Comparing Ourselves with Ourselves

Galatians 6: 4 says, "But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another." 
     We are not to compare ourselves with others.  But we are to examine our self and compare our self now to the way we were in the past.  Our growth in the Lord should only be compared with what we used to be compared with what we are now.  Our talk should be about what God has done in our own personal life and not some judgment made about another person and their walk with God in comparison with our own walk.  Each of us are new creations and God's glory in our lives is based on where and how He found us and where He has brought us today!  We can boast in that but "not in regard to another".

Choosing Our Enemies

II Samuel 22:1 reads,"the Lord delivered [David] from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul."  Saul had made David his enemy.  David chose to not make Saul his enemy.  Like David, we have a choice who we make our enemies.  People can hurt us, disappoint us and even betray us cruelly but in the end it is our choice to make them our enemies.  In David's case, God used jealousy and the continual conniving of Saul to mold and make David into a man of God.  David was confronted with a number of opportunities to kill Saul as an enemy and be done with the mess but David would not raise his hand against Saul.  Why?  Because Saul was not David's enemy.  Saul knew this and it tormented him that David would not regard him as such.  Saul would have killed David in a heartbeat because of how he saw David.  When we determine in our hearts that someone is our enemy, it can pollute everything we see in their lives.  Everything they say and do comes out twisted and perverted in our minds because we have made them our enemy.  Saul wasn't David's enemy but David still needed to "be delivered" from Saul whose "hand was against him".  God did deliver David and God will deliver us from those who are against us without us having to make them our enemies.  Your calling and purpose from God should not be derailed because of someone making you their enemy.  Don't be sidetracked by feeling as if you need to make someone an enemy.  Let God's Hand of blessing remain on you while His Hand also deals with those who have made you an enemy without cause.

What Tree Are You Decorating This Christmas?

Jesus hung on a cross between two criminals.  There was a cross on each side of Him.  One cross held a man who was broken and repentant.  The other cross held a man who was defiant and absorbed in self survival.  It seems God, in the final throes of His Son's life, gave us a picture of what He was trying to do.  He did it by first showing us in graphic detail:  the problem.  All men are lost.  That is not my conclusion but God's.  In fact, God calls us "dead in our sins".  The problem is they don't know it.  And even when they discover it they don't really understand what to do about it.  They feel it.  They normally respond as the man on the cross of defiance and self-absorption because they want to be free and saved in the only way they can imagine it.  But the picture of the cross of Jesus shows us also: the answer.  It shows a man re-posturing his heart to recognize his need of someone to save him from the inside out.  The man on one side of Jesus wanted to continue to live his life the same if he was saved from the cross.  The man on the other side was done with his life and asked Jesus for another life with Him somewhere in a place with Him.  Jesus told us to take up our crosses and follow Him.  Sometimes crosses were called "trees" in Scripture.  If all of us have a "tree" to bear, then what are we decorating that tree with.  Is it a tree decorated with defiant, self survival prayers of asking God to save us and get us out of the problems of life so we can continue on indifferent to Him. Or are we putting on our tree a heart postured with brokenness and repentance?  A heart that says to Him, "we are receiving what we deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong," seems to go a lot further in getting His attention.

Why Forerunner?

We didn't plan to be forerunners.  It sort of happened due to the processes of life.  We did everything backwards.  We were older when we married.  We were older when we had children.  We were older when we realized that we were different.  My wife nursed children when nursing children was considered "old fashioned".  We started teaching our children at home at a time when it was thought illegal.  We look back and realize we were pioneering a way of life that would eventually be rediscovered.  We weren't hippies.  We weren't church goers, although we tried to fit into that.  We were simply trying to hear, believe and follow God.  That was almost too much for even the church.  They really were shocked to find my wife in the corner nursing a baby.  They couldn't imagine someone wanting to teach their children at home.  Much has changed in the past 30 plus years.  Our concepts of church, Christian community, and ministry have all been tough for many to accept and accept us in the process.  We didn't eat locust and wild honey or wear camel hair clothes but we made a statement in our generation.  We didn't do or say all the right things along the way but we tried to be true to the convictions that we felt were born in our hearts from God.  That is all anyone can do.  That is all anyone crying in the wilderness can do.  That is the destiny of a forerunner.