Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

Upholding Faithfulness

    Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness"
    (Isaiah 41:10).

"Fear not," God says to us. And yet we fear. "Be not dismayed." And yet we worry and become anxious over many things. God continually tells us "I am with you," yet we continue to become panic stricken by the cares of this life, not realizing just how close He really is. Our eyes are so often on our problems that surround us that we cannot see the God who remains with us.
God is near. So why do we act like He is far off? Is it because our problems are so overwhelming that they keep us from seeing God through them? They press in on every side and as we give them more and more attention, we give them more and more power. We eventually give them more power in our lives than God as we let them control what we think and what we think we must do.
Perhaps the reason God seems so far off is because I have wandered. Maybe I have gotten my eyes off of Him by putting them on all the wonderful things I want out of life. But as I move away from the Light of God to chase after the world I am only filled with darkness, and cannot see because I must have light to see. "If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Mt.6:25).
God is near. But if I am blinded by my problems or selfish wants, how shall I see Him? And if I cannot see Him, how can I bring myself to trust Him? And if I cannot bring myself to trust Him, how shall I learn to depend on Him when I am surrounded by trouble, or burdened by the cares of this life? How will I learn to have peace when the budget is tight, the job insecure, the relationships weak or when my day to day becomes a tedious "daily grind?"
The daily grind can and does get to most of us. Yet, God has something to say to us about that. He says, "Do you feel weak? I will strengthen you. Do you need assistance? I'll be there--I will help you. Are you weary and feel like you cannot take another step? I will hold you up." These are not simply words but they are the promises from God. Would God lie to you? Of course not. Do you think He is talking to everyone but you? Of course He is talking to you--He is talking to all of us. We just simply have to believe that what He said He will do, He will do. Not because of your faith--but because of His faithfulness. He is faithful to His word even when we are faithless.
What is holding you back? Are your eyes glued on the problems or perhaps on what you want? "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:. "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalms 37:4). ". . .for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). "Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isaiah 41:10).

    But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31)

[Soldier4Christ]

Sound Doctrine

    Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim.2:23-25).

I have witnessed arguments over doctrine. I have watched as what began as a moment of sharing turned into debates of spiritual matters in which neither person really won. I have seen within such times, people losing control, losing their tempers and losing respect for another. A matter that should be approached with love and understanding becomes a reason to belittle the other for their viewpoints--acting as if they must be the devil himself to think some of what they think.
We are such creatures of the moment. We so frequently fail to see beyond our immediate circumstance long enough to see the big picture. And by doing so, we fail to look at ourselves and others as the work in progress that we are.
None of us has all the answers. No one is perfect or maintains perfect doctrine, for we are still being perfected. Where we disagree, there is disunity. But rather than agreeing to disagree, we can agree that we don't agree which means that one or both of us are wrong.
However, though we be wrong in doctrine it is important to remember that we can maintain a rightness of heart. As mentioned, we are being perfected. This is not an enlightenment that provides us with all the answers at the point we first come to Christ. Instead, it is a process that continues as we abide in Christ. My doctrine might not line up with yours, and yours may not line up with mine, and it would be a miracle if we agreed on everything. No matter how we line up, our doctrine will fall short of the whole of Christ's doctrine--on that we can all agree.
With this knowledge of our imperfections we are very understanding with ourselves. We can tell ourselves that we're not perfect but that God is still working on us and this helps us to live with our faulty thinking until God can change it. But do we fail to extend others the same courtesy? Do we fail to be understanding with them and give them the same tolerance for imperfections as we give ourselves?
As previously said, "though we be wrong in doctrine it is important to remember that we can maintain a rightness of heart." If someone had all the right doctrine yet failed to seek God, what good would it be? God is not as concerned with how much truth you possess as He is with whether or not you are seeking Him. The rightness of heart is not maintained by doctrine, but by continuing to seek God, to draw near to and abide in Him. If we truly seek God He will bring our doctrine into proper alignment with His. And that will not necessarily line up with what we once thought it should be, or what others think it should be or sometimes with what a church thinks it should be.
This brings with it freedom and responsibility. We are free from the law that states that all of us must have the same doctrines. We are all at different levels of Christian maturity and as such we must be allowed to grow to the likeness of Christ, not be brow-beaten into it. Yet we are responsible to remain in Christ, listening attentively to our teachers and weighing what they say with the Spirit, so that we will continue to grow toward maturity in Christ. We are not allowed to plead the fifth, or say "We agree to disagree" or "I just don't see it that way," and leave it at that.

    Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself (John 7:16-17).

[Soldier4Christ]

Great Expectations

    My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation [is] from him (Ps.62:5).

A man came into some money and was considering how best to invest it. He had always wanted to have an apple orchard yet never thought it would be possible. Since he really knew very little about raising apples, much less a whole orchard, he decided to start small with about ten to twenty trees and work his way up. He purchased the land and purchased the apple tree saplings, and soon planted and cared for the trees to raise them up healthy and strong. Imagine his surprise when his apple trees began to produce peaches. It seems that his saplings had been packaged wrong at the time he bought them, and since he didn't know an apple tree from a peach tree, he got peaches.
The peach trees naturally produced what was in them to make. And no matter what the man expected from the tree, it could only naturally produce what was in it to produce. Jesus spoke of this when he said, "Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" (Mt.7:16). He went further to describe that in the same way, that which is in people to produce is what will come out. If we abide in Him, he tells us we will produce good fruit. But as we know, abiding may not be the easiest thing for us to do. For even if the world and the cares of this life do not steal our attentions from Christ, something else usually does.
More subtle than evil are the good intentions that beset us. Our desires to be righteous are often our stumbling stones as they become our guide above Christ. We see things that need done to serve and to minister, and while these things fill us with good intentions and noble desires, they can often be the very things that pull us out of the will of God. We can easily become consumed by good works. So much so that we take our eyes off of Christ and get wrapped up in our work until one day we look back and realize that we left Christ at the starting gate, or somewhere behind.
It is often that God begins to direct us, and we take what He has told us to a point and then run with it. We see only in part and then jump to our expected conclusions and we tell God, "OK Lord, I got it. I'll take it from here." Then we wonder why we get peaches out of apple trees.
If we are not careful, we can become ruled by the expectations we place on ourselves or by expectations that others or the church place upon us. We then lose sight of Christ as we have left him in our super spiritual up-kicked dust, and we venture ahead out of our own strength or abilities. We do so until we grow tired and cannot go another step. We may get physically sick or mentally exhausted. Mind and body are drained by self-effort to produce the expected fruits until we have to stop, and sit down, and rest. Christ then catches up to us (at His pace) to find us worn and weary. He then picks us up to walk with Him again and we begin to produce the natural fruits once more.
It seems no matter how hard we try, or how much we or others expect from us, we cannot force a peach tree to produce apples.

    Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her
    (Luke 10:38-42).

[Soldier4Christ]

On Your Behalf

    I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. . .My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. . .My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn.17:11-21).

Read John chapter 17 sometime, and in it you will find one of the most beautiful passages of the Bible. It is a passage wherein Jesus prays to the Father on behalf of His followers. He not only brings His concerns for His current followers to God, but also for those who are yet to come. His desire was that we might all be protected from the evil one and that we might all be one with Him. He prayed for us because He loved us, because He knew we needed it and because He knew it would make a difference.
The reason He knew it would make a difference was because what He asked was in line with the will of the Father. Because He asked according the Father's will, He was confident that His prayers would be answered. And His prayers that we would be protected from evil and that we would be one with Him are continually being answered as more and more people turn to God to follow Him.
Jesus tells us that we will show that we are His disciples if we love one another (Jn.13:35). That love that we have for our brothers and sisters in Christ will often have a natural tendency to manifest itself through our prayers for those whom we love. Our response of love will be to pray much like Christ has prayed for us--this is only natural as we become one with Him as He had prayed.
But do not fear, just because you are not Jesus does not mean that your prayers cannot be as effective. We can have confidence that our prayers will be answered even as Christ's prayers were. 1 John 5:14 says, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us." The power of our prayers do not originate with the one who prays but in Who we are praying to. When we pray "His will" in the matters of another's life we become one with Christ in His purpose for that other person. It is because of this that we can have confidence that our prayers make a difference.
With that in mind, what do we do with this power that is available? There are so many around each of us who need a special touch or word from God. They need to feel His Love, His strength and His guidance. Even as God chose for Jesus to pray as a means for Him to work His will in our lives, so He desires for us to pray as a means to work His desires in the lives of those around us.
Imagine that you were told by God that you were responsible to pray for a particular person everyday, and that when you prayed it would make a positive difference in their day. Imagine that if you did not pray that it would mean them having a worse day. What would you feel you needed to do? Suddenly, someone else's day depends completely upon you.
To what degree our praying impacts another's day we may never know on this earth. Yet, as Jesus demonstrated through His intercession, prayer does make a difference. And for some of our loved ones in Christ, it could make all the difference in the world.
Pray for those around you, that God will give them wisdom and courage to face everything they will face today. Wrap them in the warm hug of a prayer lifted up to God on their behalf. God will hear you, and He will use your prayers to better the hearts and lives of the people you lift up.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bread Winner

    When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do (Jn.6:5-6).

Who was the bread winner of your home? You might first think of dad since that is the traditional way of thinking. Now days, many would say mom or perhaps that both parents are the providers for the household. This may seem perfectly natural to ascribe to one or both parents the title of "bread winner," yet this expression may mean different things to different people. To what extent does the adult, head of the house, parent or guardian have to go to provide for their family?
2 Thessalonians reads, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat (3:10). This verse is often used to instruct Christians regarding their responsibility to provide for their families. And we would agree that we are all supposed to work as unto the Lord, and we are to care for our families and we are to take responsibility within our earthly situations. Yet, even though the intentions are the noblest, it is easy to take on more responsibility than we are meant to.
Regardless of our life situation, regardless of our circumstances, there is a way that God would have us to go. God wants us to trust and obey. We are to trust Him that He knows the road ahead of us. We are to obey Him in His leadership as to what we are to do in every area of our lives--that includes the "how to" that the food is put on the table.
What many of us do, however, is put trust in ourselves--what we can do or how much we can earn. We quickly forget how God shall supply all our needs, and we begin to see as the rest of the world does that the "who" behind the food on the table is a human being in the household who holds a job. And since there is one in the house who thinks he/she is the provider, they become anxious over job security and pay cuts. They worry about tomorrow and begin to shuffle through the classifieds every time their jobs are threatened. But if God is seen as the provider, then there is nothing to worry about--because the one who holds tomorrow is the one who is the Provider.
As Jesus fed the 5000, He did more than a miracle for the moment, He demonstrated God's provision to us even as God wanted us to understand it. Jesus came to manifest the Father to us, to show us who the Father was and what the Father desired for His children.
He wants us to work as unto God, with all our heart, soul and might, but He wants us to trust God to bring the increase. He wants us to trust that God will not let His children starve.
This is a difficult concept to grasp. It's hard to truly trust God with your livelihood. Yet that is exactly what must be done to have true peace of mind. Trusting self to provide can make you feel insecure even when you have a job. Yet, trusting God to provide can make you feel secure even when you're unemployed and looking for a job in a tight job market.
What is hard to keep in mind is that we are not the bread winners, God is. We are simply to be obedient to Him and we will have what we need because He is faithful.

    Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you (Jn.6:27).

[Soldier4Christ]

Blissful Ignorance

    On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching, who can accept it?" . . .From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him (Jn.6:60&66).

Jesus had finished explaining to many of his disciples some of the principles surrounding who He was. But what Jesus said was difficult for them to receive because what He said rubbed harshly against their flesh. What Jesus said did not settle with what they in their own human wisdom could reason out. "Many of his disciples," the scripture tells us, "turned back and no longer followed him." Their response was to say within themselves, "I just can't understand that--I don't even want to think about it."
Ignorance is often thought of as another word for stupidity or as a lack of intelligence. Perhaps a more correct understanding of the word, "ignorance," would be to see it as the act of ignoring. This implies a knowledge that something exists, yet with that, a willful desire to pay no mind to whatever that something is. These days we might call that "denial."
We like to feel secure in our beliefs and understandings about the way things are. When something or someone comes along that shakes those beliefs and causes us to question things of which we have felt secure in our understanding, our tendency is to resist. We become uncomfortable and insecure and find ourselves at the crossroads--wondering what is right and who is wrong. Our choice is to struggle through the questions or to bow to the bliss of ignorance.
There are a lot of hard sayings in the Bible. And Christ challenges our way of thinking as He draws us out of the world to become His disciples. Everyday we are faced with decisions that we can make using the spiritual mind that Christ nurtures within us, or we can make the decisions using reasoning that is more settling to our worldly thought patterns. How we choose is the difference in following or not following Jesus. Each time we turn away from the hard sayings of Christ, it becomes easier and easier to do so. We do it enough and we may find ourselves in the likeness of those who were Jesus' disciples who turned back and followed Him no longer.
What resource do you use to make your day to day decisions? Do you call on the wisdom of God or upon the powers of human reasoning and experience? No matter how bright we become or how much experience we gain, we will never be equipped enough to depend upon self rather than God. God alone sees everything that impacts your life and He alone can provide the Wisdom to fill in all the gaps of human reasoning. Trust Him with your decisions and for God's sake as well as your own, don't turn away in ignorance. His truth is a solid Rock--it is hard and cumbersome when it comes to rest on top of us, yet it is our security when we come to rest on it.

[Soldier4Christ]

Children Of God

    For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together (Rom.8:14-17).

We are no longer children of this world, but children of our Heavenly Father. And being the children of God means that we begin to follow His example and become more and more like Him as we mature. This is not to be taken lightly. What it took for us to become the children of God required a great sacrifice. God gave up the life of His son, Jesus. Jesus forfeited His right and His life in order that we might be called the children of the Most High.
As we go from day to day and become occupied with occupations and focused on daily routine, it becomes very easy to lose sight of what it really means to be called the children of God--and what it took for us to become joint heirs with Christ.

Birthright

I wish I could have taken His place,
but I am not like Him:
perfect, without blemish,
completely without sin.
I know it may be easy,
for me right now to say,
I would have died in place of Him,
and take His place that day.
For I will never have to face,
a death such as He died,
for if I had, I might have tried,
to run away and hide.
But ifs, and speculations,
will never change what is.
He took my rightful birthright,
and He gave me what was His.
I should have died in place of Him,
for all that I have done.
Instead I've gained a Father,
through the death of His own Son.
If I were some how able,
to travel back in time.
I still could not have taken His place,
for He had taken mine.

Take time today to remember what God has done for you in making you His child. Take time today to remember what it means to be His child. Christ gave up His life that we might live--what would result if we would give up our lives that He might live through us?

[Soldier4Christ]

The Line of Faith

    When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick (Lk.9:1-2).

You may be someone who believes that miraculous powers were only appointed for a season (specifically during the early New Testament times). Or perhaps you are someone who believes that we can be empowered today to do even as Christ had done (casting out demons, healing the sick and so on). Whatever the case, what you think about works of faith may not be nearly as important as to why you think what you think.
The Bible is full of what we often refer to as miracles. To God, however, they might not be seen as miracles at all but rather as an act of His will. It is no miracle for God to act within His will for it is His nature to do so. This is not to downplay the mighty works of God, but possibly to bring to attention the lesser works--which are really not lesser at all. God's works are praiseworthy because of who He is and not because of how extraordinary His works may appear to us to be.
All that God does carries with it His intents and purposes to bring about the greater good. Whether He heals you of a terminal disease or sends you a cool breeze on a hot summer day, if He has put it into motion then it is out of His wonderful love for you that He does so.
All too often, we act surprised (or become skeptical) when a supernatural act of healing occurs--that which seems extraordinary. Or we take the everyday (seemingly small) miracles for granted--overlooking all the wonderful things God does for us that we would not consider extraordinary.
It's really no wonder that we think in such mediocre mindsets--skeptical of the extraordinary, while ignoring the day to day blessings. Our doctrines seem to be progressively painting us into the corners of faithlessness. The things we preach that a Christian should do are, for many, easy to do out of one's own strength. We say that a Christian must read the Bible and pray, he must witness, she must go to church and must give. Each of these things can be done without an ounce of faith. Yet we manage to steer clear of preaching works of faith that are above that which people could accomplish in and of themselves (healing, for example).
Where do we draw the line of faith? Does it stop short of that which can only be described as Supernatural? We speak of great commissions to preach and teach and neglect commandments to heal. If the truth be known, we might realize that it is not our doctrine at all that prevents us from moving into works of faith, but it is the lack of faith to see God move beyond the ordinary--and a lack of appreciation when He moves within the ordinary.
Nothing about God is ordinary. He has a great many things to accomplish through each of us. What He asks you to do may go beyond your limitations--but it will never exceed His abilities.

[Soldier4Christ]

Righteous Anger

    In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Eph.4:26-27).

Self-control seems at times to be much more than a spiritual fruit--it seems to be a spiritual art. It is something that takes self-discipline and many hard hours of practice. A person has to go into each day making a mental choice to restrain the reactions to difficult situations--avoiding the desires to do or say things that will later be regretted. No time is it more difficult than when a person feels that his/her rights have been violated.
When someone has wronged us it is very easy to retaliate in some fashion. Perhaps we even feel it is our right to do so--to defend ourselves--to stand up for our rights and not let others walk all over us. Yet God says, "It is mine to avenge: I will repay" (Rom 12:19). We are instructed, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" (Rom.1217-18).
Have you ever heard someone say, "It's all right to get angry. Even Jesus got angry at the temple and chased everyone out with a whip?" What perhaps is lost in this interpretation is the purpose behind Jesus' anger. He was not defending His rights. He was not standing up to others because He felt that His rights had been violated. He did not chase people out of the temple with a whip because He wanted to show them that they were not going to walk on Him anymore. Jesus was angered and acted upon His anger while in defense of the Holiness of God which had been defiled by those who chose to turn God's house into a "den of thieves" (Mt.21:13).
The anger of Christ was a righteous anger. It was an anger on the behalf of something outside of Himself. Personal interests did not motivate His anger, and if we are to hold up the fact that Jesus got angry as an illustration that it is all right to be angry, then we need to be willing to examine our motives to see if they are pure--to see if our anger is a righteous anger or a self-centered anger.
We will get angry, but that anger is to be contained in a manner that will keep us from sin. Our society has tried to find constructive ways for people to vent their anger in a socially acceptable way. Yet, what would be best to do first is to take it before the Lord and let Him show us the root of our anger. If the root is selfishness, then any act out from that anger will be selfish. If the anger is righteous, then the act out from that will be righteous. Though we should understand that we will have selfish anger, we are not to excuse it, justify it or in any way try to vent it in such a way that the spiritual fruits of self-control are sacrificed.
In Christ we seek to grow to be angry only for reasons other than selfish reasons. In Christ we are transformed to be angry on another's behalf, to be angry when injustice is done, to be angry when God is blasphemed, to be angry when God's people blatantly sin against Him--nevertheless--to be angry and sin not.

[Soldier4Christ]

Moving Forward

    The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (Jn.3:.

The Spirit of God can be likened to the wind. You do not see it, but you can identify its presence by how it effects what it comes in contact with. You may not be able to see what God has been doing prior to a noticeable moving and you do not know what will transpire, yet if you are watching for His moving you will notice the effects of His Spirit in your life and the lives of those around you.
There are many ways that we like to see movement. Noticing that certain things are moving means to us that they have not ceased to function properly. If you are on hold for ten minutes and you hear music playing over the phone the whole time, you know that you are still on hold and that someone might pick up the line soon. But have someone place you on hold so that you hear nothing but silence, and pretty soon you may start wondering if you have been disconnected.
Computers cater to this need to be pacified as we wait. Seems most every computer now days has some sort of way to tell you that its working. It may display an hourglass or a "please wait" message, or something like that. The flashing light of a hard drive and the soft grinding noise that accompanies are good ways to see that the system has not locked up. These are indicators to us that there is still movement--that everything is still functioning as it should.
If a tree stops growing or does not bud, we assume it is dead or soon will be. If a river stops flowing and the water settles into individual pools, we know that if the water in those pools remains long enough that the water will stagnate--becoming lifeless.
There are many things that trouble us when we do not see the effects of movement. And there are some things that should trouble us perhaps a little more than they do. As those who are born of the Spirit, we are to be moving. Moving away from a previous state toward a new state, a state of maturity in Christ. If we can look at our lives and see no movement then the practical observation would be to see that something is wrong. Have we been disconnected from God? Have we locked up and become unable to function the way He has designed us? Have we stopped growing in Christ and become stagnate and empty of the abundant life of God?
Growing comfortable with "the way things are" leads to complacency. Complacency leads to spiritual stagnation. It is important for us to keep moving forward in our Christian walk, leaning on God for support along the way--asking Him to give us the strength to keep moving.
If the Spirit is moving in your life, you will see the effects of His movement as though it were the wind in the tree tops. If you cannot recall the last time you saw the effects of the movement of God then you have probably landed in a pool of stagnation. However, you do not have to stay there. Ask God to do what is necessary to get you moving again. Ask him to make you uncomfortable with complacency and the lack of desire to grow. He will show you what it will take to get your Christian walk moving forward again.

[Soldier4Christ]

Deserving

    One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan (Lk.17:15-16).

   The question was raised in a Sunday school class, "Why are we often not thankful?" Luke 17:11-19 tells the story of ten men who had leprosy and cried out to Christ as He passed by. Jesus told them to "Go, show yourselves to the priests." As they went on their way they were all healed, but only one returned to thank Jesus. The question is raised as to why the other nine did not return--why only one out of the ten returned--and why only the Samaritan.
   Samaritans were a people who were despised by the Jews. The Jews would have nothing to do with them, even to the point of not speaking to them. But of the ten that had been together, there was one among them that was Samaritan, the rest being Jewish. So then, in a group of nine of God's chosen people and one Samaritan, why did not those who claim to be God's children realize who had healed them and praise God all the more?
The answer may be as close as your own family.
   I have children, and I have watched them as I give them things from time to time. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get them to remember to say thank you. It is almost as though they feel that because they are my children that I somehow owe them what I give. It's not always, but it is often that they take what is given as though they deserve it--slow to say thank you, and soon to forget.
   We cannot know for certain why the nine did not return. Perhaps they somehow felt that they deserved what they received. They were Jewish and part of God's chosen people, and maybe they were like children sometimes are--slow to say thank you, then soon to forget.
   The Samaritan however, most likely did not feel deserving. He did not consider himself God's chosen yet he received the same thing that God's chosen received. What he received he did not feel he deserved, or that it was owed him or even like it was something he should expect--he received the gift of a new life. For having being healed of the leprosy, he was able to move back into a normal, and perhaps long and healthy, life.
   We too have been given the gift of a new life--a new life in Christ. We have also been blessed in that we have been made part of God's family, and we can now call ourselves His children. How much then, does our Heavenly Father give to us that we take for granted? How much of what He does for us goes unnoticed? Is it because we grow accustomed to His gifts and to His love that we begin to not notice the daily blessings he sends our way?
   The nine may not have had a conscious thought that they deserved what happened to them--yet, they also did not have a conscious thought to say thanks. We too may not have a conscious thought as to say, "I deserve this." Yet, how often does our lack of a simple "Thank you Father," send the message that we somehow expect Him to do all He does for us in a manner as though He owes it to us?

[Soldier4Christ]

More Than Meets The Eye (Part I)

    The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Mt.6:22-23).

"Seeing is believing!" Or so some have said. "Show me the bottom line--give it to me in black and white and then I will consider it." We sit ourselves at the table of life ready to feast upon all things we can physically set before our eyes. And within our search for the solid proof and tangible truth, we give up power over our will only to that which can be seen with human eyes.
"The lust of the eyes." It is what is set before the eyes so that one's soul can feast upon carnal desire. It is the lusting after the flesh for sensual satisfaction, and it is the lusting after material goods for desired security--looking upon something or someone in such a way that you begin to yearn to possess what you see. It is not a natural desire, as some would have us believe. The Spirit of God who created us did not include this lusting nature. Instead, there is a spirit of lust that overshadows us and is extremely prevalent in our society. It is not a question of natural passions but of whom has control over those passions, and what has been the result.
The spirit of lust has intertwined itself into our nation. Material goods, good looks, sexual desire, fame, power--these are the lures of the spirit of lust that beckons us from the TV, the magazine rack and wayward imaginations. To conquer the problem we must get to the root--it is not within the flesh but within who is given power over the flesh. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph.6:12).
The obvious things to do involves removing as much from in front of our eyes as needed to decrease our chances to lust. Perhaps we might even be very successful at doing so. Yet, the problem is still prevalent and the spirit of lust seems to grow stronger and stronger. What then can we do with such a devil? Perhaps we should turn to something Jesus said, "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting" (Mt.17:21).
If we look at the condition of our world, seeing the material greed and the sexual perversion and we feel saddened--there is something more we can do than to sit and bemoan the certain peril of the people of this nation. First, we can make a choice not to place in front of our eyes those things that we might lust after. Second, we need to seek God--to fast and pray--asking God to cast the spirit of lust out of this nation. If you want to kill a weed you never cut off its top--instead you do what is necessary to kill the root.
Too much of our living is influenced by what we want, what looks good or what brings us pleasure. God would have us remember that behind all the hype and perfect presentations of pleasure that the world has to offer, there is truly more than meets the eye—and it is certainly not all we would have hoped it to be.
The world offers "more than meets the eye." It is the hidden agenda, the false advertisement, the small print that holds deceit. But God offers "more than meets the eye" in the form of His grace that works behind the scenes of our everyday, His love that sustains us, and His working out of everything in our lives while keeping our best interests at heart. The question then is: "Which one do you choose to trust?"

[Soldier4Christ]

More Than Meets The Eye (Part II)

    "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12).

There are many ways that seem right to us. Those ways may have been established by tradition, doctrine, culture or here-say. Yet, there is a way that IS right and that is the way that follows Christ steadfastly in moment by moment obedience.
Much of what pulls us away from obedience to God is putting great trust in our own reasoning abilities. We examine and weigh the facts, then we draw our conclusions. Then we often make decisions as to how to act based primarily upon what we SEE to be the right way to go.
A particular job or career is often chosen for reasons of income or security or interest. Yet, how many of us set our directions for livelihood based upon what God would have us do?
A number of ministers follow the well beaten paths of ministers who have gone before, often holding to the course of the past. Bible college, Seminary and then the pulpit--there is a particular order of becoming that seems to be the same for all. Yet, could it be possible that those who feel called to serve God are sometimes led more by the standard way of men than the particular way of God?
A number of churches make a large number of decisions based upon the bottom line of the budget, certain that they cannot step outside of monetary means to accomplish the work of God. Yet, could it be possible that the church is guided more by money than by the Lord? For we say we cannot do this or that because of the money--yet, we know that all things are possible with God (Consider 5000 fed with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish).
There is a grave danger to following what appears to be right. When we say that God gave us minds to use them that is true. But what that means is that He gives us knowledge and Wisdom to question what is, to determine whether we are being led by God or by our usual way of doing things.
Eyes led by what seems to be right are often blinded by barriers that constrain human effort--yet could never contain God.

Living by faith means living by "more than meets the eye." If we are to truly experience the magnificence of God, we must learn how to stop trusting our eyes and simply trust the Maker of our eyes. He gave us eyes so we could see, but not so we would be led by what we see. He gave us minds to use, but not so we would be led by what we think. Bottom line, results based living will probably allow us to feel comfortable in life, but it will not allow us to experience the wonders of God, and what He offers that is truly more than meets the eye.

[Soldier4Christ]

More Than Meets The Eye (Conclusion)

    Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:19-34).

As our eyes become steadfastly fixed on wants from this life, as we stare into the familiar of what we reason in our minds to be so, we can easily find ourselves trusting only in that which is reasonable and comprehensible.
Claiming to be people of faith does not make faith real. Engaging in religious activities does not instill true belief, but practiced religion.
We see a lot of the same problems in the church as we see in the rest of the nation. The dreams and ambitions of church going people have few differences from those desires of the unchurched. The churches are filled with people who have similar problems as the unchurched population and persist in solving problems the same as those who do not know God. By using their personal resources and their own reasoning powers.
We have got to stop looking to the world around us as an example of how to live life. We must embrace a higher standard of living through the teachings of Christ. We cannot go on looking for answers as the rest of the world does and expect God to bless it. He has established a way that is right and it is not the way that leads to death but to life.
The eye is the lamp of the body, Jesus tells us. But the lamp cannot shine forth if the eye is full of the darkness of this present age.
Somewhere along the way a choice has to be made: "Will I forsake my desires from this world, or will I cling to them?" "Will I care more about what I can get out of this life, or how much I can give?"

[Soldier4Christ]

Canned Testimonies & Tainted Love

Picture this: a well dressed man approaches you as you are standing in line waiting to order your lunch from your favorite fast food restaurant. He asks you how your doing and politely introduces himself. You tell him your fine but your day really hasn't been that great to this point. And even though you say you are fine your tone of voice gives you away so that anyone can figure out that you are not quite as fine as you have let on.
The man looks right at you and begins recounting to you a well rehearsed two-minute testimony about his salvation experience. He does not seem to skip a beat. It is not until he gets finished that you are finally able to tell him that you are already a Christian. He looks at you surprisingly, "Oh," he says and then moves to another line.
You stand there wondering what just happened. "Did this person even realize that you were having a bad day?" You knew your mood showed through but it seemed to fail to come to his attention at all.
He was a man with a mission. His intentions were to find non-Christians and bring to them life-saving news. However, as good as intentions as they were it seems that the person got lost in the shuffle of the task.
What would come across to most of us is that this person did not really care at all, he was just interested in making converts. He could have been doing so because he felt it was his obligation as a Christian, or perhaps he felt guilty if he did not witness. Perhaps he is a person who is truly seeking to be obedient to God and that is why he is trying to spread the gospel to all the earth (all by himself if necessary). Yet, something seems to be missing.
1 Corinthians 13 tells us that if we do anything without love it is nothing. Someone might say that the man in the illustration could have been doing what he was out of love. That because of his love for others he was willing to do his part. But what kind of love overlooks a person's needs due to being so focused on a task? It is not the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated. Christ took time to tend the needs of people, to show them love and genuineness in what he said and did in regard to each person. We are told that "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude. . ." (1 Cor.13:4-5). Without love, the best intentions still amount to nothing. For where is it written in scripture, "The end justifies the means?"
Where within the "canned-witness" do we leave room to seek wisdom in determining the needs of another? Where within a hit-and-run testimony is there time to minister to someone's pains, hurts and needs? While we try to get the message of Christ across to the many who are lost, we must see that the attitude of Christ is at least as important as the words we use. Others need to feel like we are interested in them as people and not as someone else's goal to make one convert per day. They need to see Christ loving them through us rather than finding themselves somewhere in the wake of our fly-by. If we are not careful, what people will see will not be the genuine concern that Christ has for them, they will see instead salesman type tactics that have little more in mind that meeting a quota.
There are many who testify that they found Christ because of someone who cared enough to approach them in a fashion as described above, or who left a tract which gave them the "how to" to become a Christian. That's great and we should be thankful. Paul wrote, "What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice (Philippians 1:18). The glory is truly God's because He is able to use any way to bring people to salvation--but that never means that every way is acceptable.
If we seek to be obedient to God's command, "Go ye therefore. . ." but fail to be obedient in following God's way, we are still disobedient regardless of the results. God's way is the way that must be followed. It is the only way that will bring true and lasting results.