"A Double Life"

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon".  Luke 6:24

In yesterday's devotion we made the statement concerning matter forms that something can't be both a liquid and a solid at the same time.  The same is true if you say you are a Christian and are living like something other than a Christian.  You can't be two different things that conflict with each other.  You are one or the other, but not both.   

The Bible makes it plain that you can't be hot and cold at the same time.  You can't serve God and mammon.  You can't be a sheep and a goat.  You can't have sweet and bitter water coming out of you.  You can't love God and the world both. 

Yet so many who profess to be Christians are trying to live "double" lives.  They are trying to live for God and self both.  They are trying to serve the Lord and also serve self.  They are trying to fit in with the world and fit in with the church.  You can't be or do both.  Where did we get that idea from? 

Why is it we think we can profess the Lord with our mouth but hold on to the world with our hands.  We have this mentality that thinks we can have God and everything else.  We can't.  He either has ALL of us or He will have NONE of us.  I know that is a pretty strong statement, but I am not the one who said it-- Jesus is.  And He is the one who makes the rules and defines the relationship He desires to have with us. 

If you are trying to ride both sides of the fence, you need to stop and repent.  You need to let go of the world and take hold of the Lord only.  You need to stop having a divided heart and life.  Either He is Lord and Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all!  You can't have it both ways.  He will not share you, your heart or the throne of your heart with everything, or anything, else.

Have a great day.  It is either Jesus or the world... you can't have both.   

"A Change In Matter"

"Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters".  Psalm 114:8

Matter takes on one of three basic forms:  solid, liquid and gas.  A rock is solid matter.  Standing water is a liquid.  Flint is solid.  A fountain of waters is liquid.  They can't be both at the same time, something has to happen in them to make the change.  Something has to take place in a rock before it can become water.  The verse above says that God can do this.  He can change a rock into water.  He can change a flint into water.  He can make this transformation possible between these two forms.   

There are some changes that only God can do.  Salvation is one of them.  Only God can save us.  Only He can change us from being a lost sinner to a saved follower of Christ.  We can't save ourselves.  We can't change ourselves.  No amount of effort and no number of changes that we make in our lives can bring about this transformation.  All the changes in the world that we could make in our lives will not make us that new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Turning over a new leaf, stop smoking, start going to church, start acting kinder, stop cussing, etc.  No number of good deeds and good works can do it.  It only happens when we come to Christ Jesus confessing our sins and putting our faith in Him as Savior.  It is then when we are changed.  It is then when we are forgiven and made righteous.
  
If you are trying to change yourself, if you are trying to be good enough to be a "Christian", if you are trying to do enough good deeds, you can't and won't ever be able to do it.  It would be easier for you to take a rock and turn it into water than it would be for you to do enough good deeds to save yourself.  It is impossible outside of Jesus Christ.  He is the only way it can happen.

Have a great day.  God can turn a rock into water.  And only He can turn a sinner into a saved person. 
 

"Faith In Suffering"

"From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised".  Psalm 113:3

Praising the Lord from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night is not always an easy thing because there is a lot that can happen to us in a day.  And not all that happens to us is good. 

Trying times happen.  Tragedy strikes.  Grief comes.  Sickness attacks our bodies.  Pain enters.  It happened to Job.  I don't believe there is any way we can fully comprehend all that this man went through.  (I can't.)  He lost all his children.  He lost his herds and flocks.  He lost his health.  All he had left was a wife who out of her own pain encouraged him to curse God and die.  Yet in the midst of all his pain and suffering, he worshipped God.  "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord". (Job 1:21)

 

He didn't worship God for the suffering, he praised Him in spite of it.  He knew that his relationship with the Lord was the only thing that was going to carry him through the pain, sorrow and grief.  He knew he had to maintain his relationship with the Lord if he was going to survive the agony of what he was going through.  He knew that he had to stay close to the Lord if he was going to have any peace.  He knew his strength to make it through was found in the Lord.  He knew his comfort would not come from man but from God. 

 

Like Job, our worship is an indication of our faith.  Sometimes, when going through difficulty praise doesn't always come automatically or easily.  Often it is a sacrifice.  I am very sure Job didn't feel like worshipping the Lord, but he did anyway as an act of faith-- faith that he still trusted God, he still knew God was faithful no matter what he was going through, he still knew that God would be with him and he still knew that God would turn this around for good. 

 

Are you going through something today that makes it hard for you to worship the Lord?  Do it any way.  Let your faith speak for you-- not your pain.  Job did and as a result he made it through his time of suffering.  

Have a great day.  Praise the Lord even in suffering.   

"How'd You Wake Up?"

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you".  1 Peter 5:7

There were a thousand different ways a person could have woke up this morning.  Some woke up to a "perfect" world--- no problems at all and all is well.  But that wasn't the case with everyone.  Some woke up burdened this morning.  Some woke up with pain, sickness and disease in their bodies.  There are those who woke up in grief-- grieving over the passing of a loved one, over a relationship that has been broken, over a misunderstanding, etc. 

Some woke up to find themselves homeless.  Some are uncertain as to the state of their employment.  There are others who are wrestling with the question "why".  Some woke up feeling hopeless.  Many woke up addicted to things that have a stronghold in their lives.  Some people woke up struggling with guilt, condemnation, confusion, fear, anger and bitterness.  Some are facing the decision of a lifetime and need an answer.  

Some woke up incarcerated.  Some woke up in a hospital.  Some woke up in a strange bed.  Some woke up in a shelter.  Some woke up having to live with relatives or friends.  Some woke up in a mental institution.  Some woke up in a palace; others woke up in a shack.  Some woke up fighting on a battlefield.    

Wherever you woke up this morning, and whatever state you awoke to, I want to encourage you that there is a God who sits high but looks low.  He sees where you are.  He knows what you are going through.  He sees the conditions and situation that surrounds you.  He has your answer.  He knows your need.  He has peace and comfort for you.  He has strength and guidance available to you.  He has hope and help.  Bring Him into your day.  Bring Him into your situation.  Bring Him into your struggles.  Bring Him into your good times and bad times.  He is a present help and a God who loves you, cares about you and desires to be active in your life.

Have a great day.  How did you wake up this morning?  Bring God into it and let Him give you all you need to make it through it.       

"Sin Exposer"

"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more".  Hebrews 8:12

What a wonderful promise!  When we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us.  He not only forgives but He "forgets" our sins.  He doesn't keep reminding us of what we have done.  He doesn't remind us of "that time when".  He doesn't use the knowledge of our past sins against us.  He doesn't use them as a "bribery" or "tool" against us, threatening to expose us if we mess up or don't do exactly what He tells us to do or wants us to do. 

It is hard for us to believe that because the only example we have comes from each other-- mankind.  We see it a lot now in the politic arena.  Politicians are "exposing" one another's past sins and failures.  We see it in marriage relationships.  One spouse doesn't live up to the demands or expectations of another, so they keep "throwing up" the mistakes they have made.  In the business world there is a "little black book" of failures, mistakes, compromising situations, etc., that are used against, and by, those who are trying to "climb the corporate ladder".  And the list goes on.  It is everywhere.  People are trying to find and use as much "dirt" as they can against each other.

Newsflash--- we all have a past.  We all make mistakes.  None of us are perfect.  We have all said and done something wrong at some point in life.  We have all sinned.  We should worry about getting the log out of our own eye before we try to point out the speck in someone else's.  We need to sweep around our own door before we expose the dirt around another's. 

Don't be throwing up someone else's mistakes, sins and past.  Don't use what they "did" against them.  Don't listen to the condemnations of the devil when he throws up your past sins.  Thank the Lord for His mercy and grace in forgiving you.  And if He has, then you not only need to forgive others, but you also need to stop exposing their past sins and extend the same grace to them that God has extended to you--- don't remember their past sins to use as a weapon against them anymore.

Have a great day.  God never uses our past sins against us-- can you say the same when it comes to others?