Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

  It’s college football season. On Saturday, I’ll usually watch a game on TV for awhile even if I’m not rooting for either team. I enjoy watching a team make a big comeback when it looks like all hope is lost. It’s amazing how, with a little belief and confidence in themselves, a team can turn everything around.   In my last post, I talked about Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. It presumes that we love ourselves. That’s true for most of us but some people live as though they don’t. They beat themselves up over what they’ve done in the past or continue to engage in self-destructive behavior. They don’t see any way that they can be loved, by themselves or anyone else, even God. They have lost hope. There are others who are doing fine except for a specific area in their lives where they feel defeated and hopeless.   God loves us and doesn’t want to see us lost in despair. He wants us to make a comeback, to be restored. We begin by recognizing tha...

  Going back to my last post --- An expert in the law asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment. Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” --- Jesus went on to say, “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).   Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) to help us understand who is a neighbor to us and what it means for us to be a neighbor to them. We know nothing about the man in the parable who was attacked, whether he was holy or a great sinner, rich or poor, or what his beliefs were. He is not even specifically identified as a Jew although it can probably be assumed that Jesus’ hearers thought this to be the case. None of it mattered because he was in need of caring love from a “neighbor”. The Good Samaritan cared for the man who had been attac...

  We visited lots of family last week. My sister-in-law has a little dog who is a bundle of energy. She only knows one speed – full throttle, all systems go! She puts maximum effort into everything she does. When she is finished, she goes over to her doggie bed and lies down until the next round begins. We are called to have that same kind of enthusiastic, full-bore approach to life.   An expert in the law asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment. Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).   It seems to me that we don’t pay full attention to what Jesus said. We think, consciously or subconsciously, that we are living pretty good lives and that God ought to be satisfied with us. We ignore the commandment that we are supposed to give God 100% of us 100% of the time. Jesus reinforces this point, saying, “ So you also, when you have don...

  As I’ve mentioned before, I have a hard time finishing projects because I get distracted easily. I need a “To Do” list in front of me in order to get things done.   Paul wrote to the Philippian church that he established. He encouraged them, “ [I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). God is faithful – He is always working to make us into the people we are called to be. God never leaves a project unfinished!   We may feel like our spiritual growth has stalled, that we aren’t making any progress. Sometimes it can just be hard to see, because we can’t step back and see how much we’ve changed. It’s like people who haven’t seen your kids for a year say how much they’ve grown while you may not have noticed much of a difference. If you can see an area that you’ve grown in, you’re making progress. If you’re unsure, ask God to show you the progress you’ve made and help you...