Feeling A Bit Prickly?

The path of lazy people is overgrown with briers;
    the diligent walk down a smooth road.

Proverbs 15:19 

 

Ever know anyone who was better at making excuses than they were at actually accomplishing something?  What excuses have you heard?

• "I can't do this job because they just don't like me."
• "I got fired because the boss had it in for me."
• "I can't get my reports done because I just don't have time."
• "I can't......."

 

Let me give you a little piece of wisdom I had to learn first hand....excuses are like growing a hedge of thorns around yourself. At some point, people are going to accept that the thorns are no longer worth the effort of crossing to try to help you.

 

Want an easy life? Then just lay down and stop breathing, because God NEVER promised us an easy life on Earth!  Our time on this spinning orb is going to be dangerous, difficult, and a right royal pain in the back pocket.  So we can try to hide from the world behind our excuses, apathy, and prickly personality, OR we can take down the hedge, change our perspective (and our attitude) and get on with our job of living.  It's our choice.

 

Remember, when Jesus came, He loves us so much that He took away our excuses!  He healed lepers, which took away their excuses for keeping themselves separate and expecting others to take care of them.  He forgave sinners, which took away the excuse that "I'm not good enough."  He befriended the misfits and outcasts, which took away their excuse that no one wants to be around them.  He loved the broken hearted, taking away their excuses of being afraid of being hurt.  He promised us that on this Earth we WILL have troubles, but He also promised us that He would ALWAYS be with us, help us, guide us, love us, and already has a plan in place to get us through any trouble we may face.

 

Hiding behind the hedge of thorny excuses only proves that you have not met Christ and haven't taken the time to get to know Him! 

People Can Be Parasites?

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

When I was growing up we had woods behind our house.  I would spend countless hours tromping through them while my imagination would run wild with possible adventures.  And every single time I came home from a tromp, there was Mom reminding me to strip down in the garage and immediately get a shower where I was to check for ticks.

Ticks are parasites!  They mooch off of others constantly, and can cause lots of destruction to their host.  But do you think the tick cares?  Nope, they will simply toddle off to find another host to destroy.  Parasites need a host to feed on, and will ultimately wreak havoc with the hose until the host expels the parasite.  Sometimes expelling the parasite is painful, because the parasite doesn't WANT to leave!  The parasite has dug in and made itself right at home.

Did you know that people can be parasites?  They will come into your life, drain you emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially.  They will give you all sorts of sob stories why they need to stay and mooch off of you.  And we will be tempted to allow them, telling ourselves that we are doing a good thing by letting them stay and by providing for them without any expectation.  We will be tempted to fall for their sad stories and our Christian nature will want to be helpful.  

After all, Jesus helped the down and out folks didn't He?  Jesus reached out to those society had rejected, true enough.  BUT Jesus did not carry them through their lives so they didn't have to do anything but mooch.  

• The blind, Jesus restored his sight, which took away his excuse to not provide for himself.  
• The leper, Jesus healed, which took away his excuse to not provide for himself.
• The lame, Jesus healed, which took away his excuse to not provide for himself.
• The paralyzed, Jesus healed, which took away his excuse to not provide for himself.

A parasite is anything that latches on to you or your partner and sucks the life out of your marriage. They’re usually in the form of addictions, like gambling, drugs, or pornography. They promise pleasure but grow like a disease and consume more and more of your thoughts, time, and money. They steal away your loyalty and heart from those you love. Marriages rarely survive if parasites are present. If you love your spouse, you must destroy any addiction that has your heart. If you don’t, it will destroy you. 

In all Jesus' ministry, Jesus took away peoples' excuses.  Jesus promised to never let us get pushed past our limits, but He will let us get pushed right up to the brink of our limits.  Some will wait until the parasite and their tales of woe end up draining the resources, patience, and even the relationships.  

The Apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: "Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: 'Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.'” 

When you take away the source of their indulgence, the parasite will leave.  Far too many people have found ways to overcome their circumstances and be productive for there to be excuses why others "can't make their own way."  

Helen Keller was blind, deaf AND mute.  Yet made a substantial contribution to our society through her determination and efforts.

Stephen Hawking is a quadriplegic, yet uses his mind to make great scientific progress.  

We see people every single day who, when put in a position where they have to do for themselves, do some incredibly creative and remarkable things to provide for themselves.

If you are an enabler, ask yourself how enabling is helping that person!

Want your joy and happiness to return?  Remove your ticks!

Complacent, Apathetic or Alert?

We prayed to our God and stationed a guard 

to protect against them both day and night. 

Nehemiah 4:9 

 

Today's verse was written while Nehemiah and a remnant of the Jewish people had returned to a destroyed Jerusalem in order to rebuild it.  But as they went about rebuilding it, their enemies decided this was not a good idea and would attack the workers and then re-destroy the work that had been done. Lot's of people would have decided that rebuilding the city was just not worth it, and would have gone back into captivity.  But God had told Nehemiah to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and Nehemiah was going to do just that even if he had to do it all by himself.

 

 When I was in the Army (HOOAH), one of my grunt duties was pulling guard duty.  Most of the time guard duty consisted of hiding in the brush, getting chewed up my bugs and critters, dealing with the weather conditions, just so no one would pass into the camp without permission....pretty much routine boredom broken only when someone came to relieve you.  I even had decided to earn a little extra cash by taking someone else's watch for a small fee.  I did this so often that I had a nice chunk of change and had gotten very complacent.  When my Sergeant found out, he made it a point to enter my perimeter without permission and put an end to my little enterprise.

 

 Let's think about something for a moment.  Why would they pray to God AND station a guard? So we don't grow complacent!  We have seen this in the news more and more of late, people getting killed in churches, theaters, at gas stations, at grocery stores...the physical threat is very real and we need to be on our guard.  BUT what about the movies we watch, what about "I'm too tired to discipline my kids", what about "If the store gave me too much change, too bad for them", what about "everything's going my way so why pray."  

 

We, as a society and as Believers, have become complacent!  We have not only let our guard down, we have fired our guard because "it can't happen to me."  And when something bad DOES happen, what do we say? "How could God let this happen to me?"  Hmmmm.....