We NEED AOG!

Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking, because you were all called together to be united as one body to have peace. Always be thankful!

Colossians 3:15

There is a question I hear quite often, especially of late: "What do I have to be grateful for?"  Have you ever said that?  Perhaps not out loud, but I'll wager every one of us has, at one time or another, had that same question in mind.

I challenged you to spend the next 30 days learning to be grateful.  How's that going?  It's fairly to list the things for which we are grateful when they are the usual things like "I'm grateful for my family" or "I'm grateful that we have food to eat."  But once we run through those, what are you grateful for?  Because it's those things we struggle to think of for which we should be truly grateful.

Try some of these on for size:

     1.  I'm grateful for that co-worker who talks to me so much I get a headache, because they need to share and God put me in the listening line.

     2. I'm grateful for that neighbor who is SO loud and plays their music so loud I can tell when they are exiting the interstate to come home, because that means I can hear.

     3.  I'm grateful for people who challenge my beliefs because it forces me to re-think and prove to myself why I truly believe what I believe.

     4.  I am grateful for that person who keeps stealing my lunch because God is using me to give them something to eat that they may not have to bring from home.

     5. Here's one that's I've been struggling with for many years: I'm grateful for that driver in front of me who seems to not understand what the gas pedal is for, because God is using this to slow me down and give me time to think.  Instead of getting upset, I should use this time to pray or sing praises to God.

     6. I am grateful for that person in church who sings very loudly and off key, because they draw my attention to the words of the song even more and the meaning becomes more clear.

How about it?  What kind or weird things can help us develop a TRUE A.O.G. (Attitude Of Gratitude).

Noticing the Unnoticed

"The good deeds of some people are obvious, the good deeds done in secret will come to light."

1 Timothy 5:25

Have you ever known someone who did some good deed and made a big production about it to draw attention to themselves?  Don't get me wrong, good deeds are definitely needed, the issue comes from the intention.  Was the intention to do this admirable thing in order to garner attention?  God knows our hearts and knows out intentions.

I used to be irritated by the attention seekers who do things for show, and God has had to remind me (again and again) that HE sees our deeds and will reward us in HIS time. And here's the best part, God is the only one who's opinion matters.

Perhaps It Would Be Wise...

 But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while.

Acts 5:34

Peter and the Disciples had been teaching at the Temple after being ordered not to do so.  The Temple Guards arrested them and brought them before the High Council to answer for their crime.  In fact, when the High Council heard what they were teaching, the were FURIOUS!  They were SO furious, that they wanted to kill the Disciples right then and there.  Except for one member...a man named Gamaliel (you might remember that he was the teacher of Paul). 

I find it interesting that the writer of Acts makes a point to state that Gamaliel stood up.  You see, because he was revered by the members of the High Council, when he stood, they honored him with their respectful silence.  Gamaliel ordered the Disciples to be taken out of the chamber so he could address the Council.

He addressed the Council with these words, “Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men!"  You see, the people were listening to what the Disciples were teaching.  The people LIKED what they were teaching.  If the Council Members killed the Disciples, the people would have revolted and torn the Council Members to pieces.  So Gamaliel urged them to think the matter through.  In fact, he stated in verse 38, that if these Disciples were acting on their own, then they will prove themselves false and will be overthrown. 

Wise counsel....let them seal their own fate.  Yet Gamaliel goes even further in verse 39: "But if [their message] is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”  I, for one, have no desire to try to fight against God.

Temporary Or Permanent?

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

2 Corinthians 4:17

In 2005, I had to have quadruple bypass surgery.  I don't remember much after I counted back from 10...the anesthesia worked very quickly and I think I made it to 7 before everything went black.  When I woke up in recovery, I was in more pain that I had ever been in my life!  It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, it hurt to blink, it hurt to think, and my chest from my throat to my navel felt like I was on fire.  When the nurses realized I was awake, they started asking me questions and I didn't want to talk.  The pain was horrible for the entire 3 months of recovery.  And even now, my sternum hurts when I take a deep breath or it's cold and damp.

Even though this pain will be with me for the rest of my life, I know that when I stand before the Throne of God, there will be no more pain, no more tears, only basking in the Glory of God!

We all have pain in our lives.  Perhaps you are dealing with a painful illness, maybe it is the pain of depression or loss, it could be the gnawing emptiness of loneliness.  Our pain on this earth is temporary.  It will only last for a while.  But the Glory of God will last forever!  And THAT is a party I can't wait to attend!!!

Consistently Constant

Do you like consistency?  Being a creature of routine, I thoroughly enjoy consistency...for the most part.  When my world is consistently good, I smile, laugh, and enjoy life.  When my world becomes consistently bad, as it does at times, the smile disappears into a grimace, my laughter becomes jaded, and I'm not thrilled with life.

Let me give you a simple example: In my office area we have a copier.  It's a wonderful device that staples, punches holes, prints in color, scans and emails documents and is fairly quick.  When it's working properly, I am a happy guy getting all manner of tasks completed.  When it decides to do its own thing, my happiness turns to thoughts of vile means of destroying this traitorous menace.

Let me ask a question: When Life is going great, are we praising God for the wonderful life?  What about when life isn't going so great, are we blaming God for being fickle?  God is consistent!  He does NOT change.  He is ALWAYS good.  And when He does something that is good for us, we may not like it, but God is still good. 

God allows us to be tested by the enemy, but He does NOT let the enemy win.  Our testing is to shape us and strengthen us.  Therefore, I challenge you to praise God every single day for the next 30 days, regardless what's happening.  Praise Him and thank Him for being consistently good and loving. 

Are you in?

Who's Responsible?

"It is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law."

James 2:8-9

With the chaos of the protests this week, I have heard many different comments about how such events could have been prevented and how we can prevent them from happening again.  After pondering this, I have come to realize that the issue actually began with Cain and Able.  Cain thought of Able as being of lesser value and, as a result, killed him then tried to go on with his life as if Able didn't exist.  Until God asked Cain, "Where's your brother?  Have you seen him?"

Throughout history, this same scenario has played out again and again. One group of people think they are better than everyone else and, therefore, subjugate others as "lesser."  Thus, without going through the history of prejudice, I would like to BEGIN with who is responsible for changing the way we see each other. 

Are you sitting down?  The ones responsible for changing our society is.....each of us!  We can claim that we "love our neighbor as ourselves" but, in reality, if we show favoritism toward anyone, then we are trampling God's Law into the dirt and throwing it back in God's face.

Think about this, if God had wanted one particular group to rule everything, He would have only created that particular group!  Instead, He was creative and created us like a beautiful mosaic.  Wouldn't it be boring to have everyone look alike, act alike, sound alike...?

So if each of us is responsible, how do we go about changing our society?  Romans 12:18 is where Paul gives us the answer:  "As far as it depends on YOU, live peaceably with everyone!"  Did you see that?  Paul reminds us that WE are the ones to make every effort to live in peace with everyone!  In order to do that, we have to regard every person as God's Precious Child!

Holy Abba,

You have reminded us that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and we need Your help to accomplish this.  Remind us that every single person we meet is Your Precious Child, loved completely by the Creator of All.  Any injury, any injustice, any hurt done to Your Child puts us as odds with YOU.  Forgive us for our failures to live and love peaceably.  Strengthen our love for You and in so doing, strengthen our love for our fellow sojourners.

Descending Into Chaos?

2020 started off with COVID-19 and all of the fears, quarantines, social distancing, economic impact, and we thought it couldn't possibly get worse.  Then came the reprehensible act of law enforcement officers who took the life of one of God's children, not because they had to do it, they chose to do it.  This has been followed with violence, chaos, looting, and destruction by some.

Please don't get me wrong, peaceful protests are something I am all in favor of.  But when a few seek to use that opportunity to turn things violent...

What do we do when our society seems to be descending into chaos?  First, pray.  Unload all your fears, concerns, frustrations, anger on God's heart.  Tell Him everything that is on your mind and heard.  Hold NOTHING back.  Second, pray! Pray for the safety of those dealing with the chaos.  Pray for those whose livelihoods are in jeopardy because of the situations.  Third, Pray!  Pray for those who stand up to protect our society by facing those who would do harm.  Pray for their families. Pray for their strength, that they may have peace, that they will have encouragers who will come alongside them.  Finally, PRAY!!! Pray that God will cleanse us of hatred. Pray that God will fill US with encouragement we can infuse into others. Pray that God will fill us with His love to the point we can see others as His Children. Pray that God will fill us with so much of Himself that we become His peace keepers, peace sharers, and peaceful.

In times when we feel we are descending into chaos...PRAY!