Tag: Bible

Verse of the Day – Micah 6:8

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

Prodigal Thoughts: I often get the impression from all of the media outlets (news, social, etc.) that verses such as this are lost on this world. When I read this verse and see the world (church folks included) and I see how we are treating each other, it just breaks my heart. There is so much pride and hate spewing from our collective mouths. Maybe it comes from thinking we have the “right” to express our thoughts and feelings. Perhaps it boils down to the idea that we think we know better. There is only One who is wise. Much to our dismay, it is not us. If we have called upon the name of Jesus Christ to save us, we have given up our citizenship in the world and are citizens of the Kingdom of God. Shouldn’t we speak with kindness and compassion in our words? Shouldn’t we consider others, whether they believe in God or not, as Christ considers them? Let us seek humility and kindness. Justice will come at the hand of God the Father. Let us not stand in the way of others coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Prayer for today: I pray that we will outwardly reflect to others the internal change that God has and is making in us. That we would be slow to speak unless it is to encourage and otherwise share the gospel of grace and love. I pray that in unsettling times as we are living in, that we are not overwhelmed by the present darkness, but choose to be a light and that God would allow us to shine brightly.

If you need prayer, please reply and I will pray for you. If you would like to talk about this verse or have questions, I’m always open for your feedback.

May God’s compassion and kindness dwell in our hearts…

Wrestling w/ scripture

Earlier I posted on Tumblr that I was wrestling with some scripture today.  I was looking at 1 John 5, in particular, verses 13 and following. I was reading and it really raised some “red flags” for me when I read about “sins that lead to death” and “sins that do not lead to death.”  It is pretty upfront about the fact that there are sins that just do not lead to death.
Now I don’t know if it is because I grew up in a Pentacostal type church back ground or just bad teaching (even through a few years ago), but I was always told that sin is sin is sin.  EVERYTHING deserves death!!!!!!!!  If you stub your toe and you curse (not using God’s name in vain, just something like “Hell!”), if you died right then, you would burn in Hell.  Or, as I use so often, if you are a 3 year old and you pick up a MoonPie and walk out of the store (yes, you just stole a MoonPie) then you will rot in the flames of fire.  Of course these are lesser sins when compared to murder or rape or the like.  But the standard was set up in a sort of Hell, Fire & Brimstone kind of way.  It was more like I lived life to escape the sulfuric singe, the firey inferno of Hades.  I don’t think that is the kind of fear that Proverbs talks about…
Now, in no way does this go against Romans 6:23 that “the payment of sin is death.”  Even in the Old Testament, the sacrificial laws were in place and for each type of sin required something to die.  It may have been a couple of doves or something as big as a lamb or bigger, but payment was still required.  I guess the leadership that I sat under focused more on righteous living and then the sins that led to death. 
By no means am I saying that sin is okay.  Even the apostle John in 1 John writes in chapter 5 that “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”  We should live for God not out of obligation but out of the freedom from the bondage of sin..taking comfort that the work of Christ and the love of God has caused those who believe in Him to be set free from the chains of sin.  When I read that today, it really helped me see a little that it is SO important to seek the Truth of the bible for yourself.  So many passages in the Bible are misconstrude or overused to the point of “well, my bible just opened there by itself, almost like God wanted to tell me something from there.” 
So I wonder how many were taught something that now you find is not very biblical?

What are YOUR thoughts?

mtp

Do you lack compassion?? Rethink it…

I was sitting in church a few Sundays ago. The pastor was teaching about relationships with others and the correlation between how we treat/respect/honor others and how we honor God. He mentioned (this is my paraphrase by the way) that in most cases that we tend to respect/honor a complete stranger in just being polite (i.e. opening the door for them, “Yes, Ma’am, Yes, Sir,” etc.) more than our own family (i.e. spouse, child, friend, etc.). This is because we see our families and friends more often. We don’t put on much of a show for them because we know them and vice versa. How much easier is it to go off the handle when you child is throwing a fit or telling you “NO” in a disrespectful manner? How much easier is it to blow up at your spouse when something didn’t get done or was done incorrectly? How much more patient and compassionate are we with an old lady we don’t know that is walking about .0005 miles per decade, but you wait…you smile and hold the door open. I find that I am not as compassionate. I get so frustrated at my “inner circle” for no reason.

Case in point…(just to be transparent)

My wife (Lovely) is pregnant with our third child. She didn’t have morning sickness with our first two. This baby is way different. So I was JUST getting out of the shower and my wife comes and knocks on the door to say that she HAS TO get to the toilet RIGHT NOW. And apologizes for my convenience. I run out wet and with a towel barely covering what it needs to and I stand there and get frustrated…instead of having sympathy/empathy for her. I mean, kripes, man, she, your wife, is growing your baby. She is the one that is not sleeping and can barely eat and she is still patient with you.

I have to learn compassion. It know that this will be a tough lesson, but I must learn compassion. My heart rarely feels grieved anymore. This, my friends, is not a good thing. So here is some scripture for me to reflect on and pray that God would sear this into my heart.

Micah 7:18-20 (New King James Version) courtesy of www.biblegateway.com

18 Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

We constantly fail God, yet He has compassion. Of course, this isn’t to say that He doesn’t discipline in order to correct, but He still has compassion and is patient with us. If we don’t learn the first time, He guides us along that path again.

Thank you, God for never giving up on me. I know that if I were in Your position I would have given up on me a long time ago. God change my heart and make it pliable…make it full of compassion and forgiveness. Amen.

Thoughts on my eyes…

I was thinking about it today on my way to work. It=the control of my eyes

I left the parking lot and was walking the stretch of sidewalk that takes me to the officina. About 20 feet ahead of me there was a young lady walking in the same direction. Simply, she was attractive (one draw back to working for a University) and so I decided that the best idea would to be to stare at the buildings. I made no noise or comment. Just looked away.

My thoughts took me to something my pastor said about this subject. He said, “You need to think of ALL women as your sister. You wouldn’t look at your sister in a lustful way would you? No! So just think of it that way. Then you will be able to acknowledge that, yes, your sister is beautiful, but you won’t have to deal with the lust.” Today that didn’t work. I still just glanced the once. Not in a lustful way. I thought clearly and innocently…”she is attractive,” then glanced away.

Today, this is what worked…

I am fortunate enough to be married. As most men do, I married WAY out of my league. Lovely is a wonderful wife who is loving and supportive. She is also a great mother who is teaching our child about life, love, responsibility (even as a 15 month old), and having a Christ-like attitude. So my thought today was that my body is not my own. I don’t belong to me. I belong to God and my wife. Well, much like 1 Corinthians mentions that you can’t have a head without a torso…you need the whole body (speaking of the body of the bride of Christ)…all parts must be included. Well, my eyes would be included. My wife wouldn’t look at a women in a lustful way. So why should I? It’s like to Bible says, that external beauty will fade. The young lady that was walking in front of me will age and as age and gravity seem to make a dreadful team. My wife is more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. Sure we both have packed on some pounds. We both know that and admit that to each other. But I’m beginning to look at her like Solomon looked at his Shulamite wife in Song of Songs after years of marriage.

Lovely, thank you for being and absolute encouragement to me even when I’m not next to you. My prayer is that I would honor God by the way I love you.