Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

  Every Monday and Thursday morning I take out the trash. I hate it when I forget or I’m too late and I have to deal with the trash smelling up the garage until the next collection day. Most of us feel the same way. We’re glad to get rid of trash. Nobody goes out to the curb and brings it back in again!   We tend to be more tolerant of the trash in our lives than the trash in our homes. Just like how you get used to a smell when you have been in a room for awhile, we can become comfortable with the less pleasant side of ourselves. Some of that may be due to Satan who, on the one hand tries to get us to downplay our faults and sins and, on the other hand, tries to tell us that we will never be any better. We need to see beyond those lies.   God eagerly desires to forgive us and to help us to be the people He meant us to be.   “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him” (Dan 9:9).   Spend some time with God in the...

  When I was growing up, the Christmas season was always an extended one. My dad had seven brothers and sisters, my mom had three, and almost all of them lived near to us. Between Christmas and New Year’s we would go to visit many of them or they would come to visit us. Our Christmas season would continue through Epiphany, making for the full twelve days of Christmas. It was a joyful time!   Nowadays, we still try to continue the Christmas season through Epiphany.   It seems like most people, though, are back to business within the first few days after Christmas. The trees are put out to the curb, and everybody goes back to work and begins planning for New Year’s Eve.   Peter, James, and John got to see Jesus transfigured on the mountain, to see Him for who He really is, the King. It must have been a powerful, overwhelming experience for them. It had to be difficult for them to see everything return to what it was before and to have to go back down the mounta...

  Christmas is rapidly approaching and some of us are still doing last-minute shopping for the right gifts. We want to give something that will bring joy to the person receiving it. We ask our loved ones to make Christmas wish lists to make it easier for us to find the right gift for them.   Have you thought about what gifts you are giving to God this Christmas? Have you thought about what gifts you are asking from God? This may sound silly on the face of it but I think it’s an important part of Christmas, something that helps us remember “the reason for the season.”   We can give to God whatever we feel will bring Him joy, whether it be an offering of ourselves, a commitment to remove anything keeping us from Him, or simply our praise and worship. We can ask God for whatever will help us to serve Him better, knowing that He desires to bless us and wants us to ask Him.   “Ask and it will be given to you…for everyone who asks receives” (Mt 7:7-8) and,   “...

  We enjoy going to New York City during the Christmas season. We like to walk around Manhattan and gaze at the displays in the department store windows. I marvel at the work of the designers who create such attractive scenes. Their goal is to use our appreciation of their design to draw us into their store. The approach is effective because we are naturally drawn to beauty however it may be expressed.   Whether we like it or not, we are like those department store windows. People will view us, as well as the way we talk and act and conduct our lives, and they will form impressions of who we are. If people know that we are professing Christians, they may form opinions about Christianity by what they see in us. We should strive to always be mindful of our opportunity to be a witness by the way we go about our everyday lives.   Jesus advises us, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16).

    The Christmas season is a time for coming back home. When I went away to college, I was always excited to come back home to my family. After my wife and I were married, we still enjoyed going back to our parents’ homes to visit during the Christmas season. Nowadays, we are always thrilled to have our daughter home at Christmas break to stay with us for awhile.   The joy of coming back home and getting together again isn’t diminished by how many times we may have done the same thing before. It feels good to have our family unit restored, if only for a little while.   God is equally happy when we come back to be with Him. The parable of the Prodigal Son indicates this. The father in the parable eagerly awaited his son’s return even though the son had no doubt caused him much grief when he left.   “But while [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he...

    My mother is 100 years old as I write this but she still lives in her own home. She lives halfway across the country from us so we don’t get to visit very often. When we do visit, one of the first orders of business is finding out what chores need to be done. The chores we do, even though they may be the same things we do in our own home, don’t feel like work because we are doing them out of love.   From time to time, we should ask God what chores He needs us to do. Whatever task He shows us, we should undertake it not as an obligation but as an act of love for the one who loves us completely and provides for all our needs. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward (Col 3:23-24)”.

    Have you ever had a really bad toothache? I know I have. The pain can be severe enough that you can’t function or think of anything else. Getting that tooth fixed or taken out may be a painful process but you look forward to it because you know that you will feel better afterwards. Now think about it. Your tooth is a very tiny part of your body but if it is decayed, it affects your total self.   None of us is perfect. Even the apostle Paul stated, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing” (Rom 7:18-19).   We may think that a bad or sinful habit isn’t really very important or that it doesn’t have any consequences. If that’s the case, we might want to take a time-out and ask God what He thinks about it. We can even ask Him to show us how our bad habits affect us. Be careful if you do that because the answer may be painful. ...

  It’s late November here in Texas and the leaves have turned color. We took a drive the other day just to check out the colors.  I’m grateful to the city and to private companies who have planted trees that change color in fall because our native trees don’t do very much.   I think God did more than just provide a beautiful scene for us to enjoy when He ordained the colors of the leaves. I think He may have been giving us a lesson about life. The leaves are most vibrant and beautiful at the end of their lives. We are called to this same change in our lives. Old age can be a time of aches and pains and infirmities. It can also be a time of sorrow and loss. It can be tempting to just shrivel up and blow away but we are called to more than that. Those of us who are older should take advantage of our senior years to spend more time with God, to draw closer to Him and to experience His love and care in a fresh new way. This is God’s desire – He wants to prepare us for the...

  Back in my school days, I was always happy to hear that an upcoming test was going to be an open book test. It was comforting to know that I had someplace to go to get help with whatever question I had. I can’t imagine not wanting to open the textbook if I needed help.   Our life is an open book test. God has given us the Bible to help us have the best life possible. We can find answers to the deepest questions of our heart. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb 4:12).   We need to commit to reading and studying the Bible on a daily basis to help us grow in knowledge and discernment and faith. This can be a daunting task if you are just getting started. There are a number of resources available. There are study bibles for each translation. You can find bible studies at your church and online. How y...