life in christ

Sin Stinks

Dr. Mike Life in Christ , , ,
“You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.” Isaiah 64:5-7 NIV

sin 1

Being a student of God’s grace, I marvel at how the Holy Spirit transforms us through the everyday occurrences of life.

Though God works with His children in different ways, he also works with us in a similar fashion. Take Sin. A concept that is becoming outdated in today’s modern world of humanistic faith. Yet it prevails and is more real today than ever before.

When a newly converted child of God first learns about the Truth, his internal spiritual light bulb starts flashing. It is a refreshing joy to witness their first love. They can’t find enough time to study the Bible. They want to inform everyone they meet what is happening in their life. They can’t seem to express the love and joy that emulates within them. For us longtime disciples, it brings back memories of our first encounter with God.

Yet after the “first love phase” begins to slowly dissipate, a new season of life appears. I call this the “sin stink’s phase.” It is when the Holy Spirit begins to convict a person of attitudes or behavior that is unbecoming of a child of God. All of a sudden, a person begins to recognize in depth what is wrong in the world. They begin to associate the sin with the evil. They begin to see the problem not just around them but more so within them. They begin to acknowledge that they are part of the problem. That their pride, selfishness, and independent thinking adds fuel to the problems in their surrounding world.

Then the Holy Spirit begins to illuminate the gospel message into everyday routine. Grace becomes real. Love becomes meaningful. Truth becomes personified. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ takes on a greater role than just a personal savior. His victory over Satan, death, and sin begins to have a greater influence in their life.

Now instead of focusing on sin and its ramifications, one understands the importance of living within the Triune God circle. Instead of beating a dead horse (sin), one begins to ride in the victory parade of the King (grace). Instead of participating in the problem, one begins to share the good news of Jesus Christ as the permanent solution.

Yes sin stinks. But Christ dismantled sin’s dominance and we now participate with Him in his victory march.

The Triune God wants humanity to recognize that sin stinks. That life at its highest level is living within the divine order of Father, Son, and Spirit God. Otherwise, why do you think God allows sin to hang around as long as it has?

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Consultant, Coach, Encourager
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
* Great Business Emulates a Good God
* Be Radical…Follow Christ!
* Simply The Messenger
* Unequally Married

Rejection

Dr. Mike Life in Christ , ,
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4

rejection 2

You are included. Those words are most encouraging when one begins to understand God’s plan of redemption.

For years, I thought that God only loved me if I performed in a religious manner. If I lit my candles, went to church every Sunday, gave money, and reduced the amount of swear words that came out of my mouth, God would be so-so satisfied and maybe bless me with more than a so-so life.

When the good news of Jesus Christ first etched into my mind, I couldn’t believe it. It sounded radical. Impossible. What is the catch? What strings were attached and conditions not being conveyed?

Growing up in today’s world where one is constantly being rejected for either one’s ideas, potential relationships, or business ventures, one usually becomes gun shy and defensive. We slowly build walls around our heart. Each rejection causes another defensive wall to cover up the pain. Eventually, we have so many defensive guards in place that we can’t even experience life any longer. We live a shadow of who we were created to be.

We experience rejection through a multitude of events. For example, divorce, job terminations, unwanted pregnancies, first love breakups, sibling rivalries, etc. The problem isn’t rejection. It is our response. If we are fragile without mature roots in Jesus Christ, we become defensive or offensive. Either approach though causes pain within ourselves or in others through destructive means. If we withdraw within ourselves, we cover up the hurt. If we live in denial, we are lying about the situation. If we attack the other party, we will only cause greater harm.

However, with mature roots in Jesus Christ, we follow the lead of our Rabbi. We forgive. We pray for the other person asking God to intervene and bless the other party. We transform rejection into the opportunity for good to come about. We lay it down at Jesus’ feet and ask Him to intervene and make things right.

Generally speaking, rejection occurs when one of our idols fail us. The pain may hurt for awhile. But instead of allowing it to damage us, we use the pain to allow God have his way with us and them. Not an easy thing to do without God. Humanly speaking, almost impossible for most. With God, who includes us all in Jesus Christ’s work of reconciliation, rejection becomes the cornerstone of a new beginning. Our idols are dismantled. We grow as a person. Others are blessed through our prayers. God’s domain expands. We learn to live in a healthy relationship with God, others, and self. Over time, we discover that rejection becomes the catalyst for something good. Only because Jesus made it and makes it possible.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Executive Chair, Consultant, Encourager
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
* Great Business Emulates a Good God
* Be Radical…Follow Christ!
* Simply The Messenger
* Unequally Married

Idols

Dr. Mike Kingdom Paradigms , , , ,
“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 ESV

idols 1

What makes something an idol? Why is an idol so destructive in your life? Or is God simply on an ego trip?

Setting aside any religious understanding you may have on idols, let’s look at it from a practical point of view.

What was the first idol that appeared on the world scene? Would you believe it involved an archangel. The Bible states that God created Lucifer more beautiful than any other angel. However, rather than show gratitude to God and walk humbly with Him, Lucifer began to look at himself. He basically began to look at himself as superior to God. His pride turned himself into an idol. The result was a failed coup of heaven and banishment from authority within God’s domain.

What was Adam’s and Eve’s sin? Didn’t Eve make the forbidden fruit an idol? Rather than spend more time with God or Adam in developing their relationship, her focus became the fruit. Upon the Serpent’s temptation, she allowed the idol to supplant her relationship with The Lord. Like Satan before her, she wasn’t satisfied in keeping the relationship between her and The Lord in place. She was created to be like God, but limited in her physical attributes. She wanted more. She wanted to be more like God and took circumstances into her own hands to make it happen. She wasn’t going to wait for God to bring it about in his way and schedule. Her idol became her Achilles heel.

An idol is simply anything that comes before God. Generally speaking, idols really don’t exist anywhere but in our hearts and mind. Whatever takes the place of God in our worship, love, and passion is a candidate to become an idol. Money, power, sex, food, friends, family, country, religion, science, are some of the candidates that we convert into idols. By themselves, they are usually neutral and generally very good for our well-being. However, whenever they become more important in our life than the Triune God, we have crossed over into idol worship.

The result of idol worship is generally a kick in the pants. Idols are false strongholds that empower us away from God and reality. God has designed a divine order in how life works. When we build our life outside of his order, holes and craters will appear. The result is usually pain and sorrow and maybe even premature death.

God created us. He made us to worship him. He designed us to walk with Jesus Christ. He encased us to have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Like any healthy marriage relationship, a third-party (mistress) takes away the intimacy between the two. The same is true when an idol comes between our Heavenly God and ourselves.

You may not recognize the idols in your life. God does. He knows your spiritual condition. That is why I am most grateful for Jesus Christ. His act of justification on our behalf and the outpouring of his grace only demonstrates his awesome love for us. I for one am thankful that he cares enough for us that he takes the time to help destroy the idols in our lives. We may not like the process, but the fruit at the end of the day is most scrumptious.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Executive Chair, Consultant, Encourager
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
* Great Business Emulates a Good God
* Be Radical…Follow Christ!
* Simply The Messenger
* Unequally Married