Worthy Words

Sin is serious.  John Maxwell, an expert in leadership skills has said, “Sin always takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs more than you are willing to pay.”   There is no mistaking sin can be enticing, alluring, provocative, inviting, and even enjoyable, but it is serious and its consequences are substantial.  Once the immediate pleasure of the moment fades away the severity of the consequences begin to surface.  What appears to be a small indiscretion emerges as a voracious monster with an appetite to devour you and those around you.   The Bible’s David and Bathsheba saga is a case in point of a true-to-life soap opera — minus the commercials and comic relief. You can check out all the sordid details of every episode on TBN (The Bible Network) channel 2 Samuel 11. In simple terms, sin destroys lives. God is serious about sin.  It is never hidden from Him and it never comes away without casualties....

It’s amazing how much smaller even the biggest tasks become when you’ve got someone beside you to help. Too many times we tackle challenges alone and try to solve problems on our own —I’m the world’s worst — and ultimately we learn that working this way makes us stress out and become vulnerable to discouragement and defeat. When you accepted God’s call and became a Christ-follower you took on an enormous job. The call to discipleship is to go deep in to the richness of Christ but sometimes it can seem as if you’re drowning in the vastness of all that lies before you. Here’s a tip! You can’t do it alone. It takes two, at least. You need someone to help you get the job done. I challenge you to consider a couple of things. First, take a minute to identify your partners or mentors. In each project, think about their role and your role, how you complement one another, and how you can build on one another’s strengths. Make it a point this week to focus on what’s right in the relati...

People interpret the “abundant life” that Jesus promises as if Jesus was around to insulate us from reality.  But it just doesn’t happen that way. If you trust in Jesus, you can echo David’s famous words in Psalm 23. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Notice David didn’t write, “If I walk through the valley…” Rather, he exclaims “even though.” Tough times are inescapable and should be anticipated.  It comes with living in a broken world.  I don’t think that there is one person whom I have ever met who has been exempted from hard times in life.  There is a misconception in much of Christianity that once you experience Christ’s salvation in your life, and Jesus becomes intensely real to you, you are “protected” from tough times in life. Daniel’s life — in the Old Testament book that bears his name —faced horrific hard times   One of the mos...

Under what circumstances, under what conditions would it take for you to walk away from your deep abiding convictions? Before the threat of immediate harm you were bold in your resolve to never leave that which you were walking in, but now it just became real. All the parameters that gave you courage were now face-to-face. At that pivotal moment all your words of commitment flee as you reached your break point. It was “at that point” when the Temple guard grabbed and arrested Jesus that “all the disciples deserted him and fled.” (Matthew 26:56) Not once, in three and a half years, did Jesus ever desert them, but in a moment of extreme fear for their lives they fled from Him at the most pivotal point of His life. This is how we typically are as Christ-followers. When everything is going our way with nothing but blue skies around us we sing “glory to God in the highest” with exuberant glee. But in that moment when we see the wolf coming we leave the Lamb to seek our own fleshly se...