human potential

Life to the Fullest

Dr. Mike 2025 , , ,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.   Galatians 2:20

Jesus Christ lived, died, and was resurrected for you. HE sacrificed HIMSELF. HE showed us what love means through HIS words, actions, and purpose. The end result is HIS Spirit living within you. You and Jesus are now joined together through the Holy Spirit. As your spirit yields to God’s Spirit, you are both partnering in a great dance called life.

You are also wired for good work. Jesus has a place for you in HIS Kingdom. Yet HE will not force you nor coerce you toward it. You must decide whether or not you want to be engaged with HIM. When you do, you begin to experience life the way HE designed you to be.

Like a good marriage where couples share in the decision-making, so is your dance with Jesus. HE has open the lines of communications with you in prayer. HE instructs us to ask, seek, and knock. As we ask HIM for HIS thoughts on the matter, we also put forth our effort. Together, HIS grace and our effort germinate faithful action. All for HIS glory, the benefit of others and ourselves. For HE cares about you and those around you.

HE is the incarnate Triune God of humanity. HE has a greater purpose for life than this earthly experience. Yet, as we pursue our daily tasks with HIS spirit leading us, we learn how life is lived within HIS Kingdom culture. We don’t dream about the impossible, we ask HIM to show us the path toward making the dream become reality. We don’t play virtual life, we live life. We work, play, and relate with real people in real places doing real work for HIS glory and for HIS children.

Though at times life gets hard. Circumstances may stink. There may be days when you feel no one truly cares you even exist. These are the times we reach out for heaven’s help. We lean on HIM. We place our faith on HIS life living in us. We ask HIM for help. To direct our steps. To bring people who can help us. To give us the internal fortitude and strength. We wait. But we focus. We keep leaning on HIM. As we move through the dance floor of life, we sense HIS touch, HIS push, HIS confidence. We follow HIS lead. We partake and observe at the same time.

As the dominoes fall, and the music becomes clearer, the doors begin to open. As we walk forward, events move fast. Before we know, we are looking in hindsight to what just happened. A miracle. An outcome better than we expected. Not as we wanted it, but good. Good for ourselves. Good for all those involved. But most respectfully, a good outcome that glorifies our God in heaven.

This all begins when we choose to be engaged with the Savior and Lord of heaven and earth. HE brings life to the full for everyone who walks with HIM.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Faith-Integrator, Encourager, Scribbler

“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” (Colossians 1:9)

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Steadfast Love

Dr. Mike 2023, Journey in Christ, Life in Christ , , ,

Proverbs 19:22

What is desired in a man is steadfast love…

Hosea 6:6

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

In hindsight, I was a very difficult child. I probably caused most of the family difficulties in my parent’s household. I was rebellious, strong willed, and hated our family culture. Yet, deep down inside, I knew both parents loved me in their own way no matter how stupidly I acted.

Currently, after almost forty years of marriage to the same woman, I know she still loves me. Though throughout the years we had our share of heated arguments, strong differences in parental tactics, and sharp changes in personal preferences in food, clothing, and lifestyle, we still confirm our love for each other and enjoy sharing life together.       

Then God, while I was still in total rebellion against Him, forgave me for disrespecting Him and His ways before I even came to know Him. Since then, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, I have come to grow in His grace. He is now my standard of measurement of the steadfast love we are to display and share with others.

To know someone loves you unconditionally opens the door of acceptance. You learn to fully accept yourself as you are and yet are motivated to live up to your full potential as a person. You gladly change your attitude, behavior, and thinking so you may fully enjoy living with the person who steadfastly loves you. You enjoy their companionship. You look forward to sharing your life with them and they share their life with you. And with the Triune God there is no difference.

God longs to share His life with you. His desire is to create a human/divine family that includes you and me. Like any healthy family, the parent wants to be involved in their children activities. God likewise wants to be involved in your activities. As you share your life with Him, you will discover more of who HE is. As you gain knowledge of His character, attributes, and ways, you will inculcate them into your life. You will become an image of your Father in heaven. You will then better understand how the apostle Paul wrote that we are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Everything good begins with love. When love is allowed to bloom, we begin to experience the entire fruit of God’s Spirit. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control become the bedrock of one’s attitude in life. Love also leads the way for faith and hope to follow. When apostle John writes that God is Love, than one better understands the importance of allowing God to fully live in us.

HE is the essence of all creation. HE created life, the planet, and universe so that HE may express HIS love. When we rebel against HIS love, we find ourselves living life outside HIS Character. The result is sin which devastates oneself and those around you. When immature, we rebel thinking this type of life is normal. We wallow in our misery and call the dark side of life normal. When love is removed, the ugliness of human nature runs rampant. The result is self-destruction and eventually the destruction of a society.

There is nothing more highly elevated than immovable love, firmly fixed in place, and non-changing for one to totally grasp the power and character of God. His steadfast love is our standard to pursue. Even when we fail, his grace will pick us up, and we will continue the journey to become more and more like our elderly brother Jesus Christ.

Is not this what makes being a Christ-follower the most adventurous trip one can choose in this life?

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager, Faith-Integrator, Scribbler

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Technology Trap

Dr. Mike 2023 , ,

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 7:12, 10:10

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 10:10

If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed.

Ecclesiastes 7:12

For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

Yes, there is a time for everything. And wisdom will give you the insight on how to take advantage of the moment. Especially when it comes to the utilization of technology in your personal life.

In my lifetime, I have experienced the birth of email, internet, and smart phones. Along with learning how best to use all three for corporate use, I have slowly revamped myself in using such labor-saving devices as a servant rather than a god of my personal life.

Technology is awesome. I like to think God Almighty has open the doors to give us a mechanical taste of how HE operates the universe. I speculate that HE must have some type of software to operate the entire universe and has given humanity a portion of the same diagram to operate our lives. Whether or not that be true, I am one who is thankful and grateful for modern technology.

Yet at the same time, I am scared. Scared that many people have not yet learned to manage technology and instead have allowed technology to rule them. Instead of recognizing the problem, we now hide behind technology. Instead of directly relating with people, we hide behind our screens. Instead of sharing our real selves with others, we create webpages highlighting the romantic ideal picture of what we want others to think of us and hide the other broken human aspects. As a people we have lost touch connecting with others in a deep and profound way. We are losing what it means to be human.

The trap is replacing the personal connection with a technological image. Instead of breaking down walls between people, we now build walls with our technological boxes. When you observe in restaurants a family gather together and each person playing with their smart phones instead of directly communicating with each other, something is lost. The ability to communicate and relate in an intimate way is being taken over by a box.

In my younger days, we witnessed the same when television sets started to show up in people’s homes. People initially gathered together and watched a one-hour special program and then spent the time thereafter discussing the show. Move forward twenty years later, and people would gather around the TV and watch four hours of programing and spend maybe five minutes in total time sharing their thoughts with each other. Technology has made us lazy in human effort.   

Television and all other technology devices are great time savers of efficiency. But are also very alluring to capture our attention away from relating with people. When technology replaces people in your life, beware. You have entered the danger zone. You have become addicted to a virtual reality instead of real life. Virtual reality may satisfy your immediate gratification. But like all things worth pursuing, the best things in life take work, effort, and self-discipline to achieve. When it comes to the human experience and maximizing your human potential, nothing is better than direct one-on-one connection with another person. Where the human reality of intimacy, ideas, and values are shared and discussed. Without that personal touch, we are treating technology as a god to worship rather than a tool to assist us in being more human.   

Don’t let your technological devices rule you. Instead realize the problem and learn to manage the tools for your human experience. The tools in your life are to maximize your potential as a human, not live trapped behind the dictates of a techno god.

So, make wisdom your friend. Spend more time acquiring similar friends and learn from them. When you combine wisdom with technology then your world will open up and you will experience what it means to be fully human. Bottom-line: technological traps keep you from fully living and experiencing your human potential. Isn’t that worth overcoming?

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager, Faith-Integrator, Scribbler

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