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Category Archives: Just a Thought

More Than I Can Handle

31 Jan

“God will never place more on you than you can handle.”  Have you ever heard this phrase?  Have you ever said something like this?  It is common; in fact, it is so common we accept it as truth. Somewhere inside it makes us feel confident that our circumstances are not going to overcome us.  We make the statement, grit our teeth, and then press forward.  Let’s look at two things about this statement.

First, sometimes it is not God that has placed us in our situation; it is our own bad decisions. There comes the point when we have to accept responsibilities for our actions.  We must confess them and ask God to forgive us.  Examples of this are found repeatedly in the book of Judges when the nation of Israel turns their back on God, makes terrible decisions, and then cries out for help.  Their decisions placed them in the situation, and only God could restore things.

Second, there are times when God allows things to happen to us so that we would learn to trust in him more.  They are exercises of faith, much like Job experienced.  He was a man that lost everything material in his life, but the expereince strengthened his faith and displayed that faith for everyone to see.  Simply put, there are times when God will allow things to happen that are more than you can bear.  The good news is, he will walk with you through it all.

No matter which of these two categories you are experiencing right now.  God has the solution for what you are facing.  If you are overwhelmed by your own bad decisions, confess your sins, and he is faithful to forgive (1 John 1:9).  These steps may not alleviate some of the consequences of your decisions, but it will restore a relationship that grants you His strength to face them. 

Maybe you are going through something that is beyond your control.  It came out of nowhere, and you are left feeling helpless and overwhelmed.  In times like these, we trust in the Lord and His strength.  It may be more than you can handle, but it is not more than God can handle.  We must turn to him; “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:2

Things will be more than you can handle sometimes, but remember God is with you and loves you. He is your strength, and he does not expect you to be able to do things on your own.

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2019 in Just a Thought

 

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Am I A Pharisee?

24 Jan

Sometimes the first step in becoming a Pharisee is to label someone else a Pharisee.  Throughout the Gospels, the Pharisees looked down on others while they exalted their own “faithfulness” and devotion.  When the looked at other people, all they saw was sin.  When they looked at themselves, all they saw was faithfulness to the law.  They spent time obeying rules and patting themselves on the back for things they accomplished.  The label of Pharisee, though it was a particular Jewish sect, reflects an attitude. So when we label someone a Pharisee we are often looking at an attitude we believe they possess.  It is easy to label someone else a Pharisee, but when we do, we often become one ourselves.

Luke 6:2-11 is one encounter that Jesus had with the Pharisees.  It was the Sabbath, and Jesus entered into the synagogue to teach.  On this occasion, there was a man with a withered hand, and the Pharisees wanted to see if Jesus would heal him.  In their minds, curing this man was breaking the Sabbath, and this transgression would allow them to accuse Jesus.  In verse 7, Scripture says “they watched him. . .”  Did you catch that word?  They were watching for Jesus to do something wrong.

How many of us scoff at the attitude of the Pharisees when we read this account?  We look condemningly on them and their stance.  But wait just a minute . . . Let’s reflect on our own position.  We become Pharisees when we adopt their same attitude toward anyone; this includes those we label as Pharisees.  We begin watching for things others do wrong and forget to remove the plank in our own eye.  Did you realize we can have a Pharisaical attitude toward Pharisees? No matter how much we justify our attitude toward them, it is wrong.

I understand there are people and churches in this world that do things the wrong way.  Honestly, every church has flaws, but we cannot become like the Pharisees in our attitude toward these people and churches.  We must extend grace and mercy to them.  We must not puff ourselves up, pat ourselves on the back because we are not like them, or point the finger at what they are doing or not doing.  When we find ourselves tearing apart another person because of sin, even the sinful attitude of a Pharisee, we become a Pharisee.

So, what do we do when there is a legitimate problem or something severely lacking in a person or ministry?  We need to work to be part of the solution.  We talk to the person or group instead of talking about them.  We spend our time serving in the area we are most critical about.  We must offer ourselves, without pointing fingers, to be a part of the remedy.  You ask, “But who wants to work with all those Pharisees and hypocrites?”  With that question, hopefully, you realize you have become a Pharisee.  We all are to some extent, but are we willing to admit it?

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2019 in Just a Thought

 

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Where is God?

17 Jan

Do you ever forget anything?  This happens to me often, and I am thankful I am not the only one that suffers from a lapse of memory.  We have all been in situations where there is something that we have forgotten.  Sometimes, it is nothing life-altering, such as forgetting a few things at the grocery store.  A moment like this will either lead to another trip to the store or living without the item.  Forgotten events might bear a bit more consequence, like birthdays and anniversaries.  However, in the life of a Christian, there is a lapse of memory that bears serious effects — we forget the presence of God.

Think about it for a moment.  One question that is often asked is, “Where is God?”  The biblical answer is everywhere.  The church has affirmed throughout the ages that God is omnipresent, or everywhere at the same time.  This means there is no place we can go and be absent from God’s presence. The psalmist grapples with this in Psalm 139:7, “Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (ESV)  There is no place we can escape the presence of God.  We often forget this truth.  In our sinful nature, we act like practical atheists or practical deists.  Let me explain what I mean by these two terms.

First, we understand that an atheist believes there is no God. Honestly, though we say we believe in God, how many times do we act as if God does not exist?  If he is everywhere, then he sees everything; yet, our actions are contrary to his commands and desires.  We neglect them completely.  We are practical atheists when we do not acknowledge God’s existence in our daily activities through obedience to his truths.

Second, a deist believes in a supreme being but believes it does not personally interact with his creation.  Again, we say that we believe in God, but how often do we act as though he does not care about what we are doing and that he does not want to communicate with us.  We go about our day without spending time in prayer, and our actions suggest that he does not want to be intimately involved in our lives.

These two ideas are difficult to hear, but they lead us to an underlying principle  in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (ESV)

God is everywhere; therefore, he is to be acknowledged in every activity and at every moment.  When we neglect the presence of God in our lives, it leads to sin and distress.    I challenge you to strive for mindfulness of God’s presence throughout your day.

 
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Posted by on January 17, 2019 in Just a Thought, Practical Theology

 

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The End of Me

18 Feb

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . .”  Charles Dickens penned these words in the first chapter of A Tale of Two Cities.  Do you feel like you are in the “worst of times?”  Adopting a pessimistic view of the world is easy.  Anyone that watches the news for more than a moment may feel overwhelmed and hopeless.  It seems as though bad things are happening all around us.  What do we do in the worst times of our lives?  Is there something that keeps us going?  Maybe you are in one of those situations right now.  There is hope.

During these hardest times, God is with us, and he has something for us.  If you feel like you are ready to give up, I want you to know that you are in good company.  Even Paul had a moment when everything seemed to come crashing in, and he felt like giving up.  He writes in 2 Corinthians 1:8, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.”  Did you catch that?  Even Paul, the Apostle that penned 13 letters in the New Testament was in despair.  Paul came to the end of himself.

Some of you have used the words, “I can’t go on . . .” or “I just can’t take this anymore . . .”  You feel as though you have nothing left in you to keep going.  In the midst of Paul’s struggle, he found a great truth.  Verse 9 says, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”  When Paul came to the end of his own strength, he realized that he needed to rely on God.  Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song that contained these words, “His strength is perfect when our strength is gone.  He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.”  This is the same message that Paul shares with the Corinthians.

If you find yourself in this situation, maybe it is time to lean into God.  Paul set his eyes on Christ and saw the hope that he had.  This made his despair disappear.  His problems didn’t go away, but they faded in the glory of God.  Paul learned to rely on God during the hardest times of his life.  Are you relying on God?  His strength is perfect.  Lean into him, and he will see you through.

 
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Posted by on February 18, 2018 in Just a Thought

 

A Lesson on Prayer

06 Feb

Many of you have never met my youngest son, Levi.  Levi is 6 years old and has a rare condition called Tetrasomy 9p.  It is a rare genetic disorder, and according to the National Organization of Rare Disorders, only about 30 cases had been reported in medical literature as of 2001.  When people meet Levi, most understand there is something different about him.  The most telling feature is that is verbal language is very limited.  People do not know why he doesn’t speak back to them; it is because he cannot.  His main form of communication is sign language, and he knows about 230 words.  He understands a lot more, but his speech is hindered.

Levi is my son and a gift from God.  He is a blessing, and there are things I have learned from our journey.  One lesson is how much our heavenly father longs to hear from his children.  It was December of 2015, and the age of 5, when I first heard Levi say, “Dada.”  There was an overflow of joy that is beyond description.  He knew me, I knew him, but it was a whole new experience when he was able to cry out to me.  He could call me and get my attention, he could verbally acknowledge me as his father, and he could tell others who I am.  This is part of the message of Romans 8:14-15, “ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ “

When we come to know God, through Christ we are able to call on God as a Father, we can call, and he gives us his attention, and we can tell others who He indeed is.  It is a fantastic gift to us, but it is something that God desires!  He desires to hear the voice of his children initially and continually.  The way this happens is through prayer.

I long for him to be able to tell me what is wrong, what he is thinking, and what happened throughout his day.  As our Father, God desires these same things from his children.  Time does not permit me to provide multiple Scripture references but know that God delights in communicating with his children.  Proverbs 15:8 tells us “. . . God delights in the prayers of the upright . . .” Will you talk to him today?  God desires you to hear from him, but he also wants to hear from you.

 
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Posted by on February 6, 2018 in Just a Thought

 
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