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On rare occasions I have a brief period of amazing clarity. In these flashes the normally cloudiness of spiritual life lifts and I seem to be able to see things clearly. Regretfully, if I look into a mirror during these brief periods, I see an ungrateful child, me. During most times, I seem to consider myself put upon, poor, old, and ugly. It’s not mysterious why this is the case. Look around, particularly at the media. It seems everyone is young, beautiful, rich, and living a life of ease. I like to laugh at the Housewives of Beverly Hills, but deep down we think that most folks live like them. The reality is so much different. If you work for minimum wage in America, you would probably be considered wealthy in most of the third world. For most of the world’s people, how they look is the least of their worries. In much of the world, folks don’t worry about living to an old age, they just want to live through the day. The reality is that I have a great life. I have a wonderful family. I make a good living not working really that hard. I will […]

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have done, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 As followers we seek to be more like Jesus, who we follow. We certainly want to adopt his servanthood humility. However, Jesus is God. Can we become more like the fully God Jesus? The wonder of the new birth is that our spirituality is awakened. We become children of God. With that comes incredible capacity; even the capacity to do the things Jesus did and more.  Consider the awesome responsibility. If we believe we should live up to our capacity, do we understand how incredible that capacity is? It’s a tight path we walk, recognizing that we have great capacity, but realizing that capacity comes, not from us, but from Him. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 We are far different from those who think they are gods. Those folks take pride in what they consider is a natural state that just has to be recognized. “We are all gods.” The Christian recognizes his spiritual capacity is a gift […]

Come and hear, all you who fear God;     let me tell you what he has done for me. Psalm 66:16 Yesterday was my sixty-sixth birthday. I must say it lacked the drama of my sixty-fifth birthday. Number 65 was a big deal. This one, not so much. I got just a handful of “happy birthdays” on Facebook. I was overwhelmed with well-wishers last year. My wife gave me an outfit obviously designed to make me look younger. I haven’t tried it on. I don’t know if I will be able to handle her disappointment if it doesn’t have the desired youth producing effect.  Sixty-six just isn’t as sexy as sixty-five. I got tons of mail last year as everyone seemed to be trying to sell me a medicare supplement. This year I just got a bill for the supplement. Last year I was often asked about retirement. This year it was kind of like, who cares. Are you still around? Trying to find some meaning in the birthday I turned to Google. The only thing significant about the number 66 seems to be old Route 66 which runs from Chicago to Los Angeles. It used to be a road […]

Make my joy complete by being of a single mind, one in love, one in heart and one in mind. Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give preference to others, everyone pursuing not selfish interests but those of others. Make your own the mind of Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. –Philippians 2:3-8 Having decided that following Jesus is the only way to go, how exactly do we do that? We know it’s more than a social media follow. We are not just interested in Jesus. It’s not just fan; it’s follower. Following Him means becoming like Him. How is that possible. He’s God. We can’t see Him. He’s seated at the right hand of the Father. Is following the Son of God even possible? Is it just a carrot dangled before us that we can never reach? […]

34And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? Mark 8 We don’t like this verse. We try to blot it out of our minds. That failing, we claim not to understand its meaning. We say things like, “It just means we all got problems.” It’s why we don’t like to be called “followers.” Just call us “Christians.” Lots of “Christians” aren’t followers. If you look close, they’re not even believers. “Christian” is meaningless. Forget it. Today it simply means someone who calls himself a Christian.  It’s a status word. It describes what someone is or says he is. It means no more than what the speaker intends. It doesn’t communicate a unique idea. Follower is an action word. It implies selfless action. It implies actions along a path determined by another. It implies a singularity that […]

 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 In a few minutes I’m going to head off to church. Today that’s not incredibly popular. Why, you might say, are you going to church? I’m so glad you asked. Missing folks. For various reasons I haven’t been to my church in three weeks. I really miss my brothers and sisters there. So I’m going. If you don’t miss the folks at your church, maybe you are in the wrong church. Encouragement. It’s a scary world out there, and getting scarier every day. Folks are being killed for being Christian in some places. In others, Christians aren’t acting Christian enough to even get noticed as Christians. Like I said, it’s a scary world out there. I need some courage which I get at my church were there is encouragement. If you aren’t being encouraged at your church, maybe you’re going to the wrong church. Encourage. I know the folks at my church pretty well and I know […]

Those of us who are truly blessed have at least one someone who can turn things around by their presence. Rainy becomes sunny. Hopelessness becomes hope. Panic becomes calm. Confusion becomes direction. Perhaps above all else, sorrow becomes joy. They do it by their presence alone. Sometimes there’s a plus: a word, a verse, a cool drink or a sweet treat. That’s pure extra. The presence is what we desperately need. We are completely thankful for it. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit. His function is to be present in the life of the believer.  When that presence is experienced, joy flows. The presence is constant. Our experience is learned and varies. Sometimes our circumstances are so dark and overwhelming that the presence can’t be recognized. Sometimes we are so self-absorbed, we can notice anything else, especially not the spiritual presence of God. The Holy Spirit is like the wind, unseen and recognized only by the effects of its movement. When things in our lives change, especially without natural cause, the Spirit is working. The Spirit is at work whether we recognize it or not. His guidance, however, requires our recognition of His presence and our sensitivity […]

16“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.… John 14 I woke up this morning and thought of the Holy Spirit. I’m afraid it was a unique thought for me. I don’t give much thought to the Holy Spirit. That’s just not right. That puts me in the “in the world” class. Not good. I suppose there are lots of reasons why I don’t give much thought to the Holy Spirit. For example, I don’t remember the last time I’ve heard a teaching on the Holy Spirit. I guess this is understandable. The Holy Spirit seems hard to explain. I have heard much about the “gifts” of the Holy Spirit or the “fruits” of the Holy Spirit, but not a lot about the Holy Spirit. I know the Holy Spirit isn’t a dove. Although you would think so if you google “Holy Spirit.” Perhaps this is one of the reasons I don’t think a lot […]