A Story for you

I have a picture story for you. Are you ready? 

It is Christmas morning, there are a few presents around the tree. Not a lot, but what the family could afford. The mother is a single mother, she doesn't have a lot of money, but managed to save just enough to buy some presents for her kids. She had to cut back on everything, what she ate, what she did so that she could afford those things. She would take the time that she generally would have free time and she used that time to collect cans that people throw away, just looking for a little extra money. She did this for several months and with that little extra she earned she thought she would be able to give her kids some nice presents. It wasn't much, but it was more than she could have done before. It was a tough year on her, but she wanted to make it special.

The kids came down and saw the presents under the tree and the first thing they said was "Is that all???". The kids took the gifts they had and opened them, the mother sat there broken hearted, because she had tried to give them what they needed. The kids opened the gifts, they didn't thank her, they complained about the gifts she had gotten them. The presents were opened, the tree was empty underneath and the mother sat there looking at how everything was left. The gifts were just thrown around, no care of the hard work she had done to get those gifts, no care for the very gifts they were. They were not much, but they were more then those kids had. The mother was left feeling alone, hurt and she had nothing to show for all the work, not even a thank you or a card, she had nothing. 

You may read this story and think oh that poor mother, oh those spoiled kids. They didn't see the bigger picture. Today I want you to ponder, am I like those little kids? God has given us life, He has given us a new day and He has given us so much. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 He says "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Are you regularly giving God thanks for what He has given you? Or are you asking Him for more, not content in what you already have? 

Its a heart issue, the devil wants us to complain, be negative, find the negative in the very thing that God has given us every day. Isn't it amazing, if it is raining we complain, but without the rain we would not have water to drink. Or we complain because gas is so high priced, but if we are complaining about gas, we have a car to drive. Instead of looking at the negative in everything, change your prospective to see what God has given you. Thank Him for it, because without Him we would not be here. Isn't it time to stop feeding the Devil and start praising God? 

What does God want from me?

Have you ever thought about what Jesus Christ wants from you? I think that is a very good question to ask, because we are the representation of Jesus Christ. What does it mean to be a Christian? What sets us apart from the rest of the world?

It says in Romans 10:9 "If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." But than what? Is that all it means to be a Christ follower? I believe that is all that people think, hey I declared He is Lord, I believed in my heart and that is all it is, but what does Jesus say? In Matthew 22:37 "Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.'" And then in John 14:15 Jesus says to us "If you love me, keep my commands" If we love Him, like He calls us to do, we will keep His commands.

We must be willing to put God first, if you love Me, you will keep my commands. That is pretty straight forward, because when we love Jesus the most, it is no longer about I, but about Christ in me. We want to honor Him, we want to bring Him glory by our lives. We want to do the very thing He calls us to do, because He is the most important person to us, because He is number 1. I am sure you have heard many Christians say they love God, but in the very same breath the swear, they take the Lords name in vein, they want to fit in the crowd, they want to look good to others. But Jesus said to them, if you love Me, you will keep my commands. 1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them." Do not love the world, that is pretty clear, but we are in this world, do you love yourself more than you love God. Are you more concerned about yourself, how you feel, then how God feels? That is love of the world.

We are a self driven society, it is all about me. No longer is it about the things of God. It is about what I want, where I want to go, who I want to be with, what makes me feel good. But Jesus is very clear when he said in John 14:15 "If you love me, keep my commands." In Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

Question for you, are you putting Jesus 1st in your life or are you more worried about yourself? What is driving you today, is it Jesus's love or something totally different? Do your life state you a Christ follower or just like the world? Hard questions, but being a Christian means standing out from everyone else, it means being different, it means not doing what they do, but doing what Jesus calls us to do. The message is clear, in our marriages, in our relationships, in our work place and so on, is it about God or about you?

A Beautiful Home Or Is It?

On the corner of a made up street in a made up town was a beautiful home. The owner was always meticulous making sure the bushes were cut, the gardens had the most beautiful fragrant flowers. The paint on the house was in perfect order, the windows well kept. The lawn is always cut to the perfect length and there are no clippings left anywhere. The house looked like those that you see in a magazine, it was incredible how beautiful it looked. It seemed the owner took great pride in how beautiful it was and made sure that the people that looked at the house would say it was beautiful. He was so concerned with it, it took up most of his free time, he was lost in the concern of what people thought of him, by how his house looked.

However one day a neighbor boy was selling candy. He went door to door ringing the door bells. He got to the mans home, the boy saw the beauty of the outside and careful reached for the doorbell. It rang, he stood there and waited for the door to open. He thought with such beauty on the outside, it must be spotless on the inside. He waited another moment the anticipation was building to see what the house looked like on the inside. He heard a lock turn and the man opened the door. The boy said "hello sir, I am selling candy bars for my school. Would you like to buy one?" The man looked down at the boy and said "Yes, but I must go get money." The boy had the opportunity to see inside.

The first thing he noticed was a terrible smell coming from inside and then he saw the stacks of newspaper cluttering every inch of the hallway, there was but a path to get through. He also noticed the walls were cracked and chipping, their were water stains on the walls. and just garbage piled all over. He couldn't believe the state of the home from the outside to the inside. After the man paid for the candy bar, he closed the door.

The boy walked away pondering about how many other homes were like that. They are well maintained on the outside, but inside they were in ruins.

We are much like that house, we can be well maintained on the outside, we look like we have it all together, we look the part, we act it, but on the inside we are a mess. We worry about what others think of us more than what God thinks of us. God sees the heart, He knows what we are thinking and He knows that the outside is just a facade. We are in fact living a lie, we are not only lying to ourselves and others, we are trying to lie to God. But we are not hiding from God, we need to be more worried about what God thinks of our lives, then what others think of it. Is it time we start working on the heart issues? What does your heart care about more God or others?