Sunday, April 29, 2012

Regular Church Attendance


I know,  I know, going to church doesn’t  make you a Christian anymore than going into a garage makes you a car.  But if you have even the slightest desire to have a more rewarding life in Christ you must attend church regularly. Now I’m not saying you have to be there every time the doors are unlocked and stay until the last deacon runs you out, but you do need to attend regularly. At  least a couple times a week if your church offers it, if not find one that does, or attend two churches. What if I told you that you could only eat once a week, I think you’d fight me for it. So what makes you think being fed spiritually only once a week, or twice a month is any better for you?

Church attendance is Biblical and is for the edifying and strengthening of the body, just as food is to the fleshly body. We need to be fed the word of God on a regular diet for our spiritual body.  Church attendance also helps our walk stay on that narrow road by surrounding us with Godly people. 

Think about it this way, we are like those red hot coals in the fire pit. As long as we all stay together, we all stay hot. But take one out and set it aside and it will remain red hot for  a while, but then as time goes on it will fade and start to cool until it goes  luke warm, then cold. But pick that coal up and place it in the group of red hot coals and you will find in no time, its red hot and on fire once again.  That’s the importance of church attendance.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians;  bad company corrupts good character. The Bible also warns us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. So church attendance gets us around the right people, most of the time. Remember however, only sinners go to church, and all are on their  journey to righteousness, so yoke up with those who are well on their way .

I don’t say you should not have any friends outside of the Christian faith. If we separate ourselves completely, then we cannot be the salt and the light for the world. But having the people you spend the most time with be  like minded and of like faith, you will find it much easier to live  a  Godly life. Plus you should have a Christian accountability partner to help you on your journey.

Find a Bible based church if you are not already attending one and become involved. Your life will be richly blessed as you bless others and grow in your faith.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Are you a reader ?


Are you a reader?  I mean aside from blogs. Do you regularly read books of interest ?   I am what many would call a book nerd. Yet I’m not  a nerd at all, at least not in the since most would think of the definition. I learned, or most likely read, years ago the phrase; readers are leader, and leaders are readers - and I took it to heart.

Every year I set a goal to read a certain number of books over the next twelve months on specific  topics. Some may be in my area of vocation, some may be in a new areas of interest, and some may just be fiction.  But I read and I read a lot.  Of course I read my Bible every morning and spend time each night reading  books on my goal list.

I don’t decide in January exactly what books I will read, only that I will read a certain number of books in a specific category. The fun part is getting to look for that next great book.  I read with a pen and paper close by. I mark up the book, write down notes, and copy phrases to look into further. Most books, if they are any good at all, are so marked up when I’m done they probably wouldn’t be good for anyone else. 

If you are not an avid reader, let me exhort you to take a greater interest in this sport. You will be amazed at what you can learn and how it will help you in your career.  I have learned over the last  twenty-five years that the leaders are readers quote is true.  

Find some books of interest and get started, you will be richly blessed. 

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Spiritual Hoarding


I think we are all hoarders to some extent. Some of us call it “pack rats” but most of us save things that we think we may need later on. I’m a pretty organized person in most areas, but if you were to look in my garage I could probably be called a hoarder to some degree. But I just never know when, or if, I might need one of those valuable items.

Spiritual hoarding is just as bad or in most cases much worse than hoarding things. What do I mean by spiritual hoarding?  All too often we  want to hang on to past hurts, anger, pride, and  jealously. These feelings of the past just hang around and are pilled in one mental closet or another and serve no purpose but to clutter up our mind.

Too often we want to take out some of these treasures and re-visit them. We  re-live the pain and hurt that these  feelings caused. We roll it around in our minds and justify our feelings. Then after our pity party we stick them back in the closet and close the door.  We are so busy hanging on to our past hurts that we are hindered from growing in God. We want to complain about how horrible our childhood was and how angry we are with a parent or relative that we can’t see past the pain. We grumble and fuss, cry and complain, and rationalize  our hurt. Then we wonder why it seems that God never hears our prayers.

In many cases we are still angry at people who are dead and can’t right their wrong, but we stay angry anyway.  Or maybe that person just won’t right the wrong that they have caused.  We forget sometimes that God has forgiven us of a great debt; and yet we won’t forgive another.  We didn’t deserve to be forgiven,  but He did anyway.

Other times its jealousy or pride that is holding us back; we deserved that promotion, we should get more recognition than we do.  Hate and racisms is another weight that holds us down. Hate  only serves to eat you up from the inside out. Your hatred for another human being does no harm to them but will eventually  kill you;  both physically and spiritually.  

The weight of haughtiness and pride fills our minds with an unclear and most times, wrong view or ourselves.   Keep in mind that the Bible warns us that pride comes before the fall, and you will fall every time and very publicly. God lets us build our selves up so that it is easy for everyone to watch as we are knocked off our pedestal. 

Do some house cleaning today. Get rid of the junk you’re holding on to, give it to God and let Him deal with it. Free your mind of the clutter and grow.