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.

Sinning in Secret

Do you do things in secret thinking that nobody knows? You hide the guilt and shame by actively participating in you church or religious organization, but deep down you just feel rotten? Thinking that nobody will find out is -at it's very best- a completely unfounded hope. Thinking you can hide it from God, your Creator, is simply ludicrous. But yet many men repeatedly conspire to hide their shortcoming or their "guilty pleasures" from the world, thinking that nobody will ever know.

Apparently, the selling of land and donating to the church was a common practice as a sort of "fund-raiser" in the early New Testament church (Acts 4:34-35). Ananias in Acts 5:1-2 conspired with his wife to sell a piece of land and say that they were giving all the money they made to the church, but keep some of the money for themselves. But, according to Acts 5:3-4, Peter immediately knew, and confronted Ananias about his lie. Then, upon hearing Peter's truthful accusation, Ananias fell down dead (Acts 5:5-6).

It's important to note that at this point in the story, already a good number of people have found out about the treachery. Most importantly, it's important to note that God already knew, and Ananias was severely punished. Acts 5:7-10 continues the story, with Sapphira (Ananias' wife) coming into the church three hours later, not yet knowing her husband was dead. She also lies, and she also falls down dead.

The story unfolds from the very beginning as a man, the spiritual leader of his home, incites his family to lie. From that one secret sin they thought that nobody would ever know, both he and his wife died. It's important to remember that there are consequences when we sin, even when they aren't immediately apparent. The last half of Numbers 32:23 is often repeated, but has been proven true time and again, "You may be sure that your sin will find you out."

"Floating" Fish

I've been working on setting up a new aquarium. The interesting thing about adding fish to an aquarium is the means by which you normally add them so that they don't die. You usually get your fish in plastic bags from the fish store, and you first dump off about a quarter of the pet store water, and add that much of your tank water back to the bag. Then you reseal the bag, and drop it in the water. Every 10 minutes you add another cup of your water to the bag for 30 minutes. Then you take the fish out of the bags and put them in the aquarium.

This process is call acclimation; the fish become acclimated to your water. It's how fish get accustomed to the different chemicals in your water that wasn't in the pet store water. In this process, I recognize a pattern that the devil often uses in our lives. Often, we're stuck with having to "just deal" with a little bit of ungodliness. Then a little bit later, after we've gotten used to that, we go for some more. Next thing you know, we're swimming free in the water that would have killed us just a short time ago.

Romans 12:2 says that we shouldn't conform to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We don't have to just let someone watch dirty movies while we're around, or gossip to us, or tell us dirty jokes. Those are the patterns of the world, "Oh, that guy just always tells dirty jokes and I just shrug it off and go on."

Our minds are supposed to be being renewed, we shouldn't be thinking like that any more, and we don't have to listen, watch, or participate in those things just because we're not in our own home. We shouldn't participate in anything that we wouldn't participate in at church. Let's not allow ourselves to be made into the pattern of the world, let's seek God in everything we do, so that we will be found as faithful servants.

The Bench-Warmer

What kind of follower of Christ are you? Do you jump at every opportunity to get involved in your church, volunteer to help any time you can lend a hand? God knows what kind of Christian you are, and whether you're just warming a bench at church or if you're committed to following Him and doing all that you can to further the kingdom of God.

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is a liar. Too often, someone who appears sincere in their worship is simply putting on a good show for those around them. No matter how sincere you appear to be, God knows the intention of your heart, and you aren't fooling Him, even if everyone around you falls for it.

The Bible goes on to say in Jeremiah 17:10 the God searches our hearts and minds and will reward us according to what we deserve. Matthew 6:1-2, 5, 16 tells us that if we are just putting on a show for men, then the recognition of men is the only reward we'll have; Matthew 6:3-4, 6, 17 shows us that if we are sincere with God, then our reward will come from Him.

God is not pleased with our praise when we do it for the recognition of men. God only recognizes and rewards us for our praise to Him because we love Him and want to serve him. So will you be a bench-warming hypocrite, looking only for the praises of men, or will you be on fire for God, simply because He died to save you?

God's Pleasure

I have one simple question today. Is God pleased with you? Often in our lives we seek the approval of colleagues, friends, and our spouses, but how often do we look to God for approval? In the Bible there are two occurrences where God speaks about people directly that have gained his approval. The first one we find in an exchange with Moses regarding the Children of Israel.

Let's look at Exodus 33:13-17. What an amazing request to ask God. So simple, yet so profound. “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” What I find even more awesome is the reply that God gives him. “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know your name.” Such a great testimony to have directly from God himself.

One other occurrence that is actually recorded four times (once per Gospel) is when Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized.

In Mark 1:9-11, not settling for a simple whisper, God tears open heaven and exclaims “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” It’s reminiscent of a Father standing up at a baseball game and yelling “That’s My Boy!”

So how do you know if you are pleasing God? There have been multiple books, sermons, and other writings on this subject for years, but I think the best example again comes direct from the Word. The author of Hebrews is speaking about Enoch when he writes this passage.

Let's look at Hebrews 11:5-6.So here we see that the fancy Latin term Sola fide (Faith Alone) rings true. By faith alone can you please God. The author of Hebrews makes it even clearer by stating “And without faith it is impossible to please God.”

So to answer the simple question posed above, you have to ask yourself one simple question. Do you have Faith?

Hebrews 11:1-2
1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
2 - This is what the ancients were commended for.