Do You Need a Doctor?

I want to know why we are so quick to judge one another yet so incapable of honest personal assessment? Do you? I am always wondering how I can do better, looking for sin in me and struggling with it. I am far from perfect. My desire is to know God and be like his Son. I hope you do too. However, let me warn you, if you do not think you need a good deep look at yourself then you are a good as dead. If you think you are sinless, a light to the lost, and the keeper of truth then watch out. You are in for a hard fall.

Jesus ran into this blindness often. When he went to teach and heal, he kept running into the “religious”. Don’t get me wrong, these “religious” people meant well, they were decent folk.  They were trying to do what was right. The problem was they had missed the point. I think we have missed the point as well.

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:9-13

As a side note I find it interesting that on one occasion after talking to the Pharisees like this, Jesus’ apostles took him aside and asked him if he realized he offended them. NO! Not Jesus.

Are you offended? Have you asked yourself lately, “Do I need a doctor? Am I sick?” Let me give this warning…

Jesus is coming back to this world. Will he find anyone faithful? Will he find be faithful to death? I know I am a crazy fundamentalist bible thumpin’ red neck. I know I am not talking about anything real popular. This is not as fun as American Idol or 24. BUT, GOD IS REAL. And he has a very simple message for us.

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Go and learn what this means. It should scare you to death. And at the same time thrill you. God loves you so much he was willing to give up the thing he valued the most, His Son. Jesus loves you so much he was willing to give up his position and come to earth to be a sacrifice for sin. To heal our relationship with God.

So now what.

Be a different kind of people. Be Jesus kinds of people. Want deeply to love and obey this God who loves you so.

God bless.

Time Flies

Time flies by. That is why I have not posted in a while. Busy. I often wonder how busy Jesus was. No TV, no video games, no huge book selection, no cell phone, no Internet, no email, no phone, no car, no house, really none of the things I have.

But was he busy?

I believe he was tremendously busy. Doing his Father’s business. John wrote in his gospel, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” John 21:25

The thing is though Jesus never seemed too busy for the little things in life. For people. The best example of this is in Matthew’s gospel. Where Matthew records an encounter with Jesus and children.

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:13-14

Apparently the disciples thought Jesus too busy. Surprise. He was not. Was not and is not. He is always there sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for you and me. Not too busy to listen to our prayers.

God bless.

Resolutions 2008: Grace

Give yourself some grace!

Grace means you do not have to be perfect. You do not have to keep your resolutions perfectly just keep on trying. Remember God loves you more than you can comprehend.

Now for the real challenge, give someone else some grace.

I have come up with another Older brother trait and it is no forgiveness. Older brothers really appreciate Gods love and grace he gives them but do not transfer that to other people. “God will not forgive them,” they may say.

Well it does not work that way. Jesus told us to forgive others.

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15

Giving the grace we ourselves expect to receive is a big part of becoming like Jesus.

God bless. Spread the grace.

Woe is Me

I hope this list does not apply to you but if it does today is the time to start doing things differently. Jesus really let the Pharisees have it in this passage from Matthew.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! Matthew 23:13-32

The real question is, “Do you relate to any of these seven problems?” I hope you do. I do. If you do not WONDERFUL. However, I would probably think you were lying. And not being able to see sin in you life is a key Older brother characteristic, so watch out.

God Bless

Do as I Say, Not as I Do

Okay, I am getting over my rant. And no hypocrisy is probably not the worst sin. All sin separates us from God. Hypocrisy is just one of the major sins the Pharisees had they did not know they had. They would have sworn they were God’s tools of righteousness. They ended up killing Jesus because he like John the Baptist could not let their sin go unnoticed.

Jesus did not condemn the Pharisees knowledge; however, he was very clear about avoiding their way of behavior.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Matthew 23:1-4

Jesus was very clear. To follow him means to act like him. Hypocrite is the way to describe someone who claims to be a Christian but does does not change their behavior. Oh, and, you can like the Pharisees fool yourself into thinking you are a Christian. That is bad.

So, be humble, confess your sin, stop sinning, turn to God, trust Him. Live different.

God bless.