Lust & Love

Lust may feel like love, but when physically acted on it typically results in self-disgust at a minimum. It also usually results in hatred of the other person. IF you "just can't wait" what you're feeling is definitely not love!

Smart vs. Wise

A smart man will gather a lot of advice. But a wise man will evaluate the advice he gets against God's truth before he acts on it.

Pick Your Battles

Sometimes the fights that we think are necessary can be harmful to those around us (the innocent bystanders). While it takes courage to stand and fight - it takes even more courage to back down for the sake of others.

Spoiled Children

Children who have everything - or who just have too much often lack purpose and direction in life. Children who have too little may seem to lack hope or joy, but those things can be much more easily pursued than remedying a lack of purpose or direction in life.

Character Flaws

The qualities that we condemn in others are very often character flaws that are found in ourselves. The old childhood taunt of "it takes one to know one" is perhaps more true than we realize!

Lust & Hate

The distance between lust and hatred is very short. The object of your lust can quickly become the object of your hatred - usually when it fails to meet your expectations.

Dealing With Past

Family relationships can be sources of strength or systems of dysfunction. We can think about childhood by counting scars and nightmares - or by remembering security and dreams. In what specific ways have you been settling the painful issues of your past? In what ways are you contributing to a better past for your children?

Sin Coverup

The more we try to cover up sin, the more insensitive we become to it.

Wrong Choices

We sometimes face situations with only two apparent choices - and both seem wrong. When that happens, we must seek God's perspective and His will. The answer may be to keep looking for more choices or options. By doing this, the Holy Spirit can then help us find another option that honors God and we won't have to accept an option that seems wrong. Doing what's wrong is never okay, even if it seems as if there was no other choice.

Parents' Sins

The sins of parents are most often repeated ... and amplified in the lives of their children. So it would seem that the most important thing a parent could teach a child is true repentance.

Osmosis

Whether we want to or not, we tend to copy the ways and adopt the values of the people who raised us (usually our parents). Likewise, as adults we tend to become like the people whom we spend the most time with.

Sin's Implications

Sin should never be considered as a weakness or character flaw. It is fatal and must be eradicated from our lives. Indications of sin, then, must be taken very seriously indeed.

Temptation

Temptation always finds fertile ground when a person's life has no purpose or when he or she lives aimlessly - drifting along in life.

Hope's Satisfaction

Hope will never really be satisfied until Christ returns. This is because all human hope rises and falls on things that only Christ can provide.

God's Provision

God provides for us if we will love Him, put Him first in all areas of our lives, obey Him and highly regard (honor) His principles and values. Otherwise - we have no right to expect or anticipate His perfect provision in our lives.

Greatness

The honest compliments of an opponent may be one of the best measures of someone's greatness.

Persistence

Persistence is a good trait if it is for a worthy cause. But if the goal is only personal honor or personal gain, then persistence amounts to nothing more than selfish stubbornness.

Trust God

If we really do trust in God in all aspects, we will be free to respond boldly to the events around us. Our circumstances will never wield any power over us if our trust in God is secure.

Resolving Conflict

When you face a conflict, step back from the hostilities and drama to look for the common points of interest or agreement. Focus not on your points disagreement - but rather on your points of agreement. Look for what you can agree on ... because that is where you'll find resolution to the conflict.

Righteousness' Source

We can remove certain sin from our lives, but if we don't remove it from our hearts, we are still in bondage to it. We can take extraordinary measures against sin - but if our hearts don't change it will return again. Knowing what is right and condemning what is wrong will not create righteousness. Only godly desires in our hearts can create righteousness.

On Opportunities

When opportunities come your way - or when circumstances seem to be in your favor - check your motives. Make sure you are following God's will instead of just your own. An opportunity to do something that is outside of God's will can never be an opportunity from God. But our own desires can allow us to be deceived into thinking that it is.

Liars

Dishonest people (liars) eventually begin to believe the lies they tell - especially the lies they tell about themselves. Intellectually, the liar knows that the lies are not true. However, they start to seem or feel true. It is then that the liar will begin to lose the ability to tell the difference between the truth and the lies. They will begin to appear similar to him or her. Eventually, a liar will alienate themselves from God and lose credibility in all their relationships. And because they've lost the ability to discern the impact of the lie ... they won't know why.

God's Judgment

The Lord doesn't consider the things that men consider. The Lord looks at the heart. God judges by faith and character. Because only God can see on the inside and know our heart and character, only He can accurately judge people.

Obedience vs. Sacrifice

Obedience is better than sacrifice. It's a Biblical principal repeated over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments. Put another way, God values our obedience more than He values anything else we could do for Him.

Rebellion Against God

Rebellion against God is the most serious sin of all. This is because as long as someone is in rebellion against God, the door to forgiveness and restoration with God is closed.

Think & Reflect

Every Christian needs to take time to think and reflect. Doing so enables us to focus our attention on God's priorities, as well as His goodness and strength. It also helps us grow our faith in God - because we spend that time considering who He is.

Pray for Others

Christ-followers are to lift each other up in prayer. It is part of "bearing one another's burdens." (Galatians 6:2) Failing to pray for others is a sin. (Ephesians 6:18)

God's Leading

God may use common circumstances or occurrences to lead where He wants us to go. It is important to consider every situation as God's leading - a divine appointment, if you will - designed to shape our lives. There is no such thing as coincidence and things don't ever happen by chance.

Trouble's Source

People most often experience trouble in life because they and others become their own authority and act on their own opinion of right and wrong (things to do). And they do this without deference to God. When this happens, everyone pays the price. Sadly, few understand why.

Making Love Work

How can we keep natural desire for love and sexual pleasure from deceiving us?

1. Decide what kind of person you will love before passion takes you over.
2. Determine whether a person's faith in God and strength of character are as important as their physical attributes.
3. Make sure their personality, temperament and commitment to solve problems are as gratifying as what they have to offer sexually.
4. Be willing to wait on the Lord to bring that right person into your life in His time.
5. Spend the waiting period refining your own faith in God and your own personal character.

Idolatry Defined

Idolatry is really just the seeking of something besides God to satisfy one's desires. Sinful choices require that God be put out of my mind in order to pursue them.