A Hug From Jesus

Remember when you were a kid and you did something wrong and you went to your parents and told them and they just wrapped you up in their arms and said, "That's OK...I love you"? Your mom or dad didn't know it, but they were lending their arms to Jesus for Him to give you a great big hug. Lend your arms to Jesus today and give your family a big hug from Him.

Obedience or Sacrifice?

I was listening to a podcast of a well-known and, generally, biblically-sound West Coast speaker/ minister/author. Something he said made me sit up and say, “ummmm…no”…He said (paraphrasing) that it doesn’t matter WHAT we do for God as long as we do SOMETHING; that, like a tolerant daddy, He’s just going to be happy that we did something for Him.

Sounds great, but it’s not biblical.

King Saul, for example, was given a specific task to do: Kill every man, woman, child and animal of a group of people with whom the Israelites were at war…a people that specialized, among other things, in child-sacrifice.

Saul ALMOST fulfilled his task. He kept the choicest animals for sacrifice and the king as a trophy. And he was so proud of what he had done for God.

What he had done was rebellious and disobedient. And he was called to task for it. God requires willing obedience more than sacrifice.

I’m not trying to be legalistic by suggesting that your works will buy you into heaven…they won’t. As born-again Christians our salvation is assured.

HOWEVER, our heavenly rewards ARE based on how we conduct ourselves in this life…and that includes doing what we are CALLED to do, no what we WANT to do.

Listen...

When we are confronted with our own powerlessness in a situation, we learn to rely on an all-powerful God.

We find ourselves in situations where we have no control whatsoever---on the job, in our marriages, in on-coming traffic, the immensity of a tornado bearing down on us…

We face eternity in a new grey hair in our beards, a new wrinkle around the eyes, the smile on a grandchild’s face. God is in all this.

God exists in the fury and in the joy, in the storm and in the whisper.

Listen…

DON'T JUDGE ANOTHER'S SERVANT!

HEY! I’M SAVED! I’m a Christian and I don’t speak in tongues a lot! I don’t raise my hands often and I don’t dance in the aisles. I rarely, if ever, fast and if you judge my salvation based on that, SHAME ON YOU! You are a Pharisee, a snake, a viper. You chase people FROM Christ! You drag them to hell demanding that they follow rules that rob them of their freedom in Christ!

The Gospel According to Spaghetti Westerns

Clint Eastwood in "High Plains Drifter" shared a profound moment that so many people STILL don't get. 

For those unfamiliar with the movie, a drifter comes into town and is hired by the town to help them kill 3 men that are coming to take vengeance on the town for setting them up and getting them sent to prison. 

After forming a town militia and having them shoot at dummies, the town dwarf asks Clint Eastwood's character, "what do we do after we kill them?" Eastwood looked at him like he was an idiot and said, "live with it". 

Welcome to acceptance of personal responsibility.

A 19th century Jewish mystic

A 19th century Jewish mystic, whose name escapes me, a Ukrainian rabbi, said that he learned the love of God from a drunken peasant. He was traveling in the wintertime and took refuge in an inn where two drunks were hugging each other and expressing their undying love for one another when one stopped and asked the other, "What hurts me?" The second drunk asked, "How should I know what hurts you?" The first drunk said, "If you don't know what hurts me, how can you love me?" Jesus knows what hurts you...

One Body, Many Parts

The apostle Paul compares the Church to the human body, one denomination is the hand, another the feet, and still another the butt.
The Pentecostals, Assemblies of God and other charismatic groups know how to worship. They worship like David worshiped. I'm convinced that, like David, they'd strip down to their skivvies if they could, since it happened once in the Bible (makes it scriptural, right?).
The Methodists and Presbyterians have the order of things. They keep worship running smoothly and on time.
Episcopalians, Anglicans and Roman Catholics have the pomp and ceremony that helps to inspire awe during worship.
And Baptists have the market on community outreach and making a newcomer feel as welcome as a prodigal son.
But it's the baby Christians of ANY denomination who have the heart of God, I think. Baby Christians are like people with Downs Syndrome. They love unconditionally...they love like Jesus.
You can worship long and loud and sing your praises to God, you can keep everything running like a well-oiled machine, with incense and alter boys, but if you don't have love, its all for nothing.
You need to get hugged by Jesus, you go find a baby Christian