JESUS SPEAKING

             “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mathew 6: 19-21.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             There are two kinds of riches and two places where they can be stored.  Earthly riches are physical and material; they are subject to theft and decay and do not last; they can be stored anywhere; in banks, in safes, or in hidden locations.  The second kinds of riches are those that are spiritual; they are eternal and not subject to decay or destruction; nor can they be stolen; they are things such as, giving, feeding the hungry, loving others, or doing anything else that is pleasing to God (The Lord rewards a person with eternal wealth whenever they do one of these tasks.)  There is a place inside of every human being where their’ God dwells.  This place is what is known as the heart.  Some people have made money their God, some people sex, some people power, some people clothing; whatever they seek after, whatever they attempt to obtain, this is the God that they serve.  Many have replaced a heavenly God with an earthly treasure; an eternal God has been exchanged for something that is ‘here today, and gone tomorrow.’  Heavenly wealth and earthly wealth are in opposition, because one displaces the other, and vice versa.

             Health is something that can be valuable.  When we look at the life of Mother Theresa we see a woman going in to places to care for people stricken with leprosy and other manner of illnesses.  Had she been concerned with her own health more than caring for others, she would have never gone to India; she would have never done the things that God was calling her to do.  Missionaries also give up ‘the house,’ ‘the career,’ ‘the car,’ and move to third world countries to show the love of Christ to those in need.  If ‘the house,’ ‘the career,’ or ‘the car,’ were more important to them than loving others, there would be no missionaries.  This world also elevates youth and beauty up as things to be possessed and valued; a person who is concerned about surrounding themselves with others who are beautiful will find no value whatsoever in the following scripture:  “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”  An eternal payment is coming for those who have made the things of God more valuable than the things of this world.

            Today, what is important to you?  Are you being led by the things that are valuable in this world, or the things that are valuable to God?  God calls all of us to be more concerned with kindness, compassion, love, mercy, faith, hope, and peace, rather than cars, career, 401 K, sex, pleasure, fitness, wealth, vacations, or personal time.  Where is your heart?  If you desire to do God’s work, focus yourself on the things that are truly important, and don’t be blinded by the things in this world.  When you feed a person who is hungry God is watching; when you take time out of the day to care for someone who is sick, God credits that time to your eternal account; when you reach out to others who are in darkness with the Gospel message, God is pleased and you will be rewarded when this world is no more.  Deny yourself, take up your cross, and serve others, love others, and give your life up to the service of the eternal God.

            “Lord Heavenly Father, we want to store up our treasure in heaven; we want to grow closer to You and to be more pleasing to You.  Give us opportunities to love others, to give to others, and to deny ourselves to serve our fellows.  Help us to see what is truly important; open our eyes to the truth, and help us to do whatever it is You are asking from each of us.  We love You Lord, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

            Then he also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is.  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is.  Hypocrites!  You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time.  Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?  When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite” (Luke 12: 54-59.)  

 INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             The men and women from this time did not have the weather channel; instead, they had become instinctively capable of predicting the weather by observing very obvious signs.  A Cloudy sky meant rain, and a person would find shelter.  A hot wind from the south would forecast strong heat; any person working outside, or traveling would bring extra water, perhaps change clothes, or schedule a strenuous task for another day.  Jesus reminded the crowds that his arrival as the messiah was a sign to them of impending eternal judgment.  Knowing this future, there was an inward change that needed to be made.  Those stuck in sin were to admit their sin, repent and give their hearts back to God.  Forgiveness in this parable was subject to time restrictions.  After a certain time had passed, there would no longer be any deals made, forgiveness bestowed, or any debts removed.  Jesus says, make peace ‘along the way’ to the magistrate; this ‘way’ represents the life of every human being, and the magistrate is a symbol of bodily death.  From birth to death, every human being has the opportunity to be reconciled with God through his Son Jesus Christ.  The money owed represents sin that needs to be forgiven.  The judge represents God; and the prison represents hell.  As long as a person is still living, they can repent, be forgiven, and no longer be God’s adversary (A person can make peace with God and live eternally.)  Those who fight God, who oppose him, who choose to deny him will eventually die, and when that happens, hell awaits.  This scripture is a warning, to everyone, to be reconciled and delivered from hell in this life, before the time for forgiveness has passed.

             When I was a salesman, one of my clients picked up material without actually paying for it.  They claimed that one of their truck drivers had picked up the material and never delivered it to them.  According to them, the truck driver then left the state and could not be contacted.  The customer, like most people in California at that time, were struggling financially.  I went to the courthouse to testify against them in small claims court.  The courtroom was full of people awaiting their turn to present their case.  After a few initial cases were decided (in which the judge made some rather harsh rulings) the court took a mandatory recess.  All opposing parties were ordered to go out in to the hallway and told to open up dialogue with one another, and if possible, to settle the matter themselves.  Interestingly, a large number of the people settled their’ disputes in the hallway.  After seeing a few court decisions, the fear of impending judgment fostered a change of attitude.  Those immovably opposed had become willing to make peace.  [Side Note:  In the hallway, my client offered to settle with our company for less than the total value of the material’s they had taken.  My ‘accounts-receivable’ woman refused, and we headed back in to the courtroom.  As we stood before the judge, it became known that the woman was lying; the judge however, demanded more proof than what we brought forward.  I told him that they had admitted to not being able to pay the bill, and that out in the hallway they admitted it again and attempted to settle the dispute.  “The judge promptly replied, “You can’t mention that in here.”  I was dumfounded, and we lost the case for lack of evidence.]

             There are many reasons for living in rebellion toward God.  One of the most common is lack of faith in what God has said is coming (both heaven, and hell.)  Many people don’t truly believe that when they die they will go before God to give an account of all of their sins.  They don’t believe in life after death, or they aren’t quite sure; many even attend church, or profess a faith in God, but their lives are filled with all kinds of evil that indicate they have seen the clouds but don’t believe rain is coming.  They have heard Jesus, and what he has said, but their unchanged lives reveal their true beliefs or disbeliefs rather.  Jesus Christ did not signal just a future judgment, but a way to avoid that judgment; there is a paradise, and the way to it is through the Son of God.  God sent a messenger; he extended his hand in an attempt to make peace with those who were, and are opposed to Him.  Have you accepted his offer?  Have you made peace with God through His Son?  Have you chosen a new life; a life filled with a heart of love, and a Spirit of compassion; a life that is no longer lived in opposition to the will of God, but in submission to His word, and to His truth?  [If yes, continue on in your journey, if no, sit down and ask God in to your life and in to your heart.  Then, make the changes in your life that need to be made in accordance with the new heart you will receive.  Get familiar with his word daily, and make prayer, and love new words in your vocabulary.  You have a new hope, a new future, and a new life with God.]

             “Lord Heavenly Father, we come before You now and we ask and pray that You come in to our lives and hearts.  Help us to be transformed, and if there are areas of our lives where we are still in rebellion, we ask that you help us to submit those things to You now.  You are our Father, You are our teacher, You are our leader, and we ask that You lead us now Lord.  We love You, we thank You, and we praise You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

             Now as Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and is dreadfully tormented.”

             And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

             The centurion answered saying, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

             When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour. (Mathew 8: 5-13.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             Rome had conquered the Holy Land in 63 B.C., and due to a continued threat of rebellion, there were soldiers permanently stationed there in the first century A.D.  A ‘centurion’ was an officer in charge of 100 soldiers.  This centurion came to Jesus and humbled himself; he publically confessed his own unworthiness; in so doing he had honored God’s Son.  Jesus then honored this man.  He publicly exalted the man’s faith, lifting him above every Jew in Israel.  God continues to honor those who are lowly, and who exalt Jesus.  The Lord said in another portion of scripture, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  This Roman officer was in a position of authority, yet made himself and his entire household worthless and unfit to fellowship with God.  What respect, what reverence, what honor; this stranger was holier than the religious leaders who condemned Jesus.  The Lord then revealed that in the kingdom of God, the three fathers of the Jewish faith (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) would be celebrating eternally only with those who had honored Him.  No longer was Jewish blood the only requirement for being a child of God; now the blood of Christ was what separated the Godly from the ungodly.

             During the 1924 Olympics a Scotsman named Eric Liddell was on his way to the games, expected to win the 100 meter dash.  Eric had grown up in a missionary family and was a committed Christian.  He had always observed Sunday as the Sabbath day (or the day of rest) and when he found out that the 100 meter dash was scheduled for Sunday, he made the decision to ‘sit it out.’  He was pressured to run by his countrymen and others, but he was convinced that honoring God on His day was more important than a gold medal.  A few months before the Olympics, after making his decision to sit out the 100 meters, he decided to compete in the 400 meter dash, but was not expected to even place in this event for which he had not been training.  When the day of the race came, as he went to the starting blocks, an American Masseur put a piece of paper in his hand on which was written a bible verse; 1 Samuel 2:30.  The scripture read, “Those who honor me I will honor.”  Not only did Eric win the Gold medal in the 400, he broke the world record.  Eric had pushed his own desire for glory down and lifted God up for the entire world to see.  When he returned to Scotland, his classmates put him in a chair, lifted him up on their shoulders and carried him in the streets.  The scripture he had read the day he won Gold medal had reached its fulfillment in his life.

             Placing God in His proper position demands humility.  Honoring Him requires selflessness.  We become less important as He becomes more important.  He is recognized as righteous, and we become unrighteous.  God becomes worthy, and we become unworthy.  The attention is placed upon God rather than ourselves.  In this life, we raise God up, and in the coming Kingdom He will raise us up, into everlasting life.  Here we die, so in the future we can live.  There are so many ways to make God the center of your life and to honor Him.  You can make God a continued topic of discussion in your personal relationships.  You can pray to God, and seek his counsel daily.  You can pray before meals; you can give credit to God for the good works that you do.  When you do something for another person, you can say, “This is from the Lord.”  When a person attempts to thank you, they can be reminded that Jesus Christ is the one who should be thanked (not to be done rudely.)  When other people call you a good person, you can remind them that it is God working through you who is good.  Put the focus back on Him, give Him the glory, give Him the honor, and He will honor you with eternal life.

             “Lord Heavenly Father, please give us opportunities to lift You up in our lives, and to put the attention back on You.  Give us a humble heart, a heart that knows its unworthiness.  We want to be close to You, even though we are unworthy; help us to lay down our own desires in this life, to serve You.  Please be with us always.  We love You Lord, we thank You, and we praise You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.