Daily Archives: September 18, 2010

Finding out they are just using me to advance themselves.

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There are many things that I hope to be able to achieve in the years that I have left on this earth, whether or not they are in agreement with Lord, remains to be seen. What I do know is this, I will accomplish none of them by sitting idly by, waiting for someone help me with them. Sure, if it is the Lord’s wish, He will facilitate my plans, but if I am tardy in my agenda, while allowing time to pass by while I get fat and lazy of the things of this world, I shall be unsuccessful in my plans. “Sloth makes you poor; diligence brings wealth. Indolence wants it all and gets nothing; the energetic have something to show for their lives.” (PROVERBS)
I have always tried to live an honest life, you know, “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing else”. So when I encounter someone with nothing but a bag full of lies to show for themselves, it really upsets me. I realize that Satan is using my weakness to push me over the line, yet this is one thing that I have a hard time dealing with. During the years I have stepped up to the plate to help others, only to find out that they were just using me to advance themselves, while lying to me at that. “Don’t exploit your friend or rob him. “Don’t hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight.” (LEVITUCUS)
I am telling you this because it is important for you to realize that God uses every one of us. Yes he even uses non-believers, even though they are none the wiser. Children of God must open their hearts to their fellow man, because once they do, they allow the Lord to use them in what ever way he decides to. “Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbor “Maybe some other time” or “Try me tomorrow” when the money’s right there in your pocket. Don’t figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he’s sitting there trusting and unsuspecting.” (PROVERBS)
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We knew him as a humble carpenter’s son.

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Let us not think of ourselves better than others, as that sort of mentality simply gives us a poor outlook on life. When Jesus Christ came to this earth, it was as a humble carpenter’s son, with little speculation as to who he may have been better than. “So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it: There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.  They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one. Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, Don’t know the first thing about living with others. They never give God the time of day. This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.” (ROMANS)
Children have a tendency to express themselves like they are all that matters. I suspect that this attitude reflects their insecurity in their standing in life, needing and wanting assurance that they are good enough to “fit in”. Stop trying to “fit in” and begin by looking to Jesus for your next cue, you will get it. I always do! “But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.” (ROMANS)
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Non-believers continue to keep Christianity out of our daily thoughts and lives.

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I don’t know about you, but every time I think about how much the Lord loves me, I feel a unexplainable happiness inside. Like many other people, I too have sinned  in my lifetime and while those sins may not be as bad as what some other people commit, they are sins. Even though society may condone some of what I have done, like the use of profanity, smoking and being envious of another, I know that God would not. The great thing about my father is that he not only forgives, he also forgets. Those sins a both forgiven and forgotten. “If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.” (PSALMS)
When Jesus Christ was sent to this earth to be our savior, many people just considered him as a nobody. Things have not changed that much over the years, so we should not be surprised as non-believers continue to aggressively try to keep Christianity out of our daily thoughts and lives. “The servant grew up before God, a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried, our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him, our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.” (ISAIAH)
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