live2bless

Here’s a quote by Jordan Peterson: “If you want to be excellent, staying consistent with your goals and positive habits over time will separate you from the herd of mediocrity. It all starts with a goal. If you don’t have a destination in mind, you’re just adrift at sea going with the flow.” Notice: “It all starts with a goal.” I suggest to you that that goal needs to be big enough to ultimately m...

Everybody says discipline is so important but they never want to tell you why. I’ll tell you why discipline is so important. It’s the strongest form of self love. It’s ignoring something you want right now for something better later on. Discipline reveals the commitment you have to your dreams. Especially on days where you don’t want to. The future is you depending on the current you to keep the p...

Perhaps we could sum up in one thought how to go about fulfilling God’s will: seek to look at all of life through God’s eyes. That’s worthy of being a constant prayer because it seems to me that the more we share God’s perspective on ourselves and others and our circumstances, the more free we will be to let God care for us while we attend to what he is always doing — helping his creation.

In yesterday’s podcast I indicated that every good thing that we could ever need or want came to us wrapped up in those strips of cloth — that baby in the feed box. In Jesus, all we could ever want or need has been already poured out. Why is it that we may not be enjoying God's provision? It has nothing to do with anyone in our lives nor anything going on in our circumstances. It has to do wit...

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) “For to us a child is born,   to us a son is given,     and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called     Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,     Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” I’m convinced that most important thing about you is what you think God thinks about you. The more you know he treasures you and cares for you, the more you’ll trust him and share m...

I’m sure you’ve heard it too. It’s that voice from within that says, “you need this…you need that…you want this…you want that…this is what you must do…” or, “…avoid that.” In other words, you take charge, you make it happen, you resolve the situation like this.” All that jargon in spite of the fact that God has made it clear that we already have all our needs met and problems solved. Here’s what h...

The whole process of growing in the Christian life could be described as a shift in perspective — going from living according to our perspective on God, ourselves, others, or our circumstances, to adopting God’s perspective. Consider the following: If this is true: “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” Then this is true: I have and will never have any unfulfilled needs, unsolved problems, or...

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV) 15 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” Just what is the world? 1) “The...

The whole point of Jesus saying to us, “I am the truth” in tandem with our saying, “Jesus is Lord” is that in submission to him we begin to interact with him as the sole interpreter to our hearts of absolutely everything . Jesus alone interprets God to us.  Jesus alone interprets our past, present, and future experiences to us. Jesus alone interprets other people’s words and actions to us along th...

In Colossians 1:15-16 (GW) with reference to Christ we read, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers everything has been created through him and for him.” What does created for him mean? I suggest, for his enjoyment. And what brings him joy in regards...

Psalms 36:7-9 (NIV) 7 “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8 They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. 9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” It seems to all come down to this: to see all reality — our God, ourselves, others, the scriptures, everything that comes...

Here’s one more thought on receiving the gift of God’s righteousness.  Only Jesus knows how to adequately and fully affirm another person infinite preciousness to God.  As our eyes are opened to someone’s value, we will think, speak, and act accordingly, but as to just how that is to play out, only Jesus knows.  So we must come to him not only for him to put that salve on our eyes and help us see...

I’m sure I have brought this up on a previous podcast, but I’d like to highlight this thought from a different angle.  It has to do with a definition I’m formulating of the word righteousness.   I think it could be asserted that living in the “fear of the Lord” or “walking in righteousness” sums up to a large degree the substance of what being a man or woman of God was in the Old Testament. Righte...

Recently I’ve been thinking about what could be the minimal basis upon which to have unity among Christians. I offer the following five propositions: 1) a shared confession that the 66 books of the Bible are God’s inerrant Word. Old Testament: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the pers...

I was once visiting with a friend who was struggling to find peace of mind.  I wasn’t that  sure of what all was contributing to his unrest, but as it turns out he was convinced that God only loves those who walk in sinless perfection.  All the rest, he believed, God hates.  Added to that was his assertion that he had no sin in his life.  But, frankly, it seemed to me that that explained much of h...

Allow me to share with you what I found are two helpful quotes. The first is by Peter Kreeft from his book Prayer for Beginners. And the second is from Ted Shimer in his book, The Freedom Fight “Trusting God's grace means trusting God's love for us rather than our love for God. […] Therefore our prayers should consist mainly of rousing our awareness of God's love for us rather than try...

The other day I wrote down for myself what I consider to be some all-important attitudes: 1) towards yourself — because you know what you say and do even though you know better, you know that — along with the apostle Paul — you stand to be the biggest sinner anyone will ever meet. 2) towards others — (a) because you know yourself, your attitude is such that you find it impossible to look down on a...

2 Corinthians 4:17 — “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” C. S. Lewis, in his book “The Weight of Glory” (1941) writes the following: “To please God . . . to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness . . . to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son — it seems...

Matthew 7:13,14 — “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Why is the gate small that leads to life? One thing Jesus may be wanting us to understand is that not much fits through that small gate, perhaps only this: a complete...

In Joshua 24:15 — Joshua confronted God’s people saying “…If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” It’s interesting to note that the choice Joshua puts before th...

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 (NIV) 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself w...

1 Corinthians 9:24 (NIV) — “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” Next to a one-of-a-kind heart to heart friendship with each of us, I believe the greatest gift God gives us every moment of the day is the opportunity to allow his influence to flow through us.    Everything else in our lives is merely context.   Howe...

I was up early this morning and had the following three thoughts come to me. I’m going to pass them on to you here for your consideration: 1) If for no other reason, help others out of sheer gratitude that you are not the one presently in need of the help you can give. 2) Be a friend who refuses to take issue with all the ways some people make it easy for others to reject them. 3) Be a friend to G...

Religious sacrifice in the ancient world and where it is still practiced today has always been an enigma to me. This is especially true of what I read in the Bible, where God set up a sacrificial system at the very heart of his relationship to his people. Consider this summary statement found in Hebrews 9:22, “According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of...

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”   2 Corinthians 5:21 Hebrews 3:13   “Encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”   What is God’s righteousness?  I’m persuaded that to is to see people through God's eyes.  And what do we see?   We see people wh...