Wash feet

Read Luke 14:7-11, Mark 12:41-44

“For everyone who exalts himself 

will be humbled,

 and he who humbles himself 

will be exalted.”

                                       Luke 14:11

Here Jesus is in the house of a Pharisee and is noticing how people vying to sit at
the best place at the dinner table. He notes how selfish they are. How they desire to show their status. This happens in the church today and is encouraged many times, whether intentionally or not.
How often have you seen a television evangelist say if you give so many thousands of dollars to their ministry you will receive a plaque or piece of sculpture or ornament to display. While those who give lesser amounts receive something small or just a tax receipt?
Appealing to someone’s ego, make them think they doing something that will increase their status, will nearly always get you something from them.
Years ago when I worked for a government institution where sadly, politics abounded everywhere. I found I could nearly always get what I wanted if when I explained things I made it sound that my boss would look good because of it. I appealed to his ego.
It really amazed me at times how easy it was to get what I wanted.
Don’t get me wrong here, we need people within the church who are willing to give thousand, tens of thousands even million to the Lords work. Being rich is not a sin. Nor is having money, it is “the love of money” that is the root of evil.
The point here is that just because we have money or a place of power we should not get special treatment.
In Mark 12:41-44 Jesus points out that the widow put more into the treasury than all those with wealth had.
The point to be learned here is that, if we are in leadership in the church we should be careful whom we esteem.
In the kingdom of God all are equal irrespective of status.
That it is not necessarily those who can afford to give large amounts that are giving the most in God’s eyes.
And we as individuals should be careful of how fast we go to sit in the place of honour.
As Christians we are called to be humble, to do things in secret without expectation of reward or credit for what we have done.
What are your motives in doing things in your local church. What are your motives in giving. Do you give to get, even if it is just a tax receipt?
Would you still give the kind of money you do to the church if you didn’t receive the tax incentive?
Would you still work for the Lord if you got no recognition at all?
If you are in leadership in your church congregation do you give praise to all those you work with equally?
Would you be willing to wash the feet of those who come to your church?
Think about it.

Meaningless?

Read Ecclesiastes 1

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”

 Says the Teacher

“Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaning less.”

                  Ecclesiastes 1:1(niv)

The wisdom of man. Your born you labour, acquire knowledge and material wealth, bare children and die. After which your forgotten.
Just listen to any scientist talk about human life. Evolutionist state we came from the basic dry chemicals that made up the earth when it was first formed. The Christian would say we are created from the dust of the earth.
The difference however between the two is that the evolutionist would say when we die all that we were dies with us. Only that portion of our genetics that we past on to our children remains.
The Christian on the other hand acknowledges that we are more than that. That we have something that separates us from the animals an eternal soul. As well as wisdom and compassion.
An animal is intelegant. Monkeys and other animals can learn to do things even use tools but they lack compassion.
For an animal to kill another animal even one of its own kind there is no remorse or feeling it’s “just doing its thing”. They have no sense of right and wrong.
Humans however have feelings they know what is right and wrong. We have a sense there is more to life than merely existing.
We strive all our lives for a meaning to life.
In his satirical book the Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxy, Douglas Adams spoofs virtually every human institution. Particularly the institutions of religion and philosophy.
In the book earth is simply an organic super, super computer built by another computer to find out what the question to the answer to the meaning of life is.
The meaning to life having already been stated by the lesser computer to be forty-two.
People today want meaning and fulfilment in their lives. Everyone is striving for it.
A world class athlete strives for excellence in his or her sport. They get a great deal of pleasure and sense of accomplishment in not only winning but even if they don’t win doing their best.
The average person on the street tries to get fulfilment out of life by getting things or working for the “American or Canadian dream”.
Even if they get what they are striving for they still find themselves empty. Saying as the writer of Ecclesiastes states,

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;

 all of them are meaningless ,

 a chasing after the wind.”

                                                                           Ecclesiastes 1:14
There is a meaning to life its just not what the world puts in front of us.
Within every person there is a need for God. We are made in the likeness of God. Only He can fulfil that emptiness we have.
That emptiness that the world has, is chasing the wind, gathering material wealth in an effort to end the aching in our soul.
To those people Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                                                                                    Matthew 11:28-30
This is the message that we as Christians need to get out to the world around us. For it is only in Jesus that our soul can truly rest.

Where is your heart

Read 1 Corinthians 8

But the man who loves God is know by God. 

So then, about eating foods sacrificed to idols:

 we know that an idol is nothing at all in the world 

and that there is no God but one. 

For even if there are so-called gods. Whether in heaven or on earth

(as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”:) 

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, 

from whom all things came and for whom we live’ 

and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, 

through whom all things came and through whom we live.

                                                                                       1 Corinthians 8:3-6
In this chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul is talking about meat being offered to idols, but in verses 3 to 6, he makes a definite statement about Christ and God.
* if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
* that there is other gods in the world but they are nothing.
* for the Christian  there is one God from whom all things come.
• and there is One Lord Jesus Christ through whom we live.

This is the message we must take to the world. THERE IS BUT ONE GOD.
Our society is as full today with “gods” as Paul's was.
People may not admit it but they hold money as a god, their car, their house and a host of other things.
Those “gods” are even making their way into the church.
“Trust God and he will ‘bless you’” some are saying. Their translation being “trust God and He will make you materially rich” the ‘give to get’ philosophy. A bad way of thinking.
God will bless you but not necessarily materially. He blesses us all the time.
If you want a good indication of where you are. If there are any “idols” or false gods in your life. Here’s a good test.
In Matthew nineteen there was a man who came to Christ and asked how to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him.
At the end when the man said he had done all of what was required of him from the religious stand point,

 “Jesus said to him, 

“If you want to be perfect go, sell what you have 

and give to the poor,

 and you will have treasure in heaven; 

and come, follow Me.”

But when the young man heard that saying,

 he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

                                                                                 Matthew 19:21,22

Something to think about:

Here is your test of your love for Christ.

• Will you be willing to give everything you have up for Christ?
• Where is you heart. 
• Is it with your work, in your house and possessions or in your Heavenly Father?  
• Who or what do you trust the most?

Here’s something for you to do. BUT think very carefully first because it does take commitment.
Pray and give everything you have to God for Him to do with as He wishes.
Then listen carefully for what God wants you to do with your life.

God's will be done

God will be done

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9,10

I was at a church the other day. The pastor was preaching that God wanted us all to be healthy. I believe God does.
Still I think that pastor missed something. The definition of healthy.
One of the definitions the Oxford dictionary gives for healthy is, “having or promoting good health.” the other definition it gives is, “normal, sensible, or desirable.”
He explained that he was healed from stage four colon cancer. And there is no doubt about it he was. The doctors admitted they couldn’t cure it and gave him a couple of years at best. He is now years past that mark. In my estimation a miracle.
He believed that God kept him alive because God had more for him to do.
I admire this pastor because he is to me a great man of faith and never doubted that God would heal him. And if he didn’t he was certain of where he was going.
Still I think he missed something. His definition of “healthy” was skewed. He equated healthy with being “normal”.
In other words someone who can walk, talk, see, has all his or her mental faculties. Simply put like ninety percent of the people you’d meet most days.
He gives me the idea that he feels people who aren’t “normal” aren’t healthy.
On the wall by my desk I have a painting called living water, it’s a rather detailed picture of a small meandering stream leading to a small waterfall. It was painted by mouth my Joni Eareckson Tada.
Joni is a quadriplegic who became paralysed in a diving accident. Joni is healthy and while being a quadriplegic may not be the best thing in the world, Joni has adjusted.
In fact Joni has an excellent ministry on radio and reaches out to the disabled through her Joni and Friends ministry.
I also had the privilege to listen to a young man by the name of Nick Vujicic. He was born with no arms or legs. The doctors don’t know why. Nick is healthy and has an international ministry.
On the banner of his website Life without limbs, it says, “From no limbs to no Limits”
As for myself I live with Bi-polar Affective disorder. A mental illness that at times causes my moods to swing daily between high, highs and low, lows.
I have learned to live with my illness and do various speaking engagements around the area where I live.
I consider myself to be healthy. I just live with a different normal to what this pastor would consider healthy.
I have friends that are in wheel chairs and live in nursing homes or assisted living. All are technically healthy.
Someone once asked me why does God allow such things, especially to people with great faith.
I believe God has a purpose for everyone. My friends that live in assisted living are witnesses where they live.
As I look at it both Joni and Nick may not have the ministry they have reaching millions if they were not as they are.
Likewise my Bi-polar illness made me think. It makes me rely on God every day of my life and to reach out to people not only around were I live but around the world through the various Blog’s I write.
You see I think we must look at scripture especially the verses I quoted above.
“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9,10.
Jesus did. Knowing the horror that he was about to go through, Matthew quotes  Him in the garden of Gethsemane as saying, “He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 
                                                       Matthew 26:42 
No matter where we are in life or what life throws at us. We must embrace it and ask God what is your will for me and your will above all things be done.
Think about it.

Equal opportunity God

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made I the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” 
                           Psalms 139 :13-16
I am a number of months short of my sixtieth birthday. I have known the Lord as my personal Saviour for over forty-one years.
In that time I’ve seen a lot of garbage done in the name of God and it seems to be getting worse. Especially now in the age blogs and tweets and other social media.
The message of the church, the true church hasn’t changed.
It does however seem that many of the people who claim to be giving out that message have bent it to their way of thinking.
In Matthew seven Jesus makes it clear we are not to judge anyone, in Matthew 28:19,20 States
 “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is the principle message of the church. To go into the world and introduce people to Jesus Christ and the saving grace that can only come from Him.
If one is to believe the first scriptures I quoted from Psalms 139 and I don’t know of any Christian who wouldn’t, then I would assume that God knew what we were going to be like before we were born.
God essentially read our genetic code. He knew if we were going to be tall or short. If we were to have blue eyes, green eyes or no eyes.
God knew beforehand if we were going to be gay or strait, white, black, or oriental.
He knew what “our normal” would be.
I live with Bi-polar affective disorder. I am not what some would call normal.
I get up every morning and thank God that my illness is in check enough that I didn’t do something stupid to myself the day before or during the night.
I have found there is no such thing as an “absolute normal”. We all live with our own normal.
And you know I don’t think God bothers about our “normal” he’s an equal opportunity God.  He calls to all men and women,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” 
                                                                                                         Matthew 11:28
It is my experience that we all have fallen short of what God wants for our life. That’s why God sent Jesus down to earth. That we may turn to him. Ask him to forgive our sins and come into our life. That we may be guaranteed Eternal life. Think about it.