Grow Up!

 

When a teenager, I can recall my Mother saying to me, “Oh Glendarae, grow up.” I usually had behaved in a way not becoming to someone who was the ripe old age of seventeen. In our school years, we all probably came across the class jokers, pranksters or playful sorts. Sometimes their behavior wore thin on teachers and even with peers. I'm sure some teachers would have liked to tell some of those students to grow up. Situations like that go along with everyday living as we meet up with folks of all ages and personalities.

Sadly,there can be a spiritual immaturity in God's children. No matter the age people accept Jesus as Savior, it is expected that like a new-born baby, those Christians will begin to mature and grow. Human babies require nutritious milk and soon special baby foods. However, unless there is a very special circumstance, babies do grow and at the age of ten are no longer drinking milk from a bottle or eating pureed food. As they grow, heartier foods are ingested and their human bodies grow and expand.

The writer of the book of Hebrews addresses the problem of spiritual immaturity. We read the following:

Concerning him we have much to say, and
it is hard to explain, since you have become dull
of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you have need again for someone to teach you
the elementary principles of the oracles
of God, and you have come to need milk
and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk
is not accustomed to the word of righteousness,
for he is an infant.
Hebrews 5:11-13

So how are immature Christians described in these verses?

They are dull of hearing
They are out of sync with God's timing...should be teachers
They must be taught the basics over and over
They must have milk of the Word, and not solids
They are unskilled in the Word
They exhibit childlike spiritual characteristics.

All hope is not lost though. The writer of Hebrews has brief but important things to say about the mature Christian.

But solid food is for the mature,
who because of practice have their senses
trained to discern good and evil.
Therefore leaving the elementary
teaching about the Christ, let us
press on to maturity....
Hebrews 5:14, 6:1a

Some ways mature Christians are described are:

They have a strong desire for the solids of the Word
They have the power of discernment
They live what they learn
They have a strong ability to see the difference between good and evil

So I have to ask myself how old I am maturity-wise in my walk with the Lord. I accepted Jesus as my Savior at the age of ten. There have been a lot of years that have passed since that time. As Jesus would view my spirituality at this point, how old would He find me to be in my walk of faith. To grow in the Lord requires a close relationship with Him, consistent reading and study of His Word and putting into practice those things I read in my Bible. I can know the Bible from cover to cover but are those childlike, immaturity problems still very evident in my life....selfishness, unforgiveness, undisciplined behavior, anger...the list could go on and on even after a review of Colossians 3. (Read that chapter sometime.)

In Hebrews 6:1, there is an important statement....”let us press on to maturity.” May it be so for you and me no matter where we find ourselves spiritually at this time. I wouldn't want to hear Jesus say to me, “Glendarae, grow up.”

Father, I want to know You like never before. It will take concentrated time in Your Word as well as putting into practice those things You lay on my heart. May I grow in areas You show to me as I study Your word, listening for Your promptings. In Jesus precious name, Amen

The World of Habits

For I know that in me (that is, in
my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:
for to will is present with me;
but how to perform that which is
good I find not.
Romans 7:18

I had two things going for me when I was at the ripe old age of three. I'm sure it had been going on prior to that but age three is the first I recall one of my first habits...my blanket. Today they are known as “blankies.” Have you seen those things you can buy in any baby department? They look like miniature satin trimmed blankets with a stuffed animal's head in the middle. They come in different colors with different animals. My blanket (my mother would never have used the word “blankie”) was soft with a satin trim. I hated when my mother washed it cause that took out some of the “aging process” I had put into it. I wasn't allowed to carry it around...could only have it when in my bed.

The second thing I had going for me was my right thumb. I don't know how long I had sucked my thumb but I do know that by the age of four, I had a huge callous on it. My mother did everything she could to keep me from sucking my thumb. She put all sorts of liquid stuff on my thumb that stunk and tasted bad. I would gradually lick it off, little by little to where my thumb was finally ready for proper use. Mother even bought a thumb cage...a metal bird cage looking contraption that got tied to my hand. That's when I learned how agile my joints were and always managed to escape the cage.

We probably started life with habits. Some habits were necessary such as eating, having a diaper changed with some spoiling along the way. There were things we had to have...a favorite stuffed animal for instance. Those things were harmless and a part of building a certain amount of security in us.

Habits aren't necessarily bad but we usually think of them being negative. A habit is something that is done on a regular basis but that is very hard to give up. In this area, we usually think of drug addictions, eating disorder, alcoholism.

Although we think of bad habits, there are habits people have established that are good ones. We are encouraged to have good eating habits, choosing to eat and drink those things that are good for our bodies. We taught our children the wash hands before a meal. There's nothing wrong with that habit. Other good habits might include: physical check ups, being prompt, doing laundry on Monday (private joke), paying one's bills, etc.

We can feel with Paul when he expressed how desperately he wanted to do the right thing, but his inner self spoke louder and so he felt he was always at war with the flesh and spirit in his life. In the rest of Romans 7, we can read about Paul's struggle that is our struggle as well and how it is Jesus Christ who gives the victory.

What do we do about negative habits that might be a part of our lives?

• Recognize a bad habit, name it and confess it.
  Folks will say you have to have lots of counseling etc. Remember my sucking my thumb? It has been a lesson in my own life I have never forgotten. When I was around the age of four, I remember the day I was sitting on our big stuffed couch, sucking my thumb. I remember like it was yesterday, that I suddenly looked at my thumb and said to myself in so many kid words, “Enough of this” and I never put that thumb (or the other one) in my mouth again. Talk about cold turkey. I still remember to this day as I think of that moment on the couch, that even today, there's no habit that can have a death grip on my life unless I allow it.
  
  Recognize God's interest and available help in our overcoming...involve Him in the process. Don't just recognize God's interest but call on Him to help you.
  
  Don't set yourself up for failure.If I have the habit of eating a package of Oreo cookies every day, it would be wise when I go to the grocery story to avoid the cookie section.
  
  Get a realistic view of sin and how some bad habits can foster it.Most of us can remember days when right and wrong had very clear boundaries. Things were black and white with not having to think about things being gray. Satan has blurred the boundaries so we have extra discerning
  .When we kick the bad habits away, we need to replace them with good ones.
  
  Make friends with others who we know strive to do the right things.
  
  Every bad habit will somehow develop in the brain.We need to nurture our minds with thoughts that are beneficial and godly.
  Philippians 4:8 tells the things we are to think on. God will empower us to think His thoughts.

There isn't a habit we can “lick” on our own. Anything we seek to do that is going to help us to be more godly, will have to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. Any other way will only lead us to a lot of frustration. Whatever the habit we feel doesn't honor God, we need to give it to Him and rely on His strength (and not our own) to be an overcomer for His honor and glory.

Dear Father, I'm so grateful that You are interested in every facet of my life. Your Word says that You stand ready to be my everything. Your desire is that I always do the right things. Help that to be so in my life. In Jesus' precious name....Amen

Shooting For Success

This book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth; but thou shalt
meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do
according to all that is written
therein: for then thou shalt make
thy way prosperous, and then
thou shalt have good success.
Joshua 1:8

There is no doubt but what we live in a success-driven society. However, there doesn't seem to be a consistency as to what is meant by success. For some, success is reaching the Board of Directors in a large company. A teenage girl may view success as making the cheerleader squad. Others may feel success when that perfect mate is found and a huge, beautiful wedding results. There are children who just want to be picked near the top at recess when the class the splitting up for a game of kick ball.

The problem is that for most adults, success means the attainment of great riches with all of the advantages that go with being a very prosperous person. In talking with a person of wealth in another church, I heard an interesting comment. She, being a person of some wealth, made the statement that one can have all the money in the world but without Jesus, the wealth isn't really worth all that much. She had a very sensible perspective when it came to a practical view of wealth vs success.

I have loved Joshua 1:8 for a very long time. That one verse makes a tremendous amount of sense to me on a very personal level because it speaks very clearly to my own heart. I can't imagine how Joshua felt when he was told that he would take the leadership position vacated by the death of Moses. Joshua, being Moses' right arm, saw all the ups and downs of leadership. He had witnessed that it is truly lonely at the top. However, some very precious promises came his way in the first part of chapter 1 in the book of Joshua. In this verse, God gave Joshua a real perspective regarding prosperity and success and how it was to be attained. God's instructions are so very elementary for those of us who have known Jesus for an extended period of time, but let's review those principles:

• The Word of God as Joshua knew it was to be a part of his conversation.
  How often do we speak with others, things from God's Word that will bless or encourage.
• Meditation 24/7 was to be a part of Joshua's life.
  Let's not be difficult here. We certainly have things to do, responsibilities to fulfill. We don't necessarily have time to sit and meditate 24 hours a day nor would we do it if we could. No matter what's going on in our lives, however, there's always time to think on a Scripture that has had meaning, to repeat it to ourselves and to mull over in our minds the wonderful promises of God. There is no one too busy for moments like that throughout one's day.
• Joshua was told to observe the Law.Simply, this means walking a life of obedience to every word of Scripture. We will be held accountable for any disobedience practiced by us.
  

With those three things in place: THEN...You will find yourself a prosperous person.

This does not mean we will automatically fall into great monetary riches. Prosperity is
much more than worldly riches. Some of the most prosperous people I have known
have been some who are “poor as a church mice” when it comes to a check book. Those people I have found to be rich in love, friendships, close family ties, servant- spirited, and filled with tremendous richness in their relationship with the Lord.

Joshua would then find that in keeping God's commands, he would have good success.What is success for any Christian?....it's not found in the who, what or how's of life. It is found in the where....being in the very center of God's will for one's life. That is the only place for a Christian to find true and complete success. Out of God's will, it makes no difference how popular, rich or successful one may be as the world views it....true success for the Christian can only be found where Jesus is.

Joshua was taking on leadership and he would be popular. It would look like he had “arrived.” It wasn't the fame that would make Joshua successful. He had a job to do that God had called him to. His success rested in being where God wanted him to be. Joshua experienced God's true purpose for his life by walking as close to God as closely as possible.

What am I doing here on this earth? Are my goals and desires in sync with God's will for my life? Am I serving where I'm supposed to be serving. Bottom line is, we are all called, no matter our status in life to be servants. I will never get over the fact that Jesus, my Savior came to this earth to minister...to serve others:

Even as the Son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give His life
a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:28

We read of Jesus serving others....healing, feeding a multitude, washing feet, touching the sick and unlovely, and yes, even dying for all. Jesus, the richest of all beings came and demonstrated by His life what purpose was all about....serving others....even at times the most unlovely of others. That's wealth and prosperity in the truest sense for those of us who want to please our Heavenly Father. God's “Well done” will mean more to us if we have walked in humble service and in His will, more than money or fame could ever mean in our temporary stay on this earth.

Thank You Father, for Your words to Joshua that now trickles down into my life. Help me through Your Holy Spirit to keep my focus on Your will for my life and not on all of the trinkets the world has to offer. I love you and want to please You. In Jesus precious name...Amen

Some Things to Consider When Hated

Let brotherly love continue.
Hebrews 13:1

Ask the question, “What is the opposite of love?” A big majority of time, you will receive a common answer... “Hate.” The answer can be right according to some and wrong according to others. However, two positive emotions cannot be opposites. Here's a test: “I love you” or “I hate you.” Both are perfectly sound grammatically speaking and both make positive statements with no awkwardness, therefore, love and hate cannot be opposites at least in word usage. In our day, however, many people view love and hate as being opposites and those views are sound in most folks minds. I won't even argue with the concept as that's what we have been taught through our growing up years.

What is the true opposite of love...it is apathy. For one thing, a very bad sentence using that word as we did above would be, “I apathy you.” There you have opposites. Now there is an opposite meaning of love but what does it mean. Any number of dictionaries say similar things about the emotions of apathy as well as that of hate. In a nutshell, they are as follows:

APATHY:

Lack of feeling, emotion, interest or concern. It can be a natural response to disappointment, dejection or stress. Apathy helps an individual justify behavior toward another person or situation. This emotion can often be hidden or misunderstood by an outsider. One with apathy may be viewed as having a bad day, be ill, etc. It's not as verbal as our next emotion.

HATE:

Feeling intense or passionate dislike for someone. Hate is feeling hostility toward a person or situation. It is to detest, loathe, despise or abhor. This emotion is hard to hide. It may not express violence as can happen, but it will eventually be revealed in attitude and verbally as well. The person of hate will be forthcoming with friends about their hate for another even though they might not use that four letter word.

Apathy and hate have some things in common:
Both are human emotions...not good ones
They both have targets...aimed at another person or even situation
They have their roots running deeply in evil and not in the spiritual things of God
For a Christian to feel either emotion toward another, is not in God's will, no matter the hurt.
Hate and apathy are both things that grow through time...they never shrink until dealt with.
Mental illness can result from both emotions.
Both behaviors are sin/evil.
God is the only answer to any negative, non-spiritual emotions that have taken over ones life.

So if neither emotion is acceptable, and the Bible does speak of hate, do we ever have God's permission to hate. The answer is “YES.” I recall one of our children coming to me crying over something that had happened with a friend saying, “I just hate______.” My answer was instant and I probably said it more than one time in our lives. I said, “The only person we hate is Satan.” Yes, we are to hate him, his angels, the situations he authors that are anti-God, the sin he fosters in human beings and our world, etc. The list could go on and on.

There are things in Proverbs 6:16-19 that God is very clear about:

These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven
are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies, and
he that soweth discord among brethren.

Note that of the seven things God hates, “a proud look” leads the list. The rest of the list has roots in that pride. One can't have a proud look without the sin of pride being present in a life
That's a list all we Christians could take a good look at and examine our own hearts.
However, we must note that over and over in the Gospels as we saw Jesus deal with His enemies. He always expressed love but hated the sin that seemed to rule in their lives.

Our God is a God of love. His will for us is that we love. When I love an enemy, it means spending a lot of time in prayer for that person. When I am praying much for that individual, I'm talking more to God and less to others. It means I'm not setting out to spread verbal venom. There are folks I love but things about them I don't like. That's going to be true of most of us as we deal with differences in personality and lifestyles. But God can even help us overcome those things as well if I'm willing for Him to do that work in my heart.

Despite all of the hate and apathy in the world and in many hearts, God's love can overcome any situation and help us conquer those negative feelings we feel toward others. It will have to be His work though. What is His heart's desire for us and what do when we are on the receiving end of another's hate? We find the answer in Matthew 5:43,44 when Jesus said:

Ye have heard that it hath been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and
hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you,
Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you.

So if you are a hater...get rid of it through God's power in you. If you don't have that power, ask Jesus to come into your life and save you from this and other sin. If you are the hated,

don't let that person(s) take over your inner life, which is easy to happen. Jesus made the job of the hated very clear...love, bless, do good and pray for that hater that may be lurking in your life. I understand the hate from a non-Christian as they know nothing of the love of Christ. Jesus told us to expect that from the world. I find it most difficult having to go through the hatred or apathy brought about by another Christian. God's family should never have to bear the modern title, DISFUNCTIONAL.

God won't hold us responsible for the hateful actions of another but will hold us responsible for our response to them. May we in Holy Spirit power be able to move beyond the pain another inflicts and stay on the high road where God wants us to be.

Father, give me victory that I may have a part in loving those who bear a hatred or apathy toward me. Help me to have a deep, sincere love for those members of Your family that I'm a part of. In Jesus precious name...Amen