DO NO WRONG

2 Corinthians 13:7 Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we should appear unapproved.

I was meditating on this verse this morning and it struck me that here the Apostle Paul reveals his heart once again as he expresses his desire to see his spiritual children at Corinth growing in Grace. The implication of doing no wrong would mean a proactive desire to do what is right. The Scriptures give us our absolutes of how we are to live out our lives in Christ. It does not matter that even the Church as a whole diminishes those absolutes - regardless we are to strive for holiness. Paul here in this passage is more concerned that the Corinth believer is exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit than he is about his own reputation. Here brings up another point - are we more concerned about our reputation with others than we are about our holiness before our Lord Jesus Christ? Am I more concerned about what people think of me at Church, work and my social situations than I am about being truly holy?

We need to be praying for each other for holiness. We must have the heart of Paul in this area of care for each other. Let us not put on a facade of holiness when we are at Church or anywhere else - are you a flip flopping person - flip from "Christian" to a "non Christian" depending on who you are with? My dear Lord Please make me holy and consistent every minute of my days. Let me not be a hypocrite. Lord please give grace to my brothers and sisters everywhere to live out their lives in holiness - doing no wrong but rather doing righteous works to YOUR glory.

TRIP TO NASHVILLE AND LITTLE ROCK

Well it has been a crazy 36 hours since I left LA. I went to Nashville with Brad Silverman and met with Propeller, Big Idea (Veggie Tales), and Thomas Nelson. We are down here in the South working on the ministry stuff for the No Greater Love DVD release in January. We had a great day after taking a redeye from LA to Nashville. Got alot of stuff done in the plans for ministry of the film. Discussed the Devotional book that we will be coming out with in March through Thomas Nelson also. Then went to Nashville airport to find out flights were being delayed to Little Rock via Atlanta. So we decided to drive the five hours to Little Rock with Dan Merrill from Propeller. Now it is 12:33 AM on Friday and I have been up since Wed. at 6 AM so needless to say I am very tired. Tomorrow we meet with Family Life Today and do a couple of radio interviews for the film and also discuss plans for FLT's involvment in the release of No Greater Love. We had a great time on the ride and it was a super time of fellowship. Now off to bed :).

PRIDE

I have been counseling several people this past week and one of the glaring issues in their life is Pride. It is so good to be practicing the One Anothers in Scripture because it changes me too. I am as prideful as any one and by God's grace over the years He has continued to do the work of sanctification in my life to kill my pride.

James 4:1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

What a great passage that I cannot begin to unpack in this entry. This should be the passage that is in our forefront as we deal with other. This passage is NOT to unbelievers - this passage is ADDRESSED to believers. The problems I have had with people almost always comes back to my pride. Here is the rub - we don't see our pride when we are being prideful. I did not see how prideful I was for years until I saw someone else that was almost exactly like me. I saw the pride in that person and realized I had a log in my eye. I all to often still end up being a prideful man but I desire to not be that man and truly live in the later part of this passage. I realize I am a wretched sinner - no good in me - so what do I have to be prideful about? Nothing. Any ability or gift is exactly that - a gift from God - so if it is all from God how can I take pride in it - oh - wait a minute I can take pride in it and rob Jesus Christ of His glory. May that never be. I hope God continues to humble us all.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

The Fruit of the Spirit is a much discussed topic among Christians. The Apostle Paul in the letter to the Galatians is dealing with what our salvation is built upon. The Church at Galatia had received Paul and the Gospel with open arms as he taught them over a period of time. But then the false teachers came in calling the people back to the law to earn their salvation. Paul confronts the Church and calls them to abandon their wrong thinking that they must be under the law again. He then lays out what it means to walk in the Spirit - he contrasts the deeds of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Notice in this above passage that Paul says those that "practice" these things. A Christian can fall into some of these sins but it will not be the characterizing pattern of their life. Paul is showing three areas of our lives that the flesh manifests itself in: Sex (immorality, impurity, sensuality), relegion (idolatry, sorcery) and our relationships (enmities, strife, Jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying). These are areas of our lives that we must examine to see where we truly are at with the Lord.

Here now is the contrast to the deeds of the flesh:

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

These are the marks of a Christian walking in the Spirit. Each of the fruits mentioned above are outward signs to others that we are truly walking in the Spirit. If someone says - I am walking in the Spirit - but is devoid of outward love, joy, peace etc... then they are not being honest with themselves. A good barometer is to ask a fellow Christian that really knows you if they see these fruits outwardly in your life. It is a command to walk in the Spirit but someone may say - well how do I walk in the Spirit? Here is the key question to answer. First it starts with confession of our sin to our Lord. Is there unrepentant sin in your life? Repent of that sin right now and go and repent to those you have sinned against. Second - Is your life characterized with a pursuit of Christ? Are you walking with Him on a daily basis as Adam walked in the cool of the day with our Lord in the Garden? Are you having daily time in the Word and time in prayer? Are you just going through the motions or is there a real heart desire of hunger in your soul to commune with the Lord? These are just a few questions to ask yourselves as you look at what it means to "walk in the Spirit".

Too many words

Proverbs 10:19 - "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise." This verse is one that convicts me over and over as I blow it so many times. The book of James talks about taming the tongue also. Oh how I desire to be a Godly man in my speech but I do sin in that area due to not heeding these truths. Proverbs 25:11 - "Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances." Now here is what I am striving for. This verse gives such a wonderful picture of how our words can be pleasant. This does not mean that we disregard the Word of God and not speak truth but rather we be a messenger of truth that does not get in the way. I pray that the message is heard and not the messenger. Please pray for me to continue to grow in HIS Grace in this area.

God's goodness to all HIS Creation

God has a common grace that is extended to all of HIS creation. This is shown in several ways but one that I was pondering today was in the restraining of our sinful desires. He restrains ALL of us - believers and unbelievers - in not letting us go as far as we would like. For the unbeliever this is accomplished through the inward works of the law being written on every human beings heart (Romans 2:15). The next way He restrains evil is by the outward societal restraints of government and community. As a society becomes more and more Godless so goes the restraining of evil. God gives over people and nations to their sin and withdraws the restraining Holy Spirit from that society. As believers we are used by God to restrain evil in a society but what if we are becoming just like the society - can we truly have any impact on our society? Read and think about Matthew 5:13-16.

Christ atoning work for sinners

Here is a thought I had this morning in my Bible study time. Jesus Christ was on a human level being defeated by Satan and at the same time was giving Satan his greatest defeat in triumphing over sin. What an amazing truth to ponder today as we give praise to Christ for HIS work on the cross that paid for my sins. A debt that was so insurmountable for me to ever pay. 2 Corinthians 5:21 - "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." This is one of the clearest passages in Scripture of our justification. Where can I boast, where can I take credit or where can I add anything to this great and glorious work of Christ? I lift my voice and heart to HIS GLORY.