Are you good and faithful in God eyes today?

Have you ever taken time to think about what makes someone good and faithful in God eyes. In Matthew 25:14-30 we find Jesus telling how we can live a good and pleasing life in God's eyes.

The first thing we should note is that both goodness and faithfulness are connected in God view. If you have one then you will have the other. God's definition of 'good and faithful' is stewardship, taking care of what He has given us. This raises the question of how do we take care of what God has given us? Well we can see from this story that it isn't just returning what God has given us, He expects more. It also is not doing the same as everyone else.

Good stewardship consists of at least duplicating or doubling what God has given us. As we look at our gift of salvation, have we helped at least one other person come to a saving knowledge Jesus? We are to be reproducing ourselves as much as possible, making disciples and this is what pleases God.

Are you good and faithful in God eyes today? If not we all have a chance to become so starting now.

Showing Reality

With snow gently falling I was reviewing the Christmas story and something about it stood out. It deals with our relationship with God, but should also be applied to all relationships.

In the Christmas story many people knew, heard about and even proclaimed the fact that the Savior was born. The thing that set some people apart is that they acted on what they new and proclaimed. They demonstrated their faith and love for God through their actions. More than hearing us proclaim something, God wants to see us live out our love and faith this Christmas season. Everyone who truly worship the Savior who had been born during that first Christmas demonstrated it through sacrifice. What can we do, what can we sacrifice to show that our stated faith and love for God is real?

Now applying that to our relationship. Yes, people like to hear our profession of love, but if that is all that we do our words are empty. However, if we accompany those words with action of sacrificial love, we will see lives changed. So what can/ should we do, what can/should we sacrifice to show that our stated compassion and love for others is real?

 

 

Becoming Holy as God Commanded

Today I was reading a familiar part of the Bible, 1 Peter 1 and verses 13-16 caught my eye. They say, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self- controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."”

Too often we become so focused on the seemingly impossible task of, being holy like God, that we miss the first part of this passage. The very first part of this passage gives us how we can start being holy with the Holy Spirit’s help. It all starts with our minds. Have we prepared them to be holy? If we have or if we need to, how can we do this? The cycle of holiness or cycle of sin always starts with our mind and we are preparing for either thing every day. Have we prepared our minds for holiness? This is done by putting helpful things into our minds and meditating on them throughout the day. So do we start our day with worship, Scripture and prayer or do we start it with news, bills daily problems. This start to the day will direct how the rest of the day goes.

 

Next, look as what we are to prepare our minds for … prepare them for ‘ACTION’. This is such an important point to remember. If we are being proactive and doing those things that lead to holiness, then we will not have time to become distracted by temptation and sin. If you find yourself struggling then prepare you mind and get doing stuff for God. You will be amazed at what God does in your life when you do.

Where Do You Get Help From?

Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

 

Can we honestly say this is true, that God is our source of help? Often as we go through life, God is a source of help but not the only one and not the first one we turn to. How many troubles do we bring on ourselves when we live like this? We tend to turn to man’s wisdom and strength first. If something happens or we need advice, we depend or our own resources. Yet how quickly these run out, falling short of what we need.

If only we would turn to God first. If we rely on Him then we avoid become drained by our own efforts. We avoid disappointments, because we know that even when things don’t turn out as we have planned, God is working for our benefit. Who better to depend on than the One who made everything? He knows how it all works and what is best for us. He us just waiting for us to trust Him.

So let us depend on Him for our help and watch the miraculous happen and the whole world will know how great our God is.