Did You Ever Wonder....

 ....if you sinned just one too many times? If your sin was so great that God would not forgive you? If you were a bad person, not worthy of God's favor? 

If indeed God could not love you?

If you have ever felt that way Friend, I have good news for you.

Jesus did this for you!

It took 1 cross and 3 nails.

But it also reqired the death of an innocent man.

He did it for you.

And me.

Because:

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever should believe on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16.

There is nothing that we can do to earn it.

And likewise, for those of us that believe on him, there is no way that we can lose God's free gift.

His love is not conditional.

And neither is his forgiveness

It is there for the asking.

No matter what we have done.

No matter what we are doing.

Whem we go to him with a humble heart,

he is there.

Ready to forgive

Ready to forget

Thanks for coming by today, Friends.

God bless you today and always

The Anger of a Holy God (part 4)

 I have posted on anger before. There is way too much of it going around these days. The world seems to be spinning off into madness. As Christians we wonder and even ask God, 'When will all of this end?" "When will you come back and take us out of here?" "Why aren't you stopping it?"

We don't know the answer to our questions. We only know what God's Word says. And it is best if we learn to trust him.

Because some day he will come back and end it all.

In the meantime, we are left here with the madness and sometimes our own anger. Having to deal with what we ourselves don't always understand.

Anger at the stuff going on in our homes, communities and in the world. What do we do with it? Other than trusting God, I mean. Because it can pop up at the most inopportune moments.

Jesus is our example. As loving and forgiving as he was and is, he has and still does get angry.

And so can and do we. At all the injustice of what goes on around us. I don't believe that he sits on his throne in heaven and is calmly watching what goes on down here without having any emotion about it. 

The difference is, he is God. We are not. But we too can be angry. It is just that the bible teaches us to not let the sun go down on our anger. Ephesians 4:26

How do we do that and keep going. We can't just let things go Can we?

I found a good article on it that I feel really helps spell out and deal with anger. You can put the title in your search engine should you want more information about it. I think they offer some real good suggestions.

5 Practical Ways of Gaining Control of Anger As A Christian 

Anger is a strong emotion. But we can have a handle on it if we choose to. God wants us to be a joyful people because if we are angry all the time and people see only that side of us, why would they want to become Christians?

Let's face it, they wouldn't. 

It is better to be a joyful person for many reasons. And one of those is that joy in the Lord gives us strength. Nehimiah 8:10

A good way to stay ahead of anger, don't you think? Because I don't believe that joy and anger can exist in us at the same time. And one of them has to go for the other of them to be there. If only for a time moment or a time.

Not that we can't become angry, but knowing how to get deal with it and get past it, offers the hope of reuniting our spirits with God again and taking on his spirit of joy.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. May your day be joyful and blessed

The Anger of a Holy God (part 3)

I don't know if you have ever gone to a church where someone there was doing something that was evil. Like as just an example, dipping into the offerings perhaps. Or a "teacher" that might be doing something to young children that was despicable. 

If you have, and if that person was caught, how did it make you feel? Angry no doubt. Maybe even so mad you wanted to throw something and maybe even take revenge against the ones responsible. 

Well, Jesus got angry at some people in the temples one day. They weren't doing either of the examples I suggested above. But never-the-less, what they were doing, did not make Jesus happy. That is for sure.

 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. Mark 11:15-17

Oh yes, Jesus was angry that day. Perhaps we can think that the comparison between that event and someone harming children today is well....no comparison at all. And yet,  the fact that it is in the Bible does show us a side of Jesus that while perhaps not seen so much, it is still there. 

Indeed, there were times that his anger did come out.

 I do not believe it is always wrong to be angry. And there are some scripture passages that prove that. Come back tomorrow and we will look at what the Bible has to say on the subject.

Thanks for coming today. God bless!

 

The Anger of a Holy God (part 2)

The anger of Jesus didn't just stop with his disciples that tried to keep the children from him. He also had it with some religious leaders of the day.

He had asked them if they believed that it was okay to heal someone on the Sabbath. He of course knew their answer and they didn't give him an answer.

And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. Mark 5:1-5

It goes on to say that the Pharisees then started plotting between themselves how they would get rid of him. (verse 6)

They were more concerned about their own laws then they were about the healing of someone that needed it.  And that had angered him. To the point of his own detriment. 

How like God that was, to go against the laws that man had come up with, to love someone that needed healing.

Yes, Jesus got angry at times. At the injustices of ungodly laws and beliefs. The kind of anger that we as Christians should have at todays injustices. that the lawmakers and groups of people try to impose on us. 

That we would be like Jesus. 

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Come back tomorrow for another post on this subject. God bless you and yours today!

The Anger of a Holy God (part 1)

 I have posted on the subject of anger before. But for a few days, I want to post something more about it. If we go back to the bible and Jesus, we find there that even this man that we think of us as mild mannered and all loving and forgiving,... got angry at times as he walked on this earth because of the injustices of the human (or was it un-human?) race.

We have been hearing a lot about the obvious injustices/inhumanness of those people that want to destroy innocent lives before they are barely in the womb, much less out of it. Murders before. Murders after.

To get rid of the most venerable and yet those that Jesus himself would certainly be angry at if he were to appear before those that would take innocent lives. 

His love for children shows up in the following passage:

And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Mark 10: 13-16

I can't imagine how people can knowingly and intentionally inflict pain, suffering and death on anyone, let alone those cannot possibly defend themselves from their tormenters. It is beyond my ability.

And I think about God looking down on his creation and is saddened to see what goes on in the minds and lives of those that do these horrible acts.

 I wonder if he was so angry in his days on earth that he would not let his own disciples keep the children away from him, why doesn't he do something now to stop the violence to so many.

I do not fully know the answer to that question. Only to say that he gives a free will to each of us to do as we please.

Only to say that one day it will stop.

Only to say that those that do harm will eventually face him in judgement and be repaid for the evil they have done.

That's all I know. Its all I trust. He knows the big picture and I don't.

But to me, it also shows that a loving God, can and does get angry. Because it tells me that in his Word.

What other instances can we find where he became angry: Come back tomorrow for another one of those times.

Thanks, for stopping by, Friends. May God bless your day!

God Cares

If the above doesn't ring true today, I don't know how. I think about being out with my son who because of an eye disease cannot drive himself or his family anywhere. He is going through some problems now that would seemingly threaten his world if he did not believe and trust in his heavenly Father. We take him to his doctor appointments or on errands he needs to do and thankfully can do that for him. Whenever I am with him in a grocery or other store, despite his own problems, he never fails to speak kindly to the cashier or even to other patrons he might see there. Offering silly simple jokes or thanking someone in the military or a policeman for their service or just to tell someone to have a nice day. He is just that kind of person.

Would it be that despite our own problems we could be that type of person when we are out and about, to offer someone a smile just to maybe lighten their day which even though we have no knowlege of, but maybe make them glad they ran in to someone that cared enough to show them a little bit of light or perhaps hope for a better day?

Is it too much of ourselves to forget what we might have left at the door of our home to make someone feel a bit better? I think not. For even that little bit we do can show our care for someone else. 

Why?  Because......

 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.1 Peter 5:6-7

Sometime Friends, in the storms we face whether they don't come often for some but others just seem to live in them, knowing that God cares for us can be all we have.

But let me tell you, the thing is, knowing that is all we really need. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

 

Blessings

 

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to sail through life, not having to struggle at all, while others wonder what bill to pay next, or what they are going to feed their kids every day?

Some seem to waltz through life, while others are pounded with everyday hard life situations that never seem to end

You would think that Christians would be the ones that have life easy and those that could care less about God, would be the downtrodden.

Check out this passage:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

How about this one:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

In Christian circles, why are there some that become  depressed because they are that one that struggles while it seems everyone else around him doesn't, and may even look at him with distaste because even though he works hard, life just isn't easy for him.

Why isn't God blessing everyone the same?

I surely don't know why. Maybe its because it really has nothing to do with God. Maybe it has to do with their own inability to make their lives better. Maybe they have made mistakes that took them down the wrong path. 

What I do know is this.

God is just.

God loves us.

God is good.

 God knows what we need. 

And God wants us to trust him.

In good times.

In bad.

Someday we will understand the things that we went through here on earth. And it will be then that he will reward us for our faithfulnes to him. Whether we struggled through this life or not. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. May God bless you today as always, in his most perfect way.