Pride's Role

Pride seems to intensify all of my sin in that I cannot repent from any sin unless I can first get past my pride. How is it that pride has gained such power in my life?

Childlike Faith

The childlike faith that Jesus commands us to have is faith that is without doubts or reservations. It is faith that takes God at His Word, and doesn't anticipate His potential failure to show up. In fact, children are so adept at this kind of faith, they have the ability to place such faith in things that don't exist (like the Easter bunny or Santa Claus)!

How able am I to believe the unbelievable?

Succession Planning

Godly leaders prepare their people to function without them by discovering those with leadership potential, providing the training they need and looking for ways to empower and encourage them as leaders. Said differently, godly leaders will see themselves as shepherds to tomorrows leaders.

Idol Worship

The Bible speaks much of idol worship. I suspect that in today's culture, most of us breeze right through those passages. We think because we don't have a golden calf in the yard or aren't bowing to a statue, that these Scriptures don't really apply to us. But idol worship begins whenever we focus more of our attention on anything that is created - than we do on the creator Himself.

So anytime my focus on anything created is greater than my focus on the creator, I'm guilty of idolatry!

Growth By Default?

If we are not actively seeking to grow closer to God, then we are drawing farther away from Him by default. It's like a moral compass that drifts to the left. Our moral compass is automatically set by our sin nature to drift away from God. So unless I intentionally steer it toward Him, I am off course.

Christian Character

My limitations help develop my Christian character. They also seem to help deepen my worship. As we admit to our limitations and weaknesses, and turn to God for help to overcome them, we affirm God's strength and power in us. That said, His power is truly shown in my weakness.

Experience had taught me that I am capable of little. And the things I do seem to be capable of I am also capable of screwing up. So unless the Lord shows up to help me make something good or do something good, I have little hope that it could turn out well.

Hope's Source

Hope can only come about when we are willing to overlook the unpleasant circumstances that surround us and focus on the eternal truths of God. Any other perceived path to hope is false and fraudulent.

It has been said that forgiveness can only come when we are willing to give up the hope that the past can be any different. And so forgiveness and hope seem to be similarly rooted - and require us to stop focusing on the circumstances, past or present.

I suspect that focus on future circumstances would be equally unrewarding.

Preaching Cautions

If you hear someone preaching (or teaching) about himself or herself - or about their own ideas, beware. Whenever a preacher or religious teacher is teaching about anything other than Christ or biblical truths (which you can find in the Bible) - he or she is probably a false teacher at that time. This is true even if they sometimes preach otherwise.

So there's the human dilemma: false teachers usually aren't always false teachers. Sometimes they preach the truth. Sometimes they preach what's biblical. Our human mind wants to label someone a false teacher and then never listen to them. God never said not to listen to false teachers though. He just said to test everything that we're taught (against His Word). And He said for the false teachers to repent.

So who will confront the false teachers --- and then still have the ability to listen to them?

Understanding Wisdom

As Christians, we can spend a lifetime accumulating information and yet never have any wisdom. The problem with God's wisdom is that it is so simple, few can understand it.

Take salvation, for example. The way to receive salvation from God is so simple that anyone who wants to can understand it. Nevertheless, millions upon millions don't understand it. What's up with that!

An intimate relationship with Christ can only come from spending time in His Word, listening to Him and being in His presence often. So then it might be that understanding salvation, for instance, might require us to spend time with salvation, listening to salvation's message and coming to the presence of salvation often. (How many Christians know how to do those things?)

Acquiring Forgetfulness

As we grow to be more like Christ, we will acquire God's ability to forget the confessed sins of the past. Put another way, the sins that others have committed against us will become forgettable when they have been confessed by one who committed them --- and when we become more Christ-like.

Educating Fools

Proverbs 17:16 tells us that it is "senseless to pay tuition to educate a fool who has no heart for wisdom." What this means is that we shouldn't waste our time trying impart knowledge or wisdom to someone that won't appreciate and be a good steward of it.

Too many times we spend time trying to impart our knowledge to someone else. If we're honest we are likely to find that the motive behind such efforts is a belief that the knowledge we have for them will change their perspective, their behavior or maybe even their being. But rarely is life-changing information ever intentionally given to one person by another.

Living Long

People usually live longer when they live right and have proper diet, exercise and rest. It's the living right part that we usually struggle with the most though. Living at peace, with joy, free of guilt and condemnation ... those are the secrets to good living.

Overcoming

We cannot be overcomers unless we have something to overcome.

Conviction & Belief

Your convictions are only strong if they hold up under pressure. They must be tested in order to be proven. Your beliefs are only beliefs if they actually form the basis for your decisions and behaviors.

It has long been said that people don't always do what they say, but they will always do what they believe. So ... reversing that is a good way to see what you believe --- just watch what you say and do. Your decisions and behaviors will always expose your true convictions and beliefs.

True Obedience

A person has not shown true obedience until he or she has had the opportunity to disobey. Has your obedience been proven in such a test?

Instrument of God

It is possible for someone to be an instrument of God - carrying out His work and His will - without being obedient to God - without being God's servant. We can be very active in our work for God and still not give the heartfelt obedience that God desires of us. So this is a double-edged sword. God can use the disobedient. At the same time, the religious aren't necessarily of God!

Love Confronts

We've all heard the phrase "speaking the truth in love." The problem is that most of us don't really know what that looks like. So we speak the truth in something else. It might be pride. It may be resentment or bitterness. It could be in judgment. Or maybe we just don't speak at all, thereby avoiding confrontation.

Speaking the truth without the love is just mean. But being silent in the name of love, and allowing the other party to go on deceiving or even destroying themselves isn't any better. It may be the worst perversion of real love.

Love means that sometimes we must confront those we truly care about. Both authenticity and personal concern are needed when dealing with people who are ruining their lives with sin. So if you see someone caught in a sin, ask yourself, "How much do I really love this person?" And then act on the strength of that love.

Succession Plan

Godly leaders prepare their people to function without them. They do this by identifying those with leadership potential, providing them the training and mentoring they need to develop it, and looking for ways to encourage them. Godly leaders understand that the greatest act of leadership they can commit is to identify and equip other godly leaders.

Praise & Worship

Praise is expressing to God our comprehension and appreciation of His greatness. It is thanking Him for each aspect of His divine nature. (Do you even know what the aspects of His divine nature are?) Our inward attitude becomes outward expression when we praise Him.

And so it is impossible for us to be involved in praise and worship if we are simply watching or listening to someone else do it. Despite however much those things may delight us or stir the good feelings in us, they cannot express our heart for us. No, that we must do by ourselves.

Secure Salvation

You cannot lose your salvation - once you have it. so the only question is whether or not you really have it. We should look for a growing awareness of Christ's presence and power in our life. Then we will know if we are true Christians - changing from the inside out - or just "going through the motions."

If I am truly "saved," then I belong to Christ. I should see Christ-likeness emerging in me. My mind should be more like His. My life should look more and more like His. If it doesn't, then perhaps I need to ask myself what the strength of my commitment to Christ as really been.

On Doubt

Doubt is a spirit and hope destroying aspect of humanity. It gets fed with unanswered questions. Some people choose to live with their doubts, ignoring them and moving on with life as best they can. Others become cynical and hardened - bitter because of their doubt. They want to believe but the unanswered questions are just too intimidating and so they succumb - never living what they can't believe.

But there are those who reject these options and continue to ask. They understand that doubt is something to be challenged and wrestled with. They confront the unanswered questions and continue seeking answers. It may take the rest of their lives - but ultimately they know that God will lead them to the answers. They trust in that ultimate provision from God. They realize that ambiguity is never permanent for Christ-followers.

No, He has never been a God of unanswered questions. He just asks us to live a life with them for now. Truly trusting in God means truly believing that all questions have answers and that one day those who maintain hope will find the answers. So truly trusting in God leads each of us to a quiet, peaceful hope. The unanswered questions and doubts don't create bitter, cynical resignation. Rather they create intrigue and anticipation about when and how God might answer them!

World Peace

You've often heard someone (usually beauty pageant contestants) talk about their wish for "world peace." We hear Christians and other religious people admonish us to pray for world peace. The thing is, I don't believe these folks really comprehend what they're asking for.

We often think of peace as the absence of conflict. It is not. Especially for a Christian, peace is much more. First of all, the Christian understands that broken people living in a fallen world are bound to have differences. So he or she knows that an absence of conflict just isn't something that's going to happen no matter how hard we wish or pray. But for a true Christ-follower, peace is completeness, health, justice, prosperity and protection. The world cannot provide these things. In fact the world doesn't want to provide these things!

Real peace only comes from faith in God and relationship with a loving God. The Bible calls this "peace that transcends understanding." It is peace that makes no sense, actually. And it exists in the midst of conflict and chaos. So to find peace of mind (i.e., peace with our circumstances) and peace with each other, one must first find peace with God.

Strong Decisions

The strongest moral decisions (e.g. the ones that last) are the ones that we make before we have to make them. In other words, they are the ones we make before temptation strikes. We must consider the temptations and challenges that could confront us --- and decide ahead of time how we will respond to them.

So, for example, if there is someone who always seems to "push my buttons" and "get under my skin," I should consider the godly response to such a person when they're not around. I should think hard about what words and actions I'll use when I am confronted with their incessant button-pushing. That way, when I'm in the moment, I won't need to worry about getting it right! I'll have a morally strong decision already made, in my pocket and ready for use!

Helping Others

I have a very dear friend who is in the executive coaching business. He often uses the phrase that he is "helping good people do great things." As corny as that may sound, I think it is a worthwhile aspiration for a godly man.

A person's greatest accomplishment in life might just be helping others accomplish things. But conversely, a person's greatest failure in life could be that they prevented others from achieving greatness.

Are people better off because they know me? Does knowing me help their relationship with God? If so, then perhaps I am achieving a measure of greatness myself!

On Revenge

Revenge is an uncontrollable monster. It is a boomerang that cannot be thrown without cost to the thrower. The revenge cycle can only be halted by forgiveness - which suffocates resentment, bitterness and jealousy. So when I find myself dreaming of revenge against someone, it would seem I need to start by forgiving them.

Success of Leaders

The success of a good leader really rises and falls on his or her devotion and obedience to God. Leadership style, personal strengths, age, wisdom and other factors are just never determining criteria. Even people who are weak in those areas can be good leaders when they devote themselves to God and obey Him. After all, He is the ultimate leader!

So here's the deal: Being a really good leader means letting God guide you in all aspects of your life --- not just at work or at the church or wherever you see yourself as a leader.

Temptation

Temptation is often the combination of a real human need combined with a possible doubt --- which creates an inappropriate desire in me. So to better stand up to my temptations, I can't just try to suppress my inappropriate desires. I must also look at what my real needs are and what God's plan for providing them is. I can focus on why it is that I have any doubts about anything as a Christian, and begin to repent of that sin of unbelief. Focusing on God's provision for my needs, and shoring up my doubts will eliminate my inappropriate desires --- thereby defeating my temptations.

Sin & Love

Sin diminishes my capacity to love God. It separates me from Him. So the more I sin, the more separated from God I become, the less I am able to love or respond to God --- and perhaps worst of all --- the less I am able to hear God and the less likely it is that He will listen to me! So if I want my prayers answered, I must remember that sin cloud's God's ability to hear me.

Sin also diminishes my capacity to love others. All sin has an element of selfishness. The more the sin is played out, the more my selfishness is played out. Sin turns my focus onto me - away from God and away from others God has placed in my life. so it is that I cannot truly love God or anyone else if I think only of myself and indulge my sinful nature.

God's Provision

God's provision is never given so that we can rest upon it. Consider what purposes God may have for the provision and blessings He has poured out on you. Very rarely is it so that you can simply consume it. No, God's blessings have a purpose. Unless we strive to see that purpose lived out in the ways God provides for us, we are in danger of squandering God's blessings!

Peace's Source

Peace is not the absence of conflict. Rather it is the result of what godly people do with conflict. Peace cannot be genuine unless it is rooted in a belief in God --- and love for Him --- and submission to Him. Lasting peace is not possible with those who are enemies of the good and the true. It only comes from knowing God who gives it to us.