Hurry up!

I have written on my blog that I think we often are too busy with things in our lives - good things: ministry related, church activities, etc. that we often overlook God and end up working in the flesh. I by no means am retracting those ideas in this post.

However, at the same time, the Bible says that we are to "run" our Christian race, not just walk it. I could go to Isaiah 40:31 where they that wait upon the Lord (that supports my previous posts and opening paragraph here) shall renew their strength, and they shall run and not be weary. 1 Corinthians 9:24 talks about running a race. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us how to run our race.

We ought to not just sit back and take it easy in our Christian lives. We shouldn't say, "Oh, I will grow in this area next year. I just want to take it one at a time..." We need to run the race - without losing focus of the waiting on the Lord part. Hebrews 12:1 says we need to run it with patience. That doesn't mean run it slowly and pacing yourself, but rather like Jesus did, we need to run through all the obstacles that come up in our race. For Jesus, that meant things like, the Cross.

The reason this thought came to me today was because last night, while Sarah was driving home from having coffee with some friends, she got pulled over by a policeman. No... she wasn't speeding. She actually got pulled over for going 7 miles under the speed limit: 33 mph in a 40 mph zone!

Just a thought...

Committment in Christianity

On the brink of tomorrow's Men's Conference, put on by Rick Grape, I have had 'Committment' on my mind. One of the things that Rick has taught me constantly is committment and faithfulness. So, today I was reading the blog from Jeff Adams, pastor of Kansas City Baptist Temple, and he ends up quoting something that someone else wrote... and I thought I would take today's post as an opportunity to point at that, and hopefully to help us all be encouraged to be faithful to where you are. And as you'll see if you read it, that charge is given especially to those interested in missions.

Anyway, here it is:

Jeff Adams

Charity... and your neighbour part 2

So, like I wrote about on Monday, we are to have 1 Corinthians 13 "charity" towards our "neighbour" (see Luke 10 to define "neighbour") in order to fulfill the Second Great Commandment.

Continuing that thought, 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,"

Applying these to our neighbours, we ought to be long suffering and patient towards them. If they have a bad habit that we don't like - we should probably just get over it. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? To be obedient to the 2nd Great Commandment, we should be willing to love even in the midst of whatever nuisance our neighbour may provide to us.

We are to be kind. Forgiving one another as Christ forgave us, being tenderhearted, that is how Eph. 4:32 defines it for us.

Charity envieth not. I was thinking that 'coveting' is when we want something that we don't have, and we let it change our attitude because we don't have it. It's ok to want something, but when that want changes your attitude, it has become lust / covetousness. Envy on the other hand is: after you have coveted something that somebody else has, not only are you sad that you don't have it, but you actually turn and develop a negative attitude towards the person that does have it. If we could just be content with what we do have, we would not covet and in turn be envious towards others. Be content with what you have. And what do you have? Jesus promised that HE would never leave you nor forsake you. Are you content with Jesus, or do you need more? Charity envieth not.

Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. When you have love for someone else, you will exalt that person instead of yourself. In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Jesus loved us, and He was willing to humble Himself... Besides, you know what happens when you boast on yourself and give yourserlf glory? Well, if you're not struck dead like Herod in Acts 12, Proverbs tells us that for men to search out their own glory, it is not glory. When we boast on ourselves, we actually are making what perhaps we would have deserved credit for - unpraiseworthy.

Anyway, just a couple more thoughts on having charity towards your neighbour. Another way to love your neighbour would be to watch your tongue.

Interruption

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog posting for this important announcement. Normal programming will resume tomorrow.

So, today the Tsoukalas family is leaving for South Africa. I had the blessing of being able to watch the girls for their last evening here in the States while mom & dad did some last minute stuff. Anyway, they are leaving today, and I just wanted to recommend that everyone take some time to pray for them as they go to work where God has called them.

Julie's blog address (if you don't know) is: JulieMom

The effectual, fervant prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

We're praying for you guys!

Charity... and your neighbour

(I just liked using the King's English spelling of 'neighbour')

I Corinthians 13 is the famous 'charity' chapter. Now, I have never really looked into seeing if the King's English word for 'charity' is different in anyway than 'love,' as the word is more contemporarily translated, but I'm going to use it as being compatible. Webster's 1828 number 1 definition of 'charity' is: "In a general sense, love, benevolence, good will..." So, I'm comfortable with it.

Anyway, the next point of my thought today is like unto it... "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." I believe the Bible teaches that we should have I Corinthians 13 charity towards our neighbor in order to fulfill the second commandment (Matthew 22:39). All of the definitions of charity in I Corinthians 13 ought to be found in the way that we love our neighbor.

For example:

I Corinthians 13:5 says that charity "thinketh no evil." That means that we ought not to think evil of our neighbor. And, by the way, if you have a problem defining who your neighbor is, go ahead and read Luke 10. Jesus will help you out.

So, we are to not think evil of our neighbor. Sounds to me like we're not supposed to jump to conclusions about people. We are to always give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm afraid that I too quickly jump to a negative opinion about somebody, and just because they are lost, think that they are always out to do the worse thing possible... I'm not being charitable to them by thinking that way. I am not loving my neighbor when I do that.

Let's think no evil towards our neighbor.

Just a thought.