There once was a man named George Thomas,Priest in a small New England town.One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage,and set it by the pulpit.Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Priest Thomas began to speak… “I was walking through town yesterday when I saw […]
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Anyone living in America knows we are constantly bombarded by the Gospel of More.
What is the Gospel of More? It is the idea that we must always strive to have more stuff than we have now. The basic tenet of the Gospel of More is that we do not have enough material goods, and what we do have is not good enough. We must constantly strive to have a bigger and better house, car, furniture…you name it. The underlying premise of this Gospel is that our happiness depends on our acquiring more and better stuff.
Who are the promoters of this Gospel? The High Priests of this Gospel reside on Madison Avenue, and they work night and day to create the illusion that our happiness depends on our material possessions. If we are ensnared by this illusion, the High Priests have done their job.
Who are the benefactors of this Gospel? The corporations that wish to sell you their goods are the ultimate benefactors. If they can get you to trade in your car, sell your existing house, and get rid of your furniture to upgrade, then the High Priests have accomplished their purpose.
What must you do to be a disciple of this Gospel? A person cannot be a true disciple of this Gospel unless they are willing to go into debt. This Gospel is not cheap, and it does not come easy. Its adherents must continually work and enslave themselves in debt to follow it.
Do the High Priests preach the truth? No. They are selling an illusion that doesn’t exist. Ask anyone who has gotten the new house, car, or furniture, and ask them how long the happiness has lasted. Usually, they will tell you, until they had to make the first payment.
Is there a church that this Gospel promotes? Yes, it is called the Church of Materialistic Desire, and all are invited to join. The services are usually full to overflowing, and you are always welcome to attend. Snippets of their services are on display during the commercials of your favorite television show.
Is it easy to leave the Church of Materialistic Desire? No. It is probably one of the hardest things a person can do. One must desire to let go of the illusion and be willing to live a life that is counterintuitive to the culture we live in.
What are the benefits of leaving the Church of Materialistic Desire? Two things come to mind: one, contentment, and two, a realignment of values. Once a person has broken free of this lifestyle, he is free to enjoy what he has and break free from the cycle of debt.
What about you? Have you been thinking of leaving the Church of Materialistic Desire? It does take a paradigm shift in our minds, but it can be done. Jesus said, “A man’s life does NOT consist in the abundance of his possessions.” He was telling the truth, and deep down, we all know it. Why not give it a try?
Don’t ya just love do-overs? Do-overs come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Sometimes they involve people, other times they don’t.
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Let’s say we broke one of our favorite items; we don’t know if we will be able to replace it, and then…voila! We find it in a second-hand store or online somewhere for a great price. We feel like we have been given a second chance at owning that particular item. This kind of a do-over is a gift, but doesn’t usually involve another person (unless another person purchases the item for us).
Do-overs that involve others usually have one thing in common. Someone decides to show us mercy. Perhaps it is a spouse or family member we have spoken sharply to. When we apologize, they forgive us, and we are given a second chance at being kind to them that day. This type of do-over is a normal part of life. It happens often and is essential for keeping the relationships we are in healthy.
What about a do-over that involves a police officer? Many of us have gotten a warning from a police officer when we should have gotten a ticket for speeding. The police officer shows us mercy, and we, in turn make an honest attempt to drive the speed limit. We are always grateful for this kind of a do-over. We feel we have been spared the punishment we deserve, and know we have been spared a fine of several hundred dollars.
How about those do-overs that happened at school? We flunked a test, and after we spoke to the teacher, the test was thrown out. We were able to either retake the test or study for another test and prove we could do better. We know we have been spared a bad grade, one we rightfully deserved, and we have been given a second chance to make a better grade.
Sometimes in life, though, there are no chances for a do-over. We made a mistake, and we cannot go back and fix it. It is just there in front of us…we got fired from a job…we broke a relationship…we stole something, and now we are doing time behind bars. What do we do then, and who do we go to? Is there anyone who cares enough to help us in our situation? Will anyone show us mercy?
There is. He is the God of Second Chances, and His name is Jesus. He came to earth to help us and give us a second chance at living a full life, wherever we find ourselves. He wants to show us mercy if we will just ask Him. In His wisdom, He knows how to work out even the most difficult of situations. Perhaps we will not get that job back, that partner back, or our freedom back at the moment, but He has a way of helping us get our lives back. And isn’t that what we want in our most desperate of moments? We want our lives back, and we want a second chance to make things right again.
Are you in one of those desperate situations right now? Then ask. He will be there to show you mercy and meet you right where you are. He can and will give you a do-over…one that will last a lifetime and beyond.
Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 KJV
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Have you ever been held captive by one of the big three…Fear, Shame or Remorse? I spent years in captivity by these three. People can look at us and never see the invisible chains that are holding us back, refusing to allow us to go free.
I think for me, the worst of the three was Fear. I left my ex-husband and took my six-week old baby with me. He wanted us back and threatened me. I lived for years with the fear that at any time, he would come and take me or my son. Finally, several years later, when he remarried, the fear began to subside, but it still wasn’t gone.
If carrying around the chains of Fear wasn’t bad enough, I was also shackled by Shame. I had been raised in a small conservative town, and after college, moved in with my boyfriend…soon to be husband. It was at a time when that just wasn’t done, and gossip flooded the town, and I was at the center of the deluge. At the time, it didn’t really bother me, but several years later, when I came back with my baby in tow, I felt the scourge of that Shame.
Add Remorse to the equation, and you have a girl who was in bondage. I was really sorry for what I had done, but I could not change it. There was no magic time machine that would take me back and undo my bad decisions.
So there I was, full of Fear, Guilt and Shame, and there was nothing I could do about it. I did not have the power to break the bonds that were shackling me…and then I met the Bondage Breaker – The one Person, the God-Man-Jesus, who sacrificed his life for someone like me; someone broken and held in bondage by her own bad decisions. What a day that was for me. He walked into my invisible prison and unlocked the door, and broke the chains that were holding me.
It was a great feeling…He had set me free. But was that all that needed to be done? Was there something I was supposed to do? Yes, yes, there was. I had to make the decision to get up and leave the chains behind and walk out of the prison.
Was it easy? No. Every day I had to choose to believe that I was free and I had to rely on the truths in his word. Truths like…”For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”( 2 Timothy 1:7) when I would start to feel afraid. When Shame started to hem me in, I knew that I needed to focus on “For you will forget the shame of your youth” (Isaiah 54:4). When Remorse started to overwhelm me, I needed to focus on Romans 8: 28: “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.” I had to believe that I was forgiven and nothing could change God’s love and mercy towards me.
Set free…Yes, by the Bondage Breaker…once and for all. Learning to walk free…that was another matter…step by step, day by day, until I could truly say, “I am free!”
Sharing this again for those who might be struggling with these issues!
This repost is a once over lightly testimony from Rosalind Picard, who is the founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For some reason a lot of people seem to think that believing in God and believing in the Bible basically means that you must be in […]
via An MIT Professor Meets the Author of All Knowledge | Christianity Today — Reasoned Cases for Christ
From the very beginning, God gave man a choice of eating from two trees. Our very existence would be determined by the tree we ate from. Before we decide which tree to eat from, we should probably look at the fruit that each one offers and the consequences of eating from each tree.
THE TREE OF LIFE
Type of Tree: SPIRITUAL
Fruit: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF-CONTROL. Galatians 5:22
Emotional Result from Eating from the Tree: CONTENTMENT “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy 6:1
Motivational Driver: HUMILITY
Path to the Tree: DELIBERATE CHOICE. “Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Ultimate Result from Eating from the Tree: ETERNAL LIFE
THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
Type of tree: FLESHLY
Fruit: SEXUAL IMMORALITY, IMPURITY, DEBAUCHERY, IDOLATRY, WITCHCRAFT, HATRED, DISCORD, JEALOUSY, FITS OF RAGE, SELFISH AMBITION, DISSENSIONS, FACTIONS, ENVY, DRUNKENNESS, ORGIES. Galatians 5: 19-21
Path to the Tree: DEFAULT SETTING AT BIRTH. “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalm 51:5
Emotional Result from Eating from the Tree: LUST “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1John 2:16
Motivational Driver: PRIDE
Ultimate Result from Eating from the Tree: Eternal Death
THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TWO TREES SET BEFORE US: CHOOSE LIFE
Well said, totally agree! Thank you for putting it into words!
I write this with an extremely heavy heart, knowing that there are thousands of other sharing the same burden as I do. Yesterday afternoon, March 15th, gunmen opened fire on 2 mosques in the city of Christchurch in the South Island. 49 people died and countless left injured and traumatized. It’s too close to home. […]
via Pray for New Zealand- Christchurch Mosque Shooting — My Witness
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Have you ever been in a situation with someone who was going through something temporary and you wanted to say to them, “Just Snap Out of It!”? I have, and even if I haven’t said it, I have thought it.
Three weeks ago, my husband hurt his knee at the gym. He was kind of moping around the house because he couldn’t go for a bike ride or do any physical activity. I knew he would get better in a few days and was very supportive on the outside, but inside, I wanted to say, “Just Snap Out of It!” I thought I knew what he was going through; I just wanted him to skip feeling bad and move to being okay with it. You know what I mean, “Just pretend you are not going through the process.”
Fast forward a couple of weeks; I woke up with vertigo. It was the day of a monthly luncheon I go to, and I was really bummed I couldn’t go. Having had it before, I was also feeling bad because I knew I would have a few days or weeks of limited activity. My husband was very solicitous and took good care of me. He felt bad for me and was very understanding. He is a better person than I am, and so I’m sure he wasn’t thinking, “Just Snap Out of It!”
You see, we never know what someone else is going through. As my husband pointed out when I read him the first few paragraphs of this post, “We don’t know the mental battle they may be fighting,” and that’s true. My husband just wasn’t bummed because of his knee pain; he was also thinking about the possibility of a knee replacement in his future. Because he is the strong, silent type, he doesn’t communicate everything he is thinking and feeling.
When I was younger, I would have probably said to someone, “Just Snap Out of It!” when they were feeling bummed about a temporary situation. Now that I am older, I have at least learned to keep my mouth shut when I am thinking something like that. I am learning that I need to put myself in their shoes and have empathy for whatever they are going through. Sometimes the mental battle they are fighting is a lot greater than the physical discomfort they are feeling.
What about you? Are you one of those strong-willed, motivated types who can pull yourself up by the bootstraps and carry on in most situations? Do you have little or no patience with those who struggle with things that you think you could soldier on through? Let’s face it, whatever we think we are, we are not. We are all made from the dust of the earth, and it wouldn’t take much for each one of us to be in the same position we find someone else in. The best thing we can do in most situations is extend grace and lovingkindness to others, since we don’t truly know everything they are going through.
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8
A few weeks ago, I was at the bank paying off a car loan. I was excited and happy as I stood in line and waited my turn. A man came in behind me, and I said a few words to him. He gave me a dirty look…he was SO angry. I am ashamed to say that the first thought I had (living in a world of Identity Politics) was that, “He doesn’t like me because I am white.”
I turned around and thought about him for a moment, and then I began to pray for him. Really, I didn’t know why he was so angry. How many times has the bank made a mistake in my account, and I have gone down there really angry? How many times have I made a mistake and gone to the bank really frustrated? Of course, the answer to those two questions is, more than a few.
It is so easy to be in a situation and judge someone else because of their attitude when I don’t have the slightest idea what that other person is dealing with. I need to extend grace to people and, at the very least, try to infuse a little humanity in the situation I find myself in. However, that is going to take living in a way where I don’t judge people by the color of their skin, their religious preference or their lifestyle. I may only interact with them for a few seconds, but I can infuse that interaction with love and kindness.
There was not much I could do in the situation at the bank. The man obviously did not want to talk, and the only thing I could do was pray. However, there might be something I can do in another situation. I might be able to help pay for someone’s groceries if they are having a tough time paying. I might be able to buy someone a coffee or a burger if they are behind me and appear to be having a hard day.
The key will be to get out of my own head and not think that everything that is happening has something to do with me. Just like the man at the bank, there are probably extenuating circumstances that could explain why he was so angry. I will never know. I do know this one thing, though. Most people out there are having a tough time. Each person probably has at least one hard thing they are dealing with. I can’t know each individual’s story, but I can pray that God will show me how to try to infuse a little humanity into each situation I find myself in.
Valerie Cullers 