If you know it, do it

What value is there in reading and studying the Bible if I don't do what it says? I think sometimes we lean so heavily on being free from the law that we seem to think that we have no obligations as Christians to live out our faith as directed in the Bible.

We are free in that we are saved by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:8). However, our God has also given us commandments to follow now that we are saved. Jesus is our Savior but he is also our Lord. Why do we not do what he says? (Luke 6:46)

So, what commandments are we given that we are obliged to follow? There are a number of them but here is the one that I came across today... Serve each other. This is difficult when life is all about me and my comfort and goals.

John 13:12-17
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Imposter in the dark

There is a phrase, "Nobody likes to have their baby called ugly." The truth is that what we do not like is anything that shows our ugliness. We live much of our life as impostors; posing to be what we are not.

Jesus understood that when he explained to his unbelieving brothers why the world hated him but not them.

John 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

This was not the first time that Jesus explained that his Good News was not as popular as one would expect. John 3:16 is a verse of great promise. However, there is a flip side to the promise of eternal life for those that believe. There must be those that do not believe. Just a few verses later Jesus explains, "And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed (John 3:19-20)."

Am I willing to stand in the light of Jesus and let him expose my ugliness? Or do I keep my facade and stay in the dark? Or another way to ask this question: Am I willing to have the world hate me for coming into the light or is the world and who I am in the dark too important to give that up (John 15:18-19)?

A godly man

What does it take to be a godly man? Pray every day? Read the Bible every day? Go to church? Take care of widows and orphans? How about abstaining from cussing and drinking and all that kind of stuff? All these are good deeds but do they make you a godly man, a man that does the work of God?

Good deeds are not what makes you a godly man. Good deeds are just the consequences. A godly man is one that does the work of God and the work of God is just this, believe in Jesus.

John 6:29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

What's the Point

The family and I went to Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Houston to celebrate Memorial Day and visit my Dad’s grave. As I was looking at all the tombstones in the cemetery, I got to thinking…

What’s the point?

If you believe in God and eternity, then this life is just an unrecognizable speck on the eternity timeline. During this one vapor in time do you need to make the right decision or live the right life to determine the rest of your eternity? It hardly seems fair, does it?

Priceless is Released

Tom Davis has released his latest novel in his “Novel at the Edge of the World Series”, Priceless.. I’ve pre-ordered my Kindle version for download on June 1. You can order from Amazon now. I’ve reviewed a couple Tom Davis’ books that I highly recommend. His books shine a light on the Spirit of Compassion and challenge you to get off the sidelines and engage the social injustice in the world.  Below is a trailer for his book.

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Stay Awake

Do you ever get to the end of the day and wonder where the day went? Or, how about the weeks, or months, or years? Sometimes I feel like I am sleep walking through life. Everyday is a similar routine. They're not bad days, just routine days.

What we see and hear matters

A man is defiled by what come out of him, not by what goes into him. Jesus is concerned about our hearts. He makes this point throughout the Gospels. The Beatitudes are an example where he equates anger to murder and lust to adultery. Whether or not you actually physically commit murder or adultery, is not any more important to God than if you desire these sins in your heart.