Forgetting Someone Important?

     In high school, I had an after-school job. I was thrilled! I had my own money to do my own shopping and Christmas was fast approaching. I bragged to Mom that I wouldn’t need her money because I was going to buy gifts that were actually from ME. It was a big deal—my first year with financial freedom to buy what I wanted for whoever I wanted!
     I bought gifts for my family and friends and Christmas Eve I sat down to wrap them. I couldn’t find the gift for my dad! I looked around and suddenly realized I had forgotten to buy him a gift. I checked my purse. All I had left was a dollar in change! Not good.
     I panicked.  I did the only thing I could. I jumped in my car, headed to Wal-Mart and frantically searched for the perfect gift--that would only cost a dollar. I was getting pretty worried. Finally, I found it—a roll of blue paper shop towels! 88 Cents. Perfect.

     My dad was always using mom’s kitchen dish cloths on messy garage jobs. Shop towels would be perfect. I knew it was not something he’d asked for, but I didn’t have a lot of options with only a dollar left.
     Now, I have a great dad, and Christmas morning, he really tried to look appreciative, but I knew that he was a little confused and disappointed. I’d bought Mom and my brother nicer gifts and I’d spent money on friends and other family. It was obvious I had forgotten about him.
     I tried to explain, but it didn’t matter how many times he reassured me that he liked it, that he knew I loved him, I was ashamed about the gift I had given.
     Here was my dad, who had given me everything I had, who loved me, who worked hard to provide for our family, who gave up his hobbies to spend time with me and my brother, and I had forgotten him. When I finally remembered, I only had a dollar left to buy his gift…and I wasn’t old enough for a credit card. =)
     I couldn’t help but be ashamed of that gift because I had given left overs, cheaply. I had not planned well, causing me to forget someone very important in my life. Although I’m sure my dad eventually used the shop towels, I found myself noticing them on the shelf in the garage, every time I walked by.
     Aren’t you glad that isn’t how God gave and gives to us!? When God gave His own Son, He planned it before the beginning of time. His gift was not a frantic fix-it solution to the problems of the world. 1 Peter 1:20 states that Jesus was “foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” In the book of Acts, when Peter addressed the crowd that had gathered, marveling at the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, he said Jesus was “delivered [up] by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.”
     This was such a well-planned gift that like a loving father would perhaps hint to his children of a super special surprise awaiting them—not wanting them to miss it, but to recognize it—God spoke through the Old Testament prophets giving us hints about this gift. Jesus, the Messiah, fulfilled over three hundred Old Testament prophecies, three hundred hints.

     God’s gift was not cheap. It wasn’t His spare change that He gave, but His best. It wasn’t a mere possession He gave, but something—rather, Someone—far more valuable. 1 Peter 1:18-19 states,”… you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ…”

      The Gift of a Savior wasn’t a life-improvement gift. It wasn’t a like a roll of paper shop towels to simplify cleaning up messes, it was a far more effective gift. Because God knew our deepest need was not just help in life, our deepest need was freedom from sin and death. And so, He gave us another chance to have and enjoy eternal life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17

     Without Christ we were already condemned. We had failed to keep God’s righteous law. He wrote His laws in our hearts, gave us a conscience. Whether we grew up with The Ten Commandments or not, we realized that stealing was wrong when we were stolen from. We learned hatred was bad when we were hated. We discovered idolatry was rotten when a family member spent all their time and money on their addiction instead of their family.
     And because God is absolutely Holy, He couldn’t just overlook our sin and let us into His presence, into Heaven. Heaven wouldn’t be heaven if He had. So, the alternative to this gift, is a life of slavery to sin, no hope of freedom from guilt, no strength to overcome temptation, no power over death. And the final result, had God not sent His Son, would be our punishment in Hell.
     Now, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…” Heb 2:3 To neglect means “to pay little or no attention to.” It’s very easy to neglect Christ and this gift of salvation at Christmas.
     We plan and spend and buy and make and borrow to give gifts to everyone in our lives. But, have you or are you neglecting Christ? Will it get down to Christmas day and you realize, the month of December has been spent and not on Christ. Will you get down to your last minute with family that don’t know Christ and realize you’ve only got one minute left to share Christ with them? What will you give Christ this Christmas?
     Will it be well-thought out? Will it be valuable? Will it be sacrificial (like His gift)? Or will it be the leftovers of your time, your money, your energy?
     I’m sure there were many days my dad felt more appreciated than that particular Christmas day. What are you doing and what will you do to show your appreciation to our Heavenly Father for His indescribable gift of a Savior...for His gifts of eternal life, freedom from the slavery of sin; and also righteousness, health, peace and joy in our hearts and homes?
     What will you give Christ? It’s not like you can wrap up a package of shop towels and hastily put it under the tree for Him on Christmas Eve…but will you spend the whole day running here and there and fall into bed exhausted, with no energy left to listen to Him, to read His letters to You (the Bible), to talk to Him (pray)?
     What will you give Christ? Will you purpose to keep your heart pure from the wickedness around you? Will you obey His laws that are given in Love to protect!?
     Will you give Him the most valuable gift of all? More valuable than your richest possession is your very life itself. Your soul. Will you give to Him as He has given to you?
     Don't neglect this great salvation we've been given! Let’s give Him our souls, our very lives, to do with as He pleases, to follow His commands, to love and honor Him in every aspect of our days.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mice in the House

Have you ever been intensely frustrated about a behavior that you just can't seem to stop doing? If you're like me, you have plenty of good intentions in your heart of hearts that never make it to reality. You want to do what is right, but have no energy to accomplish it. You hate feeling guilty for wasting your time and energy on worthless activities, but when you try to change, nothing does. A dear Friend of mine recently showed me something that helped me tremendously.

The Bible says that a person's physical body is like a tent to the person's spirit. The spirit is the real being, and the physical body is just what the being lives in. (2 Corinthians 5:1). In Bible times, it was common for people to live in tents. Today, in the USA, I would say 'house' would be a better comparison. Don't let that spiritual-physical stuff weird you out. Just keep reading.

For now, let's think of your actual house. Say you decide to do some spring cleaning. There has been a musty stink coming from your closet for some time, but you just haven't had the energy to figure out what it is. You're finally cleaning out the closet when you find a pile of clothes far in the back corner: the source of the smell. Dirty, old laundry. So, gingerly, you reach out and with your finger and thumb, you pinch the pile, grabbing as much as you can, but touching as little of it as possible. As you lift up the pile, you find an even bigger mess underneath. A mouse has built itself a cozy little nest in your forgotten laundry and has shredded some of it. There is mousy pee and poopy everywhere and now it REALLY stinks.

Your first reaction would probably be immediate anger. Stupid mouse! Uhrgg! What a mess! You see a small hole in the baseboard where the mouse apparently entered. Nuh-uh! Not in my house! You think to yourself. Mice are not allowed! This mouse MUST GO! So, you clean up the mess. Then what? Since you saw where the mice were getting in, you would plug up the hole! Next, set a couple traps, and thirdly, you'd probably put out poison--if you hate mice as much as I do.

Now, for all of you out there who think mice are cute and should be allowed to live in peace in your home...I hope you don't get Hantavirus. Mice are dirty, destructive and definitely not welcome in my house.

So, what does a mousy mess have to do with destructive behaviors you can't seem to stop?

Well, here's the deal. IF you have repented from your sins (which means you have apologized to God and turned away from sin, trying to not do it anymore) and put you faith in Jesus Christ, making Him the Boss of your life, then I have good news for you. Your spirit is saved. The real you that lives in your physical body is saved. (If you are not sure about being saved, you might not be. The Bible says that God's spirit will witness inside your heart that you are saved, which means, if you're saved, God will make sure you know it.)

Sin is worthless activity, destructive behavior, anything that violates God's Law. In Romans 7, Paul states: (verse 15) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (16) If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. (17) But now, it is no longer I who do it, by sin that dwells in me.
What? What did he just say? Paul, one of the writers of the Bible struggled with doing the right thing? And what did he realize?

Paul realized that because he was saved, his spirit was made alive to God and therefore couldn't sin anymore. But, there was still a struggle inside of him and sometimes, he still ended up doing what was wrong! He discovered that even though he (the real Paul) wanted to do what was right, there was something inside of him that didn't want to do right.

You and I have the same struggle everyday of our lives. We know what is right, but just can't do it. We want to do right, but end up not doing it. We try not to do wrong, but find ourselves giving in to temptation. Evil is right there with us.

Sin in your life is like a dirty mouse living in your house. When you discover these areas of sin...look at them just like you would if you found a mouse nest in your closet: get mad! Not at yourself, though! I think that is one of the dumbest things we do as humans. When we mess up, we tend to get mad at ourselves and 'beat ourselves up'. Wouldn't that be ridiculous to get mad at yourself and literally beat yourself up when you find a mice nest in your closet? Uh, yah. Crazy. You didn't shred your clothes and put the mouse poopy and peepee all over! The mouse did! Get mad at SIN!! God HATES sin and so should we.

Next, plug up the holes! If you are tempted to do a certain thing that is wrong, try to find out where the 'holes' are. For example, if you are tempted to look at porn online or spend hours wasting time watching movies and reruns online, GET A FILTER! We use the filter by Bsafe Online, which I highly recommend! This filter not only is great at blocking junk, it also has an option where you can have a weekly internet usage report sent to any email address you provide. And that brings me to 'setting traps'.

Accountability is a good trap for sin. Find someone you trust, and ask them to ask you the hard questions--regularly, daily. For the internet example, have the internet report sent to someone who will check it and call you on it. Install the filter and let someone else control the password and settings.

Here's why I put out poison for mice: no matter how much you try, you'll probably never block every single hole the mice can get in through, and even the best traps don't catch every mouse. We'll never be able to plug up every crevice that sin uses to sneak into our lives. Even with an extensive array of traps, some mice will inevitably escape. Though you may find several people to help keep you accountable, knowing that you'll have to fess up doesn't guarantee that you'll never mess up again. So, if you really want to rid your house of mice and your life of sin, use poison.

Now, the question is: What is poison to sin? What is it that kills sin in our lives?

THE WORD OF GOD: The Bible.

Obviously, unless you open the box of poison and set it out where the mice get in, it isn't going to do you any good at all. Ironically, the same is true of God's Word. If you want to rid your life of sin, open your Bible. Find some verses that specifically address the area you are struggling with.

For instance, I tend to be pretty lazy sometimes. As a wife, homemaker and mother of two, there is a list a mile long of things that need to be done. Frankly, most days, I just don't feel like doing much. I'd rather--or I should say--the sin in me, would rather sit in front of the computer and watch movies online, spend hours at a time on Facebook, or 'research' every little thing I'm curious about. In a one week time period a couple weeks ago, I estimated that I watched over 15 hours of movies online. Seriously, that is really sad.

At least I realized I needed help and sought it out. Getting back to the Bible, I found a verse in Proverbs 31 that describes a good woman. Verse 27: She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. I found another verse in Philippians 1:6. It says, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Now, I'm going to give you the advice I got that helped me overcome the bad habit of wasting too much time online at the expense of my family. (BTW, I do realize this post is getting long, but the time spent on this is hardly wasted! Besides, I spaced the writing of this out over several days. If it helps anyone out there, it is completely worth it. And I know if you take this advice to heart and do this, it will help! )

Here's what to do:

1) Pick ONE (1) area in your life that needs improvement. Maybe you need more patience, or wisdom, or restraint (i.e., self-control) in some area. Write it down.

2)Find TWO (2) verses in the Bible that address the area you need help in. If you need help finding verses, post a comment or send me an email and I will help you find some. Write your verses down on the same paper you wrote your area of improvement down on.

3)Take 10 minutes everyday for one week. Break it down into the first 5 minutes and last 5 minutes. For five minutes, read the verses out loud, silently, under your breath, or however you feel comfortable reading them. Read them again and again, stopping after the 5 minutes is up. Now, pray for the last 5 minutes, asking God to help you do better in this area. You can be honest with God. Maybe, you don't feel like praying. Tell God what you're feeling, but also ask Him to help you in your focus area. Thank Him for helping you.

I know it could be tempting to pick several areas that need help and go 'all out' on this. DON'T! Just keep it simple. There are 52 weeks in a year. If you take one area per week and focus on just ONE, over the course of a year you could focus on 52 different areas of your life! So, keep it simple!!! Your life didn't get to where you're at today in one week and it's not going to be entirely fixed in one week. But, this is a start! Change takes time.

To be honest, when I first heard about this, I really wasn't that excited about it. I did it, but I didn't feel like doing it right away. I picked the area to focus on and found the verses, and since that took time, I prayed really quick and counted that for the first day.

On day two, I decided to log something about what I was experiencing each day. My area of focus was on time management. I wanted God to give me the power and desire to manage my time well.

Day two, I wrote: Feel no different. Extremely tired. Looking at dishes and wishing they were done, same with laundry. So tired. But, I'm going to keep doing this. Exercising godliness.

Day three, I still didn't 'feel' it. I did it grudgingly. I muttered the verses under my breath and prayed and sighed for 5 minutes. I wrote: Well, I did watch several hours of TV/movies on the internet, but, I got a lot done, too. Dishes, trash taken out, errands run, house looks picked up, took to my son to the doctor. Tomorrow I should do better.

Day four: Rested a LOT today, but actually got the kitchen all cleaned up, even after cutting and drying fresh chives and making a BIG supper. Pleased to see the kitchen clean. I even cleaned the grime and gunk off the stove knobs. Thank you, Lord, for helping me do better.

Day five: Made home made pasta to go with left over alfraedo sauce. Still need help with housework, but got some stuff done.

Day six: Highly productive day!!! Cleaned kitchen, did laundry, filled flower pots, weeded flower beds (partially), planted 2 dozen raspberry shoots. Plus, made late supper for Brandon and his friend who was visiting. Actually got kids to bed at a decent hour. But, I did get side tracked by internet news sites and didn't get to bed till after midnight.

Day seven: Break through!! God gave me revelation knowledge on how to beat sin. It came alive in a new way, illustrated by mice in a house. "It's not I that do it, but sin living in me." You didn't make the mouse nest and leave mouse dumps. Sin living in you like mice in your house did. And now, how to get rid of mice/sin... Thank you, God! Praise Jesus!

It wasn't until days six and seven that I really felt changed. I can say that since then, I have seen a night and day difference in how much time I've wasted online. Not to imply that I've been perfect--in the last two weeks, I've maybe watched a total of a couple hours of movies online. I asked my husband to help keep me accountable and set up some new parameters on the filter.

I also taped two 3 x 5 note cards next to both of our computers with my verses on them. When I get online, I read the verses. Every time I sit down to use the computer, they are right in front of me. The Word of God is life to me and poison to sin. It will do the same for you.

I want to point out that this 'formula' for beating sin will NOT work if you are not a child of God. Meaning, if you still plan on running your own life, doing things your way, and ignoring God's Word and His way of doing things, don't think that by just reading the verses and saying a prayer that you will somehow find the strength within yourself, all by yourself to overcome sin in your life. Success through this method only comes with surrender to God's will, God's Word, God's Way.

If you are serious about change, if you're frustrated by your lack of willpower to change yourself, and if you are willing to let God run your life, He is ready, able, and overjoyed to. Invite Him in.

Now, go get your Bible and get started!