Journey in Christ

Where Is The Beef?

Dr. Mike Journey in Christ , ,

 

beef 1Sometimes it just takes time.  It took this person over seventeen years of growing up under the ritual aspects of one faith and another twenty-five plus years living as a Jewish Christian to truly appreciate the power and awesomeness of God’s amazing grace. Now after being bathed in God’s sovereign grace, how can one go back to living a law motivated, self-righteous, shallow existence?

As the apostle Paul writes, the law is good. It gives us knowledge of what God is like and what constitutes sin; sin which blinds us from God. But law living cannot save us. Eternal life is a gift from God and cannot be earned. Keeping the entire law, crossing all the “T’s” and dotting all the “i’s” will not win us salvation. That is God’s gift to us through Jesus. He is the way, the life and the truth. He is our law.

When the law was our standard of measuring spiritual success, we were blind to self-righteousness. We along with the Pharisees of Jesus’ time period would have made great drinking buddies. We would probably gather together and laughed at the failures and weak­nesses of our brothers while esteeming ourselves in our ability to live up to God’s standards. We would probably tell jokes about incompetent people or people who were different than us. Because of our ability to self-manage ourselves, we would believe that God’s physical blessings showed us how well we were performing. The more we kept the law, the more God blessed us. And because God blessed us physically, we must be living up to God’s measurement of success. Oh, how ignorant and blind we were.  Thank goodness that God is also gracious to the stupid and ignorant.

When we made the law our daily objective, we probably eventually found ourselves confronted with questions that the majority of us have great difficulty in answering. Questions like how much physical work is appropriate to do on the Sabbath? How much of an offering is enough to please God? How much of a movie is enough to watch before it becomes vain and spiritually degrading? We find ourselves wanting to measure every area of our life to be sure we are not only meeting but, even exceeding the standards of God. Looking in hindsight, we were probably one pompous, self-centered, prideful, religious fanatic doing everything we could to be better than the law of God. And the more we lived God’s law apart from the Holy Spirit, the more important we became in the equation. Our spiritual salvation was more important than our neighbors. Our spiritual success was the most important activity of the day. Our life was the reason earth was created. Oh, how spiritually self-absorbed we became. We stunk up to high heaven but just didn’t realize it. Yet, through it all, God still loved us. He waited until the proper time to open our eyes to see his amazing grace in comparison to law living. Oh, how wonderful and awesome is God’s way when you begin to fully understand His plan of salvation and purpose for life today.

To compare law living with spirit living is like comparing grade school with graduate school. It’s like comparing eating at a fast food outlet versus a banquet at a gourmet five star restaurant; it’s little league versus professional sports; it’s sunshine compared to darkness. There is a place for both sides of the equation, but after you tasted the better side it’s hard to return to the former.

It’s like that old hamburger commercial where the mature lady looks at the meat between the buns and seeing how little there is between the bread exclaims, “Where is the beef?” When you compare the spirit-filled life with law-living, you likewise come out asking “where is the fruit of God’s Spirit?” There is no comparison. They are both in different leagues. And wouldn’t we rather play in the majors than the minors?

OUR PRAYER

PRAY 21

Oh Gracious Dad, thank you for showering your Grace upon us. Thank you for loving us even when we deserved less than nothing. Thank you for loving us even when we are in error with your doctrines and misunderstood you and your plan for us. Thank you for your mercy, understanding, patience, and deliverance.

Let your grace abound in our life. Help us live life in truth and in the spirit. Keep your laws in our heart and help us express them in love to others. Let nothing ever come between us. Let us not judge our brother or even ourselves. But let us place our life into your hands and trust you with its outcome. You know our heart, mind, and soul. You know what needs to be purified by your Spirit. You know what this life needs to excel in your kingdom. Help us keep focused on you. Do not let us down. Let us always glorify you in church, meetings, parties, family outings, public forums, and wherever you want us to speak up.

Be always gracious to us. Let your Graciousness always abound in us. Help us live a life truly glorifying you.  Thank you Jesus in whose name we ask these things. Amen.

Dr. Mike – Consultant, Coach, Author of

Great Business Emulates a Good God

Positional Security in What?

Dr. Mike Journey in Christ , , ,

ladder 8What is your motivation for seeking a higher position in life? Is it for the money, the status, or just the opportunity to serve?  Or is it to make you feel important?  To make you feel you finally arrived?  To make you feel worthwhile?

Today a position may be a job title, a political office, or a professional credential. It is the acceptable standard that the world places on us before recognizing our authority, or our ability.  But form doesn’t reveal substance.  We may play the role, like an actor, but not really have the knowledge nor skills to produce.  With Christ though, our position is secure.  There is no office, title, professional credential that even comes close to giving us the internal faith and authority we have in Christ.

We are disciples of His.  We are saints.  We are bond-servants of Jesus Christ.  What more does a person want?  If our desire for a greater position supersedes our desire to serve Him, than we wouldn’t be true to our Creator. Yes in our youth we may have pursued every position that our heart desired. We may have needed to develop a sense of self-worth because we didn’t find it at that time with Jesus.  Today, however, after tasting all the world’s solutions to self-esteem and personal development theories, we’ve come to see the blessings and value of seeking a spirit-filled life in Jesus.  Not for our glory, but for His. Not so we feel important, but so His importance may be manifested in our life.

As a fellow worker in the body of Christ, we feel privileged and thankful that God has revealed His work in our life and to so many others.  Who needs a position?  Through the power of prayer and service we accomplish more than we ever achieved in any office or with any professional credential.  Our position is found in Him.  That is one of the benefits of being a disciple of His.

OUR PRAYER

PRAY 8

Our Heavenly Dad, let every saint come to know your secured blessings in Jesus.  Amen.

Dr. Mike – Consultant, Coach, Author of

Great Business Emulates a Good God 

Does God Make Sense?

Dr. Mike Journey in Christ , , , , , , , ,

When Job lost his family, and his earthly possessions were taken away, plus his health destroyed with boils, did he consider that time in life to make any sense? When Joseph was taken into slavery to Egypt and locked up in jail for over ten years, did he make sense of his current situation?  When the apostle Paul found himself left stoned to death, shipwrecked, beaten, pursued by his enemies of the cross. did he consider his current situation to make any sense?

When we stop and look at our present time, do we ever ask if it makes any sense?  Though most of us are not a Paul, Joseph, nor Job with no major specific mission in life; where history will not record our accomplishments to the masses. In fact, most of our lives are quite normal and most the time uneventful. And frankly, most of us enjoy it that way. But, does it make any sense?

We live in America, the Disney Country of the planet earth. We have the choice to live anywhere that is affordable for us. Wehave the opportunity to educate ourselves at any university if we apply our self. We could pursue whatever occupation interests us. We have the opportunity to select our own mate and have as many children as physically possible. We also have the opportunity to worship at the church of our choice. We probably have more than enough in physical comforts and may even begin to feel guilty whenever we acquire more. But does our present situation make sense?

If tomorrow we lost everything we own; if our world fell apart and we are taken into prison for something we didn’t do. If we are beaten and left .for dead, would our present situation make sense?

The answer of course is that as a disciple of His, everything makes sense. Nothing will separate us from the love of God. As His disciple, He is the center of our universe; the center of our life. He makes our situation make sense. No matter where we find ourselves, no matter what the situation, no matter what the outcome, He is in control. Our agreement with Him is to surrender all and He will make sense of it all.

He is creating a masterpiece in each one of us and collectively in His universal Church. In our almost forty years following Christ, no matter what ignorant decisions, actions, or events that have taken place, He has always been with me. When evil surrounds us or death knocks at our door, we may not have fully realized it at the time, but in hindsight, He is always around and in control. There is a great purpose being worked out here below and we are a part of it. Yes it takes faith. But isn’t that one part of the armor of a Christ­ follower? And shouldn’t a disciple of His be wearing that armor every day?

Does your present situation make sense? Or maybe the question really is, “Does God make sense?”  Only when we faithfully answer that question, will our present situation make sense.

OUR PRAYER

PRAY 9

Dear Purposeful Dad, thank you for being in control. Thank you for taking care of the small details of life. But mostly, thank you for being involved in our life.

Help us to yield ourselves into your hands, to trust you in all of life’s circumstances and situations. Help us to see the circumstances that you present to us as opportunities to witness to your great power in our life. We pray, glorify your name by creating your masterpiece in us. Take the circumstances that we find ourselves in and change our heart to be like yours. Change the heart of those around us to be like yours. Change the circumstances if you believe that to be the best solution, but more importantly, take the present situation and reveal your Greatness through it. Let others see your magnificence. Let us see your magnificence. Let others know that you know us and care for us. Let your life abide in us and in you.

Let us not try to make sense of the situation we are in. We do not ask why. Instead we ask that you take our present situation and magnify yourself through it.

Let your glory abound. Let your Word abound. Let the Holy Spirit abound. Let your  Kingdom abound. Help us abound for your name’s sake.  In Jesus we ask. Amen.

Dr. Mike