The Power of a Word of Praise

September 30, 2011 Leave a comment

Benjamin West was a famous British artist in the 1700s. He also served as the president of the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts. He was especially known for his paintings of historical scenes.

West first become aware of his artistic talents on a day when his mother had him babysit his younger sister Sally. While his mother was gone, he discovered some bottles of colored ink and attempted to keep Sally amused by painting her portrait. In doing so, he made quite a mess. When his mother returned he expected to be reprimanded. Instead she deliberately looked beyond the mess, picked up the rather crude painting, smiled, and said, “Why, it’s Sally!” From that point on, she became his greatest source of encouragement concerning his talent. He would often say, “My mother’s kiss made me an artist.”

We have no idea just how much influence we can have over the lives of others. A well-timed word of praise can go such a long way in building a person’s confidence. Likewise, an ill-timed word of criticism can go such a long way in destroying that confidence. The single greatest thing that my father ever said to me was, “I’ve seen all these ballplayers around here, and you can play with any of them.” To this day I remember how that one sentence made me feel. It made me feel like I was as good a ballplayer as anyone in our county. Maybe that wasn’t true, but that didn’t stop me from feeling it.

Jay Orr was my pastor when I felt God’s call to the ministry. I will always be indebted to Jay for helping me to yield to that call and fulfill my God appointed role in life. And there was one line from Jay that especially found a home in my heart. We were sitting in his car talking, and he looked me squarely in the eye and said, “Well, you’re preacher material.” The funny thing is that I’m sure that Jay doesn’t even remember saying that to me. But I certainly remember it.

So the purpose of this post is to get you to find someone today and brag on them a little. You don’t have to make a big deal out of it, and I definitely don’t want you to lie. But chances are that you’ll cross paths with someone today who you can sincerely praise for something. Perhaps it will be your child. Perhaps it will be someone who looks up to you. All I’m saying is, whoever it is, a budding artist, ballplayer, or preacher, you just never know the lifelong impact you might make.

Filed under Children, Communication, Encouragement, Fatherhood, Influence, Motherhood, Parenting, Personal, Sports, Youth Tagged with , , , , , ,

A Word About the Website

September 29, 2011 2 Comments

Some of you are aware that our church has a website at disciplesroadchurch.com. For those of you who aren’t, now you know. And at the risk of bragging, let me say that there is some really good stuff on the site.

Just this week we’ve uploaded six new sermons to the ever-growing list. They are:

1. “Eli: A Man Who Failed As A Father”
2. “God’s Temporary Rejection of Israel”
3. “Making Room For Jesus”
4. “Praying In Jesus’ Name”
5. “Praying In the Holy Spirit”
6. “The Overcomer”

Now, I realize that many of you are like me in that you find it hard to find time to listen to a sermon. I understand that. But I just want you to know that the site is there to provide you with spiritual help and Biblical truth whenever you need it.

On the subject of Biblical truth, let me especially recommend that you click on the resource “A Guide for God’s Plan of Salvation.” Trust me, there’s a little more than John 3:16 there. I spent untold hours writing that guide and it is choked full of Bible verses and doctrinal facts. I start with the statement “There Is A God” and launch off from there. Really, if you used your daily devotion time to simply cover one section per day and read the verses for that section, it would be time well spent.

Another rich resource is the one entitled “What We Believe.” Again, if you used your devotion time to just cover one section per day and read the verses, you’d be blessed. The “Prophetic Events” section alone has ten different parts to it. And when you break them down into bite-size devotions, they make for great studies.

Well, I’ll hush now because I don’t want to “oversell” the product. All kidding aside, though, it’s a good website. Other sites might be snazzier and feature more graphics and such, but they’d be hard pressed to offer any more help in teaching the Bible. We’re just meat and potatoes. But what else would you expect from me? You’ve read my blog, right?

Filed under Bible Study, church, Doctrine, God's Word, Personal, Prophecy, salvation, Scripture, The Bible Tagged with , , , , , ,

A Description of Prayer

September 28, 2011 2 Comments

Christian, have you prayed today? If you have, what motivation did you have for praying? I hope you’re not like the little boy who was asked, “Do you pray every day?” He answered, “No, some days I don’t want anything.”

Now, I realize that God’s word does tell us to make our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6; Psalm 21:1-2; James 4:2). I get that. But God’s word also teaches that prayer should be so much more than just you handing God a grocery list or sending Him on an errand. If that’s all your prayers are, you’re no better than that little boy.

The moment a person genuinely believes in Christ as Savior, he or she is “born again” (John 3:1-21). To be born again is to have God the Holy Spirit literally come into your body and take up residence (Romans 8:9-11). And it is through this glorious experience that you become nothing less than a child of God. First, in a sense, you become His child by way of birth (the new birth, which is not a physical birth but a spiritual one). Second, you become His child by way of adoption as He adopts you into His family (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:4-7). All this explains John 1:12-13, which says:

But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Okay, now here’s where I’m headed. Imagine a child who only talks to his or her father to put in requests. “Dad, take us on vacation this year.” End of conversation. “Dad, give me some money.” End of conversation. “Dad, buy me a car.” End of conversation. “Dad, make that guy be my boyfriend.” End of conversation. How do you think a father would feel if the only talking his child ever did with him involved requesting him to do something? Surely he would think, “I’m just a magic genie to this child. This child doesn’t love me or want to spend time with me. The child isn’t interested in hearing my opinion or allowing me to impart my wisdom. I’m just a means to an end.”

Well, if that’s what an earthly father would think about such a child, do you think that God, the Christian’s heavenly father, thinks any differently? You see, He wants your prayer-time to be a dialogue not a monologue. He wants it to be a confessional booth in which you confess your sins to Him. He wants it to be a psychologist’s couch upon which you lie down and pour out your deepest feelings, emotions, fears, hurts, disappointments, and regrets. He wants it to be an altar at which you resolve to live for Him and do His will. He wants it to be a classroom in which He instructs you. He wants it to be a dining table at which you feast on His wisdom and His word. He wants it to be a general’s desk at which battle plans for how to defeat the enemy are laid out and discussed. He wants it to be a pickup truck in which the two of you just drive along and talk about anything and everything under the sun. :)

So tell me, Christian, is your prayer-time all these things? If it isn’t, then you need to make it so. The problem isn’t with God; it’s with you. He longs for your prayers to be everything that I’ve described and even more. He’s willing to stay as long as you want to stay and go as deep as you want to go. But He won’t force Himself upon you. Remember, it’s you that holds the key to the door of an ideal prayer life.

Filed under Belief, God's Love, prayer, Prayer Requests Tagged with , , , , ,

Let Me Illustrate

September 26, 2011 2 Comments

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables, and without a parable He did not speak to them… (Matthew 13:34)

Yesterday I was once again reminded of the power of sermon illustrations. At the close of a funeral service we both attended, I talked with Geraldine, a friend whom I had given some c.d. copies of a sermon series I had preached on the life of David. Even though she had listened to several of the sermons, Geraldine had just one question to ask me about them: “Are you enjoying having Josh on your football team again this year?”

I have to say that the question caught me off guard, and I got a deer-in-the-headlights look for a moment. My mind began to race. “Josh? Josh who? And how does Geraldine even know that I’m helping coach football right now? And how could she possibly care about a little kid or youth-league football? What’s the connection that I’m missing here?”

Well, since we currently have two boys named Josh on Royce’s team, I stammered out something like, “Yes, he is.” I don’t think Geraldine could tell that I was trying to bluff my way through the conversation, but the truth was that I was still trying to get up to speed subject wise. But then she said something that made everything clear. More or less her comment was, “I thought the way you used him as an illustration was just perfect.”

Okay, now I knew exactly who and what we were talking about. In one of the David sermons, I had spent a couple of minutes talking about how “little Josh” was the best tackler on Royce’s football team even though he was one of the smallest kids on the team. Since Geraldine knew that I had preached the David sermons about a year ago, she rightly assumed that I would be helping coach Royce’s football team again this year and that Josh, being the same age as Royce, would be on the team again. Once all that clicked in my mind, I told her that, yes, Josh is on our team again, and, yes, he is still our best tackler. We both got a good laugh out of that.

As Geraldine and I exited the church and went our separate ways, I couldn’t help but be impressed by how she had remembered my Josh illustration. She hadn’t asked about a sermon title, an outline, or a finer point of some text. No, apparently the top thing that had stuck in her mind out of all my preaching was an illustration that I had used, even a personal one at that. I guess that Jesus, being the master communicator, teacher, and preacher that He was, knew exactly what He was doing when He spoke in parables.

The word “parable” comes from the Greek word parabole. Literally, the word means “a placing beside.” So a parable is a story that is placed alongside a teaching to help illustrate the teaching and make it more memorable. You see, Christ’s parables were what we would call sermon illustrations. Of course, His illustrations were of a significantly higher grade than ours’!

The book Love Worth Finding is the biography of Adrian Rogers, the great Southern Baptist preacher. His life certainly makes for an interesting read, but my favorite part of the book is its closing section, which is entitled “The Preaching Philosophy of Adrian Rogers.” Concerning the use of illustrations, Rogers says this:

One of God’s great ways of communicating spiritual truth so it is easily understood is by use of illustrations. I attempt to include an illustration with every outline point of the sermon.

Rick Warren is another noted Southern Baptist preacher. In his classic book The Purpose Driven Church, he writes:

Jesus was a master storyteller…In fact, the Bible shows that storytelling was Jesus’ favorite technique when speaking to a crowd (Matthew 13:34). Somehow preachers forgot that the Bible is essentially a book of stories. That is how God chosen to communicate his Word to human beings…Long after a pastor’s clever outline is forgotten, people will remember the stories from the sermon. It is fascinating, and sometimes comical, to watch how quickly a crowd tunes in when a speaker begins telling a story and how quickly that attention vanishes as soon as the story is finished.

Now, I realize that every Christian is not a preacher or a Bible-teacher. But I also realize that every Christian is supposed to share the gospel as well as the truth of God’s word. And how can we effectively do this sharing? Well, I don’t think there is a canned answer to that question, but surely one of the best ways is to incorporate interesting, relevant, thought-provoking illustrations into what we are saying. If Jesus, who was God in the flesh, chose to major on this way of teaching, who are we to think that we can come up with something better?

Filed under Communication, Evangelism, God's Work, Ministry, Personal, preaching, Sunday School, Teaching, Witnessing Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Throw Up Your Cap

September 21, 2011 1 Comment

Years ago, in a small fishing village on the coast of New England, a winter storm blew up suddenly and caught the small boats out at sea. The men rowed hard to reach the safety of the harbor, and all the boats made it in except for one. Just when it was almost there, a huge wave struck and hurled it up against a rock. The boat was captained by an old man named John. With his boat in ruins, he did the only thing he could do: pull himself up onto the rock and commence to hang on for dear life.

John’s fellow fishermen saw his plight, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it. The idea of taking rescue boats out into the teeth of the storm was ludicrous. To further complicate matters, it would soon be dark. So being the good, practical New Englanders they were, they decided to wait until the morning to attempt a rescue. In the meantime, they built a bonfire on the shore and dedicated themselves to keeping it burning all night. Every now and then, by the light of that bonfire, one of the men would throw his cap up into the air just to let John know they were there and hadn’t abandoned him.

Finally, after a long, rough night, the winds subsided and the dawn broke. The fishermen put out their boats and were able to rescue old John. After he had warmed himself by the fire and been given something to eat, they asked him what it had been like out there on that rock all night. Here’s what he said:

Well, it was the longest night of my life. I made out pretty well at first, but then a big wave came along and flattened me out and I felt myself slipping. I was worn out. I was ready to give up. My old father went down at sea, and I had decided my time had come. But just as I was ready to let go, I looked through the darkness and saw somebody’s cap going up in the air. I said to myself, “If there’s somebody who cares enough about old John to stay out on a night like this, I guess I’m not going to quit yet.” Just then the winds seemed to ease up, and I got a fresh hold, and well, here I am.

With this story in mind, I’ll ask you to throw up a cap yourself today. Johns are out there everywhere, just trying to hold for dear life. Find someone who needs some encouragement and let them know that you appreciate them. Let them know they’d be missed if they weren’t around. Let them know that you care. You might just give that person reason to keep pressing on rather than quit.

Filed under Comfort, Doing Good, Encouragement, God's Work, Influence, Ministry Tagged with , , , , ,

Got A Need?

September 20, 2011 3 Comments

A small Bible college was growing so fast that it desperately needed more dormitory space. If a new dormitory couldn’t be built, students would have to be turned away. The school’s president took the matter to God in prayer and left the request with Him.

Not long afterward, the president was invited to speak at a conference in another city. One night, after the service, he was handed a small envelope with a note inside it. The note was a request from an elderly woman. She wanted to meet with the president.

The following day he went to her home for tea. In his heart he couldn’t deny that he hoped that God would work through the woman to meet the financial need. But as the visit came to a close, no offer had been made.

Somewhat disappointed, the president headed for the door. As he did, the woman’s face suddenly lit up. “Oh my,” she said, “I almost forgot.” Then she left the room momentarily and came back carrying a small folder. She handed it to him and said, “This is for you and the work you are doing for the young people.” The folder contained many thousands of dollars of stocks and bonds. As a matter of fact, the amount totaled up to the exact amount needed to build the dormitory.

Now, this story is supposedly true, but, frankly, the Christian realm is filled with such stories. Preachers like myself know all about books of illustrations, and these books offer many such stories about God meeting needs. I’m not trying to sound cold or hard, but the stories are so numerous as to be almost cliched. But are they true? Do such things really happen? Does God really meet needs?

I speak from personal experience when I answer, “Yes.” During our first few years of Disciples Road Church, God ran me through a class on this subject. Oh, I had always preached that God would meet every need, but it’s a different deal altogether when you find yourself sincerely wondering how you are going to pay the light bill, the phone bill, the car payment, the mortgage payment, etc. That’s when you find out if all those corny old stories you’ve read are for real. And again let me say: they are.

So who am I writing this to today? Is it you? Do you have some pressing need staring you squarely in the face right now? If you do, take heart. God can and will meet that need if you will sincerely turn it over to him. Remember, Philippians 4:19 is still in the Bible:

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Filed under faith, God's Love, God's Provision, needs, Personal, Prayer Requests, Trusting In God, Worry Tagged with , , , , , ,

1,500 Sheep

September 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Not too many years ago the Associated Press ran a story that came out of Gavas, a town in eastern Turkey. According to the story, one sheep from a very large flock walked to the edge of a cliff and jumped to its death. A second sheep soon followed. Then a third. Then a fourth. Then a fifth. The A.P. report read:

“Stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff.”

Incredibly, only 450 of the sheep died. The rest survived because their fall was cushioned by the bodies of the sheep that had jumped before them.

Here’s a typical parent-child conversation:

Jimmy: “Dad, can I take my skateboard and try a triple-spin reverse off the front porch?”

Dad: “No!”

Jimmy: “Why not? Tommy does it.”

Dad: “If Tommy jumped off a cliff, would you follow him?”

That comeback about jumping off a cliff really is the classic reason that parents use to keep a kid from caving in to peer pressure, isn’t it? It reminds me of the old “You’ll shoot your eye out” line from the movie A Christmas Story. Little Ralphie says, “That deadly phrase honored many times by hundreds of mothers was not surmountable by any means known to Kid-dom.”

Truth be told, though, parents have to warn their kids about jumping off cliffs because peer pressure is such a powerful force. In his book There’s A Sheep Born Every Second, David Kirkwood uses that A.P. story about those sheep and writes, “Imagine the peer pressure that last sheep must have felt. Surely 1,499 sheep can’t be wrong, can they?”

Since I’m currently raising a freshman and a 5th-grader myself, I feel that I can speak with some expertise on this subject. And apparently, if all the reports I’ve heard are true, there are some IDIOT parents running around out there. These parents lower the bar on standards, set bad precedents, create dangerous trends, and (in my humble opinion) should have their parenting licenses revoked.

So today’s post is a word of encouragement to all you parents who are still trying to hold the line. Keep up the good work. Don’t make the mistake of giving in to peer-pressure yourself, the pressure other parents put on you to let your kids: watch anything they want to watch, listen to anything they want to listen to, wear anything they want to wear, think anything they want to think, say anything they want to say, go anywhere they want to go, buy anything they want to buy, and do anything they want to do. Can 1,499 sheep be wrong? You’d better believe they can! And that’s why you can’t let your child be number 1,500.

Filed under Children, Choices, Courage, Desires, Dress and Appearance, Fatherhood, Motherhood, Parenting, Youth Tagged with , , , , , , ,

God Is Not Mocked

September 15, 2011 Leave a comment

Dr. R.G. Lee was one of the most famous Baptist preachers who ever lived. From 1927 to 1960 he served as the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. During those years the church grew in membership from 1,400 members to 10,000. He also served three terms as the president of his denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Dr. Lee once used the following illustration:

Newburg, New York had a society led by Bline Palmer called The Druidical Society. It had a high priest and met to ridicule and destroy religion. Infamous and blasphemous acts were performed. At a meeting they burned a Bible, baptized a cat, partook of a mock sacred meal and administered sacrament to a dog.

In the evening, he who administered the sacrament was attacked with a violent inflammatory disease and died before morning in great bodily and mental agony, his inflamed eyeballs protruding and his tongue swollen. Another was found dead the next morning. A third died in a fit a few days later.

In five years of the organization of the society, all thirty-six of the original members had met strange and premature deaths: one of horrible swelling, one found dead in bed, one died in convulsions, one froze to death, three died in accidents, five were suicides, two were stoned to death, seven died on the gallows and eight were shot.

What does the Bible say? “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked…” (Ephesians 6:7).

Filed under God's Holiness, God's Wrath, God's judgment, Rebellion, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, The Depravity of Man Tagged with , , , , , ,

Tonya’s Birthday

September 14, 2011 5 Comments

Today is my wife Tonya’s birthday, and so I’d like to devote this post to her. I thought it would be fun to describe a typical day in her life, and since my day-to-day memory only lasts for about one day, I’ll describe yesterday. Here goes.

Just as she does every school morning, Tonya got up sometime around 5:45 a.m. I use the word “sometime” because it’s not like I woke up with her and got the official time. Once up, she had until 7:00 a.m. to: get herself ready, wake up our ten-year-old son Royce (he’s easy), wake up our fourteen-year-old son Ryan (he’s hard), make sure the boys got ready for school, fix a little breakfast, and get everyone loaded into our Dodge Caravan. She dropped Ryan off at Mitchell High School around 7:10, dropped Royce off at Gouge Elementary School around 7:20, and then reported for duty at Bowman Middle School to spend her day teaching math to 7th and 8th graders who typically don’t care about learning it.

The general idea is that her day at Bowman ends at 3:00 p.m., but that’s laughable. It’s always an after-school meeting, some work she’s got to finish, or something. Usually she doesn’t leave Bowman until after 3:30, and many days it’s not until after 4:00. Yesterday she must have left around 3:30 because she got home around 3:45. When she gets home in the afternoon, she has Royce with her because he rides a bus from Gouge to Bowman and stays in her classroom until she’s ready to leave. He’s supposed to do his homework during that time, but don’t get me started on that.

Anyway, yesterday I think that Tonya’s first words to me when she got home were, “I’ve got to be back at Bowman no later than 5:15.” I didn’t even bat an eye at that comment because I knew the deal. Every teacher at Bowman Middle School has to sign up to work three of Bowman’s home football games. Over the years, Tonya has done everything from collecting money at the gate to working in the concession stand. But, believe it or not, her favorite job is being a member of “the chain gang.” For those of you who don’t know football, “the chain gang” are the people who stand on the sidelines and handle the chains that are used to determine whether or not a team got the necessary ten yards for a first down. It’s usually men who work those chains, but for some odd reason Tonya likes doing it. I guess she likes the action of being down on the field.

“And where is her husband while all this is going on?,” you ask. Oh, he’s busy too. First, I had to get Royce to his 5th-6th grade football practice at 5:30. I’m an assistant to the assistant coach’s assistant for that team. Second, I had to leave that practice and go pick Ryan up from his j.v. football practice at 6:00. Third, since Ryan wanted to catch the last part of the Bowman game, I had to drop him off there on my way back to Royce’s practice. While at Bowman, I walked up on the field and briefly spoke to Tonya as she worked the chains. Since I hadn’t any supper, I was thrilled when she offered me half a bag of popcorn and half a Pepsi. I thoroughly enjoyed both as I drove over to Royce’s practice.

That practice lasted until 7:30, but Tonya and Ryan showed up to it around 7:15. Bowman’s game had ended (they beat Avery 30-6, had to get that in), and now the question of supper had to be officially addressed because Ryan was gnawing the dash of the van. The classic McDonalds option was tossed around, but I just wasn’t in the mood for another Big Mac. So we decided that the best plan was for Tonya and Ryan to go to the grocery store. We needed some stuff for the house anyway. They were still at the store when Royce’s practice finished up, and so I called her and told her to buy a frozen pizza for me and him. Ryan ended up going with some frozen Chinese dish that he later regretted. As usual once she’s in a grocery store, Tonya thought of plenty of other things that we needed. All told, the bill ended up being over $60. We’d have gotten out a lot cheaper at McDonalds. And what did Tonya have for supper? She fixed herself some popcorn. Yes, the woman loves her popcorn.

Well, by the time everyone had finished their supper it was after 9:00. Brilliantly, I had made Royce take his bath while we’d been waiting for Tonya and Ryan to get home from the store. So he was almost ready for bed. At least that’s what I thought. But along about 9:30 I heard Tonya reading to him as she helped him finish up his homework. I thought to myself, “Okay, once she’s finished with that she’ll go to bed herself.” That’s not what happened, though. At 9:45 she walked into the dining room and told Ryan to get in there. It was time to put the finishing touches on his miniature bust of the Roman emperor Constantine. (Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.)

For one of his classes, Ryan has been working on a report on Constantine. As part of the assignment, he had to create a small bust of the man. Well, I was willing to help him sort through the high points of the emperor’s life, but you might as well ask me to build a space shuttle as create a bust. My best attempt would no doubt have involved the purchasing of a Mister Potato Head kit.

Ah, but Tonya does have a touch of that arts and crafts thing about her, and she stepped up to the plate and helped Ryan out. So there they were, at a few minutes past 10:00, sitting at our dining room table, painting the finishing touches onto the great Constantine. By the way, those are the types of things for which we use our dining room table. For us to actually eat off it, it would have to be excavated, cleared, and thoroughly cleaned. Such is family life in this modern world.

Well, with Constantine formally finished up around 10:15, Tonya was finally allowed to brush her teeth and literally drop into bed. For the record, I’ve never met anyone in my life who falls asleep as quickly as she does. Being a night owl myself, I have no idea why she can’t sit up late with me. Just kidding, of course. Seriously, I have no idea how the woman does all that she does. All I know is that she was back at it again at 5:45 this morning.

I’ll close now with some verses that are highly relevant to all this:

1. And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18)

2. He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22)

3. Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)

Tonya will no doubt get a kick out of me citing anything from Proverbs 31:10-31. Every time I have a congregation turn to that text, she just groans and thinks, “It’s impossible to live up to the standard that passage describes.” Well, honey, I don’t tell you this enough, but don’t ever doubt that you do live up to it each and every day. Also know that I love you and I’m going to take you out to eat tonight. Of course, we’ll have to take the boys. I promise you, though, that we’ll do a little better than McDonalds. And, hopefully, I’ll be able to give you the one gift that I know you crave the most: being in bed and fast asleep by 9:30. Happy birthday!

Filed under Children, Doing Good, Husbands, Marriage, Parenting, Personal, Service, Sports, Wives, Work Tagged with , , , , ,

Making Excuses For Your Sins

September 13, 2011 1 Comment

Four old codgers were playing poker for money in the back of their local store. Suddenly the sheriff walked in on them and said, “Gambling again, eh? This time I’m going to arrest you fellows just to teach you a lesson.”

At that point the excuses started flying. One of the men said, “I wasn’t playing sheriff; I just dropped in to talk.” Another one said, “I wasn’t playing either, Sheriff; I was just visiting.” A third said, “I just came in to warm up by the stove.”

The fourth man sat quietly as all this went on around him. He continued to hold his cards and never once took his eyes off them. The sheriff looked at him and said with a smile, “Well, you certainly can’t deny that you’ve been playing cards.” The old man, still not looking up from his cards, slowly drawled, “Now, Sheriff, who would I be playing with?”

Oh, the excuses we make for our sins! We blame everyone from our parents to the government, when all the while the heart of the problem lies with us. Please understand that I’m not minimizing any sins that have been committed by your parents or your government, but also understand that there comes a time when you have to look in the mirror and take responsibility for your own sins. Face it, you have about as much of God as you want in your life.

You probably know Christ’s most famous parable, the one about the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). But do you know the verse that marks the turning point of that story? It’s Luke 15:17, which says of the son:

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!’”

Be sure not to miss those all important words: But when he came to himself. You see, the prodigal’s life didn’t change for the better until he conducted a personal evaluation and was sufficiently shocked by what he found. And notice that Jesus didn’t say that the young man came to a revelation about how his parents had raised him, or one about how others had done him wrong, or one about the ills of his society. No, he came to a revelation about himself. He thought, “I brought myself to this lowly state.”

I don’t know your life, but perhaps you, like the prodigal, need to come to yourself. Maybe you need to stop blaming others for your troubles and start admitting to your own role in creating your mess. Excuses will only keep the status quo in tact and prevent you from returning to the blessings of the father’s house. I could also say a lot here about the importance of confession and repentance, but I’ll leave that off for another time. Right now the first order of business is to get you to realize that you are the problem. Until that happens, you’ll never be ready for the next step.

Filed under Addiction, Adversity, Attitude, Backsliding, Change, Personal Holiness, Problems, Rebellion, Sin Tagged with , , , , ,

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