Discipleship

  The melancholy and shame left him slumping in his chair like a spineless, cast-aside stuffed doll. He had failed again. How many times must he go through this? He wants to live a godly life, a God-honoring life, but this habit controls him like meth to a junkie. He had read in the Bible that the Apostle Paul had a weakness, and he wanted God’s help with it. But God told Paul He wouldn’t fix Paul’s weakness, but He would strengthen Paul for his work. Well, God knows he is weak and needs God’s strength, and he is wondering why God hasn’t helped him. Ever feel this way? Facing the sin in your life has several avenues. Some think the constant recognition of sin is a means to appreciate God’s forgiveness and grace rather than a source of debilitating shame. Then there is the view that calling oneself a “sinner” after salvation is wrong and believers should identify with their new nature in Christ rather than their old sinful nature. They should concentrate on Romans 12:2, “…...

  In Megan Wood’s song, The Truth, the verse, “I was made in the image of a perfect King,” lifts my soul. Think about it. The Bible tells us we are made in the image of God, yet my unfocused mind is a burden to me. God may be able to handle multiple thoughts at once, but not me. I’ve often suspected that I have attention deficit disorder (it surely can’t be my fault). Often, it is very hard for me to hold a single thought for more than a few seconds. How nice it would be if my attention was focused upon God as each thought raced through, filtered through His lenses, measured and evaluated, kept or discarded. Like having a mental sieve made from each of the godly traits, where thoughts pass through and are acted upon, or are captured and tossed out. This lack of focusing ability leads to poor decisions, confusing actions, and stifles inspiration. It interferes with using my spiritual gifts. But God knows this. In 2 Peter 1:3, he says, “seeing that His divine power has gr...

  Root canal. Yikes! The mere thought of the pain associated with this dental procedure is enough to ruin your day…or week if you’ve just had it done. While lying on my back, a rubber wedge forcing my mouth open, the smell of burning tooth enamel and the grinding vibrations felt down to my titanium knees, I thought about how God painlessly removes our sins. Just as my endodontist removes the abscess at the root of my tooth, Jesus’ living, saving blood flows through our hearts, removing the abscesses of sin. In 1 John 1:7, he tells us, “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (NASB95) Blood equals life. Jesus shed His blood on the cross to give us eternal life. Living our eternal lives now results in peace and harmony with our world. Life is lived abundantly. Joy replaces worry; mercy replaces hate; love replaces anger. Our lives will be different when we accep...

    Sin. Feeling unable to change the things you hate about yourself? Exasperated and tired of your efforts to live a godly life? Living the Christian life is an ongoing, daily conflict with our world. At every turn, lust of the flesh, of the eyes, and the human-pride of life bombards us. Sinful ways are promoted; Christian ideals are not. And nowhere in the Bible are we told it will get easier. During the Apostle Paul’s life, he suffered in many situations. At one point he pleaded with God to remove a “thorn” in his side that was hampering his ministry. God said no. Our “thorns” come in many forms as well. Some result from our poor decisions, our lust for the pleasures of the body. Some may be trials where our lifestyles naturally put us in difficult positions, or some may come because we think we have it all together and we don’t need God. Whatever the cause of our troubles, we don’t like them and we pray to God to remove them. Just like Paul, He often says n...