Pride is a friend of so many of us. If Pride were a facebook page, it would have a gazillion likes. Unfortunately, Pride is not the kind of friend anyone would want. It seems to stick its nose into my business more than any other friend. The more I allow my feelings to be hurt, the more trouble I have keeping Pride silent and away from me. Pride wants what Pride wants when Pride wants it. Pride simply wants attention…it thrives on attention! Pride wants other people to notice. Pride is simply evil…it is an invention from satan! Pride is not reserved just for the rich and famous. Pride afflicts everyone, whether rich or poor. Pride takes advantage...every advantage possible. Pride actually makes your feelings hurt worse. I think Pride delights in making us hurt. So, why do we cherish our friendship with Pride so much?
To deal with Pride, I try to talk to God. I know God hears me in my Prideful times, at least on some level of knowing. Sometimes I "KNOW" God hears me… and sometimes I sorta know He hears me. But one thing I am sure of…the more I talk to God, the less power Pride has over me.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
A PRAYER FOR CHRISTMAS MORNING
The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and crowns another year with peace and good will. Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our bed with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus sake. Amen
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our bed with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus sake. Amen
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Friday, December 9, 2011
TRINKET RELIGION
Okay, I’ll admit it, in the early years of my Christianity, I would spend countless hours in the Christian bookstore that was only a few blocks away from where I worked. I was so excited about my new found faith I just couldn’t get enough. I spent most of my time looking through the book section, but since I was still working in the retail business, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by that part of the store that should have had a banner declaring it the “Bible bazaar.” That special section was filled with pictures, posters, T-shirts…even some really bad ties for your pastor. There were plaques, wall decorations of every possible shape and size. There were toys, figurines, collectible items, bumper stickers, button, pens, dishes, and coffee mugs. I’m sure there were also some toilet seat covers with matching bath rugs if I looked hard enough to find them. On and on it went. Table after table, and shelf after shelf, just covered with every conceivable trinket imaginable. Almost every item had a scripture verse on it. Sometimes the connection made perfect sense. Other times it just simply seemed like someone had said to themselves, “I know. Let’s put a Bible verse on it. Christians will buy anything with a Bible verse on it.”
It’s been a good number or years since I left the marketing marvels of the retail business to answer God’s call to full time pastoral ministry, but, some things are just hard to unlearn. I remember taking part in an exercise called “Memorial Stones” along with a group of pastors. In the exercise we would write the address of a Bible verse that had an important impact on our life on a smooth stone. It was a moving exercise. But, I will have to confess that as I was making the drive back home from the meeting, I had a moment of genius run through my mind… I should produce a line of scripture stones… rocks with Bible verses! They could be “Bible Rocks”! I cannot begin to express to you my level of dismay when I realized that someone else had already beaten me to the idea.
Now, before I am inundated with comments about my brief fall into succumbing to the temptation of capitalizing on Christian trinkets, let me get to my point. I am just wondering if there is a problem with our society’s fondness for purchasing such Christian paraphernalia. Understand that the problem is not the item itself. I’m not saying you need to immediately get up from your computer and start throwing a bunch of stuff away. I think the problem is the philosophy. In a way, trinkets tend to minimize the power that is in the actual verse, and at the same time it lessens our personal sense of responsibility toward the Bible as a whole.
Let me explain it like this. A Bible rock in my pocket really does me no good at all, unless I am in daily relationship with THE Rock. A scripture verse hanging on the wall has little value if those words are not also inscribed on the walls of my heart. A coffee cup that encourages me to “have faith” cannot replace my need to BE a person of faith and faithfulness. Trinkets cannot replace the need for trust in my Lord and Savior. A cute figurine seldom serves as the seed that eventually grow into a mature faith.
Psalm 46:10 may well be one of the best examples of this. Without question, it is one of the most popular scriptures is taken from the KJV…. “Be still, and know that I am God;…” You can walk into any Christian bookstore and you can probably find it on at least a dozen different items. Now, here’s the issue for me. That scripture on a coffee mug might serve as a wonderful reminder, but it doesn’t possess any magical powers. The value of that word comes from its Source, not because it is repeated on a trinket. It’s power comes solely and completely from the Author of those words. If I separate the word from the Author, it loses its power, because HE is the Word.
The problem with spiritual trinkets is that after a while they can trivialize the truth. That phrase that once had such powerful impact when we looked at it only as a cherished part of God’s Word,…can become just another cliché. We can quote it (somewhat). It becomes a quick answer that we throw at the person who is wrestling with trouble and trials. But, does it have personal power? Does it have the life impact that it did when I wrote it as a scripture on a rock and shared how it impacted my life with other pastors? I guess what I am saying is that the danger is that some point along the way it’s meaning can become little more than background noise. It’s like the song you hear playing in the background at the grocery store. Instinctively, you find yourself singing along, but you’re not really paying any attention to the words.
I suppose that what I am trying to do is to remind us that God’s Word was intended to be much more than a pretty picture, or some ornamental knickknack. Again, the problem is not the item itself. I have them hanging in my house, too. But, God’s Word was meant to be a daily part of our lives. It is supposed to be read. It is supposed to be studied. It is supposed to be memorized. It is supposed to be obeyed and lived out in our day-to-day lives. Psalm 119 refers to it as a treasure that is supposed to be hidden away in our hearts. We can so easily fail in our regard for God’s Word. Too often the Bible has become just another decorative trinket in our homes. It sits on the shelf or table collecting dust. It lies buried in the bottom drawer. There is little wonder that we fall to pieces when tough times come upon us. How about we stop treating His Word as just another trinket. We need to recognize it as the treasure that it is…. and treat it as such.
It’s been a good number or years since I left the marketing marvels of the retail business to answer God’s call to full time pastoral ministry, but, some things are just hard to unlearn. I remember taking part in an exercise called “Memorial Stones” along with a group of pastors. In the exercise we would write the address of a Bible verse that had an important impact on our life on a smooth stone. It was a moving exercise. But, I will have to confess that as I was making the drive back home from the meeting, I had a moment of genius run through my mind… I should produce a line of scripture stones… rocks with Bible verses! They could be “Bible Rocks”! I cannot begin to express to you my level of dismay when I realized that someone else had already beaten me to the idea.
Now, before I am inundated with comments about my brief fall into succumbing to the temptation of capitalizing on Christian trinkets, let me get to my point. I am just wondering if there is a problem with our society’s fondness for purchasing such Christian paraphernalia. Understand that the problem is not the item itself. I’m not saying you need to immediately get up from your computer and start throwing a bunch of stuff away. I think the problem is the philosophy. In a way, trinkets tend to minimize the power that is in the actual verse, and at the same time it lessens our personal sense of responsibility toward the Bible as a whole.
Let me explain it like this. A Bible rock in my pocket really does me no good at all, unless I am in daily relationship with THE Rock. A scripture verse hanging on the wall has little value if those words are not also inscribed on the walls of my heart. A coffee cup that encourages me to “have faith” cannot replace my need to BE a person of faith and faithfulness. Trinkets cannot replace the need for trust in my Lord and Savior. A cute figurine seldom serves as the seed that eventually grow into a mature faith.
Psalm 46:10 may well be one of the best examples of this. Without question, it is one of the most popular scriptures is taken from the KJV…. “Be still, and know that I am God;…” You can walk into any Christian bookstore and you can probably find it on at least a dozen different items. Now, here’s the issue for me. That scripture on a coffee mug might serve as a wonderful reminder, but it doesn’t possess any magical powers. The value of that word comes from its Source, not because it is repeated on a trinket. It’s power comes solely and completely from the Author of those words. If I separate the word from the Author, it loses its power, because HE is the Word.
The problem with spiritual trinkets is that after a while they can trivialize the truth. That phrase that once had such powerful impact when we looked at it only as a cherished part of God’s Word,…can become just another cliché. We can quote it (somewhat). It becomes a quick answer that we throw at the person who is wrestling with trouble and trials. But, does it have personal power? Does it have the life impact that it did when I wrote it as a scripture on a rock and shared how it impacted my life with other pastors? I guess what I am saying is that the danger is that some point along the way it’s meaning can become little more than background noise. It’s like the song you hear playing in the background at the grocery store. Instinctively, you find yourself singing along, but you’re not really paying any attention to the words.
I suppose that what I am trying to do is to remind us that God’s Word was intended to be much more than a pretty picture, or some ornamental knickknack. Again, the problem is not the item itself. I have them hanging in my house, too. But, God’s Word was meant to be a daily part of our lives. It is supposed to be read. It is supposed to be studied. It is supposed to be memorized. It is supposed to be obeyed and lived out in our day-to-day lives. Psalm 119 refers to it as a treasure that is supposed to be hidden away in our hearts. We can so easily fail in our regard for God’s Word. Too often the Bible has become just another decorative trinket in our homes. It sits on the shelf or table collecting dust. It lies buried in the bottom drawer. There is little wonder that we fall to pieces when tough times come upon us. How about we stop treating His Word as just another trinket. We need to recognize it as the treasure that it is…. and treat it as such.
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