Worthy Words

I was driving down the road a while back, singing along with my 70s Sirius station, when suddenly my brake light came on. What do you think my reaction might have been? "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing. If I ignore it, it will go away." I'll tell you that that was not my reaction at all. I was in Colorado on vacation at the time, deep in the Rocky Mountains, and there was no way I would try to navigate those winding hills with brakes that were less than fully committed to doing their job. Otherwise, I could try to take a curve and wind up in the bottom of a gorge. So I took the warning seriously and had my brakes checked out. In the same way your anger is a warning signal that something needs to be dealt with. In fact, any negative emotion is a warning signal that something needs to be dealt with. The apostle Paul said, “And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’ Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.” (...

As you know Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. It kicks off the busiest time of the year for the shopping malls, and it kicks off the busiest time of the year for most of us, too. In the next 4-5 weeks there will be parties to attend, shopping to finish, gifts to wrap, cookies to bake, cantatas and programs to go to, special services at church, visiting relatives, and on and on and on. For most of us, the next several weeks will be the most hectic days of the year. But before the insanity begins, we can look forward to Thanksgiving Day. Though Thanksgiving isn't specifically a religious holiday, it can be spiritually uplifting if you let it. Because a thankful heart opens the door to God's blessings in your life. We have a tendency to rate our lives on a scale of comparison with others. We compare ourselves with those whose lives appear to be richer, fuller, and more exciting than ours. Many times we feel short changed. We wonder why others have it so much better tha...

Is your life a mess right now? What created the mess? What did you do to contribute to this mess? Where did you go wrong? Too often it is easy to blame your problems elsewhere. Does the phrase, “It’s not my fault!” sound familiar? Refusing to acknowledge your role in your mess only ensures that the mess will continue because nothing ever changes. If the cause of the mess is your sinful disobedience, it’s time to admit it, confess it and repent of it. “Have mercy on me, O God…For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” (Psalm 51:1,3-4) You cannot un-mess your life until you’re ready to own up to your responsibility in everything you’re dealing with. When you own up to it the Bible says that God cleanses you from all unrighteousness. You may still have a mess to deal with, but now you can deal with it through his power and with his help. You might acknowledge that your life is like a rol...

When the Bible references the heart, it is referring to the center of your emotions, the center of your desires. In fact, you could say that when the Bible refers to your heart, it is referring to your deepest motives. The Bible teaches that when it comes to your heart — when it comes to the very essence of your motives — you are a complex and complicated being. Jeremiah describes it this way, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” The answer to Jeremiah's question is God, and only God. The next verse says that God knows our hearts and judges us accordingly. “I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10) The truth of Jeremiah’s words is that you cannot know your own heart. And, I should also say, you can't know the heart of anyone else. So don't waste time trying to judge your heart, or the hearts of others. It's a call that you simply aren't equipped to make....

One of the biggest obstacles you will face is discouragement. Once you get discouraged it's hard to keep going — it's hard to find the will to keep going. Discouragement is caused by unmet expectations. When you don't meet them, or when life doesn't meet them, or when others don't meet them, or when God doesn't meet them, you get discouraged. You will act as though you live in a cause-and-effect world, and that things are supposed to turn out a certain way. You believe that if you always do "A", it will always result in "B" — but life simply doesn't work that way. When Jesus was arrested and put to death, his disciples were overcome with discouragement Peter experienced discouragement when Jesus died. He was discouraged because the death of Christ destroyed his expectations of how Jesus should establish His earthly kingdom. Peter was also discouraged because during the process he failed to meet his own expectations. Notice what P...