December 26 Thought for the day.....being different is OK

Being a team player is not always easy. Many men especially have the "lone wolf" mentality. We are far better together, are able to accomplish so much more, and encourage the use of everyone's gifts when we work as a team. Paul stresses that in 1 Corinthians 12;12

"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ."

The word Paul uses for "many" in this verse describes both "huge quantities" as well as "great variety."  Paul is telling the church not only are there significant numbers in the church, each called by God with a specific purpose but there are multitudes of different types of giftings that are individually from God for the purpose and need of fulfilling the unity of the Body of Christ.

Some people believe that unity is when we all walk in lockstep together, acting and speaking exactly the same. Paul's description here is saying there are so many people and such a wide variety of gifts that the Body to be whole must make use of all of these people and gifts.

True unity does not mean that we all look and act the same. Instead, true unity is every person and every gift being fulfilled so that we are all unity in cause and passion. This is so strong that all hostilities and disagreements are set aside, and every gift, anointing, talent, personality is connected to honor and glorify God and to fulfill each of our destinies. The results are an amazing valuing and honoring of each other and God and an impact in the world that has never been seen.

I believe this is possible and that God has given the church a window of opportunity right now to make this happen. You are a gift and needful in my life and the life of the church as a whole. You are not expected to be anything or anybody other than who God called you to be, but you are expected to use all of that for the purpose of building up the Body and honoring God. 

December 23 Thought for the day...the real reason to celebrate

I love Christmas. It is a time of the year, where if kept in perspective, is truly the most joyous time. There is an anticipation among nearly everyone, of celebration. We read the story in Matthew and Luke and it comes to life. Today I want to share a different verse to remind us of the power of this story. 

Paul writes something a profound Christmas message to the Philippians in 2:7.

"but made Himself (Jesus) of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men."

Paul is verifying to us first, that before the baby was born in a manger, Jesus already existed. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have eternally existed before anything else was, God was!

"Made of no reputation", before the baby, Jesus in all his power and glory would not have been able to be in the presence of human beings. Paul is saying here that Jesus divested, relinquished, vacated certain things in order to come and live in human form or else mankind would not have been able to be around Him.

Christ literally "taking on the form", took from His own creation a form of humanity so He might be able to live among us. Not in just any form but that of a slave. The Almighty, all-powerful God who created everything surrendered glory to reveal His character, His heart, His love to all mankind.

He did this in the "likeness of men". Hebrews 4:15 explains why He did it this way. He not only took on the appearance of mankind but was like mankind in every way, being able to feel the same suffering and temptations we battle as well. He did it all so He could stand and take on all sin for us as our high priest.

That is the greatest gift of the season and a wonderful reason to celebrate regardless of what you may be going through. He really loves you!

December 22 Thought for the day....being kind

This should be an easy thing to do this time of year, Some times what happens in the midst of celebrating the birth of our savior the one who loved us enough to die for us, we lose the meaning. We can get short tempered, anxious, or even mean. Today I want us to keep kindness in mind.

In Ephesians 4:32 Paul writes this

"Be Kind to each other..."

This simple phrase will help our Christmas celebration to be so much more amazing. What Paul states with "be", our English doesn't quite express the full meaning. The word Paul uses signifies, constantly becoming, always being, in other words to always be in the process of becoming.

In this case what we are constantly becoming is "kind".  Paul chose the word, "chrestos" for kind here. It goes beyond what we think of as kind to also mean, useful, good, worthy, and benevolent. It is the same word that he used in describing the fruit of the Spirit in Galations 5:22.

A way to interpret this scripture that is totally in line with the meaning is, "If something is important to my loved one, I'll do my best to make it important to me."

Kindness is not something we generally grasp over night but it is here a command from God for us. It can be hard to keep this in mind with all the expectations we have, but a little kindness can trump much preparation and be remembered far longer as well.

Have a Merry Christmas and a kind one as well!

December 21 Thought for the day...handling the holidays

It is Christmas time, a time of great joy, excitement, and stress. Today's thought may help you deal with the stress of family and expectations.

Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians 14:40

"Let all things should be done decently and in order."

Paul's reference here is how things should be done in the church. I think that we can apply the same principles to everything that takes place over the holidays. So much of the stress we put ourselves through is because we don't honestly assess how we are feeling or speak lovingly and honestly to the family and friends we spend time with over the holiday.

Paul's use of the word "decently" in the Greek implies, being real, honestly and handling things properly. It is hard to be fake for a long period of time. We hurt our relationships when we are not real nor honest in a loving way.

The word Paul uses for the phrase "in order" means to be respectful, courteous, differential, and organized. If we can not allow things to get away from us, prior planning prevents poor performance. Being on edge will add to our stress and tension but taking the time to plan but not so intensely planned that you forget to treat family and guest with courtesy and respect.

In other words allow your times together to be real and honest organized but flexible enough that your family and guest are treated with courtesy.

Let your holiday be filled with peace, less hectic and more like Jesus. After all He is the "prince of peace" and wants your home filled with peace especially at this time of year

December 16 Thought for the day.....generosity

Christmas is an amazing time of year. The lights, trees, decorations, celebrations and even "Merry Christmas" is making a come back. The love and joy of the season is poured out in so many ways, generosity is definitely one of those ways it is shown. 

As Christians we should recognize that everything we have has come from God. He supplies freely and generously so we ought to not fear being generous. God will not be outdone by our generosity.

Paul stresses this idea in Romans 12:13

"distributing to the needs of the saints,...."

The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul challenges us to "distribute" the tense and the root of the word encourages us to continually give financially to help those less fortunate than we are. I know many in America feel they are poor. Around the world many in the third world survive on $3/day or less. Even the poor among us are much more blessed than even many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in India, Central Africa, China, and many places in South America. We are challenged to recognize we are blessed and should trust God to supply not fearing being generous.

The Holy Spirit stresses our main priority here too, the saints! We are to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ first as they are our family. It doesn't mean that we don't care for others but as 1 John 3;17,18 states 

"But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?  My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

God has been so generous to us, Paul is simply stressing that we have been blessed for a reason. I believe that reason is because He trusts us with blessing and expects that we will be genius to others.

Know that with every gift, every donation in the offering, every dollar in the kettle you are fulfilling a command from God and he will not be outdone by your generosity. Look for the blessing coming back.

December 15 Thought for the day....dealing with our work

We know that we are to love God heart, mind, soul, and strength. At church, with our families and friends. We get that, but how does that play out in the work place or with the work we do in life? 

Paul writes to the Romans this challenge...Romans 12:11

"Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." 

Everything we do reflects the Lord, our work ethic should do the same. I have been working since I was 12 years old and for much of my adult work career have worked two jobs. I was taught to always be an example of Jesus in everything I do. At the same time, I rarely missed a sporting event in which my kids were participating and never missed a band or choir concert and made the most of every minute with family. I believe if you work hard enough you will be a success, it doesn't mean you will have all the "things" of life but you will have blessed your family, and the Lord, and can hold your head up.

Paul had to deal with a poor work ethic in Rome. The word "lazy" reflects a lackadaisical, apathetic, "do nothing" attitude, with the inference of expecting things handed to them. It is the same word Jesus used for "wicked" in Matthew 25:26. When God gives a person health, gifts, wisdom and they also have responsibilities and are too lazy to work, they are "wicked". Wickedness has no place in the life of a Christ-follower whether it be serving the church or a boss.

"Work hard" is being "attentive", faithful, the idea of reacting quickly to the requirements or needs. It is being whole-hearted in your work or serving.

Serving the Lord enthusiastically - the KJV says "fervently", is a reference to "boiling" as if deep inside you are driven to perform everything you do with excellence. It implies always having the right attitude.

This is just as important as sharing your faith, because being a living example is an excellent step to allowing people to see Jesus, (Matthew 5:16)

December 14 Thought for the day.....dealing with loving one another

A number of years ago I pastored a church where many young men from difficult backgrounds started attending. I grew up with a "Brady Bunch" kind of family. Most of these young men had never known real unconditional love from a Father. Their lives were so different from mine but the way I was able to reach them was telling them, "I love you" and showing them my love for them was authentic. It radically changed our church. I believe this was Paul's challenge to the church in Romans 12:10

"Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another"

In the Greek, Paul's use of the phrase "kindly affectionate" means a love that is authentic, sincere, tender, and warm. This kind of love is expressed as friends that should love each other as family. He further stresses that point with "brotherly love". The Greek meaning behind the phrase is loving like a brother or sister.

This is tough in the American church, because we are taught to keep our space, to remain private, to not get involved, afraid to let people get too close for fear they won't like us. Paul pushes that mindset aside with the next phrase, " in honor giving preference". The idea here is that you love so much, you work to help others to succeed and rejoice when they do, you admire, esteem, respect someone so much that you only want the best for them.

Don't you wish church was like that? It doesn't start with someone else. It begins with you. Love authentically like we are family, look for and help others succeed, admire and respect everyone, and believe in them as if they are family. 

We each make the difference as we trust God enough to love one another.