Carrot or Stick?

The old farmer says there are two ways you can motivate a mule. Either get behind him with a stick and prod him to go the way he should go, or get in front of him, and encourage him along with a juicy carrot.

God told Israel in Deuteronomy 30 that He has set a blessing and a curse in front of them. God set a land flowing with milk and honey ahead of them, encouraging them to follow Him and be faithful to only Him. He also had Pharoah, a bunch of chariots, and slavery behind them.

He asks us to circumcise our hearts, set our soul apart for Him, observe His way (behave), and He will encourage us with blessings, and prosperity, and joy. He also has consequences for sin: following after other gods like money, prestige, immorality. Consequences, we’ve all had enough experience with to know to avoid.

We can apply this to our style of spiritual leadership, especially in the area of parenting. Proverbs says that if we love our children we will discipline them. The rod or correction is mentioned more than once. But, we must also encourage our charges. We need to be out in front, doing the right thing, and cheer leading for our families.

Think about your own life. In a boss or parent or spouse, what ratio of encouragement and criticism would you prefer? Let’s be Barnabas, sons of encouragement most of the time. But, let’s not neglect loving correction and discipline to keep those under our care on the path of blessing and prosperity.

A Priestly Perspective

I’ve been enjoying listening to Deuteronomy. This record from Moses gives a priestly perspective on God’s dealing with the nation of Israel, and the giving of God’s law or standards. In chapter 5, we get the second record of the 10 commandments. You know “do this, and don’t do this and that.” Any honest examination by the sincere seeker convinces us that we all fall short, or miss the mark on one, if not all of these simple rules.

Chapter 6, though, hints at the secret to being right with this relational God. This records the greatest commandment as affirmed by Jesus to the young scribe in the gospel. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” If we love God, our heart will lead us to please Him.

Finally, there is the challenge to parents to teach God’s standards and laws to our children and encourage them to follow Him. Or, in other words, pass on the secrets to a healthy relationship with our Maker.

Realize that we don’t measure up. Have a loving relationship with the true God of the Bible. Teach your children and others how to do the same. Gee, it seems like the Gospel to me way back in the Hebrew Scriptures. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

3 G Theology

You’ve heard of 3 G technology. Let’s talk about 3 G Theology. I heard a teacher sharing that the message of the book of Romans could be broken down into 3 phases, and 3 G’s. They are GUILT, GRACE, and GRATITUDE.

Man was not supposed to live with guilt. But Romans lets us know that we are all guilty. “There’s none righteous, not even one.” “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Who hasn’t broken one of the 10 commandments: Never told a lie? Never taken something that hasn’t belonged to you? Not wanted something that rightfully belonged to someone else?

But Romans then tells us that we are saved, not by works, earning our way, but by GRACE. God’s unmerited favor. “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Jesus did what we couldn’t: Live a sinless life. He paid a price we couldn’t, sacrificing a perfect life to take our punishment; then applying his work to our account, our sentence.

Once we accept that gift of grace, our adoption into God’s family, how do we then live: On our own power, in our own strength? No, we let Him live his life through us. We put off our nature, and put on His will and life. “Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” And, we then live a life of GRATITUDE. “You yourselves are (now) full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to encourage one another.”

Live bravely in your 3 G Theology!

A Life Well Lived

The funeral director stopped counting after 1100 people passed through the visitation line at her visitation. Her oldest son said, we are losing another of our role models. When she went home to be with her Lord, she left a big hole in her husband’s, her four children’s, her seven grandchildren’s and four great grandchildren’s and hundreds of friend’s hearts.

She was a first grade and kindergarten teacher who taught dozens of children to read, hold their pencils correctly, and line up and behave. Another said, she raised the bar, on what it means to live a successful life, giving to others. Always with a gift for loving and comforting others, it was fitting that her funeral was on Mothers’ Day, 2010.

She reminded me of what’s important in life, the legacy one really wants to leave, of lives touched and love extended. We honored and celebrated her life. So for those special, godly women you know, I encourage you to provide for, protect, lift up and honor them while they are with us.

One of the two pastors who spoke about her and her love of her Savior quoted Proverbs 31:

An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil All the days of her life.

She looks for wool and flax And works with her hands in delight.

She is like merchant ships; She brings her food from afar.

She considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She girds herself with strength And makes her arms strong.

She senses that her gain is good; Her lamp does not go out at night.

She stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hands grasp the spindle.

She extends her hand to the poor, And she stretches out her hands to the needy.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet.

She makes coverings for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.

She makes linen garments and sells them, And supplies belts to the tradesmen.

Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future.

She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:

“Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.”

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.

Are you fat?

Since the New Year's Resolutions, many have been trying to drop a few pounds, and now that Spring Break season is here, and people are thinking about their swim suit body.... The last thing they want to do is be fat.

But you're suppose to be a FAT Christian!

(F)aithful - Believing God, His Son, and His WORD, and exercising your faith to do more...

(A)vailable - Are you available to God, or too busy on your own agenda?

(T)eachable - A most valuable trait in both the secular and spiritual world. Can the Holy Spirit move you up an onward.

Or are you stuck in old fleshy habits. Are you a good follower, are you open to being a Discipler? Your ID?

Are you FAT?

Ever been held captive?

Here’s an article from God’s Daily Promise I thought was interesting. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to save that which was lost (us), but that He would also lead the captives free from that which imprisons them.

Have you ever struggled with a sin that ensnared and held you captive?

Have you ever been imprisoned?

Don't forget about those in prison. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, as though you feel their pain in your own bodies.

Hebrews 13:3 NLT

Tell me how much you know of the suffering of your fellow men, and I will tell you how much you have loved them.

Helmut Thielicke

Solidarity in Suffering

At any given time, many of God's saints are in prison. The prison may be literal, or it may be a product of circumstances. It can be financial debt, a broken relationship, a physical ailment, or any other consuming situation.

A huge problem in the church is when Christians look at their imprisoned brothers and sisters and assume that God has not favored them. Paul probably experienced such a phenomenon. We read his prison epistles and marvel at his suffering for the cause. But many of his contemporaries may not have marveled. They may have seen his trouble as a sign of God's disfavor and wondered why someone with so much potential had fallen to such depths.

God's prisons are full of His loved ones. He uses those experiences mightily, as He did with Paul, Joseph, John the Baptist, John the disciple, and numerous other biblical examples. In fact, many of those whom He used in powerful ways have experienced an imprisonment, captivity, or loneliness ordained directly by Him.

Are you in prison? You are probably not literally behind bars, but your circumstances may make you feel as if you are. Don't despair; it will not last. It is ordained by God and is designed either for your current witness or future usefulness. He is refining you and molding you into His image, the exact likeness of His crucified Son.

Adapted from The One Year® Walk with God Devotionalby Chris Tiegreen, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), entry for April 22.

Dead or Alive?

We know that when people told Jesus that He was too late, and that a girl was already dead, He told them that she was only asleep. Then they laughed at Him.

Then He raised her from the dead. And they stopped laughing, and started praising God.

God considers people who don't belong to Him through faith in Jesus as being already spiritually dead. But considers saints who have physically died to be alive to Him.

Here's some verses on the death of a believer.