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In the movie “As Good As It Gets” Jack Nicholson plays a socially inept older man who falls in love with a young waitress. He is no good at expressing his love and knows that unless he does so he will lose the girl. Finally, he tells her, “You make me want to be a better man.” It’s an “aw shucks” moment and the girl realizes that her love is really returned. What a wonderful description of our response to love especially the love of our God. If we truly understand what our salvation means and the price that was paid for us we can only respond that we want to be better men. It’s a humble recognition that we don’t deserve the love we have received. Of course, the grace of God is better than romantic love. His grace not only plants in us a desire to be a “better man” but empowers us to be a “better man.” What makes this love so powerful is that it is not dependent on us being better. He loved us when we were yet sinners. He loved us when we were unlovable. He loves us enough to want us to […]

As a race, we seem preoccupied with sin. Before we come to Jesus, it’s probably our conscience that points us to our sin. We may not call it that. We may even deny that these “sins” are a bad thing. We may be proud of them. But through the grace of God, our focus on them can bring us to the cross. Obviously, that’s a good thing.  At the cross, we get victory over sin. We find forgiveness for the sins we have committed, but we get more. We get joy. That joy comes from the relief which comes from forgiveness, but more. We remain imperfect. We are not yet as we will eventually be in the presence of our God in heaven. But He provides us with a focused light. As He is ready for us to clean up a part of our lives, He turns our focus on these things and with the focus comes the power to prevail over these newly revealed shortcomings. If we were completely, and at all times, aware of how far we fall short of perfection we would be overcome with frustration and hopelessness. Joy would not be our lot. Our loving […]

I heard a great teaching yesterday. Our Pastor, displaying great wisdom, asked our Children’s Ministry leader Heather to preach. She is not a “preacher” by profession but confirmed by her talk the truth of much I have long believed. We all have a story. Heather delightfully told the story of a mother of four struggling to do God’s will. Her story was full of honest tales from real life. They boldly set forth her own imperfections and the continuing ability of God to bring good out of all things. God shines through our imperfections. I am bothered by those who focus on our need to be “holy” and “perfect.” I read the scriptures to teach that while both are laudable goals; they are not reached in our lives here on earth and that’s part of God’s plan. His plan is not for us to feel like failures because we don’t measure up, but to rejoice that we can be used in our imperfection. Heather’s talk greatly illustrated this. It is important that we walk forward with the Lord. It makes a real difference to those around us. Although we won’t be perfect in this life; that’s no reason not […]

16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become ifishers of men.”

Last night we had a nice men’s meeting at church. We enjoyed a good gumbo and watched videos in which two couples shared their experiences of infidelity, divorce and potential divorce. We learned how both situations were saved when the couples put Jesus first. We were told we need to love our spouses better, listen more. Good lessons, but I’m not sure that’s the problem. Any man who has been married but a few years listens plenty. Come on. The women never seem to stop talking. Men could probably use lessons in positive listening or in being more convincing that they are listening, but they listen plenty. I don’t know any men with fidelity problems. I guess I should say I don’t know for sure that any men that I know have fidelity problems. The problem is I don’t really know much about most of the men I “know.” To me, the real issue for men is having someone they trust to talk to. That’s not going to happen in a room full of men who are full of gumbo and words of “wisdom.” I know a lot about the private lives of a couple of the men who […]

Wouldn’t it be great to be able  to periodically go on retreat and spend a week alone evaluating where we are with our lives? Almost none of us have the opportunity or resources to do that. A reasonable alternative is to more frequently run through a quick check list to get a reading of how we are doing, a periodic report card.   Here’s a suggested five question list: 1. Am I stepping out? No, I don’t mean am I a frequent party person? We’ve heard it all. The Christian walk is a matter of one step at a time.  If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling back. What we need to do is frequently check our position. Am I one step further along with my God than I was yesterday, last week or last month? If we aren’t taking one step at a time, years will past and then we will realize that we have “wasted” our lives and become stagnant.  2. Whom do I fear?  Do I spend time concerned about whether my life pleases God? Or do I worry about what someone else thinks? The problem here is that even if that “someone else” is an important person […]

SPOILER ALERT: If any of my readers think I’m a great person (I know, figure the odds) and such a person doesn’t what to be set straight, stop reading. Those of you who know I’m a jerk will enjoy today’s posting so read ion for a change.  During the month of February David Jeremiah has been teaching on Slaying the Giants in Your life. Regretfully, I saw myself often as he marched through such things as fear, guilt, and resentment. I felt right at home as he discussed discouragement, loneliness and failure. It was not a waste of my time when worry and anger were discussed. But on the last day of the month, he was really “reading my mail” as he discussed the green-eyed monster of jealousy and envy. I guess I had never considered myself to be a jealous or envious person. Wrong. I don’t envy those who are wealthier, younger or better looking. (There are just too many such persons out there.) I thought I had finally made it through one “giant” unscathed until “professional jealousy” was mentioned. It turns out I do have a problem with those who have more professional success than I do. […]

I can’t help but feel that Christianity is in a mess. I am ashamed of what is done in the name of Christ. I am embarrassed by many who call themselves Christian. I believe when Jesus considers the situation, He weeps. It’s not our job to determine who the Christians are. It’s not our job to point out who the sinners are. (Since we are all sinners that would be a wasted activity, don’t you think?) We are not commissioned to raise buildings or empires. It isn’t complicated. We are called to tell. I suppose it might be possible to list all the problems; but I’m not sure that would get us any closer to the solution. I think the solution is to simplify and remember, “Just Jesus.” The word “gospel” originally described the word that was spread throughout the Roman empire when a new Emperor ascended to the throne. “Gospel” as used throughout the New Testament,  refers not to a theology or movement, but to a person, now ascended to the throne as King of King and Lord of Lords.  Jesus consistently pointed to Himself.   Paul, Peter, John, they all. preached Jesus. The gospel is the proclamation of Jesus—His Life, Story, […]