Tag Archive | Colossians 3:13

The Freedom of Truth…

Jan13

It burdens my heart to see Christians ignoring their Bibles. It’s pretty obvious who’s behind that. Yep, the enemy is working overtime. I’ve written this before but it bears to be written again. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Everywhere, here in the US and all across the globe is evidence of his deception and manipulation. So how does this happen? I believe the answer is simple. And it is revealed in John 10:10. If he can steal, kill, or destroy God’s word from an individual, that individual’s faith will be compromised. For if we don’t feed ourselves on the Truth of God’s salvation, we become malnourished in our faith.

God’s word is where Truth resides. Without Truth, evil has no restraints. And when evil is not restrained, lies become truth and Truth becomes lies. For the enemy knows that when we know the Truth, his plans are thwarted.

I want to break this down to the individual level. Consider the problems we face. For example, when we have discord in our family relationships and need insight as to how to handle it, where do we go? Friends? Books? Social Media? The internet? Television? Movies? Music? The enemy makes sure we have a smorgasbord of options to choose from. And he will deliberately steer us in the opposite direction of Truth.

So here we are, people who call themselves Christian but are ignorant of God’s Truth. Yes, we too often turn to the patterns of this world. A world that is blind to God’s Truth. When we turn to the world for the solutions we need, it’s like the blind leading the blind. For instance, the world will tell us that we are the author of our own lives. That we should reject any advice from those who contradict what we want. Shut them out. Put up boundaries. Don’t let them in. The very people who love us the most are the ones we are influenced to turn from. Know why?

Because the Bible is going to refute the idea of self autonomy. How? By instructing us to forgive those who have hurt us. And by being willing to ask for forgiveness! By counseling us on how to treat each other and avoid conflict.The Bible might even point out the sin we are guilty of that has contributed to our family problem. God knows we need His wisdom to grapple with the pitfalls we encountered.  

Therefore, Satan’s goal is to separate us from what is True by making sure we are ignorant of it. Keeping us from spending time in the Bible is his default tactic. His goal is to imprison us with lies.

However, the only way to be set free of such bondage is to know the Truth. When we know the Truth, we will be set free.   

Follow Your Heart?

Aug26

This is a popular saying in our world today. Just about every form of public media promotes giving our hearts full reign in making our decisions. I can see where in a world that champions self-autonomy following our hearts makes sense. After all, aren’t we the best judge of what it takes to make us happy? And if we don’t make choices that will ensure our happiness, then who will?

Today’s counsel in Society tells us to be true to ourselves in order to become our best selves. Even if it means hurting those we love. We are persuaded that the kindest thing we can do for ourselves is to shut out any contrary ideas from others. Putting self first is the surest way to happiness! Or is it?

Eventually, this philosophy will begin to break down. We can’t suppose that serving self to the detriment of others is going to always work out for us. I mean people, like our families, do have their limits. The longer we keep our distance or shut them out, hope for restoration diminishes. We may continue to interact with them, but it ‘s usually only on a surface level. Is that the level of happiness we should be seeking?

Now, we all know that a relationship will not thrive without communication. There must be a give and take climate in any thriving relationship. There must be forgiveness of the grievances we have with one another. We must consider others needs and interests as much as our own.

There is a guide book that contains all we need to know to secure our happiness. One that will counsel us on how to achieve genuine and lasting happiness. And it reveals the truth about following our hearts. It also reveals the true workings of a happy heart.

So, if we shouldn’t follow our hearts, whose heart should we follow? Consider the fact that when we accept Jesus as our Savior, God gives us a new heart. A heart that can know true and genuine happiness. A heart that we can, in full confidence, follow and find true happiness.

Give your heart to God, then follow His heart!

Contentment…

Mar5

For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Philippines 4:11

Let your conduct be w/o covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

It’s taken me far too many years to learn the lesson of how to be content. Perhaps that’s why I’m feeling the urge to share this with you. Hopefully, it won’t take you as long as it has taken me.

I think the first thing that needs to happen is to realize that all that we have is from God. And not just material goods, but people, place, experiences and situations. If we view these from this perspective, it dramatically changes how we perceive them.

Being the self-serving, self-centered beings that we are, we open ourselves to all sorts of trauma if we see these things: material goods, people, place, experiences and situations as something we obtained ourselves. We won’t hold on to them too tightly if we see them as coming from God, but if we don’t see them this way, then we are bound up in accumulating things for our own pleasure. And we all have heard the familiar phrase, “the more we have the more it controls us.” It’s a liberated feeling to be thankful for what we have been given by God.

Now how does this apply to me and why I would want to share this with you?

I’m 76 years old. I’ve pretty much lived my life and am not obtaining much in the way of new things. I’m just more or less in a state of maintaining. I wouldn’t mind doing some major decluttering either. My future grows shorter as every day passes. One of the troubling things for me is the losses I am experiencing. Losses of family members, dear friends. Things wearing out, my body growing weaker, etc.

I’m still learning and that’s refreshing actually. One of the things I’m learning is to be content with what God has given me and the situations He has allowed me to experience. When I find myself judging someone (fiery dart) due to the pain they have caused me, I am learning (yes, present tense) to bear with them and forgive them as God as forgiven me. It puts the situation in a whole new perspective if I can manager to put that verse into action. Then I direct my attention to what God would have me do in regard to the negativity that exists between us. Takes my focus off myself and onto God.

Hope these truth verses help you as they are helping me.

Be content with what we have been given!