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Here is what we know yet too often limit the scope of its truth.  The most life-changing act God performed for humans was Jesus’ resurrection.  Jesus’ death certainly was essential for the debt of our sins to be paid, but His death did not go beyond paying that enormous debt.  It did not give us a new life to live liberated from that sin.  The single act of the Spirit quickening Jesus’ body gave life to Jesus’ shed blood.  Through His resurrection we have the privilege and opportunity to live out a life in praise and glory to God for all that was done.  We also can live out a life that can bring significance, victory, the pleasure of having and raising a family to love Him and the list goes on and on.

However, we limit all that was involved in that most incredible act of God by failing to see that what He orchestrated was one of His classic ways of working with man!  God finds great joy in making something exceptionally good out of what seems to be so evil.  Jesus did more than ignore Satan; He defeated him at the cross and in His resurrection.  How many times has He already taken something that appeared so evil and miraculously turned it into something beyond imagination?  The Bible records this fascinating way of God in working with people and circumstances through the ages.  Consider Joseph.  As he looked back at his own life journey, he said of the evil his brothers did to him, you intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people (Genesis 50:20, NLT2) 

Consider what he was saying in that verse about God’s role in the evil he had endured; thrown in a pit by his brothers, sold to slave buyers to resell in the foreign land of Egypt, undeservingly thrown in prison because of a blatant lie told of his right and noble deed, and followed the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to speak prophetic words to two fellow prisoners.  The man who most benefited was released from prison, promptly forgot Joseph’s kindness.  Truth be known, Joseph endured far more frustration and discomfort than you and I have experienced, even in the fall-out due to Covid-19. 

Can you accept the fact that no matter who caused the dreaded virus that has brought such pain, fear, economic loss and disruption; each and every facet of it had to be approved by God before touching your life and mine?  If you are not able to do so, you are making yourself to be superior to God Himself because He had written in His Word, And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28, NLT2).  By accepting this truth, each of us can rest in His care and not be afraid of any thing that comes our way.  Even if God should see it is time for you to die, you would enter a far better place in His presence.     

If I am a true disciple of Jesus Christ, I will manifest God’s ways of reshaping evil to yield a victory for me.  This so totally reverses my former fearful attitude I can even welcome whatever evil occurs to me as an opportunity for God’s love, grace and power to transform it into positive progress in my spiritual journey.  Why?  Because it’s a historical fact, whatever the spirit of God touches it absolutely changes what appears evil into something awe-inspiring good. This truth reminds me of Samson who found the skull of a dead lion that had become a beehive filled with honey.  He ate the honey from it and gave some to his parents.  Then he made this riddle about it.  “…Out of the one who eats [lion] came something to eat [honey]; out of the strong [the lion] came something sweet [honey]…”  With the right perspective of God’s grace, after this virus driven social distancing has passed, you will be able to make a riddle out of what has happened. Plus you’ll be able to enjoy God-provided sweetness from it.  Remember, keeping a good attitude about whatever evil comes your way will pave the way for greater joy!   

Growing up in a pastor’s home I vowed I would not be a clergyman, but my dad really wanted me to go at least one year to what then was called a Bible college.  A Bible college structured their classes to focus primarily on preparing a variety of pastors, missionaries or para-church ministers.  I did NOT want to end up in any of those careers.  I went to the Bible college but limited my classes to those relating to a music major with a Psychology minor.  However, I received a sizable scholarship after my first year, so I continued with classes strictly related to my chosen major and minor.  Just so you know, I had a powerful encounter with God in which I negotiated with Him to become a music and youth pastor but NOT preach.  That encounter motivated me to slightly redirect my studies.  

With that background, after Connie and I married, planned for our first child and based on classes I had taken in child Psychology, etc., I thought I knew how to raise a child so all was well.  Not long after our first daughter arrived, I realized how little I knew about being a father!  Experiencing parenthood awakened a desperate need to seek the wisdom of parents who had real-time experience being one.  The same sobering surprise came after serving for 10 years as a staff pastor then becoming a senior pastor where I was forced to preach!  I’m sure you have experienced that same kind of wake-up call after taking on a responsibility you had totally misjudged.

Scriptures are filled with descriptive verses of God’s character and ways.  A person can read these accounts and believe them to be true about God but don’t misjudge your very limited understanding of who He really is.  The Jewish religious leaders had graduate level knowledge of scripture and God, yet Jesus said you search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!  Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life (John 5:39-40, (NLT2).  They obviously were experiencing spiritual blindness to truth.

Based upon Jesus’ first-hand experience He prayed O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know [experientially know] you, and these know that you have sent me (John 17:25, ESV)  He also said, For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life [the Greek word is also translated quickens] to whom he will (John 5:21, ESV)  This quickening brings with it experiential knowledge in contrast to head knowledge.  Ezekiel clarifies the results of this experiential knowledge as the Spirit motivating a person to be careful to obey God’s rules and decrees.  Paul describes this experiential knowledge of God saying, for his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16, NLT2).  This results in having an exceptional deep peace and joy in that relationship.  This is in contrast to the Jewish leaders referred to earlier whose head knowledge alone left them harsh and demanding of others. Today is Easter, the day when the very same spirit that quickened Jesus’ body to come out of the grave, providing us a great model of how transforming His Spirit’s quickening can affect a person’s life today.  It brings hope to the hopeless, life to the spiritual zombies (walking dead), peace to those struggling with anxiety and the incredible list could go on and on.   It is available to whomever will acknowledge the gentle nudging within to totally surrender the control of their life to the God who created them.  Today we understand how viruses, like the coronavirus, can invisibly be spread by being close to or touching someone.  Imagine how the Spirit desires to invisibly pass on His quickening power through your connection with those with whom you share relationship.  Let’s confidently live His life around those we encounter praying the Spirit will open their spiritual eyes to the life they could come to enjoy.  

I recently read a news article by Reuters of a survey conducted during the Coronavirus in China.  It was an on-line survey between January 23 and March 13.  The most interesting part of it was how their pain and the trauma of a lock down changed their attitudes.  Pain in our life is a golden opportunity to take a hard look at ourselves and hit a reset button in areas that have somehow become out of alignment. 

The main findings looked like this:

* People placed much more emphasis on etiquette

* Individualistic behavior was unacceptable

* There was more desire for order and structure

* There was greater appreciation for those who contribute

Some of the biggest changes were around trust. The survey showed confidence in education rose from 71% to 82% before and after Feb. 5. Trust in civil servants rose from 42% to 54% and in Chinese companies from 55% to 70%.  Martijn Lampert, research director of Glocalities said “(The survey) reveals that the hardship and tragedy of lives lost during the COVID-19 pandemic cause a situation of fundamental reset for populations all over the world.”

About 6 months ago I was surprised to discover I needed heart bypass surgery.  You may think it strange, but that discovery didn’t rattle my cage at all.  Connie and I had already made the decision to retire after the first part of the next year.  Therefore, I interpreted this painful experience as God’s way of helping me hit reset and jump start a new way to live out the rest of my life.  It resulted in me experiencing far more peace and gratitude than frustration. 

Social distancing that our government has told us to practice (it worked for China and Korea), has meant a lot of inconvenience with many temporarily losing their jobs.  The good side is it has also forced families to slow down long enough to rebuild stressed minds, emotions and relationships.  It has forced churches to temporarily find new ways to worship, pray and otherwise interact with others.  The good side is it has also allowed many believers to see just how addicted they are on their church leadership to do the vital Bible study and ministry for them while they stop in on Sunday morning like they stop in at a gas station for a refill.  This rapid pace has robbed us of the blessings of family life and the joy of personally hearing the Spirit’s whispers and empowerment for ministry.    

I honestly believe the Holy Spirit has allowed this vicious virus to make us slow us down and lie down in green pastures as the Psalmist said our good Shepherd would do.  When believers are provided time to get their wits about them, they can step up to the plate and function more like the early believers did.  When that change happens, not only will there be far greater spiritual fruit produced by the church, but even more importantly there will be greater joy in each person as well as the body of Christ.  The fact of spiritual life is, as individuals come to embrace the personal ministry outside the church that God purposed for them (Ephesians 4:12, 2:10), those individuals will receive more of Christ’s joy filling their bucket to being full and running over (John 15:9-11).     

Tragically, the Hebrews Isaiah prophesied to were given many different painful, even disastrous, wake up calls.  God repeatedly sent Isaiah to call them to do a personal reset in their lives, but they refused and that door of opportunity for a better life passed them each time.  It is my sincere prayer that people experiencing this trauma will open their eyes enough to hit the reset button in their personal life, family life and spiritual life.   How have you been responding to this pain?

When you reflect on your life, what kind of things do you do or think about, that make you feel like you are succeeding or significant?  For some it may be a growing bank account or financial assets, how frequently you travel or how many places you have visited.  For others it comes from the location or type of house you are living in or the car you drive.  It may also come from your academic achievements, social recognition, the status of your friends, the size of business you own or level of responsibility you have where you work.  This certainly isn’t a complete list, but the list should provoke thoughts of where it seems you draw your sense of significance.  

On the other hand, what kind of things do you do or think about, that make you feel like you are failing or not doing well in life?  It may be when someone demeans, criticizes or rejects you or you receive a low score on a test or work evaluation.  Others are discouraged with themselves when they consider their health, indebtedness, or social status.  For some, they allow their children’s achievements, social status, accomplishments or behavior to either make them feel good or bad about themselves.   

If it were possible to reduce the fundamental trigger point down to one thing it would most likely be related to our assumption of how others see us.  If wealth, status symbols as well as the responses of others were extracted from the equation, our self-esteem would be dramatically different.  Peer pressure influences more than children or youth.  It also has a powerful grip on adults of every age.  The religious community is not immune to this peer pressure.  The media understands this phenomenon and will do all they can to leverage it to sell products or change public opinion be it regarding politics or accepted human behavior.   

While the Bible is full of profound statements, one of Jesus’ statements that has lingered with me for decades is How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God (John 5:44, ESV)?  Jesus relates a person’s ability to have strong faith in Him or the Father, to one’s fascination with the approval of those around them.  Jesus was the premier person for being free from such peer pressure.  He said and did ONLY what He saw or heard from His Father (Jn 5:19). He listened to a different drumbeat and had a different agenda—His Father’s plan relating to our salvation. 

What might all this say to us today?  Two unique things.  First, a deep, genuine belief in Christ will ultimately produce a profound significance based entirely on one’s position in Christ.  After all, you and I must be valued enough for Jesus to be crucified on the cross for us.  Secondly, because of His obsession with His Father instead of public opinion He was able to rise above peer pressure and ultimately be the most powerful leader the world has ever known.  He was rewarded for that full commitment by ultimately enjoying the incredible pleasure of being seated at the right hand of His Father in Heaven (Col 3:1).  He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6, KJV) 

It could be very life-giving for you to take time to take a hard look at which factors make you feel most significant and which discourage or depress you.  Doing so would enable you to chart a new course for experiencing the liberating and most abundant life Jesus made possible for you.  He also shared the secret path to living out that preferred  life when He said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30, ESV).  When your all is focused on Him, the words, attitudes and responses of your peers will grow strangely dim.

I honor those who have and are serving in our military.  I missed serving in the military to protect our nation as well as the important disciplines a soldier learns.  Albeit, I’m not certain all the good a person in the military learns is maintained after serving.  Perhaps the most valuable one that can affect their future is the surrender of their will.  We have a plethora of young adults who also missed serving in the military and therefore never learned that discipline.  It now shows in their world view, work ethic, marriage and various other areas of their life. 

It has been well stated through the years that we are our own worst enemy.  Paul put it this way

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12, ESV).  Our will is seduced into being dominated by all kinds of things, many within the echo chambers of our mind.  Externally, we can be dominated by food, the influence of others, sports, sexual desires or preference, adrenaline or drugs (including alcohol).  Internally, we can be dominated by worry or anxiety, greed, bitterness or resentment, words from our past or heritage, and the list can go on and on. 

My grandsons have a hard time saying NO to themselves.  I try hard to remind them that it is important to their future to learn to say NO to their desires.  Our church recently called for a two-week fast of one’s choice.  I was so proud of my grandsons for fasting sugar.  One of them for certain was able to resist sugar for the full determined time.  I firmly believe when a person can learn to say NO to him/herself, that person can accomplish so much more in life.

Paul wrote to his young comrade to say NO to his desire for comfort and instead Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3, NIV).  Jesus said If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24, ESV).  To me these challenges stress the necessity of saying NO to self.  I find it is vital for spiritual soldiers today to learn the same lesson our military trains their recruits to do.  All other things are comparatively irrelevant.

If our Lord has your will and mine, He will also have our body, mind, strength, ambitions, inclinations, attitudes, in short, my ALL.  Ironically, while that sounds far to denigrating to our natural mind, the truth is [God] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20, NIV).  Paul wrote, since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else (Romans 8:32, NLT2)?  Jesus said if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:13, NLT2).   The surrender of our will to Him can be most rewarding.

I’ve found the Psalmist words in Ps 9:10 to be very true.  The more I have learned to intimately know God’s name (His character, values, and ways), the more I’m enabled to trust Him enough to say NO to myself.  So, “at ease” fellow soldier!  We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28, NLT2).  He always leads us to triumph as we follow His commands (2 Cor 2:14).

How often do we confuse the human/sin nature of a person with the person him/herself?  I do far too often.  When I do, I can easily feel betrayed or in contrast, judge someone too harshly.  There is a very clear and important difference between a person and their sin nature.  One can be redeemed while the other can only face death.  However, I don’t always remember this and have paid the consequences of each extreme.  Perhaps you can learn from what I’ve learned the hard way.

John’s words about Jesus’ inner thoughts as He worked with people left a powerful impact when I first wrestled with this matter. John recorded Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.  [NLT2 he knew human nature]. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.  (John 2:24-25, NIV).   To be candid, I kind of gasped at what this verse said about Jesus.  How could He be a servant to men, not trust them enough to give Himself to them and yet not make them feel rejected?  After all, He later was crucified on their behalf.  This verse said to me man didn’t kill Him until he lowered this wall of defense between Himself and humanity.  They killed Him only when He finally removed that wall.  Until that time, He was in total control of how much He would allow man to get into His mind, emotions or body.  That is profound! 

We later read of Paul who wrote he had “no confidence in the flesh [sin nature]” (Philippians 3:3).  I will be healthier, as will others, when I learn to pattern my relationships with people as Jesus and Paul did.  But how?  How can I distrust people’s sin nature without rejecting people? How can I love someone whose nature I cannot trust? 

God cannot save the sin nature, but He can save a person from it. “God so loved the world”—the world of people, not their sin nature.  Paul described this difference working within himself when he wrote, I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t (Romans 7:18, NLT2).  It helps us to manage our expectations of others when we are careful to remind ourselves of this critical difference.  Parents manage their expectations all the time with their children in how they deeply love yet deal with naughtiness and sometimes hurtful words by seeing them as childish irresponsibility.  Imagine how disastrous it might be if a parent expected their child to act like an adult.  Paul touched on this matter when he wrote the man without the Spirit [with only the sin nature] does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14, NIV). 

We all too often judge a politician (or anyone) as a bad person by the choices their sin nature leads them to make, instead of realizing the person is only doing what a normal person does when driven by their sin nature!  To do otherwise would be like blaming a blind person for being blind.  Jesus didn’t judge sinful people for their blindness but instead showed his love for [people] in that while [they] were still sinners, [He] died for [them] (Romans 5:8, ESV).  How might we show God’s love to blind sinners—even family members or politicians.  People can be redeemed! 

Paul saw himself with a sin nature and wrote who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin (Romans 7:24-25, (NIV).  Seeing himself in that light enabled him to see others in that light and thereby saved from an enormous amount of anger and frustration.  Can you imagine how seeing through a lens like this can liberate you from self-condemnation as well as enable you have a better relationship with those ruled by their sin nature?  

Imagine living just 53 years ago in Valentine NE where the time zone change went down the middle of Main Street.  Businesses or homes located off the west curb were expected to live one hour later than those living off the east curb.  When clocks were to fall back one hour for daylight saving time, their post office split the difference and turned back its clock by only half an hour.  This difference was strong a catalyst in the wild west culture providing excuses for physical fights back in the day! It wasn’t until 1967 that proper authorities finally resolved that issue, but the residual effects are still being felt.    

We’ve learned to adapt to the different time zones today, but it is hard for us to adapt to the difference in the time zone between God and humans.  God lives outside of time, in eternity, while we live within the restrictions of time.  The Psalmist wrote for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night (Psalm 90:4, ESV). And Peter wrote, don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day (2 Peter 3:8, MSG). 

Consider this: God inspired the prophet Isaiah to declare the thriving city of Tyre would be destroyed and that the Messiah would come.  However, it took about 400 years before Tyre was destroyed and maybe 750 years before Jesus was born.  It may have been all in one of God’s days but no one who heard these prophesies were alive when either was fulfilled.  How might that work when you consider God’s promise to you?  From God’s perspective there was no hurry in Isaiah’s situation.  On the other hand, over and over in our day we see God is careful to make sure His grace arrives at precisely the right time in our lives.  It is total foolishness to think we can limit God to our mental capacities.  He is God and we are not!  A wise man keeps such differences in mind when planning his day or future.

The Bible says, And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.”  You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.  Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that” (James 4:13-15, MSG)  

One of our younger extended California family members was recently killed in a car accident.  What a vivid reminder that life is only a wisp of fog.  While there is NOTHING wrong with making plans or scheduling for the future, one must never forget, we can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9, NLT2).  The future is only fantasy which is not reality. It is the present that is real, dynamic and important. To miss God’s purpose designed for our TODAY is to cripple our future as well as neutralize the beneficial lessons of the past.    

With this enlightenment I must be sure I have God’s reason, not a fleshly one, for interrupting a time schedule as being most critical.  Although I have not always exemplified that, yet my goal is to be like Jesus who said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19, NLT2).   He did the works of Him who sent [Him] as long as it [was] day” (Jn 9:4).  That is the path to the greatest joy and fruitfulness possible.  Have you been living the highest level of joy and fruitfulness possible? If not, could it have anything to do with who or what you allow to govern your daily activities?

I’ve stood before young couples with stars in their eyes and led them in their marriage vows.  As they repeated “till death do us part” my mind would flash back to the all too many couples who had sat in my office claiming irreconcilable differences.  Every married couple has times when they disagree on how to spend their money, sexual expectation, how to raise their children or deal with in-laws with their emotions becoming more intense.  Fortunately, many are mature enough to get over the tiff and move on but unfortunately not all do.  It’s not long before these individuals forget their vow of “till death do us part” and begin the slow dance toward divorce.  The crazy part is they frequently go on to find another person to whom they think they can vow to love “till death do us part”.  After all, surely this person will fulfill those expectations. 

I wonder if God has those thoughts flash through His mind when a person commits to loving Him with all their heart.  No, God is wise enough to know not even that soul can fulfill their own selfish expectations so the testing moments will inevitably come when He doesn’t meet their expectations.  When that occurs, all too often the clouds of doubt appear and they begin to withdraw from Him which evolves into the classic spiritual stall.  How can that be?  Didn’t Paul write Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8a, NIV).  What kind of love is it that never falls short or endures to the end?

The Pharisees believed they loved God. They had become scholars of His laws.  They knew more about their Bible than at least 99% of Christians do today.  Yet they totally missed many verses that revealed how Jesus was in fact the Son of God.  Their pride in their misguided knowledge blinded them from seeing that their devotion to God only consisted of rigid rules and regulations.   In essence they were giving a measured type of love to God—just enough to garner esteem from others but not so much as to recklessly seek His truth.

What then is this enduring love?  Perhaps it could be said that love is not love unless it results in abandonment of self and complete devotion to God.  Only twice in His earthly ministry did Jesus congratulate exceptional giving, an indicator of love.  Once was when a widow gave her two mites (together worth ½ penny), and when Mary emptied her jar of expensive perfume over His feet.

Consider how Jesus strongly opposed his own disciples defending Mary’s offering of perfume that she poured over His feet.  When the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? (Matthew 26:8, ESV).  A waste?  Never! This was a demonstration of holy love-abandonment! If Mary had calculated her offering to an exact dose, it would not have been love; ostentation perhaps, but short of genuine love.  Consider why Jesus went out of His way to applaud a poor widow [who] put in [the treasury] two small copper coins (Luke 21:2, (ESV).  He went on to explain why such a trifling gift was so admirable by saying they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in ALL she had to live on (Luke 21:4, ESV).  Her love for God was expressed by total abandonment!

A measured, careful, calculated gift is not an action of love; it is a sense of duty.  Your parents, spouse or children do not want to be loved out of duty and neither do you!  If you and I are concerned with being politically correct in expressing our love to God we are only concerned about our reputation—not our love for God.  Love …  is not self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13:5, NIV).  

Lord, I truly want to love You with reckless abandon.  Please show me how completely worthy You are of my genuine abandoned love.  Is that your desire too?

At my retirement reception many very encouraging words were spoken to Connie (my wife) and me.  Although appreciated I felt awkward.  I’m uncomfortable being the center of attention or preaching for that matter.  I’ve preached for decades but not because it brought me pleasure.  My pleasure has come from doing what the Spirit calls me to do even when it was not enjoyable. 

In my journey through life, I’ve thought a multitude of negative things about myself and even verbalized them.  I know I’m not as gifted of a speaker as many of my colleagues and I’ve questioned God as to why He called me to do a task that He didn’t naturally shape me to do.  Some have called me wise when in fact I fumble with senseless words unless the Spirit prompts me in what to say.  That doesn’t make me a bad person, nor does it mean I’m an apple short of a bushel.  I am ashamed to admit that all through the years I have thought more about my inabilities than my abilities.  I see what I think I’m capable of while others see God’s grace at work in me which makes it appear as though I am far more capable than I am. 

Have you wrestled with relentless, self-demeaning inner voices? As I consider this menagerie of voices echoing in the hallways of my mind, I can more clearly see that I have lived in a false sense of humility that I’ve interpreted as my reality and holiness!  I hope you can relate in a small way with me because if so, I have good news for you.    

It is hard to admit this, but the truth is, my listening to the continual inner talk of my inability has been an insult to my Creator.  That gets my attention!  If you can identify with my weakness, please try to understand.  You and I must get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men.  When we do, we will be amazed at how the lamenting of our own incompetence is a slander against God’s grace.   If we keep telling ourselves we are falling short of God’s expectations, in reality we are saying God’s mercy and grace are impotent because they don’t function in our lives.  Such talk may sound respectfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

As for me, if I will ACCEPT God’s grace and mercy and fully apply them to my thought life, not only can I find relief and hope, I will also be grateful for what He has done and IS DOING and will yet do in me.  Paul wrote aware of his imperfections, …whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace (1 Corinthians 15:10, NLT2).  The fact is, I’m probably much closer to being what people see in me because of God’s grace than I am to what my fallen mind continues to tell me.  The same is probably true of you too.

Yes, all of us are certainly imperfect in performance.  But thank God He doesn’t judge us based on our performance.  He judges us on how cooperative we are with His continual efforts to change us.  We all, with unveiled face, beholding [reflecting or contemplating] the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV).  We are not what we were or what we will be. Rather, we are God’s work in progress destined by Him to be transformed into the image of Christ.  Will join me to work harder to “get over our self” and praise God for how He is changing you and me?  The subsequent joy and gratitude can better bring honor to Him.

One of the residual effects of creating cameras on cell phones is the exposure of what we think about the most—our self!  I’m amazed at how many of us take selfies.  When at Disney World last summer with my family, while waiting for the princess to step out of her castle to give the morning greeting, a young girl with her friends got up on the steps and took selfies.  One was especially obsessed with herself because she even had her friend take pictures of her with her camera while she tried to make what she thought were glamorous poses.

Interestingly, some of the recent cell phone cameras create better pictures than those of a semi-pro camera while being as capable, easier to carry and use at a moment’s notice.  Why?  Because the designers of the cameras observed people like to take pictures, especially of themselves or with a friend.  What a person doesn’t realize is that how they use the camera exposes how highly the person thinks of himself/herself.

Another thing most all of us do that exposes how we think of ourselves is in how we judge others! When we fell threatened with another person we criticize or judge them.  In reality we are tearing them down in order to build up how we feel about ourselves.  How low we cut them down shows how desperately we feel we need to build up our self-image.  When the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were calling Him a blasphemer, knowing their thinking,  ..He asked them, “Why do your have such evil thoughts in your heart?” (Matthew 9:4, NLT2).  What were these men doing that is so different from how we attribute evil motives to someone else’s appearance, behavior or speech by saying something sarcastic or cynical about them? 

The sad truth is, we meet with failure when we attribute evil motives to the actions of others by saying something like, “He said, but he meant.”  In Paul’s letter to Titus he wrote, Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted (Titus 1:15, NLT2).  What might this be saying about highly critical people or our criticism of others? 

It is important for us to look beyond the one we are making to look less than us and realize that to attribute improper motives to others means that we are doing Christ as well as the other person a disservice.  How?  We are destroying Christ’s image in that person.  We must believe that His Spirit is working in him as well as in us. Judging others is the grossest form of self-worship. It says God is working in only me.  Ouch!  I feel convicted just writing these words! 

Holy Spirit, please remind me of what Jesus taught about the mote and the beam.  It is more evident now that I see motes in others only because I have beams in my own eyes.  If I truly saw the evil in my own heart, I would not condemn; I would confess.  My faultfinding means I have more to learn, more to grow, and more to do to become like Him.  I am reminded of Paul’s words in the Message, So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit (Romans 14:10, MSG).  Watch out for what those selfies are revealing in you or others.