Do Not Neglect To Show Hospitality...

Heb 13:1-2 Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Confession time...

In the course of life we often encounter opportunities to serve others and blow past them due to our busy schedules, blindness to the situation, or just plain old selfishness. Yesterday was one of those days for me.

I had been riding on a passenger train for about 4 hours. While I was on the train I was enjoying the beautiful landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. The Olympic Mountain range with its snow capped peaks and the calm water of the Puget Sound set the stage for a great trip. The train was packed full of passengers. My seat assignment was next to, let's just say, a rather large man. Across the table from us was his wife and small child. I was planning on doing some computer work while on the train and due to my cramped quarters I was unable to move, let alone whip out my laptop and write.

Being a railroad employee helps tremendously in these types of circumstances. I walked up to the train conductor and told her my plight. She was more than accommodating and gave me a seat with my own table in a car that was virtually empty... Kudos to the conductor for that one.

I spent my almost 4 hour trip reading God's Word and working on building a website I have been developing for some time. I prayed, ate a snack or two, and caught up on some loose ends. It was a great trip home.

As I approached the busy train station I called ahead to have my ride ready and waiting for me as I disembarked. Sure as clockwork, the ride was there. Oblivious to the hustle and bustle of the other passengers as they greeted loved ones with hugs and kisses, I was in full speed heading to my ride. I had somewhere to go and if you stopped in front of me you would probably get ran over.

Just as I approached the curb I was greeted by a disheveled city resident. He had probably not been showered in quite some time and was missing several teeth. He held out his hand toward me and explained that he was a veteran. In his hand was a tattered veterans card with his picture on it. He asked me for a dollar. Now here is the confession...

I would love to say that I was Jesus at that moment. That I looked him in the eyes and felt his aching heart. That I understood his struggles as he lived as a beggar on the streets. And then offered to pray for him and give him the dollar he was asking for. But that didn't happen.

I did look him in the eye however. Not to understand his heart, but to express my inability to offer any hope. I answered his request with a quick, "Sorry man, can't help you" and ran off to my ride. As I sat in the van in my 10 minute ride to my final destination I began to think about what just happened. Did I just miss an opportunity to entertain an angel? Did I do what Jesus would have done? What a selfish person I discovered I was.

As I discussed this situation later that night with my wife an image came to my mind. I visualized this disheveled homeless guy walking up to Jesus and asking for a dollar. And as Jesus was about to show him His love and compassion, I jumped in front of Jesus and basically said, "Sorry, can't help you. You will need to get it from someone else"

Oh how we can be so lost in our own selfishness. Would it have changed a thing if I had spent even one minute with this guy? It wouldn't have changed my getting home in time for dinner, but it may have changed his life for eternity.

Lord, forgive me for times like this when I am so caught up in my own thoughts and desires that I forget about those you place in my life that I can help. I am your hands extended and I pray Lord that you will give me another chance to show your love and grace to a stranger.

Blessings to you as you draw closer to him today.

Keith

True Life Challenge - Grace Through Humility

Jas 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

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As I think about this verse today I ask myself one question. If God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, how is a proud person able to become humble? C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, puts it this way:

"There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility." - C. S. Lewis

So back to the question... how do we defeat this pride in our life that is most disliked by others? How do we conquer this unpopular vice and pursue true humility? Most people who struggle with pride, according to Lewis, are simply unconscious of it in themselves. It is a viscous circle that requires divine intervention.

The first step to true Christian humility is coming to the realization that pride is an abomination to God and separates us from Him (Pro 16:5). In addition to separation from God, it also separates us from other people. Once we identify pride in our heart, we can begin dealing with the sin and working toward becoming right with God. Jas 4:10 tells us to humble ourselves before the Lord. This requires that we profess the condition of our heart to God. The ugliness, worthlessness, and sinfulness that dwells inside of us. Admit that we are nothing apart from Jesus and we require complete dependence on Him.

Daily In Christ - True Life Challenge

Today's True Life Challenge is this. Pray Psalm 139:23-24 and ask God to reveal your heart. Then, when you have identified anything that might be grievous, ask the Lord to cleanse it from you.

Psa 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Blessings to you today as you draw close to Him.

For a direct link to save audio file right click here and "save as."

Our Good Comes From The Lord

The Lord is our source of all things good. True humility understands that apart from the Lord we are filled with all kinds of evil. When we measure ourselves against the things of this world we have a tendency to compare ourselves with others. It is simple to look at someone who we may look better than, act better than or are smarter than and think how good we are.

Our goodness comes from the Lord. Not from our education, status, or income level. It doesn't come from our race, country of origin or religious denomination. Our good comes from being in Christ. We are to be a reflection of His good and put all self aside.

Psa 16:2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good besides You."

May you seek Him today and find your goodness in Him.

Blessings...

For Pride Is The Beginning Of All Sin...

For pride is the beginning of all sin. ~ Augustine-Treatise On The City Of God

I was recently reading St. Augustine's treatise on the city of God and this one sentence really stood out to me. Sure there was plenty that I was able to glean from this magnificent writing, but the point that strikes me is that sin begins with pride.

John Owens, in his book The Mortification Of Sin, makes the statement, "be killing sin daily or sin will be killing you." So as I read the works of our early church fathers and look at the scriptures that God has provided for our guidance and wisdom then I find it safe to assume that we must kill pride, the root of all sin, or it will destroy us.

I heard a preacher talking the other day and he made the statement that God has a way of exposing us through shameful sin to destroy our pride. He certainly could allow us to sin in other ways and get our attention through it, but the sins that are exposed to the people around us are the ones that cause us to humble ourselves before God in order to get right with him and the people we encounter.

I can totally relate to this in my own life. I am by no means a member on the public stage and I have very few people that I expose my life to outside of the church and my work, but there have been times that God has used simple public sin to put me into a place of humility in my life. One recently gave me the opportunity to reflect on my need to increase the humility in my life and after a couple of days of reflection in this area I felt like God had changed my heart. I spent many hours during this time of correction from the Lord reading through Psalm 51.

Psa 51:2-4 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

The Bible is filled with scriptures regarding pride in our life and I am sure I could read and include an abundance of such scriptures, but I believe what God has laid on my heart today isn't to point out that we all have pride in our life that needs to be dealt with. I think today God wants to remind you and me that we have a loving father in heaven who will accept us and forgive us even when we make terrific mistakes that are born from a prideful heart.

The cry of David in this psalm is to ask God to create in him a clean heart. To blot away any of his iniquities and to repair his life from his sinful ways. In verse 2 he asks to be cleansed from his sin. He wants God to not just take an eraser and erase away the damage and sin in his heart, but he wants God to thoroughly wash him and cleanse him. A deep cleansing of the heart that only God can do. We can give the appearance on the outside that our heart is humble and good, but only God can work the deep cleansing we need on the inside to rid of of the nasty parasite of pride.

Are you struggling with the sin of pride today? If you say 'no' then I might suggest that you are too prideful to recognize it. ( Mar 7:21-23 ) If you say 'yes' then I hope that you turn to the Lord today and ask Him to begin the cleansing work that you need in order to be humble and contrite before Him and the people He places in your path. Pride is a killer... It destroys careers, families, ministries, and people's hearts. God uses the humble and opposes the proud.

Lord Jesus, I pray today for my heart and I lay down my will before you. Please cleanse me from my pride and selfish ways and give me a heart of humility. I long to be used by you and I pray that you will do a magnificent work in my life in the area of pride and humility. In your precious name, Amen

Psa 51:8-14 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. (nasb)

Becoming Like A Child

Mat 18:3-6 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Having a childlike faith. Oh to be like one of the little ones. This morning I was at a customer's home and I was doing some work there for her. Running around the house were two small children. A rambunctious little boy who just turned two and a precious little girl who is four. The rough and tumble little fella was running around in a pair of shorts and sported a bottle with him everywhere he went. The princess was adorned in a beautiful fairy dress and had a smile that was as precious as the morning sun. I couldn't help but watch these two little ones as I went about my duties there. They were genuinely innocent, incredibly inquisitive, and willing to help me in every way. They were asking me questions and very hungry for knowledge.

Why do you do it that way and how come you have to go over there? Each time they asked me a question I answered with care and compassion. No question to me was meaningless and they were full of many of them. Every time I answered their little question, as trivial as it may have been, they responded with the next question with just a little bit more confidence. By the time I completed my work they knew so much more than when I got there.

Throughout the morning their mother was trying her hardest to keep these two little ones from "bothering" me. "Stop asking the nice man all of these questions" she would say to them. All the while I would inform her that everything was fine and I was not the least bit bothered by their inquisitive minds. Finally, she scolded one of them and then turned on the TV in hopes of distracting them from keeping me from my work.

Jesus tells us in Matthew that we need to be converted and become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. To me this means to have an innocence about us that allows us to come to the father and seek Him with the faith of a child. Children are oblivious to the things of adults. In the eyes of a child all things are relevant and equal and what I had to accomplish there this morning was for the purpose of benefiting their little lives. Being childlike means we put all preconceptions aside and cry out to God for guidance, assurance, information, and ultimately freedom in Him.

The thing this morning that was bothersome to me was the mother trying her hardest to prevent the little ones from coming to me with their questions. It made me think that, in the spiritual realm in which we live, Satan has a great way of keeping us from our heavenly Father as well. Woe to you who cause one of these little ones to stumble.

As God's children we are to rely on Him as a child needs his father. Removing our pride and placing ourselves far below the magnificence of the Father, gleaning all we can from Him for our life. We can not sustain ourselves and Jesus reminds the disciples of this very fact as they are trying to figure out who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. I truly desire to be like a small child in my walk with the Lord. Always seeking Him for my sustenance and never being too grown up to think I know all of the answers.

Thank you Lord for reminding me that I need be converted and be like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. Help me to never cause one of your children to stumble and please guide me today in the way you would have me to go.

Are You A White Washed Tomb?

Mat 23:25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
Mat 23:26 "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
Mat 23:27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Whoa! What an accusation made by Jesus to the scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites, blind men, appearance of righteousness, full of dead men's bones, unclean. These are some pretty strong words coming from Jesus to a group of people who spent a lot of time in God's word studying the scriptures and leading the people. But leading them to what?

Where do such accusations come from? I was reading through Matthew recently and I am amazed every time I see Christ lay accusations on people and how they respond to it. Sure, it is easy to say that if I was in their sandles I would repent and turn immediately to Christ... But who can say that? In Matthew 23 verse 13 Christ says to them, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."

Christ abhors wickedness, but I believe He is even less fond of men who keep His people from entering into the kingdom of heaven. And that is exactly what these men were doing. They were self righteous men who did not embrace the doctrines of Christ and in doing so they hindered others as well.

So, what is God speaking to me through these passages of scripture seemingly written to a group of religious leaders 2000 years ago. Certainly I am no religious leader. And I am definitely not a scribe or a Pharisee. So, as I read these passages over and over I asked God to reveal what Jesus might be saying to me today.

The first thing that stands out to me is the word hypocrite. However it was described (hypocrite, blind man, fool) it really means one thing: One who feigns to be what he is not; one who has the form of godliness without the power, or who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue, when he is destitute of true religion.

For me, the first lesson out of Matthew 23 is "Don't be a hypocrite." There is a great price to be paid for appearing to be something you are not. Mat 23:38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! Christ tells them that they will be left to their own devices, abandonded by God. When we claim to be Christians and live like we are not, then Christ will allow us to continue on until we end up in ultimate destruction.

The next thing I saw is that they were more worried about the outside appearance than the inner man and being right with God. Mat 23:28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. So the second thing I got from this passage was that what is on the inside is far more important than what is on the outside.

God is interested in our heart and our mind, not what we have accomplished and how we appear to others... I wrote a few days ago about being a Living Sacrifice and I believe that Christ is telling me in this passage to be concerned about the inside... My heart and my thoughts regarding Him. Romans 12:2 says: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

And thirdly I see is a message of humility. Mat 23:10-12 "Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. "But the greatest among you shall be your servant. "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."

I see that the leader's described in Matthew 23 were not going to conform to the likeness of Christ. Their arrogance had blinded them so greatly that they missed the fact that the Messiah was right in front of them. Philipians chapter 2 tells of what we need to be like in order to achieve Christ like humility. Php 2:3-8 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

How would Christ speak of you if you were sitting in front of Him today? How would He speak of me? I certainly hope He wouldn't call me a whitewashed tomb or a blind man.

Lord, thank you for allowing me to learn from the lives of others. I know you want my heart and what is on the inside of me is far more imporant than the outside. Help me to grasp your goodness. Allow me to keep my mind in the word so I will not be accused of being like the pharisees. Show me what true humility looks like so I can be more like you every day.