jump to navigation

A Virtue You Have To Have… March 27, 2008

Posted by stevensc in Growth.
Tags: , , , , , , ,
1 comment so far

Well, Marilyn just left for 4 days and 3 nights at The Walk To Emmaus.  For those of you outside the southern Indiana area, the best way to describe this is a weekend experience that completely saturates the “pilgrims” with the love of Christ and His body.

It was hard for Marilyn to go though.  The longest she had been away from Josiah was just one night.  The only way she was able to leave was one foundational virtue…TRUST.

Trust is one of those virtues that is hard to get and priceless to have.  When you trust someone, you’re telling them that you believe that they will not attack your vulnerability.  In order to fully trust someone, you have to be vulnerable.  Too many of us never place our trust in the right people because we’ve placed our trust too many times in the wrong people.  These people betrayed our confidence…they took advantage of us during our biggest moments of vulnerability.  If that’s you, YOU MUST LEARN TO TRUST AGAIN!

It won’t happen overnight.  Remember, trust takes time.  But Christ demands our trust in Him.  Hebrews 10:38 tells us “the just shall live by faith:  but if any man draw back, my [God] soul shall have no pleasure in him.”  It’s tempting to pull back any time we’re given the slightest reason to doubt, but there’s no reward in it. 

So think about this.  How are you doing with trusting God with your…

  • Salvation?
  • Family?
  • Career?
  • Finances?
  • Future?

Marilyn had to trust me to take care of Josiah while she was gone.  She had to trust me to be faithful to her.  She had to trust God to protect us and care for us.  God wants to teach you how to trust again. :)

Partial Obedience March 26, 2008

Posted by stevensc in Growth.
Tags: , , , , , , ,
add a comment

“Rules are meant to be broken”.  That’s what a lot of people think these days.  But have you ever stopped to think about this life view from God’s perspective?  Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  That statement alone leads us to believe that there is no time limit.  If we love Christ, we do not say, “I’ll stop doing ___ today, but tomorrow is a new day.”  Being obedient is a continuous thing!

We’ve all been guilty of this.  But it’s SO important that we remain biblically faithful.  It would be great to think that Christ could easily overlook our continuing sin because we asked Him earlier to forgive us.  The old saying I always hear is “No one’s perfect!”  This is just a cop-out for those of us who refuse to look at the damage our sin can cause.  THE BOTTOM LINE IS SIN BRINGS A PENALTY!  Jeremiah 34 proves this out. 

Christians should not spend their time pointing fingers at the sin and shortcomings of others.  If we would instead spend that time on our face before a most Holy God, confessing our sin to Him, a spiritual REVIVAL would break out across our land!

“If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sins, and heal their land.”  Take some time in prayer today to ask God to clear your heart of all sin.  Partial obedience is not obedience.