Are you wasting your time with God...you should be!

It's About Time

John 13 34:35 “I give you a new commandment:  love one another.   As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

In preparation of His departure Jesus the Son of God gave his disciples a new commandment to love one another as He has loved them.  Further He tells them that this will be the visible sign or way to identify those who are His true disciples.  On the surface and at that moment when Jesus is telling His disciples this new commandment, it must have sounded just like a nice sentimental thought before saying goodbye.  In fact, the scriptures document the disciples’ failure to realize or even ponder its profound meaning.  Instead Peter is simply concerned with His departure by asking, “Master, where are you going?”  Not even stopping to ask for further guidance on this new commandment - a commandment…not a recommendation or suggestion but a full fledged commandment.   All Peter can think about is His leaving and selfishly wanting to know where He is going and “why can’t I follow you now?”  - not asking “why can’t WE follow you” but selfishly asking “why can’t I follow you”.

Today as Peter did then, are we overlooking this new commandment too and distracted by our daily worries/fears instead of taking to heart the importance of what Jesus is commanding  us to do here?  Are we thinking/praying about what it truly means to love one another as He loved us?  Is it about time we open our ears, hearts and minds to follow Jesus’ new commandment?

Remember…if you want to find followers of Jesus look no further than those who are truly loving one another.  Then you will be in good company!

We Live Like Kings

Here in this country and in many other places around this world the human experience has never been better.  As I have often said to friends and family, "we live like kings".  Compared to the billions of people that have walked this earth, we today, have so much more then they ever did.  Think about it.  Air conditioning alone should give us reason to do cartwheels every day.  How about that fact we have indoor plumbing...image the other alternative.  Dentistry....think what life would be like without a modern dentist.  No need to grow, hunt or slaughter our own food.  No need to make our own clothes.  The ability to take a bath or shower everyday or multiple times a day if we want.  TV, phones, cars, photography, sleep number mattresses, I could go on and on.  However, despite all of these modern conveniences of life we are some of the most troubled people ever.

Suicide, murder, abortion, drug/alcohol addiction, and rape to name a few of the more serious troubles in our society today.  Depression, anger, hatred, bigotry, laziness, gluttony/obesity more ills of our society.  If we live like kings why all the issues?

What about plastic surgery for those with image issues and those who need larger breasts - can't forget these folks.  Get rid of your grey hair and erectile dysfunction too.  Vanity of vanities!  Why are we so unhappy with what God has given us?  Why do we always want more?  Why do we continue to look for solutions to our unhappiness in all the wrong places?  What is the consequence of all this misguided searching?

The answer to that last question is simple.  More unhappiness.  It's kind of like having an evil parasite living inside of you.  The more you eat of this world and all of its woes the more it grows and the less nutrition you get.  So you eat more to satisfy your hunger but you only help feed the parasite more...a vicious circle ending in your demise if not corrected.  Similarly, there is a story about two wolves, a good wolf and a bad wolf, and a child asking which wolf will survive, and the child being told, "the one you feed".

What we need to do is stop feeding the bad wolf or evil parasite.  We need to take the medication necessary to rid our bodies of the evil parasite while choosing to feed the good wolf - not the bad one. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life".  If we feed on Him we will cleanse our bodies of the evil parasite.  He also said, "Love one another as I have loved you".  If we do this the bad wolf will have to look for food somewhere else.

We can truly live like kings if we follow the true King of Kings - Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Who Do You Trust?

That question was answered for me about seven years ago when a voice said, Psalm 37:3.  Now I am not one who knows verse numbers but when I opened my Bible to that verse I was surprised to find a simple and direct message..."trust God and do good and you will get a reward".  Additionally, the Psalm itself is something I have been pondering my whole life.  Why does it seem that the evildoers get all the riches in this life while the good folks get the dirty end of the stick.  Nevertheless, who we trust is an important matter, according to the Word of God.  The Trust in the Lord theme is repeated many times over in the Bible.

Let me say that if trusting God leads to an inheritance of something good then what does placing your trust elsewhere get you.  The answer is simple.... disappointment....basically!  Have you ever trusted someone who let you down, lied or hurt you?  Ever trust a company, a product or service?  Ever trust anything that you later found out was "not to be trusted"?  Of course, we all have been let down in one way or the other.

So, how do we place our trust in the Lord completely?  First I would suggest educating yourself on what God has to say about such things - read a Bible and ask others what they think.  Second, try to make a conscience effort not to fall victim to the snares of trusting in people or things, instead of trusting in God first. Pray, talk to God, He knows what you need, so open yourself up to telling God whats on your mind.

This present life is not our final destination and it can be very a rough journey getting through it.  Instead, of trusting in the "dog-eat-dog" style of living try this one: Repent (be sincerely sorrow for your errors/sins), Forgive (not easy but if you expect to be forgiven yourself...well?),  Love (this isn't easy either but you can't defeat evil with evil), and most of all Trust in the Lord (He's got you in the palm of His hand).