Character vs. Gifts

"You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

When I first joined my church, I was struck by the fact that they didn't care what I did. Don't get me wrong, living righteously and doing things with excellence was definitely a part of the church mentality. But it was more an issue of heart than how well I could perform. If you weren't as great at something, well... "let's just move you to serve over here instead, shall we?" was their philosophy.
 
But through the process I realized that a lot of my self-esteem had been built on how well I could accomplish something -- it had been built on my gifts. This resulted in a weaker confidence in who I was as a person, because often, I was mediocre at a lot of things. As I continued to hang around people who encouraged me to be the person I was, the person I was becoming in God, all of those petty insecurities began to melt away. It didn't mean that I wouldn't encounter setbacks, difficulties, and pains, but it meant that I was toughening up on the inside, so God could do a greater work on the outside.
 
Many times we believe that people only love or accept us for what we can do versus our value as a person. In the world, this is true. But in the kingdom, this is a false pretense. "For God so loved the world..." He is no respecter of persons. We are saved by grace, through faith. Sometimes we can live on the other extreme where works are not important, or works without excellence are not as vital. But it begins with the heart. It begins with love.
 
God calls us to do things with excellence. But He is also about bringing us closer to the person he intended us to be: free from worry, shame, doubt, fear, oppression, anger, and all the things we struggle with in our humanity. It doesn't mean that we won't experience those things. But it begins operating from the heart, from our character, and this sets the tone for everything else that we do.
 
Who are you? What kind of person has God made you to be? Let God encourage you in your character today.

Absolute Truth

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'". – John 1:6

Sometimes I have a difficult time talking to friends who question God’s goodness because they believe in something other than, or in addition to, the gospel. 

“Why would God send good people to hell?” they query.  “Why won’t Muslims or Buddhists go to heaven? Your God is so close-minded!”

The sad thing is the lack of understanding of God’s goodness.  God doesn’t send people to hell – we choose where we go.  He provided a way out through His Son, Jesus Christ, so that, “none would perish, but could have eternal life.”- John 3:16

Imagine that a friend of yours was telling you how to get to their house.  They gave very specific instructions as to the way to get there, but you said, “Oh no, that’s alright – I can get there myself my own way.”  You would never get to the place your friend intended for you to go.  You would, in fact, be lost. 

Our generation is the biggest believer in relative truth.  “Do what feels good, as long as it doesn’t affect someone else,” we say.  We rely a lot on grace.  Now, I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with freedom in Christ - that is one of the main benefits of our salvation in Him.  But, when we believe in something other than, or in addition to, the truth, it sets us up for yokes of bondage limiting us to the full potential of God’s grace and power to accomplish great things in our lives.

Do you believe in an absolute truth?  If you are uncertain, ask God today to reveal it to you, and reveal the reason why.  Often if we do not have the why behind the truth, we are less likely to know how to tell others why we believe the way we do.  Ask Him- He will show you. 

Dumbing Down Sin

"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God." -Galatians 5:19-21
 
We live in a dangerous world today. And I'm not just talking about the dangers of drunk driving, murderers, terrorists, or drugs. It has to do with the way we see our humanity.

As our humanity runs the show more and more, more of us try to make our particular brand of sin socially acceptable. When this happens, everything becomes muddied and grey - there is no such thing as black and white morality. But the fact of the matter is, there is a right and wrong. There is a plumb line of morality that exists, that would make our world better if we could all learn to embrace it.

The problem with this as we go on is that we see no need for salvation. We think we are good on our own, (even if we don't feel that way all of the time), and so we go on in life, defensive if anyone calls attention to our sin and cites it as a problem. We may even go to extremes to get the government to agree with us. But in reality, it is a huge problem. Proverbs says, "Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery." -Proverbs 29:1

When Abraham put Isaac on the altar, it was a prophetic sign of things to come, for Jesus especially, but also for us. You see, when we put what may be dear or close to us on the altar, God can use that greatly. The fact that Abraham put his own flesh on the altar is testament that we, too, need to put our flesh on the altar - we are "crucified with Christ, so it is no longer I that lives, but He that lives in me." (Gal 2:20) The very fact that we need to put things on the altar is what allows us to step into God's kingdom!

Are you willing to put anything in your life that is not of God on the altar today?