Mona Lisa

June 21, 2011 1 Comment

In 1911, the famous Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. It was missing for two years. But would you believe that during that time more people came to the museum to see the blank space than had come to view the masterpiece itself in the previous twelve years?

Of course, that sounds just like us, doesn’t it? We take for granted the masterpieces in our lives until they are gone. I, for one, need this message today. I need to be reminded to focus on the good in my life rather than the bad and spend more time appreciating all the Mona Lisas God has granted me. I’m really going to work at this today. I suggest you do the same.

Filed under Attitude, contentment, Thankfulness Tagged with , , , , , ,

Summer Vacation

May 30, 2011 1 Comment

It’s Memorial Day, and I want to wish each of you a great holiday. Let me also encourage you to spend some time thinking about the reason for this holiday. The freedoms we enjoy in this country have never come cheap and still don’t. Thousands upon thousands of American soldiers have paid the ultimate price to keep those freedoms in place. Please don’t let their sacrifice get completely lost in all the vacations, barbecues, picnics, etc.

As you know, Memorial Day serves as the unofficial opening of summer, just as Labor Day serves as the unofficial closing. In my county, though, it isn’t so cut and dried because our kids never get Memorial Day off from school. Between all the snow days for which our school schedule has to account, as well as various other factors, the holiday always falls in the last week of the school year. I guess our local officials feel that’s just too close to the end to take a day off. So Memorial Day becomes just another school day. Our real “summer” starts this Friday when the school-bell rings for the last time.

If everything goes off as planned, it will be a typically busy summer for me, Tonya, and the boys. Right now I have a couple more weeks coaching Royce’s recreation- league baseball team for the 9 and 10 year olds. The past couple of summers he has played on our county’s all-star team during June and July, but he will be tackling something different this summer. He got a set of jr. golf clubs last Christmas, and he’s going to try his hand at that sport. Sometime in June he’ll get a week’s worth of individualized instruction from the assistant pro at our local public course, and then he’ll attend their golf camp in July. Tonya’s dad Charles was once an excellent golfer and he says that Royce is a natural for the sport. We’ll see. Thus far all my memories of the boy holding a golf club involve me trying to manage him as he persistently ran three or four holes ahead of us on putt-putt courses when he was younger.

As for Ryan, he’ll be playing baseball with a team out of Asheville, which is about an hour away from where we live. He’ll also be attending three days of basketball camp at Clemson with some of our county’s other rising freshman. And let’s not forget about football. Since he’ll be playing on the j.v. team this fall, he has to attend two-hour workouts at the high school on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday all summer. It’s a good thing we live only ten minutes from the school.

In addition to all this, in July we plan to drive down to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for a family vacation. We’re looking forward to that. By then I’m sure that we will need a vacation from the boys’ summer vacation. I have no doubt that when I’m older I’ll look back on these days fondly and remember them as good times, but right now they just seem like a lot of time, energy, gas, and money.

Someone asks, “And where is the Lord in all this?” Oh, trust me, He’s right there. Tonya and I really do make a point of praying about summer plans, potential vacation trips, what activities to let the boys pursue, etc. And as best I can tell as of this morning’s prayer, we are smack dab on God’s schedule and itinerary. So, we’ll get on His summer train and try to enjoy all the scenery and blessings of the ride. After all, the boys are only young once and we only get one shot at raising them. I just wish that summer “vacation” involved a lot less doing and a lot more resting.

Filed under Children, Choices, contentment, God's Will, Parenting, Personal, Sports, Trusting In God, Youth Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

A Great Lesson For Your Kids

May 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Toward the end of General Robert E. Lee’s historic life, he attended the christening of a friend’s son. The mother asked the aged leader to offer some words that would help guide the child into true manhood. But Lee’s answer probably wasn’t what she wanted to hear. He said simply, “Teach him to deny himself.”

Bruce Catton, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Civil War historian, wrote the following about Lee’s words of wisdom:

To deny himself…..Unexpected words, coming from a great soldier? One wonders how the young mother felt, hearing them. Even more, one wonders how this advice would strike the average parent of today.

We don’t emphasize self-denial very much these days, either for our children or for ourselves. Instead, we concentrate on our wants. We seem to have the notion that the world owes us all manner of good things, and we feel abused when we don’t get them. Self-discipline is a bore; and as a result, we are perilously close to winning an unwelcome fame as a land known for its spoiled children and discontented adults.

To learn to get along without, to realize that what the world is going to demand of us may be a good deal more important than what we are entitled to demand of it – this is a hard lesson. We have not been working very hard at it in recent years. Instead, we have developed a moral and intellectual flabbiness that could be fatal to us as individuals and as a nation.

For the world itself is really no easier now than it was in General Lee’s time. It offers rich opportunities; but above everything else, it offers a struggle, a struggle that will never be won by the self-indulgent. More than anything else, we need to relearn General Lee’s lesson.

To deny ourselves…That we may miss a good many of the nice, easy things that it is so pleasant to have. But we end up serving something bigger than ourselves. We can finish by attaining greatness.

If Catton’s words sound like they have a Biblical scent to them, there’s probably a reason for that. His father was a minister. And I can’t help but suspect that Catton knew the words of Jesus:

…whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:26-28)

Filed under Attitude, Children, contentment, Desires, Doing Good, giving, Humility, Leadership, Parenting, Sacrifice, seeking advice, Youth Tagged with , , , , ,

The Test of Prosperity

April 26, 2011 Leave a comment

Quick, name the toughest test to pass spiritually. Did you say, “Disease”? Did you say, “The death of a loved one”? Did you say, “Troubles?” Did you say, “Disappointment”? Well, there’s no doubt that none of these tests are spiritual gimmes, but would you believe that for many people the correct answer would be, “Prosperity”?

King David was just such a person. Study his life sometime and you will see why I say that. When he was a young man, he was such a spiritual wonder that God Himself rated him as a man after God’s own heart. David was most likely still in his teens when he was anointed by the prophet Samuel as the king of Israel. Not long afterwards he brought comfort to the demon-tormented Saul, the sitting king, by playing soothing music on the harp. Not long after that he slew the giant Goliath. David was on a spiritual roll!

Then began the long years wherein Saul tried to kill David, years which saw David and his personal army living in constant hiding from Saul and his troops. Was David’s behavior perfect and above reproach during those years? No, not by a long shot. But was he always God’s man, a man whose basic spiritual center was right? Yes. And David remained that way all the way up through: those years on the run from Saul, Saul’s death, David’s ascendency to the throne of Judah (the southern part of Israel), and seven years later his ascendency to the throne of all Israel.

What happened next? Oh, the story keeps getting better. As king of all the land, David unified Israel’s fiercely independent twelve tribes. He led his army in the conquering of Jerusalem. Then he expanded Jerusalem and built it into his capital city. A major part of that was him bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. We can truthfully say that, during those days, David’s decisions were, for the most part, dead on. His army was unbeatable. All the people loved him. And God was pouring out His favor upon him. God even made a covenant with him that David’s royal line would be established forever.

You see, after all the years of struggling to formally claim his annointing as king and make the nation of Israel the greatest and most godly nation on earth, David had now “arrived.” His life was just as he wanted it to be. He had remained true to God during all the trials and troubles, and now he was living in a season of major prosperity.

But guess what story from David’s life comes next. Tragically, it’s the one about how David had a one-night-stand with Bathsheba, the wife of one of David’s most loyal soldiers, Uriah. That one-night-stand resulted in Bathsheba getting pregnant. David then indirectly had Uriah killed and hastily married Bathsheba to prevent a royal scandal. You see, David emphatically failed the test of prosperity.

Noted pastor Chuck Swindoll has said, “When testing comes we get purified, but when prosperity comes we get vulnerable.” How true. So tell me, is your life looking pretty good these days? Are you enjoying more ease, comfort, and worldly blessing than you have ever known? Would you call it a season of prosperity for you? Then you’d better put in extra effort to stay on top of your game spiritually. Please don’t pull a David and forget the Lord in the midst of all that prosperity!

But what if your life isn’t looking very prosperous right now? What if you have more in common with David when he was on the run from Saul than when he was reigning as king? Well, if that’s your situation, could it be that God knows that you aren’t ready yet to handle the test of prosperity? Maybe you need some more spiritual maturing and seasoning. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but that doesn’t make it a wrong assessment. So my advice is: Don’t be so quick to gripe and complain to God that your life isn’t exhibiting much prosperity. The fact is that might just be nothing less than an act of mercy on His part.

Filed under Adversity, Backsliding, Choices, contentment, Desires, God's Provision, Greed, Mercy, needs, Patience, perseverance, Personal Holiness, Problems, Sex, Sin, Temptation, trials, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Be A Good Neighbor

March 22, 2011 Leave a comment

“He who despises his neighbor sins…” (Proverbs 14:21)

“Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10)

“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:38-39)

While I understand that Jesus told the parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) to explain that my “neighbor” is anyone I meet, I also understand that I live on a specific street and have literal neighbors. Therefore, it is my Christian duty to do all that I can to get along with them and show them love and friendship.

A man bought a farm and went out to look at the line fence, which had been the source of much quarreling between the farm’s previous owner and his neighbor. The neighbor spied the fellow inspecting the fence and, in a huff, went out there and said in an agitated tone, “That fence is a full foot over on my side.”

To the angry neighbor’s astonishment, the new owner answered, “Very well then, we will set the fence over two feet on my side.” That offer rendered the neighbor speechless until he was finally able to stammer out, “Oh, but that is more than I claim.” “Never mind about that,” said the owner pleasantly, “I’d much rather have peace with my neighbor than two feet of earth.” But with the situation now difused completely, the neighbor said, “That’s very good of you, but I couldn’t let you do a thing like that. That fence just won’t be moved at all.”

Are you having a problem with one of your neighbors these days? Is a property line in question? Is a tree limb hanging over onto your place? Is a drainage issue causing you trouble? Is a barking dog keeping you up at night? Then by all means show love in your attempts to resolve the matter. Don’t turn the thing into the Hatfields and the McCoys. Ask God to give you wisdom and guidance in reaching a solution that is pleasing to Him. Remember that you can’t put a price on being at peace with your neighbor.

Filed under Character, Choices, contentment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Extending Forgiveness, Influence, Personal Holiness, Problems Tagged with , , , ,

Find That Treasure

March 13, 2011 Leave a comment

William Randolph Hearst, the legendary newspaper publishing magnate, was one of the wealthiest men of his time. His great wealth allowed him to spend millions of dollars collecting art treasures from around the world. One day he read the description of a valuable piece of art and promptly dispatched his agent abroad to locate the piece and buy it. After months of searching, the agent finally reported that he had found the treasure. Where was it? To Hearst’s great surprise, it was stored in one of his own warehouses, having already been purchased by him years earlier.

There are many applications we could make to this story, but let me just offer this one: Sometimes the treasure you seek is one you already have in your possession if you only knew it.

Christian, what does God’s word say about being content with the things you have? The passage is Hebrews 13:5-6:

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’”

The teaching is: If you have Jesus, you have the Creator of the universe on your side, and that’s plenty of treasure for anyone.

Filed under contentment, Covetousness, Desires, God's Omnipotence, God's Provision, Greed, needs, Prosperity, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , ,

A New Shirt

March 9, 2011 Leave a comment

Sally Haack tells the following story:

“Last summer one of the local civic clubs of which my husband was a member sponsored a camping trip for underprivileged children. Upon arriving at the camp, each little boy was given a Frisbee and a t-shirt.

When the weekend was over and the boys were boarding the bus to go home, one little boy ran up to my husband and handed him his t-shirt, which was rather soiled and wrinkled but nevertheless neatly folded and placed in its plastic package.

My husband told the boy that the shirt was his, that he could keep it. Big tears welled up in the boy’s eyes as he said, “Thank you. I’ve never had a new shirt before.”

My husband swallowed the lump in his throat and told the boy to be sure to come back next year and he could get another new shirt. The boy thought for a moment, then looked up and said, “No. I don’t think I will come next year.” “Well, why not?” asked my husband. The boy replied, “I think I’ll send my little brother. He’s never had a new shirt either.”

What all is currently hanging in your closet? How many pairs of shoes do you own? What’s inside your refrigerator right now? How much food is on the shelves of your pantry or cabinets? Are your bills paid up? Do you have some money in the bank? Be thankful. Remember that 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is still in the Bible:

“in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

You see, whatever else might be the specific will of God for your life, I know that it His will for you to be thankful for what you have. Work on that today.

Filed under Children, contentment, Desires, Doing Good, giving, God's Will, God's Work, Influence, Thankfulness Tagged with , , , , ,

Mitchell County (We’re Not All Leaving)

March 4, 2011 2 Comments

Our regional newspaper, the Asheville Citizen Times, ran a lead article yesterday on the population growth in western North Carolina. The statistics show that more and more people are calling this part of the country home. The counties of Clay, Henderson, and Jackson led the way by growing in the ballpark of 20% over the past decade. Other counties such as Buncombe, Macon, Cherokee, and Transylvania also experienced substantial growth. As a matter of fact, in a listing of eighteen counties only one county, Mitchell, saw a population decrease over the past ten years. Guess where I live.

I could write a book on all the factors that have contributed to Mitchell’s -0.7% decrease. For that matter I could probably even specifically name a fair number of the folks who created the decline from 15,687 residents to 15,579, especially the ones who left us by way of death. I could talk about NAFTA, the Bushes, the Clintons, and Obama. I could describe once thriving furniture factories now standing like ghost towns. I could explain how our high school went from being 3-A when I was there over twenty-five years ago to being 2-A to now being 1-A. But what’s the use? The situation is what it is.

We’ve got some local folks who are working hard to make Mitchell county a hot-bed for tourism. I wish them well, but I’ll be amazed if it ever happens. We’ve got some others who are mad as all get out that big companies and big government have conspired to send America’s job overseas. I hear what they are saying and agree with it, but the average corporate C.E.O. or politician really couldn’t care less. And then there are those residents who like our county just the way it is and don’t want anything to change because they’ve got the local setup licked. They remind me of so many of our local, “family run” churches: “As long as me and mine are fine, I really don’t care about anybody else.”

But there is one other thing that I know about Mitchell county: I know it is where God has placed me and, as such, I am to be Christian “salt” and “light” right here right now (Matthew 5:13-16). Call it “blooming where you’re planted” or “lighting a candle in the midst of the darkness.” This is where Tonya and I are to live out a happy marriage. This is where she’s to teach middle-school math. This is where we’re to raise our two boys. This is where I’m to pastor a little church called Disciples Road Church. This is where I’m to write posts for this blog. This is where I’m to do a local radio broadcast each Sunday morning. This is where I’m to help coach Ryan’s middle-school baseball team. This is where I’m to do the same for Royce’s Upward Bound basketball team. This is where I’m to vote. This is where I’m to pay local taxes. This is where I’m to know my neighbors. This is where I’m to………..

Who knows? Maybe one day God will do some uprooting and plant Tonya and I somewhere else. Then again maybe He won’t. At this point I can see the future playing out either way. But no matter how God leads in the days to come I understand that His will is perfect and His plan is best. As Adrian Rogers, the longtime pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn. used to say, “God’s will is what you would want for yourself if you had enough sense to want it.” Well, I’ve got enough sense to want it, even if it means staying on in a county where the population numbers are dwindling. And, at least for now and the foreseeable future, that’s exactly what it means.

Filed under Adversity, Choices, contentment, God's Will, God's Work, Influence, obedience, Personal, Problems, Prosperity, submission, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Feeling Kind Of Small?

February 2, 2011 Leave a comment

You’ve probably heard of Solomon’s temple, that beautiful, majestic house of worship that served as the centerpiece of worship in Israel. But did you know that temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonians in 587 B.C.? Nebuchadnezzar also deported the defeated Jews to Babylon, where they would spend decades in exile from their homeland.

At the end of those years, however, God raised up the Medo-Persian empire to defeat the Babylonians. Medo-Persia was led by a man named Cyrus the Great. One of his first official acts as the new ruler of the Jews was to allow the willing to return to their homeland and reestablish their culture and religious observances. Shortly thereafter, a group of over 40,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem and built what is now known as “the second temple.” The man most prominently associated with this second temple was Zerubbabel. Thus, the temple is often called Zerubbabel’s temple. It was built on the same site as Solomon’s temple and was completed in 516/515 B.C. And would you believe that this second temple would actually stand longer than Solomon’s temple? Whereas Solomon’s temple had stood for approximately 400 years, Zerubbabel’s temple would stand for approximately 500 years.

But the second temple did have one major problem: It simply wasn’t as grand and ornate as the first one had been. You see, the incredibly prosperous days Israel had known under King David and King Solomon were now long gone, and the riches it would have taken to duplicate Solomon’s temple simply weren’t to be found. Unfortunately, the inferior appearance of the new temple greatly disappointed all the elderly Jews who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple. Ezra 3:12-13 sums up their response to the new temple:

“But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.”

But, of course, the real question that needed to be answered was, “Did God approve of this new temple?” And we find His answer in Zechariah 4:10 as He asks the piercing question:

“For who has despised the day of small things?”

I don’t mind telling you that I’ve claimed this verse many, many times since starting Disciples Road Church. I mean, it’s not like we had 100 in attendance our first Sunday and are now running 1,000. (We might be running that many, but we are actually catching only a small percentage of them!) Nevertheless, we forge ahead, confident that when God looks at our church He smiles, the way He must have smiled when Zerubbabel and his group completed that second temple. No, I’m not putting a local, New Testament church on par with a temple of Israel. I’m just pointing out that, in God’s eyes, small isn’t necessarily bad.

And so, are you trying to get some new work of the Lord off the ground? Hang in there. Did you start the work from scratch and thought it would be much more impressive by now? Stick with it. Do you feel a tinge of shame when you compare the work to larger, more established works? Stop that. Don’t be guilty of despising the day of small things. Never forget that if God says what you are doing is good and should continue, then that settles it. He is always on the lookout for some Zerubbabels, some people who will start and complete new works for Him. And He really isn’t interested in what the naysayers think about those works.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, church, contentment, faith, God's Work, obedience, Patience, perseverance, Personal, trials, Trusting In God, Worship Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

A Three-Point Checklist For The New Year

January 1, 2010 Leave a comment

Proverbs 4:25-27 says: “Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left. Remove your foot from evil.”

These verses make for one of the Bible’s best texts on the subject of a new year. In them Solomon offers a three-point checklist that will help us make this new year a godly, blessed, spiritually productive year. Let’s take a look at that checklist.

Item #1 is: Rivet your attention upon this new year. Solomon says, “Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids right before you.” Think of yourself as standing on the precipice of this new year. What should you do as you stand here? You should focus your attention straight ahead and fix your gaze on what lies ahead.

In order to do that, you’ll have to step out of your past. You might as well step out of it, because you can’t change one second of it anyway. Rearview mirrors make poor windshields!

You say, “But Russell, you don’t know my past. You don’t know the things I’ve done. You don’t know the things I’ve gone through.” Well, you’re right, I don’t know your past. But I do know two things. One, I know that Jesus wants to meet you right where you are and do wonderful things for you, in you, and through you. Two, I know that in order for Him to do that you’re going to have to join Him in the here and now. The fact is, this new year can be your fresh start with Christ.

One day a man stormed into the office of his local newspaper and said to the secretary, “I want to see the guy who is in charge of the obituaries.” When the secretary pointed him to a rookie reporter, the man marched over to that reporter and said, “Young man, I want you to know that my name appeared in your obituary column today. And, as you can see, I am very much alive. I want you to print a retraction in tomorrow’s paper.” To that, the young man said, “Sir, I’m afraid that we don’t print retractions in our obituary column, but I’ll put you in tomorrow’s birth announcements and give you a fresh start!”

This new year can be your fresh start with Jesus. You can have a fresh start in the areas of prayer, Bible study, church attendance, personal holiness, giving, and evangelism. Whatever sins you’ve committed in the past, whatever mistakes you’ve made, whatever you’ve gone through, rivet your attention on this new year.

Item #2 on the checklist is: Reassess the path you are traveling. Solomon says, “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.” The Hebrew word translated as “ponder” means to mentally weigh. The point is, think about the path you are currently traveling. Is it a path that will take you into more intimate fellowship with Jesus? Is it a path that will take you into a deeper level of service to Him? Is it a path that will make you a better Christian and a better person?

It’s sad that most people never take the time to stop and really think about where their path is taking them. Oftentimes this is why they repeat the same mistakes over and over again, year after year. I read about a man who went to the doctor to get some help for his two burned ears. The doctor said, “Before I treat you, I’ve just got to know how you burned your ears.” The fellow said, “Well, doc, here’s what happened. The phone rang while I was ironing my shirt, and I picked up the iron instead of the phone.” The doctor said, “That’s terrible! But what happened to your other ear?” The man said, “The guy called back.”

We laugh at that story, but this world is filled with people who never learn from their mistakes. I’m saying that the beginning of a new year is a great time to get by yourself, turn off the television, lay the phone off the hook, and take a good, hard look at your life.

And don’t be afraid to hurt your own feelings. Be honest about where you are. If the path you are on is a bad one, admit it. You will never get where Jesus wants to take you in life until you get on the right path.

So, here at the start of this new year, I encourage you to reassess the path you are traveling. If you don’t like the harvest you are getting, change your seed! It is a form of insanity to keep doing what you are doing and expect different results. If you want to change your life, change your path.

And then item #3 on the checklist is: Resist the temptation to veer off your God-approved path. Let’s say that you get on the path the Lord wants you to be walking. Is that the end of the story? No, it isn’t. Solomon gives the warning: “Do not turn to the right or the left. Remove your foot from evil.”

As you walk your God-approved path, certain things will appear to your right, things that will look appealing to you. Don’t leave your path and go after them. Certain things will appear to your left, things that will look appealing to you. Don’t leave your path and go after them.

I’ve noticed that some people are very good at making fresh starts with the Lord. Such a person goes his or her own way for a while and then says, “I’ve got to get right with the Lord.” Then they make a renewed effort at living a Christ-honoring life. They walk that God-approved path for a while but then stray from it. Some sinful pleasure to the right looks good, and they leave the path. Some worldly amusement to the left looks good, and they leave the path. As Solomon describes it, they step off the path and out into some form of evil.

Then, after the person has filled up on the evil, he or she again says, “I’ve got to get right with the Lord.” At that point the cycle starts all over again. Such a roller coaster walk with Christ isn’t what He has in mind for you. You just can’t get anywhere like that. How much better it is to get on God’s path for your life and then resist the temptation to veer off your God-approved path. I’m all for fresh starts with Christ. Ideally, though, you only need one of those. And that’s all you will need if you resist the temptation to stray off your God-approved path.

In closing, let me tell you about two boys who once tried to outwit a wise old man. These boys had grown tired of hearing other people talk about the great wisdom the man possessed. So, they decided to show him up. First, they caught a very small bird, which one of the boys concealed in his hand. Next, they went to the old man, where the boy with the bird asked the man, “What do you think I have in my hand?” The old man answered, “You have a bird in your hand. I can see some of its feathers.” The boy said, “Yes, but is the bird dead or alive?”

It was here that the boys planned to trick the old man. If he said “dead,” the boy would open his hand and let the bird fly away. But if the man said “alive,” the boy would crush the bird before opening his hand. And so how did the wise old man answer? He looked at the boy with the bird and said, “As you will it, son. As you will it.”

Will this new year be one in which you serve Christ better than you ever have? The answer is, as you will it. Herschel Hobbs, that notable Southern Baptist preacher of days gone by, said, “Years become new only if we make them so.” You can make this new year “new” by following Solomon’s spiritual checklist. Rivet your attention on this new year. Reassess the path you are traveling. Resist the temptation to veer off your God-approved path. By doing these things, you’ll be able to make this year the best one you’ve ever had in serving Jesus.

Filed under Backsliding, Change, Choices, contentment, Discipleship, Doing Good, God's Will, Holiness, New Year, obedience, Personal Holiness, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 40 other followers