One Love

The media tells us that there is someone out there for everybody. If we are pretty enough or handsome enough...make enough money or are successful in our careers...if we are charming. witty, and charismatic then we are worthy of a great love.
Yet God's word tells me that I am to come just as I am..poor, wretched, brokenhearted, unworthy and He will be the One true love of my life. There is no need to clean up nor work for His affection. There are no hoops to jump through and no rituals to follow for His acceptance. All I have to do is love Him back with all my heart..my soul..my strength.
I have been wretched and brokenhearted. And I have been successful and well thought of in my arena. But nothing nor no one has shown me love like Jesus. No one has died for me like Jesus. No one lives for me like Jesus. Do I deserve His love? No, yet God reaches out with loving arms and draws me to Himself.
One God
One Savior
One Love....ours for the asking.

With My Life

This is the best definition of worship ever!!! Watch how we as fans show our love of entertainment idols...we dress like them...we emulate them...we act like them...we even can be heard saying "I want to be just like..."Now this is worship. Too bad it is for someone so unworthy.
Gardenfire reminds us that the only true one worthy of worship is Jesus Christ. We should emulate HIM...talk like HIM...love like HIM...live like HIM. By being a living sacrifice , we prove His Holiness and worthiness. We sing to please Him and thank Him but we live so as to prove His great love for us. Remember that you may be the only Bible anyone reads!

Get Busy

You gotta love those people who are overachievers... always busy doing things. Often I find they are not sure why they are doing things...nor what the things are for, but their pleasure seems to come in the doing not the end product.
Gardenfire reminds us that there is most definitely an end in life. And if we have gotten caught up in the doing of life without thought as to why the doing or the outcome of the doing,then we may be in danger of a futile and useless life. Jesus tells us that we are to have an abundant life in Him. But He also tells us that we should be living for Him. So, as I see it, our lives must reflect loving and living and doing for God. If that is not what we as Christians are doing, then all our doing is for naught. Living...or dying...hmmmm are there really 2 choices?

I'm Just Saying

There are lots of things we think we need. We need to rest, we need to pay the bills, we need to go shopping, we need to call someone etc. etc.None of these are bad things. But none of these things are what our soul needs. And the only answer for our soul is Jesus. Without Jesus I feel like I am running on empty but still trying to get everything done to please everyone and always failing. Without Jesus I am following a crooked path through uncharted forest and getting terribly lost. Well, you get my drift...I"m just saying without Jesus I am lost!

Zombie

Early in my Christian walk, I saw a grateful dead t-shirt. I remember thinking that to be a clever name for Christians for indeed we are dead to the sin of our past and grateful for Jesus' saving grace that freed us. I later learned that the t-shirt was not a declaration of God's Mercy. Sad, I thought, that they missed the point.
Here we are 40 some years later and Gardenfire tells us that we are Zombies...dead to sin but alive in Christ. Yeah!!! Someone gets my warped sense of humor.

But, the disconcerting truth is that sometimes we walk around as Hollywood zombies...all scary and possessed-looking with no inner light nor proof of a better existence shining within us. Wake up!!! We are not possessed...we are saved!!!! From death into life eternal...GOOD NEWS!!
Yes, we are dead to sin but not dead to life. Let us live so others will wonder...others will ask and seek what has changed us. Walk like Jesus and conquer in love for His name's sake.
Be dead in sin...but very alive in Christ!

Debt Free

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.
So are the words of an old hymn that we use to sing in church when I was a girl. I know what it means to be in debt...to get calls all hours of the day for payment...to have utilities shut off and young children needing heat and food. I know what it's like to need assistance for the most basic of needs...to feel overwhelmed with no way out. I understand compounded debt from foolish decisions while looking for a chance to catch your breath and keep your head above the waters. Years of restrain, behavioral change, and help from Holy Spirit have landed me in a good spot...FREE from Debt!
But freedom from sin was not acquired by my work, salary, or by any method or talent I have. My eternal debt was paid by death...the death of the Son of God, Jesus. First, let me say how deeply grateful I am to the God Who loves me that much. Secondly, I owe nothing...no interest...no collateral...no promissory note...no first born child...I owe nothing. His death payment was a gift freely given. All I had to do was accept. I understand being FREE from ETERNAL DEBT!
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
He washed me white as snow!!!
Please live your life debt free...accept Jesus' gift ...then live as if all to Him you owe.

Matters

I can only sit so long before I have to take charge of whatever bugs me. It may be as mundane as dusting or washing windows or decluttering my
mess.
Sometimes I find myself telling things that were not to be spoken. This always puts me in an uncomfortable situation...but I can't help taking things into my own hands. I am learning that I am a bit of a control freak!
Yet, God who has every right to be in control, will not take that right. He lets me blunder through until I realize that I messed up again and call out to Him for help. He is a wonderful father...corrects me and sends me on my way with His blessings.
Gardenfire reminds of one time when God took control even though we didn't ask Him to nor even sought Him for help. And that one time changed all our lives forever. When Jesus suffered the cruel death of the cross for our sins, He took matters into His own hands...literally! Those gentle hands of love and sacrifice became the hands of healing and salvation!!! Those divine hands reached out and bled that we might live. Those hands matter...He took us into His hands for we are the "matter". Can you wrap yourself around this image...the creator gave His life for His creation.
Next time you extend your hand or touch someone or help someone...think of Jesus' hands stretched and nailed for you. Jesus took matters into His own hands because we are the "matter" that matters to Him.