marked, “Paid In Full.” Whatever it is, it is now ours free and clear. Whether it was a matter of just a few months, or the five years to purchase a car, or the 30 years that some people wait in order to pay off the last mortgage payment and burn the mortgage contract, it is still a moment of joy at having paid off the debt.
As the children of Adam and Eve, we have inherited their debt, the one they owed to God for making mankind’s first sin. To that debt, we have added our own sins as a purchase that needs to be paid for at some point in the future. When we turn our back on God, which is what sin does to us, we incur the debt obligation to pay off at some time later. It is said that the wages of sin are steep, meaning the cost we have to pay is at least proportional to the gravity of the sin. For some of us that may not be a great price; for others it may be quite high indeed.
When God created us humans and those first of us fell to sin, he came up with an installment plan to help us all pay our debt to him. He spread out the payments over hundreds of years of service and loyalty to him. He took His payments in the sacrifices laid out in the Old Testament, whether they were precious metals, livestock or produce. They were all offerings to him in payment and homage to him. One of the things that he promised was that there would be one final payment, one payment that would ease our burden, forgive the sins of all of those who came before and all who will follow.
God’s repayment plan was simple in concept. In order to make sure it was done correctly and would be everlasting, He sent someone to make sure it was done in such a way as to pay for all of the sins we have committed or ever will. He sent His only son, Jesus Christ. Since the sins were created and committed by us humans, Jesus Christ had to be one of us. He had to be not only God, the Second Person of the Trinity, he also had to be human. While God could certainly put Jesus on the earth as a human adult, he instead started him out in the same way that we start out. Jesus was born of a mother with God as his father. He grew, as the Bible tells us, in “wisdom, age and grace.” When enough time had passed, he was before us as an adult and a teacher.
It was a dark and ugly day for the final installment payment to be paid. It was the task of Jesus Christ to take on all of the sins of all of us, to accept that unbelievably heavy burden. It was his responsibility to make sure that God was properly paid for the sins of us all. In order to do that, Jesus had to die in a most horrible way; he had to die on a cross. This was mankind’s final payment. Now at last, God could stamp the debt “Paid In Full”.
Paid In Full. What a wonderful thought! What it means to all of us is the sins we commit and for which we receive forgiveness just for the asking of it, have already been paid back. Just as Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us, that once and final last payment, so too does God forgive us our sins without any future debt. His forgiveness is limitless. He has been paid for all of the debts we could ever incur. The bill has been paid off and there will be no more for us who receive the gift of his forgiveness. All we have to do is ask and we will receive.
As the children of Adam and Eve, we have inherited their debt, the one they owed to God for making mankind’s first sin. To that debt, we have added our own sins as a purchase that needs to be paid for at some point in the future. When we turn our back on God, which is what sin does to us, we incur the debt obligation to pay off at some time later. It is said that the wages of sin are steep, meaning the cost we have to pay is at least proportional to the gravity of the sin. For some of us that may not be a great price; for others it may be quite high indeed.
When God created us humans and those first of us fell to sin, he came up with an installment plan to help us all pay our debt to him. He spread out the payments over hundreds of years of service and loyalty to him. He took His payments in the sacrifices laid out in the Old Testament, whether they were precious metals, livestock or produce. They were all offerings to him in payment and homage to him. One of the things that he promised was that there would be one final payment, one payment that would ease our burden, forgive the sins of all of those who came before and all who will follow.
God’s repayment plan was simple in concept. In order to make sure it was done correctly and would be everlasting, He sent someone to make sure it was done in such a way as to pay for all of the sins we have committed or ever will. He sent His only son, Jesus Christ. Since the sins were created and committed by us humans, Jesus Christ had to be one of us. He had to be not only God, the Second Person of the Trinity, he also had to be human. While God could certainly put Jesus on the earth as a human adult, he instead started him out in the same way that we start out. Jesus was born of a mother with God as his father. He grew, as the Bible tells us, in “wisdom, age and grace.” When enough time had passed, he was before us as an adult and a teacher.
It was a dark and ugly day for the final installment payment to be paid. It was the task of Jesus Christ to take on all of the sins of all of us, to accept that unbelievably heavy burden. It was his responsibility to make sure that God was properly paid for the sins of us all. In order to do that, Jesus had to die in a most horrible way; he had to die on a cross. This was mankind’s final payment. Now at last, God could stamp the debt “Paid In Full”.
Paid In Full. What a wonderful thought! What it means to all of us is the sins we commit and for which we receive forgiveness just for the asking of it, have already been paid back. Just as Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us, that once and final last payment, so too does God forgive us our sins without any future debt. His forgiveness is limitless. He has been paid for all of the debts we could ever incur. The bill has been paid off and there will be no more for us who receive the gift of his forgiveness. All we have to do is ask and we will receive.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
My Dad Can!
It happens in real life, movies, books, and on television: two boys standing face-to-face, each one yelling at the other one, “My dad can beat up your dad!” Whether such a confrontation has ever happened to you is a moot point. Each boy knows that his dad is the biggest and baddest dad around. We all have a Father like that, God. There is a simple line in the Bible that says so. It is 1 John 4:4 and it goes like this: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (NKJV)”. It is really that simple. The “He” who is in you is God, and the “he” who is in the world is Satan. God is far more powerful than Satan in all things, but it is something we sometimes forget. We don’t remember to call on God during our problems and when things aren’t going our way. We think that we can handle it on our own, fighting off the devil with our own strength and resolve.
It is a well-worn and overused cliché that tells us life is tough. We know that. We have been around the block, up the creek and over the mountain. Life is full of its defeats and its victories. It presents us with challenges when we least want them and then gives us blessings and joys when we least expect them.
It is said that pride is the oldest and most common sin. When life takes a negative turn, we too often struggle through it ourselves, full of stubborn pride in our own ability. Sometimes we may ask our closest friend or a family member for help, unless we are too embarrassed or stubborn to do so. The one direction in which we should turn is to God. He is always there for us, He will help when asked. Oftentimes, His help isn’t what we expect, it is just the way that He thinks is best for us, for His reasons, not ours. Many times He expects us to follow His direction and He is there to smooth out the rough spots and keep us going in the right direction. While it may not be strictly biblical, the old saying about “God helps those who help themselves” is still valid. He isn’t there to do all of the work while we just kick back and relax. He expects us to carry our share of the responsibility.
God isn’t a magician. He doesn’t just weigh into the fray, wave a magic wand and make everything right. He has His ways of solving our problems. Not that He couldn’t work that way if He wanted to do so. After all, He is God. Our problem is that we don’t ask for help when we need it, and, when someone suggests seeking His help, it is our stubbornness that lashes out at that person and causes us to ignore the advice. Did you ever ask yourself where that stubborn streak came from? Who wants you to ignore that advice? Who wants you to continue to try on your own? Could it be that Satan is whispering in your ear, telling you one of his lies, convincing you to stay away from God’s help? Satan doesn’t like to lose, but he knows that when God steps into the fight, he loses. If he can keep you from seeking God’s help, then he can win that round.
Our God is the biggest and strongest “dad” around and He has never lost a fight to the devil and He never will. So, the next time you feel you are on the losing end, that life is not going your way, then that is the time you need to go face-to-face with Satan and remind him that God is on your side and with His help, you will defeat him every time.
It is a well-worn and overused cliché that tells us life is tough. We know that. We have been around the block, up the creek and over the mountain. Life is full of its defeats and its victories. It presents us with challenges when we least want them and then gives us blessings and joys when we least expect them.
It is said that pride is the oldest and most common sin. When life takes a negative turn, we too often struggle through it ourselves, full of stubborn pride in our own ability. Sometimes we may ask our closest friend or a family member for help, unless we are too embarrassed or stubborn to do so. The one direction in which we should turn is to God. He is always there for us, He will help when asked. Oftentimes, His help isn’t what we expect, it is just the way that He thinks is best for us, for His reasons, not ours. Many times He expects us to follow His direction and He is there to smooth out the rough spots and keep us going in the right direction. While it may not be strictly biblical, the old saying about “God helps those who help themselves” is still valid. He isn’t there to do all of the work while we just kick back and relax. He expects us to carry our share of the responsibility.
God isn’t a magician. He doesn’t just weigh into the fray, wave a magic wand and make everything right. He has His ways of solving our problems. Not that He couldn’t work that way if He wanted to do so. After all, He is God. Our problem is that we don’t ask for help when we need it, and, when someone suggests seeking His help, it is our stubbornness that lashes out at that person and causes us to ignore the advice. Did you ever ask yourself where that stubborn streak came from? Who wants you to ignore that advice? Who wants you to continue to try on your own? Could it be that Satan is whispering in your ear, telling you one of his lies, convincing you to stay away from God’s help? Satan doesn’t like to lose, but he knows that when God steps into the fight, he loses. If he can keep you from seeking God’s help, then he can win that round.
Our God is the biggest and strongest “dad” around and He has never lost a fight to the devil and He never will. So, the next time you feel you are on the losing end, that life is not going your way, then that is the time you need to go face-to-face with Satan and remind him that God is on your side and with His help, you will defeat him every time.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Time Out!
I am taking a time out from writing this blog, but will return. Please check back from time to time. In the meantime, share God with everyone you meet, whether they follow him now or will follow your lead.
Friday, June 5, 2015
The Temporary Loan
At different times in my life, I have bought a new house, just as many of you have. Along with the excitement and drudgery of moving into a new place, we usually picked up a 30-year mortgage loan. What most people don’t think about is what the mortgage loan really means is you own just a little bit of the house and the mortgage company owns the balance. As the years pass, more of the house belongs to you until you finally pay off the loan. At that point, the house actually and finally belongs to you. Part of the deal with the mortgage company while you have the loan is that you take care of the house, keep it in good repair, and maintain it. If you can think of “30 years” as being temporary, then so is that loan. The mortgage company shows its faith in you by loaning you the money in the belief you will pay it back, since it is just temporary.
One of my favorite authors is the Western writer, Louis L’Amour. One of the recurring themes in his books it that the earth is ours to use as we need to do, but it is just on temporary loan to us. The period of the loan is, of course, the length of our lives. The earth and all its wonders are on loan to us by God and He has faith in us to take care of it properly. God expects us to nurture and tend the earth and when we leave it, to return it to Him in better shape than when He gave it to us.
When God created us as individuals, He infused our immortal soul into our mortal body. Once created, that soul is ours for all eternity. The body is not so lucky. God has merely loaned it to us so we can love and serve Him here on earth for the length of our lives. Some of us have a very long term loan and some not so long at all. It is what we do with the loan while we have it that is most important. Since we also have the gift of free will, we can choose to take care of that loan, keep it up and nourish it, and use it as God intended us to do. We can also exercise that free will and abuse this body or use it for evil purposes. Like any regular loan, God expects us to pay interest. In this case, the interest is to use our earthly existence to serve God in which ever purpose suits His needs and desires for us.
All loans are temporary, whether they are six years for a car, 30 years for a house, or a lifetime for this body. Just as in paying off a financial loan transfers the ownership from the bank to you, so too do you get to keep what you were given when you first received your physical loan. When your loan is paid in full, when you have drawn your last breath and served God for the last time here on earth, you then get the full ownership of the promise God gave to you at your conception: you get to have the full and complete presence of God for all eternity. Your body may have been just a temporary loan, but your soul is yours forever, dwelling always in the divine presence of God.
So, the big question is: what are you doing with your temporary loan? Are you taking care of it, nourishing it with the right kinds of food, exercising regularly/occasionally/sometimes, helping it to heal when it is sick or injured, and generally treating it as a special loan from God? Or, are you abusing it with drugs or drinking out of control? Are you over- or under-eating, or eating the wrong things? There are many things that people do to their bodies by treating them in a manner that God never intended.
When it is time to return your temporary loan to God, is it going to show just normal wear and tear, or is it going to be full of scratches, dents and damage? You are the one who gets to decide.
One of my favorite authors is the Western writer, Louis L’Amour. One of the recurring themes in his books it that the earth is ours to use as we need to do, but it is just on temporary loan to us. The period of the loan is, of course, the length of our lives. The earth and all its wonders are on loan to us by God and He has faith in us to take care of it properly. God expects us to nurture and tend the earth and when we leave it, to return it to Him in better shape than when He gave it to us.
When God created us as individuals, He infused our immortal soul into our mortal body. Once created, that soul is ours for all eternity. The body is not so lucky. God has merely loaned it to us so we can love and serve Him here on earth for the length of our lives. Some of us have a very long term loan and some not so long at all. It is what we do with the loan while we have it that is most important. Since we also have the gift of free will, we can choose to take care of that loan, keep it up and nourish it, and use it as God intended us to do. We can also exercise that free will and abuse this body or use it for evil purposes. Like any regular loan, God expects us to pay interest. In this case, the interest is to use our earthly existence to serve God in which ever purpose suits His needs and desires for us.
All loans are temporary, whether they are six years for a car, 30 years for a house, or a lifetime for this body. Just as in paying off a financial loan transfers the ownership from the bank to you, so too do you get to keep what you were given when you first received your physical loan. When your loan is paid in full, when you have drawn your last breath and served God for the last time here on earth, you then get the full ownership of the promise God gave to you at your conception: you get to have the full and complete presence of God for all eternity. Your body may have been just a temporary loan, but your soul is yours forever, dwelling always in the divine presence of God.
So, the big question is: what are you doing with your temporary loan? Are you taking care of it, nourishing it with the right kinds of food, exercising regularly/occasionally/sometimes, helping it to heal when it is sick or injured, and generally treating it as a special loan from God? Or, are you abusing it with drugs or drinking out of control? Are you over- or under-eating, or eating the wrong things? There are many things that people do to their bodies by treating them in a manner that God never intended.
When it is time to return your temporary loan to God, is it going to show just normal wear and tear, or is it going to be full of scratches, dents and damage? You are the one who gets to decide.
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