CrossLife

There is a story in the Bible about a guy by the name of Joseph.  Joseph was mistreated by his brothers and sold into slavery and then his brothers lied about it and told their father that he was killed.  Joseph ended up in Egypt and was a slave for a man named Potiphar and Joseph succeeded in all he did but was wrongfully accused by Potiphar’s wife and was throne in prison.  While in prison two of the king’s officials were thrown in prison, as well.  One night they both had dreams and Joseph interpreted their dreams and asked one of the guys who would be getting out in 3 days to not forget about him.  Well, the guy did forget about Joseph for a couple of years until the king, Pharoah, had a dream that no one could interpret.  The man remembered Joseph and Pharoah sent for Joseph to be brought from the prison so that he could interpret Pharoah’s dream.  Joseph did and was appointed as second in command of the nation of Egypt.  Around 9 years went by and Joseph’s brothers showed up needing food because there was a great famine in that region of the world but the brothers did not recognize Joseph although Joseph recognized them.  After a series of testing Joseph finally revealed his identity and had his whole family move to Egypt even his elderly father, Jacob, who was about 130 at the time.  17 years later Jacob died and Joseph’s brothers were scared that now that their father was dead that Joseph was going to get his revenge on his brothers for their cruelty in selling him into slavery.  Let’s look at Joseph’s response in Genesis 50:19-21:

19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you?20 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.21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

People will do and say evil things to us but we must not say or do evil to them.  Instead let’s look for the good that God means to come out of this situation.  God is always working for your good even in the bad times and he uses the evil that people do for his good intentions.  This perspective will help us to love our enemies and to love those who hurt us.

“God intended it all for good!”

3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eyet when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend,t ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.     Matthew 7:3-5

We all do this we are quick to judge others and get angry at them for their faults without admitting our own.  But we need to admit that we suck, too, and deal with the faults that we have.  Most of the time pointing out the faults of others will not accomplish anything but we can change our faults and when we recognize our sucktitude it will help us to be more humble and gentle in helping others with their faults.

When I realized this truth for my marriage it totally changed things.  For the first few years of marriage I thought I was the perfect husband and that my wife was lucky to have me I always focused on her problems and didn’t think that I had any.  But God prompted me to start praying for our marriage and for my wife and before long I was spending more time praying for myself because God opened my eyes to how flawed I was as a husband and that my crap stunk, too, and I needed to clean it up.  As I became a better (not perfect) husband our marriage got better and stronger.

So, let’s not be so quick to judge others but rather judge ourselves and realize that we suck, too.

How do you define success in your life?  We all have different definitions as to what a successful life looks like.  For some it may be success in a career for others it may be being a good husband, wife, father, or mother, for others maybe it’s having a bunch of facebook friends or twitter followers.

Our definition of success really doesn’t matter what matters is how God defines a successful life.  We get a glimpse of God’s definition in 1 Samuel 15, I’m not going to tell you the whole story you’ll have to read it yourself but Samuel tells King Saul in verse 22, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”

So, what is God’s definition of success?  It’s obedience.  Simply doing what God says to do.

Are you on the path to success?

Have you ever tried to hit a bullseye?

There are several things that are required to hit the middle of the target.  But one of the main things that it requires is focus, you must be focused and aimed right at the bullseye.  If you’re not looking at the bullseye and completely focused on hitting it you’re not going to hit it.

In life God is our bullseye.  He is the one we should be aimed at and completely focused on.  Mark 12:30 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”

Let’s hit the bullseye!

Remember when MC Hammer was cool with his puffy pants and sweet dance moves?  Don’t act like you weren’t singing “Can’t touch this” and “Too legit to quit”.  Well, maybe you remember the song “Pray” and the line “we got to pray just to make it today.”  While Hammer may not have been the greatest example to follow he was spot on with this song.  We definitely need to be reminded to pray.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:6  Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need,

Don’t worry, pray.  Worry stresses us out and then we stress the people around us out.  How much more freeing to just let the worries go and trust God for everything.  Trust God to either show you how to handle the problem or for God to handle it for you.  Don’t try to make it through this day on your own strength and power but instead rely on God.

What struggles and worries do you have that you need to give to God?

This thanksgiving season I have a lot to be thankful for.  But I wanted to take the time to talk about how thankful I am for my church family.  This past Sunday as we were worshiping God together in song I had to stop to thank God for having such an amazing church family.  I was thinking how awesome it was that three years ago I didn’t know any of these people and now I consider them to be some of my closest friends.  God has been amazing to us and I look forward to growing closer together and I also am looking forward to the many friends that God is going to add.

What are you thankful for?

When I was a child we used to sing the song “Jesus loves me this I know…” and if that is true then the opposite is true, as well.  Satan hates me this I know.  From the beginning of time Satan has been trying to mess up God’s plan and God’s creation by taking over and deceiving people into following his way instead of God’s.

When we make the commitment to follow Christ and to love God with our whole being and to love others like we love ourselves then Satan hates us and will do everything in his power to get us to turn our back on God and to stop living for him.  We must not fall for the lie that if we are doing everything right then God will not allow anything bad to happen to us.  Jesus never did anything wrong and God allowed him to be tempted and to die a brutal death on a cross.  We are promised hard times in this world.  Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)  It could be that the person who does the most good for God will suffer the greatest attacks from Satan.

As children of God we should have the attitude that we read about in the Bible in James 1:2, 3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”  The trials, temptations, and testing of our faith, builds character and is ultimately for our good.  So, when we feel attacked let’s look for the lesson, look for the good that God can do with it, and rejoice because God is working towards our perfection in him.

Ephesians 6:10-20 (NCV)

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his great power.11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can fight against the devil’s evil tricks.12 Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world.13 That is why you need to put on God’s full armor. Then on the day of evil you will be able to stand strong. And when you have finished the whole fight, you will still be standing.14 So stand strong, with the belt of truth tied around your waist and the protection of right living on your chest.15 On your feet wear the Good News of peace to help you stand strong.16 And also use the shield of faith with which you can stop all the burning arrows of the Evil One.17 Accept God’s salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18 Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything you need. To do this you must always be ready and never give up. Always pray for all God’s people.19 Also pray for me that when I speak, God will give me words so that I can tell the secret of the Good News without fear.20 I have been sent to preach this Good News, and I am doing that now, here in prison. Pray that when I preach the Good News I will speak without fear, as I should.

Ephesians 6:1-9 (NCV)

Children and Parents

1 Children, obey your parents as the Lord wants, because this is the right thing to do.2 The command says, “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first command that has a promise with it—3 “Then everything will be well with you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

4 Fathers, do not make your children angry, but raise them with the training and teaching of the Lord.

Slaves and Masters

5 Slaves, obey your masters here on earth with fear and respect and from a sincere heart, just as you obey Christ.6 You must do this not only while they are watching you, to please them. With all your heart you must do what God wants as people who are obeying Christ.7 Do your work with enthusiasm. Work as if you were serving the Lord, not as if you were serving only men and women.8 Remember that the Lord will give a reward to everyone, slave or free, for doing good.

9 Masters, in the same way, be good to your slaves. Do not threaten them. Remember that the One who is your Master and their Master is in heaven, and he treats everyone alike.

Ephesians 5:21-33 (NCV)

21 Yield to obey each other as you would to Christ.

22 Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord,23 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the Savior of the body, which is the church.24 As the church yields to Christ, so you wives should yield to your husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it26 to make it belong to God. Christ used the word to make the church clean by washing it with water.27 He died so that he could give the church to himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be pure and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it.28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself.29 No one ever hates his own body, but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church,30 because we are parts of his body.31 The Scripture says, “So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.”32 That secret is very important—I am talking about Christ and the church.33 But each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and a wife must respect her husband.