Apostle Paul

Remarkable and Wonderful Craftmanship

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newborn-baby-on-hand_90311-1440x900With the popularity of TV programming that focuses on Crime Scene Investigation, people tend to think DNA is the best means of identifying a person.  Both fingerprint identification and DNA analysis have proved to be valuable tools for personal and criminal identification.

I’ve been told that fingerprint identification can be more accurate than DNA analysis.  This is true even with identical twins.  They may look exactly alike and have the same DNA structure, but they will always have different fingerprints.  Your fingerprints are unique because they are formed in the womb.  The random movements of a baby within the womb form the distinctly individual characteristics of each person’s fingerprints.

When you think of the uniqueness of your fingerprints, I hope it will remind you of the special relationship you have with God:  “For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well (Psalm 139).”

Ogres of The Mind

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Some people fail to distinguish the difference between their wants and needs.  The difference between the two can determine whether you live a hapless life or a happy life.Ea - ogre 1 textures post version

What are your real needs?  A person needs food to eat, water to drink, and air to breathe—these are the bare necessities of life.  You could also list shelter from the elements, clothes to wear and such items as being needs; however, when you start to classify your wants as needs, you run the danger of compromising your health and your wealth.

This can happen when your brain morphs into a nasty ogre and starts to play mind games with you.  Your brain may lie to you and try to convince you that you need some “thing” to make you happy.  It may create a craving for some substance that is harmful to your health or it may tell you that you have little self-worth.

You may not recognize this Ogre, so let me describe him for you:

  • Overthinking problems that are out of your control
  • Getting stuck or panicked by unfounded fear
  • Repeating past patterns of behavior that are unhealthy
  • Emotional reactivity

The more you allow the Ogre to run wild, the greater the likelihood that unhealthy habits will develop.  Through the process of repetition, habits become engrained in the neural pathways of the mind.  This is true whether the habit is beneficial or destructive.

T0 tame the Ogre you need to reclaim your thoughts.  Either you control your thoughts or they control you.  Paul said you are to “take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).”

This Ogre carefully cloaks himself in the secrecy your thoughts.  To be more specific, it is what I call your “self-talk.”  It is those little mental messages that flash rapidly through your mind, so lightening quick, you are almost unaware of their presence.

Here are a couple of tips on how you can tame the Ogre and take your thoughts captive:

  • Respond to the presence of these thoughts. When you become aware of the “self-talk,” write it down.  Journal your thoughts.
  • Re-evaluate what you have written down. Validate the messages that attack your self-worth.  Beware of catastrophic thinking that is seen in words like “always” and “never.”
  • Refocus your attention toward healthy thought and behavior. Purge the urge!  You cannot think positive and negative thoughts at the same time.  If necessary change your location or environment to one that is more wholesome and beneficial.

I have found that reading or quoting Scripture is a great way to overcome the Ogre, and to regain control of my thoughts.  A favorite passage of mine that speaks of the power of Scripture is Psalm 119:9-11:  “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.”

I’ll leave you with this thought:  When you emphasize the positive (Scripture) you paralyze the negative (Ogre).

I Will Be A Father To You

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One of the most often said prayers is the one that Jesus taught His disciples.  There are some circles within the realm of Christianity that refer to it as “The Lord’s Prayer,” and some call it the “Our Father” due to the first two words of the prayer.

When you go to God in prayer, He never thinks of you as an unwelcome or unwanted guest.  You are His child, and you can draw near to Him because He loves you.  Paul affirms this truth:  “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:18).”

As a son or as a daughter, you belong to God:  “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light (I Peter 2:9).”

After reading these verses, two facts should be clear to you:

  • “Our Father” means you are either a part of the family of God, or you can become a member of His family.
  • You have been called out (“chosen”) to help cast out darkness and to bring people “into His wonderful light.”

Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world, “and you are to be a light-bearer with Him.  Notice how this is stated in The Message:

You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).

Are you “prompting people” to open up to “Our Father?”

A Future and A Hope

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When you were a child you probably played the game of hide and seek.  As an adult, you may have tried to play some version of that game with God.

Seeking, is an important aspect of your relationship with God:

  • “Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:7).”
  • “I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me (Proverbs 8:17).”

When you seek God, you will never be disappointed.  In fact, God has extended several invitations for you to join Him in your spiritual journey:

  • An invitation to rest: Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).”
  • An invitation to serve: “Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men (Mark 1:17).”
  • An invitation to come into His presence: “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).”

I can understand why a person would seek God, but I cannot fathom why anyone would want to hide from Him.  Jeremiah said we have a future and hope in Him: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:11-13).”

Urgent Email

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MailChimp is a company that is focused on email, and their website says:  “MailChimp helps you email the right people at the right time.”  In 2013 the company studied 24 billion successfully delivered emails, and they discovered the power inherent in one word.   When the word “urgent” was in the subject lines, the emails were much more likely to be opened.

Words like “urgent” will jolt most dolts out of their daydreaming existence and back to reality.  This type of charged language, unless overused, can effectively capture the attention of the intended audience.

To apprehend the attention of those who could only pretend righteousness, Jesus spoke a word of urgency:  “Repent or you will perish (Luke 13:3, 5).”

When you read the gospel of Mark, the first words of Jesus are an evangelistic call to repent:  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15).”

“Repentance comes from the Greek word “metanoia,” and it means a” change of mind.”  When a person repents, he turns from sin to God.  The story of the Prodigal Son is a good example of repentance:  When he came to himself, he said . . . “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”

“Praise” and “worship” are two of the feel-good-words associated with the church today.  These are important features of a person’s relationship with Christ, but they are meaningless unless you attend to the urgent need to repent of your sin.

People don’t mind focusing on the failures, faults and sins of people they know, but they start to back-peddle and say, “Don’t meddle” when it comes to their personal need to repent.

 

CATFISHING

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images (3)The weather was nice enough yesterday that I tinkered with my boat.  The sunshine and warm air had me thinking about my dad.  He introduced me to fishing as soon as I could walk, and he taught me to set limb-lines to catch catfish.

It’s interesting to see how words like catfish morph and take on a whole new meaning.  Catfishing is now associated with words like, sham, forgery, lies, and counterfeit.  Catfishing is presently used to define the actions of people who use the internet to create a digital life with the intent to deceive

Unsuspecting people can be duped and led into a phony relationship with romantic overtures.  The innocent are manipulated by someone who is more cavalier than sincere.  They have embraced a two-faced rascal who is blinded by a single-minded desire for self-gratification.

This is the month to talk about two-faced catfishing rascals.   January is named after Janus who was the two-faced Roman god of gates and doorways.  Janus looked in opposite directions, and the month of January looks back on the old year and forward to the new.

Hypocritical people are two-faced or “Janus-faced.”  Jesus had a great disdain for the two-faced tactics of the religious leaders of His day.

To avoid this two-faced tendency, I suggest that you:

  • “Put off your former conduct . . . and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).”
  • To do this, you will need to, “Keep on being obedient to the Word, and not merely being hearers who deceive themselves. For if anyone hears the word but is not obedient to it, he is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror and studies himself carefully, and then goes off and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-24).”

During his presidency, Abraham Lincoln was called Janus-faced.  This less than handsome president responded: “If I had two faces, do you think I’d wear this one?”

Which face will you wear today?

The Music of the Muscle Cars

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1967-pontiac-gtoI count myself fortunate to have been a teenager during the heyday years of the muscle cars.   The Pontiac GTO, the Ford Mustang, and the Chevy Camaro were some of the hot cars of the day.  These cars have been replaced by their more fuel efficient cousins.

The throaty roar of the muscle car was lost in the quest to gain more miles to the gallon of gas.  Car enthusiasts wear a short lived smile when they hear the roar of their sports car.  The much-loved iconic growl is the source of a sardonic scowl when the driver learns the noise is fake.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post wrote:   “The engine growl in some of America’s best-selling cars and trucks is actually a finely tuned bit of lip-syncing, boosted through special pipes or digitally faked altogether. And it’s driving car enthusiasts insane.”

Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book, says automakers should stop the lies and get real with drivers:  “If you’re going to do that stuff, do that stuff. Own it. Tell customers: If you want a V-8 rumble, you’ve gotta buy a V-8 that costs more, gets worse gas mileage and hurts the Earth,” Brauer said. “You’re fabricating the car’s sexiness. You’re fabricating performance elements of the car that don’t actually exist. That just feels deceptive to me.”

When the Beach Boys sang about their beloved “409,” part of the love affair was the full throttle roar of the engine, and to replace it with a synthetic sound is like substituting Spam for a T-bone steak.

The world is full of junk noise, and we have to learn to filter it. Can you discern the bloviating and bogus from the genuine and authentic?  Paul spoke of this when he wrote to the Colossians:

I say this so that no one will mislead you with arguments that merely sound good. You received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live as Christ’s people.  Sink your roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by the faith that you were taught, and overflow with thanksgiving. Be careful not to let anyone rob you of this faith through a shallow and misleading philosophy. Such a person follows human traditions and the world’s way of doing things rather than following Christ (Colossians 2).

Next time you fire up your engine, listen carefully:  Is it the seducing sound of a real Deuce Coup, or is it just a synthetic scam?

 

Run With A Purpose

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runningAs I was driving to the coffee shop this morning, I noticed several joggers out for their morning run.  As I waved them through the intersection ahead of me, I thought of several places where Paul speaks of running.

In Philippians 2:14-18, Paul said:

Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.  Hold firmly to the message of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.  But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.  In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me. 

After I read the verses above, I was left with a few questions:

  • What am I running from?

I Timothy 6:10-11:  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But you, man of God, run from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

  • What is my goal in running?

I Corinthians 9: 24-25: Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.  Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. However, they do it to receive a crown that will fade away, but we a crown that will never fade away.

  • Why am I running?

Hebrews 12:1:  Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us.

The secret of life’s race is found in Isaiah 40:31:  Those who keep waiting for the Lord will renew their strength. Then they’ll soar on wings like eagles; they’ll run and not grow weary; they’ll walk and not grow tired (ISV).”

The Puzzling Predicaments of Life

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There are some circumstances in life that are difficult to endure and hard to comprehend. When you feel like you’ve been singled out and beaten down, keep in mind that people everywhere, regardless of race, religion, or riches, deal with problems of tragedy, injustice, and suffering.

These are the times Paul had in mind when he wrote: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8: 28).”

You may be familiar with this verse, but have you considered the context from which it is taken?  Romans 8 is a chapter that speaks of the consequences of sin and the coronation that awaits the believer in heaven.  Think about verse 28, when you read the following verses:

  • 8:18: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
  • 8:26-27: Because we do not know what to pray for the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.
  • 8:31-32: If God is for us, who can be against us? He that did not hesitate to spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with Him, everything else that we can need?
  • 8:35: Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution?
  • 8:38-39: I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord!

What I’ve said is more than theory.  Paul said it is something that we can know.  Paul’s faith had been tried and proven, and he said:  “And we know ” The heartache, trials, and tragedies that Paul endured did not weaken his resolve; they matured and strengthened his faith.

Six words out of verse 28 remind me of a statement made by Charles Swindoll.  Paul said:  “all things work together for good.” Swindoll said:  “If you allow it, suffering can be the means by which God brings you His greatest blessings.”

Do You Have a Healthy Appetite?

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There are times when I read my Bible that I find contrasts so intense they leave no pretense for similarity in the subject or persons being discussed.  Such is the case with an Old Testament pair named Jannes and Jamres and a man from the New Testament named Epaphroditus.

Read the verses below to see the contrast in their character:

  • 2 Timothy 3:8-9: Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth, men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no farther; for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as theirs also was.
  • Ephesians 2:25-30: Epaphroditus has been my brother, fellow-worker and comrade-in-arms, as well as being the messenger you sent to see to my wants . . . men like him should be held in highest honour, for his loyalty to Christ brought him very near death—he risked his life to do for me in person what distance prevented you all from doing.

Jannes and Jambres were magicians; sons of Balaam; and, they played a part in the golden calf incident.  These men were acrimonious malcontents with narcissistic appetites that were edacious and voracious.

Epaphroditus, however, was sanguine in his service and meticulous in his ministry, and he was a paragon of faithfulness.

Jannes and Jambres were judged as recalcitrant reprobates, but the epitaph of Epaphroditus was a declaration of one who had lived a laudable life. The difference in the lives of these men is the distinction between the appetite of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. This is Paul’s focus in Galatians 5:

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.  But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

The important question is not:  “When you review your life which path have you walked?” The question of most concern is:  “When you look to the future, which path will you take?”