Non-Committal

What kind of Christian are you? Are you fully committed to serving God, or do you just attend church. Are you living a Godly lifestyle, or do you have to dust off your Bible on Sunday morning? There was a king of Judah named Amaziah who had a problem with total commitment to God. 2 Chronicles 25:2 says "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly."

He wasn't fully committed to serving God. He showed up for his religious ceremonies, but then took revenge for his father's death into his own hands (2 Chronicles 25:3). He listened to the man of God sometimes, as is shown in 2 Chronicle 25:7-10. But then on his return from that same battle, he brought back their idles and started worshiping them (2 Chronicles 25:14-15).

God won't honor a partial commitment to serve Him. Matthew 6:24 says you can't serve two masters. If there's sin in your life and you're covering it up and you won't commit that to God, you're serving your sin. If you don't have time for God any time of the day or night then you're not fully serving God.

We see in 2 Chronicles 25:27-28 that from the time he turned away following God, his people began to conspire against him so much that he ended up running for his life and being hunted down and killed. While you aren't likely today to be hunted and killed for your rejection of God, when those who look to you for an example see the sin that you harbor in your life, there will be disappointment, resentment, and anger just the same.

Turn your sin over to God and follow Him with your whole heart, so that your testimony can be better than that of Amaziah. If you turn your heart completely over to God, you can have the testimony, "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord wholeheartedly." It will make a difference in your life that you will never regret.

Gentle Joy and Peace

Does you have joy in everything you do? Think back to the last time you did something you know you shouldn't have; did that bring true joy to you, or did it drag you down? How long did it take you to get back up, or are you still struggling? Philippians 4:4-5 tells us God is near, and we should rejoice in Him always. Can you rejoice in the Lord while doing something that drags you down spiritually?

Then, after you realize that you've sinned yet again, you wring your hands and worry; you worry about getting caught, worry about whether or not God will forgive you yet again, worry that it won't be the last time. But Philippians 4:6-7 tells us not to worry about anything, but to talk to God about everything and His peace will guard our hearts and minds. His peace will be our shield if we'll stop worrying and just turn our problems over to God.

The last two verses of this section, Philippians 4:8-9, then gives us the most simplified version of everything that the entire Bible contains and teaches. If we all practiced just these two verses, and truly lived by them, we would have nothing to worry about. I love the last sentence there, "And the God of peace will be with you." Not "He might be" or "He'll occasionally be", but "He will be".

If you're having problems, struggling with addiction, or you've got worries weighing you down, I would encourage you to write down these verses somewhere where you'll always see them or commit them to memory. When Satan comes to try to drag you back into sin, into worry, or take away your joy, repeat them to yourself. It's a promise in the Word of God, and you can count on it in your life.

Preparing to Run

I've recently decided that I should spend more time exercising than what I have been. One way that I thought of to do that would be to increase the amount of walking that I do until I'm in good enough shape to run. After stepping up my exercise routines for a very short time, I decided it was time to test out the new strength in my legs and see how far I could run.

Surprisingly, I was able to run a considerable distance further than I had been able to previously. When I got home that night, my legs were on fire though. The next day, my ankles hurt so bad I could hardly walk. Apparently, I had done tendon damage by not being properly prepared to run. In all my preparations to walk, I got my media player out, headphones, etc.; stretching was never on my list.

When I decided to run, I stretched first, but because I hadn't made it a habit before exercise to stretch, my body was unprepared to deal with the added stress. My legs were strong enough, the muscles could handle it. I'm reminded of our daily dealings with God in all of this. We pray a little every day, read our Bibles; we're just walking along with God. Then, we come upon a hard time, and have the need to run, and we falter or we injure ourselves because we weren't used to stretching our spiritual lives that far.

1 Timothy 4:7-8 says to exercise yourself to Godliness. You exercise normally by practicing what you want to do at the top of your training routine and you'll always be ready to do your best. If you do the bare minimum for the stage you're on, you'll find yourself injured trying to reach the next phase.

Treasure Hunting

I've seen many times on the beach men walking along with metal detectors for hours up and down the beach. I've never seen one of them find anything of value, yet they persistently walk in unique patterns trying to cover every square inch of the ground. On occasion, the detector will give a beep, and the treasure hunter will excitedly drop to his knees and dig up some small metal object from the sand. Disappointedly, they reveal a pop tab or some other refuse left on the beach by some person too lazy to take it to the trash bin.

Proverbs 2:1-5 gives us a spiritual parallel to this search for treasure: a search for wisdom. Proverbs 2:4-5 says that if we look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, we will be rewarded with finding the true treasure of understanding and knowledge. What greater thing could we seek? What other thing could we search for with a guarantee that we will find what we're looking for and not be disappointed.

Proverbs 2:6-9 says that God gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. He grants those who seek Him victory and protection. Let us all seek the wisdom that comes from God. Let us all look for His wisdom in the same manner that those treasure hunters on the beach look for their earthly treasure: with enthusiasm and resolve. We know that we will find what we're looking for, unlike the beach treasure hunter, we should have even more enthusiasm than they do!

A Man Worthy of Saving

Do you act like everyone around you, or do you stand out like a sore thumb in contrast to their wickedness? Genesis 6:9-10 begins a story about a man who stood up when the rest of the world was full of wickedness. Here we are introduced to Noah. We become acquainted with Noah at a time when the Bible says the earth was corrupt in God's sight (Genesis 6:11).

God felt that the human race was worth saving simply because of Noah. No other man survived the ensuing flood. Would God find you worthy of saving? Do you give the people around you reason to find fault with you? Noah's testimony in Genesis 6:9 is a two-part testimony. First, he was a righteous man; he was a man who lived rightly in the eyes of God. Second, he was blameless among the people of his time; he gave the people of his time nothing to blame him for.

At a time when the entire world was so wicked that God's wrath was kindled to the point of destroying everyone, this one man was worthy of life. He alone walked with God. Would this be your testimony? If everyone else is headed in a different direction, would you still stand for God?

New Year's Resolutions

How many of you have set New Year's Resolutions? In years past I used to always refuse to make New Year's Resolutions. Even when I was in school and they made us write them on a piece of paper and put them in an envelope, I put a blank piece of paper in an envelope. As a man, for me to write something down, or purpose to do something, and then fail at it was to show a lack of character and I simply refused.

It was really a grand scheme, as I never had to say I didn't stick with my New Year's Resolutions. However, it kept me from having any real purpose in going into the New Year. What is my reason for living this next year? So last year, I made some resolutions. Some resolutions I kept, some I didn't. This year, I'll set some more. This year, I will try to keep them all, but I will likely fail.

So what then does the Bible have to say about resolutions? 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 shows us that every good purpose God fulfills in our lives is for His glory. Lamentations 3:40-41 gives us a great place to start: examining our lives, returning to God, and praising God. While I have several resolutions that are very personal for this year, I definitely want one of those resolutions to be to examine my life more closely on a daily basis, and to draw closer to God.

Even if you don't have a particular mission or goal in life, find some purpose for yourself in the coming year, and pursue it with all of your might. If you have no purpose, make it your purpose to find your purpose, through study and seeking God. God has a purpose for every one of us (2 Timothy 1:8-14).