Am I Perfect? Hardly!

If you were to look at Brittani McCalister, she would look like an average teenager. But she is anything but average. Since starting her education in kindergarten, Brittani has attended 2,340 consecutive days of school - and in that stretch of perfect attendance, she was never late - not even once! In my book, that's almost unbelievable!! During her high school commencement, she was recognized for her outstanding accomplishment! And she should have been! That kind of perfect attendance is rarely seen today!

Perfection. This is something that we all lack. In fact, we are far ... very far ... from perfection. As a result, our relationships with others are marred by hurts (most unintended), miscommunication and misunderstandings. This is why it is vital that we learn to practice what the Apostle Paul calls us all to practice in Colossians 3:13 when he writes, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Bearing with one another and forgiving one another will go a long way toward helping us to experience and enjoy the relationships that God desires for us.

So ... the next time someone irritates you, remember that they are not perfect - but neither are you!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

When Winning Just Might Be Losing!

Last week as I was reading the newspaper, a story about a small rural town in South Dakota grabbed my attention. In this town of 3,000 residents, someone bought a winning ticket in the Powerball lottery worth .... are you ready? .... $232.1 million! And the name of the town? Winner, SD! At first I chuckled to myself as I read this and saw the irony in it. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered, "Does winning the lottery really make one a 'winner?'"

According to a number of Internet sites, a sizeable portion of million dollar plus lottery winners eventually file bankruptcy (the % cited ranges from 25 % to 80%). My point is not to determine an actual percentage of just how many big lottery winners go broke - but to simply point out a truth that all of us need to realize. MONEY DOES NOT GUARANTEE HAPPINESS! In fact, the Bible clearly teaches that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10).

Those of us who claim allegiance to Jesus Christ must grasp the truth spelled out by Paul just prior to the verse I just quoted. Listen (and APPLY!) what he writes to Timothy (and by extension to all of US!):

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that" (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

This is not all that easy to apply in our materialistic world -- but by God's grace and for HIS glory - let's strive to do so!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

To Be Known By God!

"We love because he first loved us."
(1 John 4:19)

This verse (along with many others throughout the Bible) teach us that knowing God is a matter of grace. In other words, our relationship with God is one in which HE takes the initiative. And this is how it must be. God in His infinite (read "unlimited and unlimitable") holiness is far above us. And we have forfeited any claim on Him and His favor through our rebellion and sin. So bottom line, we do not make friends with God - HE makes friends with us. Please take a moment and read this excerpt from J.I. Packer's wonderful classic, Knowing God:

This is a momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort - the sort of comfort that energizes - in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see (and I am glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. We cannot work these thoughts out here, but merely to mention them is enough to show how much it means to know, not merely that we know God, BUT THAT HE KNOWS US!" (Knowing God, p. 37 - emphasis mine).

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

When People Look at YOU - Do They See Joy?

In 1 Peter 1:8 we read the following words:

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy."

Peter is writing to followers of Jesus Christ. And he makes this statement of fact that they are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy. He simply took for granted that this was the experience of his readers. Why? Because, simply put, it should be so. Read the verses that immediately precede v.8:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you greatly rejoice . . . " (1 Peter 1:3-6a)

Note all the blessings that we enjoy as a result of God's GREAT MERCY which he has so generously and richly showered upon us: a new birth into a living hope, an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, divine protection until the end! If we truly understand the scope of these blessings --- there will be no doubt --- we will be "filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy!"

So I encourage you to take a moment and re-read vv. 3-6a above -- and greatly rejoice in what God has done, is doing and will do forever for you -- all by HIS grace and for HIS glory! And allow His Spirit to fill you with this inexpressible joy -- and allow that joy to spill out into all of life's arenas!!!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

How's Your Financial Health?

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson has been in the news this week. Not due to any of his exploits (good or bad), but due to the tragic accidental death of his four year old daughter. Police reported that Exodus Tyson died at a Phoenix hospital a day after her neck apparently got caught in a cord dangling from a treadmill at her Phoenix home. Like I said, "a tragic accident!"

Now in the course of some of this news exposure of Tyson, I happened to read that at the height of his boxing career Tyson had earned over $140 million in a two year stretch. Not a bad pay check!!! Yet in 2003 he filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court! This demonstrates that it is not how much you make that determines your financial health -- but rather what you do with what you have! Far too many Americans are poor handlers of money. If you are struggling financially right now, let me encourage you to visit Crown Financial Ministries' web site at http://www.crown.org/. There you will find a wealth of resources that could help you get your financial house in order - IF you apply what they suggest.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Faith the Antidote to Fear

I grew up in a small row house in the city of Harrisburg, PA. And for a family of seven ... I felt that smallness every day (the only good thing about the smallness of the house was the smallness of the front and back yards - made mowing the lawn a very quick chore - even for a fifth grader)! Our house was two stories with a basement. The basement was finished ... but for me as a youngster, I found it to be somewhat scary. In fact, I went through a stretch of time where almost every night I had a nightmare .... the exact same nightmare. In the dreams I would find myself in the basement (at night of course) when suddenly from the shadows the boogeyman would come for me (the boogeyman was always a nondescript shadow of sorts ... so I never knew quite what he was -- I just knew he was to be avoided at all cost!). As I would make a beeline for the stairs the lights would go out. In each dream I would always make it about half way up the steps when I would begin to feel myself being pulled back down into the darkness. At this point I would begin to scream for help -- but alas, no sound would come out of my mouth no matter how hard I tried to scream. At this point I would wake up with my little heart pounding and my little forehead soaked in sweat. I am glad to say that I finally got through that period in my life ... even to the point of being willing to convert the basement into my twin brother's and my bedroom when my little brother came along.

Now that fear of the boogeyman was quite irrational. We all know that there is no such creature! And just where I learned about the boogeyman I cannot recall. But fear is often like that. Many fears (not all, but probably most) are irrational. We fear what we do not need to fear. And the reason we are so prone to fear the various "boogeymen" in our lives - is that our faith is weak. Friends the antidote to fear is faith! When we are trusting our God (and when one considers who God is and what he has promised - why not trust him?) and faith is filling our minds and our hearts, there will be no room for fear to take residence!

Sooooooo -- today say to Jesus (as the disciples said in Luke 17:5), "Increase our (MY) faith!" For as your faith increases ... your fears will decrease. And that's a very good thing!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

The Smallest Words about Christ Are NEVER Wasted!

John Piper, in his book, Finally Alive, tells the following story to illustrate the fact that even our smallest words about Jesus can have a powerful influence on those who do not know Christ.

A young woman told the story as she was joining our church of how Christ saved her. She said that she knew a good bit about Christianity because of her parents but had thrown it all away as a teenager and was on her own. One day she and her friends were walking down the beach as several handsome guys approached. Her thought was to impress them and be thought attractive and cool. As the guys passed, one of them called out, "Praise Jesus!" Now probably later that night those guys said to themselves, "That was a lame witness. Why didn't we stop and talk?" Little did they know that these simple words, "Praise Jesus," pierced her heart and sent her later to her knees and to the Savior. There are no wasted testimonies!" (John Piper, Finally Alive, pp. 183-184).

Keep this in mind as you go through your day. Determine to speak up for Jesus to someone today ... and tomorrow ... and the next day! Remember - no word for Jesus is ever wasted!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj