Do You Act or React?

When you spend your entire life reacting to people instead of making your own choices, it will weaken your life. “I merely did to them what they did to me.” Have you ever used that excuse?

I’ve been in ministry for a long time and I’ve had plenty of opportunities to react to people that have done me wrong. Sometimes I have not reacted well. I’m not proud of that at all. We all can do and say mean things. The crazy thing is, I got into church work to help people and yet I’ve found my family and myself wounded by those I was just trying to help.

There was a guy named Samson in the Bible. When you look at Samson's life, you see a guy pretty creative at getting even. Judges 15:3-5 says, "Samson said to them, `This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines. I will really harm them.' So he went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose standing in the grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and the standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves."  That's pretty creative! But that creativity ultimately led to his captivity and death.

What's the lesson out of Samson's life?

It’s better to control your anger and choose to act rather than react against everybody. Why spend precious energy on resentment when you can use your energy to help others? Yes, sometimes you will get hurt, but we need to see the greater results in the long run. Having a friend or two you can talk to makes a big diiference too.

Proverbs 29:11 says, "Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end."

How do you the handle hurts that come along in your life?

Don't Condemn Culture

I decided over thirty years ago I wanted to have a ministry like Jesus. Which means, I don’t spend any of my time condemning culture.  Why?  Because Jesus didn’t.  He said “I didn’t come to condemn the world; I came to save it.”

Many Christians spend a lot of their time condemning the world, saying how badly society sucks, then looking for a political solution to figure out how to get rid of the suckiness.  Neither of those work.  Spending all your time condemning society won’t change it, and looking for a political answer to solve the problem of society won’t change it either.  

God so loved the world he didn’t send a politician.  Why?  Because you can’t change people’s hearts by laws.  No law will turn a bigot into somebody who will love all the races.  Only God can get rid of racism in the heart.  Only God can get rid of selfishness in the heart.  No law is going to turn people who are selfish into unselfish people.  Jesus said, “I didn’t come to condemn the world.  I came to save it.”  So no matter what I’ve done, God wants me.  
 
Remember the story of the prodigal son, the kid who tells his father, “dad give me my half of the inheritance” and he splits and goes to sunset strip in Jerusalem and spends all his money on wine, women, and song – mostly women?  He ends up feeding pigs in a pigsty.  He finally realizes this doesn’t work so he goes home to his dad with a humble attitude, smelling of the pigsty.  The father runs out to greet his younger son.  He grabs him in a big bear hug, My son has come home!  Let’s have a party.  

He doesn’t say to his son, “Son, go and get a bath.  Get shaved.  Put on some clean clothes.  Get rid of that stinking pig smell and then I’ll give you a bear hug.”  No, he says I love you just the way you are.

God loves and accepts you just the way you are.  

How Spiritual Are You?

I talk with many people who have a desire to be more spiritual and i think that’s a great thing but how does one go about that? The most spiritual people i know are those who serve others with love.

Loving servants pay attention to needs. Servants are always on the lookout for ways to help others. When they see a need, they seize the moment to meet it, just as scripture encourages us to do.

When God puts someone in need right in front of you, he is giving you the opportunity to grow spiritually. I think a theme that runs all throughout the scriptures is loving others. Loving others includes helping others and that should not be put at the bottom of our “things to do” list. It rise to the top!

We miss many occasions for helping others because we lack sensitivity and spontaneity. Great opportunities to serve never last long. They pass quickly, sometimes never to return again. You may only get one chance to serve that person, so take advantage of the moment.

John Wesley’s motto was: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”

That is greatness. That is a large part of spirituality. You can begin by looking for small tasks that no one else wants to do. Do these little things as if they were great things, because God is watching.

“Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now” (Proverbs 3:28 TEV).


How spiritual are you? What way to measure that might be to how much you help others.

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How Open Minded Are You?

If you shut yourself off from learning something new because you have a biased view of something old, you will never be able to expand your understanding. 


This includes the way you read the Bible. But when looking at Bible scriptures, sometimes you will encounter passages that seem to contradict something else you learned or understood. What seem to be contradictions or hard places can be opportunities for you to gain a greater understanding of what the whole of the Bible is saying.

Usually, when something you read seems to contradict another passage of scripture, it is because your knowledge of the whole of the scriptures is limited, and therefore so is your view. Think of it this way: It would be difficult to write a report on the cultures of the world if all you know is what you have seen in U.S. You may have some insight into other cultures, but it would take an intense study of other cultures, preferably in foreign countries, to get the most accurate report. If you are only familiar with certain portions and concepts of the Bible, your understanding of how it all fits together will be limited. This is why you have to have an open mind when studying - you may find that there are some huge pieces missing to the puzzle as you currently know it.

Another problem with contradictions are because the original languages of the Bible are Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. If one wishes to be a careful student of the Scriptures, some research concerning the biblical languages is important. Sometimes our English translations may not be accurate when it comes to certain words.

A treasured study tool for Bible research is the Strong's Concordance. It has a topical index, Hebrew and Greek Lexicons, and you can even search for Bible verses by the individual words in them. Find every Bible verse containing the word "compassion" or any other word, just like searching a dictionary! You might be surprised at what you find when you look at a literal translation. Young’s Literal Translation is also available online too.

So...the next time you read a Bible verse, especially a controversial one, take some extra time and do a little research. If you have an open mind, you might gain a greater understanding.


Have you ever changed your mind about something you read in the Bible ?