Just Don't Look Down!

Victory comes from you, O  Lord.
May you bless your people.

~Psalms 3:8 (NLT)

There is a battle with sin that goes on every day; it will never be won as long as we are human. The devil is always attacking, and often winning, so here is a tip for putting a stop to his influences before they start a chain reaction.

Temptation arises and the battle commends when we begin fighting to stay in control of a diligent mind-set. The battle is immediately lost when we start considering ways to justify the sin we long to commit. This is because it won't matter what the excuse is, we will more than likely continue considering the options until we can narrow it down to something we will feel the most comfortable with violating our morals--God's morals. In response to this, we must learn to do two things: 1) Ask God to keep our minds and thoughts constantly on Him, and 2) Shift our schedule around those times and/or places we know will hold temptations for us--find ways to distract ourselves, because the devil relies on our complete attention in order to be effective.

With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.

~Proverbs 4:23 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Milking God

Is God taken advantage of? Is that even possible? Let's think about it: God is always there, He offers his help when we need it, it is impossible for Him to do anything "wrong"...so I guess it's not. There are really only two things about Him we can use to our advantage. Here they are:

1) Using his name. We can twist the holy name by using it as just another word in our dictionaries. Well, let's just say that He's made it clear He don't like that too much. We can use the title "Christian" to let others view us a certain way, however that may be.

2) This one is the one that counts. We can take advantage of God because He is always there. Since He is always by our side and willing to help, well, why would we reasonably ignore Him in our times of distress? All He asks is our repentance and cooperation, so any other reasoning to ignore our God is folly. Take advantage of God "while you can", not because He only gives you one chance or a certain amount of time to choose, but because we only have one life to live, and who knows how long that will be?

--P.S. Stop milking God to get what you want, take what He's got and you won't need milk ever again!

--P.P.S. Recall what Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:21 "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready."

Muck

Ode to the Stagnant Waters 

by Nathan Titchenal 

Waters abide by nature alone 
Unaffected by civilization’s wood and stone. 
Life held in its barren form, 
A thing to be visited in seasons of warmth. 

Meaning held to be compared
By feelings and actions not many can spare,
But the stagnant waters that glow with life;
Pools amidst the frontage of strife, 
Of glamorous figures who have hidden their ways, 
Hidden their feelings over the span of days, 
Can be found even in the worst of life’s storms 
In the worst of our troubles, our doubts reformed. 

Oh, the stagnant pools, 
Your wisdom surpasses the rush of fools. 
From the knowledge you hold of life and its workings,
Of death and its doings,
You must recognize by now,
As every knee must bow,
We are never alone
For we cannot possibly survive in this broken world
On our own.

Jesus wallows in our muck.

 This poem was written to portrait the morality, frailty, monotony, insignificance (etc.) of the human race. If you can picture a pool of stagnant water, never having been seen nor touched by man, lying dormant in some secluded forest, then you might consider how it would practically feel it's own insubordination and helplessness to be some physical thing. The application of this kind of position in the chain of life is to say that, 1) All humans beneath God cannot possibly be or become more or less equal to this analogical stagnant pool, and 2) At such a level of depravity, we should not be able to help but see the significance of a bondage with the only being who could possibly fulfill our needs.

That being, that figure, is Jesus Christ. Remember him when you begin to feel like a mucky pool of water again.

Think Different.

The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. ~Isaiah 8:11

So think about it for a minute: what does the world think about? What do we neglect to think about? I'll start with a list:

-Language

-Perversion in ads/movies/TV

-Aggressive attitude toward friends/family/coworkers

-Fighting over prices

-Gluttony/complacency

Now, we as Christians generally try not to participate in these things. Because it is all around us, however, we begin to write it off and often become desensitized to it. We no longer harbor a hatred for the sin we see or a longing to help those people who don't see it.

"When will we realize that we've been desensitized by the lies of the world" ~Skillet

Instead, consider reevaluating what it is Jesus would be disgusted by--how he would respond--were he standing by you experiencing it firsthand. My bet is that he would already understand the depth of our sin, so he would begin showing love to those who don't seem to see the evil in their lives.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ~Romans 12:9