Worthy Words

Have you heard the story about the married couple who were driving down the road? All of the sudden the wife turned to the husband and said, "What's happened with us?" "What do you mean?" the husband asked. She said, "We're not like we used to be." "How did we used to be?" the husband asked. "We were closer. More connected. We held hands all the time. In fact, here's a perfect example right now. Remember when we'd get in the car, and we'd sit right next to each other, with me there in the middle." The husband turned to her and said, "Who moved?" There’s a spiritual application to this story. If you're not as close to God as you used to be, you're the one who moved. Not him. If you want to get back to where you were, you need to move in his direction. And if you want to be closer to God than you've ever been, if you want to achieve a new level in your relationship with him, all you ne...

Someone once said that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who travel light and those who don’t. Each year my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and three nephews journey from Honduras to Texas for their summer vacation. There’s nothing light for this family of five’s luggage—three huge suitcases, three four foot duffle bags, five backpacks, and two car seats. You should see what they pack in those bags! As you might imagine, carrying those heavy bags can quickly become tiresome, and it’s not easy to lighten the load once their journey has started. Spiritually speaking, it has been my experinece that people often carry heavy loads. It’s not that anyone actually intends to “travel heavy” spiritually. No one asks to carry burdens that crush the spirit, or weigh down the soul, but it often turns out that way. We end up carrying around unresolved conflict, relational breakdowns, unsettled arguments, bitterness and grudges. Throughout the journey, we keep adding to the ...

I was watching the Discovery Channel the other evening where they were demonstrating with time lapse photography the unique capability of the Starfish. If a starfish should lose a limb, it can re-grow a new one. This is called regeneration. The process can take years, but when it is complete, you would probably not be able to tell that the starfish had ever been damaged. Many of us have been damaged by circumstances of our lives. We limp around with burdens from the past. The battles of life have torn at our resolve and stolen bits of our joy, leaving us bruised and crippled. It is easy to do the quick fix and “Band-Aid” our pain or mask the hurt. But underneath the façade lies a bleeding wound that over time will continue to fester until it is laid before the Great Healer. It can take years for the limb of a starfish to regenerate until it is whole again. However, if you take the starfish away from its source of life, the ocean, not only will it never heal, but it will ultimately ...

What does Jesus really look like? Artists throughout the centuries have painted various portraits of Jesus, often applying their own ethnic and cultural characteristics to their portrayals. Movies have variously portrayed Jesus from handsome, strong and confident to wimpy and weak. The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah prophesied regarding Jesus’ physical characteristics writing, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) In the end, we have no literary or artistic sources that can authoritatively convey what Jesus actually looks like. I would suggest, that more importantly, today in a very practical sense, Jesus looks like His followers. The Scriptures declare that the church is Christ’s Body and each believer is a part. That was never more evident than this week’s VBS. Forty three adults volunteered as teachers, concessioners, choreographers, videographers. They assisted in areas of music, crafts, recreation,...

Success is what most people strive for. Products on TV infommercials promise instant success in everything from weight loss to financial freedom. Schools promise success in producing well-educated students who will succeed in college and the working world. In fact, there is a promise that if you are successful in work, business, education, sports or the arts, you will have lived a successful life. I want some of that! Sign me up! This idea of success sadly has infiltrated the church in almost all aspects. A successful church is often measured by the number of members, by Sunday morning attendees, by the number of staff members, or by the number of people who prayed at the altar on a given Sunday. I would like to offer the idea that the church is not called to be “successful” in the way success is measured today. Instead, we are called to be faithful. Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25:14-30 about three servants who have been given responsibility over differing amounts of money or “...

Paul wrote to his fellow Christians in Corinth, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). There is no one in this world who can be in love with God and remain the same. Someone sent me a card that said, LOVE is the Great Transformer…LOVE transforms: Ambition into aspiration, Greed into gratitude, Selfishness into service, Getting into giving, Demands into dedication, Loneliness into happiness. Love transforms you into becoming a person with more of the qualities of Jesus Christ. Dedicate your life to love. Don't let our culture cheapen the meaning and transformation that takes place with agape love, God's highest form of love. When you seek the higher level of love you can rest assured that your life will never be the same. “These three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” — 1 Corinthians 13:13

The other day I was coming out of a parking space at the hospital, a driver in the space behind me flashed his lights then pulled up next to me and motioned for me to roll down my window. My thoughts raced. I didn't think I had cut him off, or interfered with his right of way. What had I done? With apprehension, I rolled down my window without any indication of the problem. The driver, friendlier than expected, informed me that my backup light on the right rear side was out. As I drove away, I became aware that I would never have known my backup light was out without that person making the effort to tell me. I needed someone with a different viewpoint and angle to see what I couldn't. I would have continued to drive unaware of any problem. The failed light was in a spot I could not see. You and I both have blind spots in our lives, don’t we? Just like the driver who helped me that day, the Lord uses other people in our lives to give us wisdom and correction. It is easy to g...