Think Again

 

Last weekend my 10 year old daughter, was sitting playing with my Iphone playing a game called Pocket God. Cool name and an interesting game for about 3 minutes! Anyway, I wanted to use my phone, but she wanted to play a game. Oh, I have an idea; she can play the Nintendo DS I bought for her birthday! So, problem solved right? Wrong! She's not done, and doesn't have 'pocket god' on her 'DS'. Awe… So, she gets an attitude at the thought of having to go get the 'ds' I bought her, from the room I pay for, in the house I pay for, etc. It sure made me feel like she was thankful for all of the cool stuff I give her as she yelled and stomped towards her room. No…it really didn't make me feel good. So I had to go help her adjust her attitude…think again. I can laugh about it now, but not then.

I Read something this morning that made me think again.

Psalm 51 starts off just the way I think every good Psalm should start. "The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks… yeah, (speak Lord, speak Lord) and summons the earth… Hmmm, isn't summons a legal term? I think so. Well, it started to go south quick. It becomes clear that God is ticked off, and He wants to call court into session! He is the judge and has a contract dispute that He wants corrected.

There is no rebuke concerning offerings and sacrifices, no problems at all. But, He created all that is being offered and sacrificed to Him. Like He made everything we enjoy, He is responsible for the blessing of the job we have and the money we make that we so faithfully give a portion of to God's work. He has no problem with that stuff. He even says, "The world is mine, and all that is in it". So, what is the problem? Thanklessness…everyday; they totally forgot to give thanks and then totally forgot God. In forgetting they were unable to honor God. A mind full of 'forget' won't honor God, but a mind full of 'thanks' will! God was angry that the people were still trying to get the benefit of the contract and promises without even remembering the God with whom the contract was made!

The judge then brings all the charges and evidence of the broken contract. Where is the jury? The verse that really stood out to me was 21. He says, "...you thought I was altogether like you." Think again! Just because God doesn't say or respond right away to a when I look to money or job or friend as my source, idolizing the created, doesn't mean that He is ok with it. That may be something that I would do, but not God. I can imagine that God looks, thinks, talks, etc like me, but I'd be wrong. He makes it plain and simple. He's…not…like…me.

(Verse 22) So to forget God will have "you tore up from the floor up" You didn't know that was in the Bible did you? (Me either)

Offering thanks daily is a catalyst for obedience to God. It helps us to have God awareness, to remember Him and in turn we honor Him because of a proper perspective. He wants us to look to Him, to call on Him, to depend on Him daily to…think again.

 

 

Free to serve

Anson

Hard Times for the Innocent

Hard times are here, but how long will they last? No one knows, but God. For several months my pastor, Dean Curry, (http://www.life-center.org/) has been on a campaign to bring encouragement to those he influences and prompting us to do likewise. A couple weeks ago he shared a thought that had invaded his heart during the wee hours of the morning. For some reason he likes to twitter his thoughts when everyone else is asleep. Anyway , I enjoyed this one. He saud somethong like this, "While many are anticipating breakdown, why not look for breakthrough!" That's my paraphrase. Ironically, the very same moment I received the message from him I was reading Psalm chapter 37. As I got to the 18th verse this is what I read:
"Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent, and they will receive an inheritance that lasts forever." Now I was pumped about that and it would have been sufficient, but I continued on to verse 19 and read: "They will not be disgraced in hard times; even in famine they will have more than enough." I stopped to get a good perspective of what was being said and see if I could claim this promise for myself. After reading again I got stuck at one word...innocent (NLT). So I looked at the NIV to see if this version had a word that was a little more inclusive than innocent. It got worse...blameless! Oh well, never mind, it sounded good. But I couldn't stop there. I still wanted to be included in this one. I asked, "Lord who are the innocent, the blameless?"

Well, I don't believe it was a coincidence that I listened to a message while I was out running that same morning from Greg Boyd called Return to Innocence. Straight out of Luke 18:15-17, Jesus talked about the innocent ones, the little children. He said that if i want to ebter the Kingdom i had to be like a child. I have to be like a little child in my faith; looking to God as the source, the model, for my satisfaction, my everything!

I am to believe without condition what God declares about me in His Word and His actions. For God loved the world so much, He sent Jesus to die for me and everyone else in this world. All of this so that we could be declared the innocent, not because we are without fault, but because Jesus is without fault. When I believe and accept this by faith, He is in me and I am in Him. God doesn't see me as the innocent one but His son Jesus in me as the innocent one. Now that is a deal!

I receive the promise of an inheritance that lasts forever, no disgrace in hard times and more than enough during famine because my Father, the source of everything good sees me as INNOCENT/BLAMELESS through His own Son, JESUS!

Free to serve
Anson

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Convictions

Truthfully, I am not the most honest person I know. I get myself into situations that are embarrassing, incriminating, foolish, etc and the last thing I want to do is be caught looking like an idiot. So there are times when I lie, rarely to others but to myself and to God. I can only admit this because I had an epiphany; I've always wanted to use that word, but never thought I had a significant enough reason, until yesterday. 

                One of my amazing children made a mistake when calling from a classmate’s phone. When I asked whose phone they were using to call, stuttering and 'huh?' began. They gave me a name and I went with it, but my intuitive wife didn't. So, she looked up the said person's number and strangely enough, not one of the numbers matched! Sure the number could have been changed, but not likely. So my wife suggested I do a "call back", so I did. When the phone was answered, there was laughter and music and all the things parents don't want to hear when they are trying to get to the bottom of a child's questionable decision making. Again I asked, "Whose phone are you using?" Again with the "huh" thing. (Gets old quick) "Whose phone are you using?" Strangely the name sounded different in gender... BUSTED! 

It was unfortunate for someone that I had been immersed in Deuteronomy for the past week and a half. This lie was about to be handled the Old Testament way. Fortunately, I had a little time before I could get to them and a little voice prompted me to pray before I did. That little voice belonged to my wife. I took a few minutes to whine about what I had to endure with these lying and questionable decisions of a teenager. Then I took a few minutes to listen to another quiet voice. That voice quickly brought back some vivid pictures of a man who has thought worse thoughts, made poorer choices, done worse things, and lied to others to cover my butt. On top of that I imagined how many times I have told myself that I was justified in doing so because of what someone else's reaction would be. Then came the epiphany, If I want my children to have the convictions I give, they must be the convictions I live. I want integrity to be the norm in our home, which means integrity must be the norm in my heart...

 

A forgiven dad,

Anson

The Danger of Knowing Just Enough

A few weeks ago my wife bought a new laptop and was trying to sync up her blackberry and also transfer some info between sd cards. She seemed to be having some challenges so of course she asked me to help, since i know so much about computers and blackberrys (not really). Anyway, I am always willing to help out wherever and whenever I can. I quickly took over the process and scanned through some of the on screen info. Although it would have taken another two minutes, I clicked 'next' until I came to a page that said 'restore'. Where I come from, restoration is a good thing so... I assured Trisha that this was the way to go and remember the look she gave me and the words she said, "if you mess up my phone..." nothing else was said and I can only imagine what she hadn't said! So with tap of the index finger to right click, the irreversible process had begun. I quickly arose from the couch to begin my nightly routine before bedtime. As I was brushing my teeth I walked back to the livingroom to see how things were going. She had disconnected the phone and was clicking and scrolling away with great anticipation. Suddenly, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in amazement? No in utter frustration... "where are my text messages?" With the sonicare buzzing away, I shrugged my shoulders and sheepishly grinned. What had I done? If I had only taken the time to know a little more, I could have served her better. It would have been an investment in our relationship. Instead, I only knew enough to be dangerous.

In describing what the kingdom of God is like, Jesus told a story that is similiar to this, but with far greater consequence. In Matthew 25:14-30, there was a man who was taking a long journey and called three of his servants together to entrust them with his money. He gave responsibility to them based on their abilities. Two of the servants took the money, invested and doubled the money they were given. One of the servants buried the money and called it a day. After the long journey, the man came back and wanted to settle accounts with the servants. The two who had recieved more money based on their ability first declared to the master "you gave", then I invested, I earned double. The master was elated, called them good and faithful servants, celebrated them and gave them even more. When the master inquired of the third servant, the servant responded this way "I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate". In other words, you don't give, you take away! The master then called him a "wicked and lazy servant"! The master's heart had been totally misrepresented.