Think About That…

Stupidity

Dr. Mike Think About That...

Proverbs 19:3

People ruin their lives by their own stupidity, so why does God always get blamed? (Message)

We all have done stupid. Sometimes its planned stupidity, most often it is a quick, temporary, brain damaging decision with painful, down-the-road consequences. The mature person however will accept personal responsibility for their decisions and actions. The immature though will find someone else to blame. If they can’t find a human person close to the situation to blame, then they will look for the next best one. That one is usually God.

Some people hold a theological belief that God causes everything to happen – good and bad. That if the student receives a poor grade, it must be God who didn’t intervene and change the grade for the better. If a person is fired from a job for continuous tardiness, it must be God’s fault for not giving him special favor with his supervisor. If you are involved in an accident, it must be God’s fault for not protecting you as you race 20 miles above the speed limit weaving in and out of traffic. The list is endless.

When one realizes that we are in control of our responses in all circumstances, and we have no one to blame but ourselves, that is when stupidity dies. Albert Einstein is given credit for saying “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So, if life keeps giving you lemons because of your stupidity, do you think it may be time to change something?

God is not out to destroy you. In fact, he wants you to live up to the potential He created you for. He knows who you are. He knows your strengths and weaknesses. He doesn’t expect you to be anything else but you.

So rather than continue to blame others, take a time out, and look at the fruit of your life. What area of your life are you happy?  What area are you disappointed? Then take time to pray and thank God for the happy areas. For those areas you are unhappy with, ask Him to lead you toward fulfilling your potential as His child. But don’t ask if you are not willing to change and go places you have never gone before. Ask, Seek, and Knock.

As you ask Him, begin to seek his answers. It may take some sacrifice, hard work, and long hours of commitment, but with God walking with you it is only a matter of time before you will come to know Him better and see His work in your life.

But it all starts by accepting personal responsibility for the outcomes in your life. We have no one to blame but ourselves when stupidity strikes. However, God’s grace is sufficient to carry us through the brain damaging, ugly behavior that we all have a propensity to make happen. Focus on Him and He will lead you covered with His Grace.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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Copyright 2013-2019 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Born Again

Dr. Mike Think About That... , , , ,

John 3:3

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Sometimes I wonder and speculate whether or not Jesus and Nicodemus were actually comparing the spiritual new birth with being physically pregnant. There are some Biblical scholars who believe the Greek word translated into “born” would be better translated as “begotten.” Again, I wonder.

To be born again implies more than the sperm and egg connecting within a Mother’s womb. As the fetus grows, an ultrasound would show the head, legs and arms of a child taken shape early in the pregnancy. Approximately eight weeks into the new life a heart beat is heard. Science will acknowledge that the child is alive at this time but dependent on their mother for nourishment. The process from the initial marriage of sperm and egg until the child’s birth into the world is approximately nine months.

What keeps the child alive is the umbilical cord connected to the Mother where the child’s nourishment is received. During these nine months the child is being formed and prepared for life outside their mother’s womb. The child isn’t considered “born” until the day they are birth into the world.

So, when Jesus said we must be born again, was he speaking about the sperm and egg becoming one or was he illustrating the resurrection when our bodies will be morph into a spiritual casing?

Again, I wonder. Isn’t “being born again” more like a child in the womb of a mother than the mature Christian we like to thing we are? As a child of God in the womb of the Church, am I not being slowly shaped into the image of Jesus Christ? Then one day, we will be raised with Christ and see Him as He truly is because we will be like him (I John 3:2)? 

Again, I wonder. Just like a child is protected within the Mother’s womb, are we also not protected within the arms of our God?

Again, I wonder. Like the umbilical cord connects and feeds the child in the womb, doesn’t Christ’s faith feed us through His Word?

Scripture doesn’t give us all the words spoken between Nicodemus and Jesus, but just the most important need to know phrases. But I do wonder and speculate at times…

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2019 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Ready, Willing, Able

Dr. Mike Kingdom Actions, Ministry, Think About That... , ,

Acts 9:10-12, 17

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”  And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,  and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” …So, Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 

As you dance with the LORD, He is going to move you around the ballroom floor of earth with unexpected turns and twists. Are you ready? When your assignment is given, are you going to be physically and mentally able to accept and follow through? Have you enough trust in the LORD to willingly accept your assignment without fanfare and doubt?

Ananias was a disciple of Jesus. When he received a vision from him, he didn’t run or hide. Instead he had such a relationship with our LORD that he immediately recognized His voice. Now Ananias didn’t quickly accept his assignment. At first, he needed clarification that the person God had in mind was the same person who the saints were avoiding because of the harm he was doing to them. Saul was causing havoc among the disciples believing their destruction was best for the Jewish community. But God had other plans. So, God communicated his purpose for Saul.

Then Ananias got up, went and found Saul, and prayed laying his hands on him following God’s instruction. Saul, who later changed his name to Paul, regained his sight and became full of the Holy Spirit. God took a zealous enemy of the church and open the door for his purpose to continue.

Saul, with the pre-notification vision that a man named Ananias will lay hands on him and he will regain his sight waited in prayer. So, what do you think went through Paul’s mind when a disciple showed up in his house, named Ananias, with instructions from the Lord to lay hands on him so his sight will be restored?

Are we ready, willing, and able to serve God according to his desires and not ours?

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2019 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved