Worth Keeping Around

If you had to assess your life and your behavior for any period of time, would you say that you are doing something to make it worth keeping you around? Are you worth your pay at work? Are you worth the love and kindness you receive in your home and church? Are you worthy of the good things God does for you?

David prays in Psalms 6:1-4 for mercy from God, and then in Psalms 6:5 he says something very unique and interesting: "No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?" If you were to say this to God, what would His response be to you?

Would God respond to your plea with: "You don't remember me, anyway." or "Do you praise me while alive?" I hope that God would say to each of us, "I will answer you because you praise me with your whole heart." I want God to be pleased enough with my worship to hear me when I pray.

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The Heirloom

Have you ever inherited anything? Had something passed down to you from a parent or a grandparent as an heirloom: a reminder of who you are and where you come from? God has prepared an inheritance for His children: a place where those who are not part of His kingdom will be removed.
Proverbs 2:20 tells us that the upright will inherit the land, and the perfect will dwell in it. This is an inheritance for Christians, something that God has saved for us to remind us of who we are and where we come from. We are His children, and we come from Him. The wicked and the transgressors won't have a part of the inheritance according to Proverbs 2:21. The inheritance is reserved for those who are loyal and faithful and part of the family, not for those who are not.

Are you a part of the family? Will you have a part of the inheritance, or will you be cut off and rooted out? You can turn your life over to God and follow in His will, or you can reject Him. He loves you and He wants you to choose to love Him. What will your decision be?

Seeking Jesus in the Dark

There once was a guy named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a man of the Pharisees, the group that was trying to find a way to get rid of Jesus. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in John 3:1-2 under the cover of night. He didn't want the people he worked with to see him meeting with Jesus. How many of us fail to pray when we feel like we should at work or when we're out with friends because we don't want to look funny to them?
Nicodemus came to Jesus in secret, and Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again, not of flesh, but of the Spirit. If you aren't familiar with the story, you can read it all in John 3:1-21. But what ever became of Nicodemus? Well, apparently Nicodemus, being a member of the Jewish ruling council had several more occasions to interact with Jesus. He redeems his shady behavior somewhat in John 7:45-52, where he defends Jesus from the chief priests and other Pharisees.

Nicodemus' last mention in the Bible is an amazing and honorable mention. John 19:38-42 tells the story of Jesus' burial, where Joseph of Arimathea (also a secret follower of Jesus) and Nicodemus ask for the body of Jesus, and bury Him in a new tomb. Nicodemus brought about 75 pounds of spices to bury Jesus with, including myrrh, one of the gifts the wise men also brought Jesus at His birth.

Apparently Nicodemus' heart was changed by his secret meeting with Jesus, and he became more and more open about following Him as time continued on. We can't hide Jesus forever in our lives, acting like Christians only at church and trying to blend in with the world the rest of the time. At some point we will be faced with the decision to witness, to share the Gospel of Jesus, and to do what's right, or to turn our back on Jesus and deny Him. How will we respond? Will we try to stay in the shadows, or will we openly proclaim that Jesus is Lord?

Praying Through

Praying isn't just saying a few words to some being you can't see and hope exists; prayer is intense conversation with the Creator of the universe, and your Redeemer. Jesus repeatedly admonished His disciples and followers to pray. He asked His disciples to pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. When He found them sleeping in Matthew 26:40, he asked Peter, "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?"

While the disciples were sleeping Jesus was praying so earnestly that the Bible says in Luke 22:44 that His sweat became like drops of blood. I doubt that anyone has ever struggled and prayed in the fashion that Jesus did at that point. He didn't just pray a little prayer and then come back to get the disciples and wait for them to come and arrest Him. He prayed for an hour, then checked on the disciples, then prayed some more, then checked on them again, and then prayed some more. He prayed all the way until his betrayer was close at hand; until it was time to go.

We as men should follow the example that Jesus led us in here to be leaders at prayer time. We should be the first to hit the altars at altar call, and the last to leave. We shouldn't be waiting for everyone's heads to be bowed so nobody will catch us going up to pray, and we shouldn't try to sneak away from the altars while everyone is still praying to go back to our seats. Prayer is never a thing of shame; it's our opportunity to approach God's throne and talk to Him.

Also, we should be staying in prayer until we're through praying; until the conversation with God is over. We don't have to quit praying because the guy beside us got up from the altar. What greater thing could we do, and why would we be so afraid and try to hide it? Men, I urge you to get in the altars and seek God. Make a prayer time at home and seek God. Let Him speak to you through prayer, and you will never regret it.

Asking for a Hand-Out

Men often have a serious issue with asking for help when they need it. We're stereotyped by not stopping for directions, not reading the instructions, and expecting to be able to work things out for ourselves. Looking again at Peter in Matthew 14:25-31, we are likely all familiar with the story of Peter walking on the water with Jesus.

Let's look carefully though at what exactly Peter was doing here. Peter was the only disciple who asked for permission to walk on the water with Jesus. After Jesus said, "Come", Peter was the only disciple who stepped out. Peter was the only disciple to have been recorded to have ever walked on water.

Then Peter noticed what was going on around him. He lost his fixation on Christ and got started looking at the waves, and feeling the wind blowing on him. He met with some resistance, and he began to doubt. We often cover up and say we don't doubt, we believe God is all-powerful. Peter was walking on water with Jesus, and began to doubt.

Which leads us to Matthew 14:30, where we find Peter beginning to sink, and crying out to Jesus, "Lord, save me!" He didn't wait until the water was over his head. He didn't wait until he was floundering around drowning. He called out for Jesus when he was beginning to sink. He asked for help, and Jesus reached His hand out, and caught Peter.

Jesus immediately asks Peter, "Why did you doubt?" He didn't ask why Peter had called out for help; He didn't question Peter's need for Him. He only asked why Peter had doubted. As men, we're prone to fall into this trap of doubt, even when so close to Jesus as walking on the water with Him. We need to remember that we need to call out for help, for prayer, and for assistance immediately, when we begin to sink, and not wait until we're blubbering and wallowing in our failure.