Thursday, October 20, 2005
# 100: Short Subjects with Teeth
When a person’s wealth consists of spiritual substance, the less that person will desire things of material value, and at the same time, be more content and satisfied with what little he/she has; visa versa, the less one has of spiritual worth, the more value material things will one desire or have.
A Christian with little or no money can do more for God with a small amount of active faith, than with all the money in the world and only words of faith.
God says: When you have Me, you have everything.
Trust in God comes from knowing Him. When one knows God, one believes Him; when one believe Him, trust is the outcome.
Love is to have an active desire to take another’s pain, sorrow, needs, and anxiety and make them one’s own. Love is to be motivated to give the best of whatever one has when the need arises. Love is not so much what may seem good for him/herself, but what is best for the next person.
Morals by themselves are of no eternal value unless they are a result of God's life and love in a person. They are a tool whereby one has the right equipment to give others the love and attention they so desperately need. If God’s life is not present, they are merely a control mechanism. Whose mechanism might that be?
Someone may work his/her buns off seeking a million dollars to find security and happiness. Another seeks God and all that He has to offer for security and contentment. Who has the biggest load? Who is better off? Who has lasting contentment?
Belief makes invisible things visible. The physical world is dumb. It cannot act on its own. It has no power to resist the spirit world. The spirit world of God which we should possess has control over the physical. Although there isn’t much, if any evidence of that power; should we still believe that principle?
In order for God to give us what we need to please Him, He must take from us much of what the world consider good and necessary, because His power is released in weakness. Therefore, by taking away, He is preparing us to receive the best, which is Himself.
All truly great people are connected to a source of limitless love. Only as we are being loved the way we were meant to be loved, can we have the proper picture of ourselves. The fact is, God's love for us makes us precious.
It is an easy thing to do what one believes. But when one just says they believe, it is actually impossible to respond to that belief which is only unbelief. True belief always comes from the heart and not only the mouth.
Christ exposed the evil hearts of men and therefore was hated. As Christ does that same work though our lives, we will also be hated. Real love is tough and not wishy-washy. This Christ-type love is not welcomed by many. In fact, most will call it judgment.
Many "Christian" people try desperately to better themselves by buying nice and valuable things, education etc. The only real way to help oneself is to have God start from scratch and give us His life.
Besides performing the necessary functions of life, anything else we do that does not bring us and others closer to Christ, is not of God. When the majority of the things we do, don’t make Christ more real in our life, that can be an indication our life may not be of God.
It is not that a person does not want to change what one believes in order to get closer to God, it is his/her lifestyle they may find hard to change. To simply change what one believes is of little value if the life does not follow.
When the purpose and will of Jesus Christ becomes the controlling purpose of His chosen, then God can and will use them to the greatest degree possible.
We see God's vantage point of humanity without Jesus in the flesh as He was displayed in the Old Testament. God's vantage point of humanity as He lived in the flesh of Jesus is displayed in the New Testament. That means, God experienced humanity through the flesh of Jesus Christ.
When a person is aware of his death at a certain time, he can dispose of his material goods since he won't need them where he is going. After a person dies to the flesh (our human nature) that is when Jesus says, “Now you can sell your possessions and give to the poor.
To love people in need is like putting money in God's eternal bank. The more we love in this world, the richer we become in belief. To seek people to love is to desire true riches. To wait for an opportunity to come our way is as stupid as rejecting food when starving.
Love does not always make people feel good. Quite often love will make some feel bad when telling them they have Spiritual cancer and that it must be removed. Love is giving people the truth, regardless of how it makes them feel.
One time, a non-Christian acquaintance asked me a question out of the blue: “Who is the most important person in your life?” I hesitation and then answered, “the person in greatest need.” I immediately wondered what Christ’s answer would have been? What is your answer?
It is not what a one does or doesn’t do in life that is important, but rather the long-term repercussions one’s actions will have on others. We are all role-models for others to emulate. What do others emulate about us?
