Live With Hope

Every now and then we become lost. We become so succumbed in our own lives that it is easy to get distracted and forget what life is really about. Paul instructs us to “turn from living out Godless and sinful pleasures.” He refers to them as “pleasures” so it can be a difficult choice to turn away. However, he reminds us that they are godless and sinful pleasures so the end never justifies the means. Instead, we are to live in this world with hope, wisdom, righteous living and a devotion to God. But how can we do this? How can we possibility resist godless and sinful pleasures and live with hope, wisdom, righteous living and devotion to God? Paul gives us this one answer at the end of the passage. He writes “Christ Himself gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.” What a mighty plan. Today let this be your reality. Let this thought permeate everything you do, “God loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and resurrect from the dead so you could be free from every kind of sin, totally cleansed and committed to doing good deeds.”

Let us not forget

I apologize for the late post but Christmas was just so busy!

I know a lot of us Christians are convinced that Christmas has been corrupted in recent times by all the “worldly” people in our American society. The Television shows, the commercials. The thought that saying “Merry Christmas” is socialy unacceptable. We yearn for what we feel must have been the “good old days”- perhaps in the time of the “The Brady Bunch,” or at least farther back, in the days of “Little House on the Prairie.” The holiday would have been holy. Families would gather around the tree to hear Dad read the Christmas story. Having a merry-time hymn-singing around the star-topped, light covered fir tree.

Some times we get so caught up in the lights, the gift giving and receiving, the ham cooking, the desert baking, and making sure everyone is happy that we forget about why we are having Christmas, we forget about the true meaning of Christmas. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have ever lasting life.

Here is a sweet poem I found;

The Perfect Gift

Some may think it’s presents, Others family.

Some may think its all about Putting up the tree.

But what I believe, I know is true:

He died for me and for you.

God sent His Son on Christmas Day,

To later leave, and take our sins away.

How could a Father give up His Son?,

Even though He became the Holy One.

His love so great and so true,

There’s nothing He wouldn’t do for you.

So when we celebrate this year,

Give plenty of love and joy and cheer.

But there’s one thing we mustn’t forget,

Jesus is the perfect Gift

~Emily Ulm

Christmas is about Gods promise of a Savior and the fulfillment of that promise. Christmas is about God showing us that His promises will always be fulfilled.

The prayer I have for all of us is that no one forgets what happened Christmas morning. No one forgets His promises and everyone understands that there is nothing He wouldn’t do for us.

Lesson of The Week

Un-doubtabl Englands most well known preacher, Charles Spurgeon wrote; “I don’t which is more incredible, God’s faithfulness or man’s forgetfulness!” It is so easy to forget all that God has done for us. We get so preoccupied. Our lives get so crazy that we can go whole days, weeks, perhaps months without thanking God for His presence and provision. But today is a new day! Today we can say with David, “Let all that I am PRAISE THE LORD!” Today we can thank Him with our whole heart. Right now we can lift our eyes to heaven and shout, “Thank You God for all your blessings!” He forgives our sins. He crowns us with love and tender mercies! He fills our lives with good things. Stop and spend a moment thanking Him for all He is and has done for you.

Lesson of the Week

As some of you know my pride and passion was hurt this past weekend, I crashed my truck. Well I learned a lot this week also. God does not stop working. When our lives are put on hold from some tragic event like crashing my beautiful truck, God is still working in us and through us and still needs our faith to keep going. In some way He wants us to find the joy in every situation. Since we can not slow down. We need to move ahead in faith. But even going forward in faith, if we want to experience the joy in the journey, we need to take the time to delight in God. Getting to know Him, building a relationship and learning to really enjoy living for God will keep us through the difficult times. Secondly, we need to come to God with total commitment. How many times do we start out with trust and delight in God, but when things go sour, or when there seems to be no relief in sight, we give up. Committing everything to God means we trust Him for the long run. Today we can start our journey with the attitude that David had when he said, “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.” Psalms 37:3-5 This week we can bring everything to God and trust, delight and commit.