​28 April 2021
1 Peter 5:14-17 Voluntary Hall Monitors
If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!

Rob was teaching from this passage on Sunday, and the last item on the list in verse 15 really caught my attention. “Prying into other people’s affairs” ranks with murder & stealing for things NOT to do. Interesting.

Perhaps that’s why our nation is so divided right now. Half the people want to be left alone and the other half wants to pry into our affairs. It really is a nuisance. 

The Word of God never changes with the times & one of the best verses for daily living is and always will be from 1 Thessalonians 4...
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. (v.11-12)

Imagine a society where we mind our own business. It’s a dying concept, especially with social media, which I am using right now to post this. (smiley face) But truly, as a Believer, I would like to allow others to be instructed by the Holy Spirit without butting in. It’s scary, especially when people I love, or people I see underthinking a situation, are not doing something how I would do it. But I don’t want to be like half the nation that meddles. Like Rob said on Sunday, “being a voluntary Hall Monitor is exhausting.”

And it’s exhausting because God gives no one the strength for that job because that job is already filled by the Holy Spirit. 

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (Galatians 5:16) And apparently, our sinful nature is dying to tell others what to do and “pry into their affairs.”

Dear God,
Thank you for your Holy Spirit helping me to lead a quiet life and mind my own business. I pray that you will protect me and my family from meddlers and help me not to fall into the trap of being one. Thank you for your instruction and your grace to all who love and trust you. Amen.

​27 April 2021
Wow! I’ve hardly posted at all this year!
I have no reason except for being overwhelmed and astonished at today’s ever fast paced changing culture that my head spins daily. Time to get back to business.

Titus 2:11-12 (NIV)
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age...

This verse is perfect for the fast pace changing culture that makes my head spin. The amount of people readily and mindlessly embracing Cancel Culture is truly astonishing and mesmerizing isn’t it? It’s because the culture rejects God, and God is full of grace, therefore the culture rejects grace. That’s crazy because who doesn’t love and appreciate GRACE?!

God has given his grace to everyone – even the ones who don’t recognize it or appreciate it. And His grace is our instructor. When we look back at all the stupid things we say and do, we value grace as offers opportunity to have a do-over, grow and change – learn self-control and be able to live “upright” lives. If there is no grace, these things can’t happen.

I remember watching a interview of George W. Bush before he was elected president, and the interviewer was trying to discount him because he used to be an alcoholic. It didn’t work. Bush simply owned his former behavior and since that interview took place pre-cancel-culture-era the topic didn’t affect his election at all. 

The idea of being held accountable as an adult for what you did decades ago is insane. And yet Cancel Culture now prevails against many politicians, athletes and businessmen. I prefer grace. I don’t want to be remembered for my mistakes; I can’t udo any of them and neither can anyone else.

No one can make up for their mistakes. That’s why Jesus came! That’s what grace is; it’s Jesus. He took the punishment for my guilt and shame – past, present & future – and every morning lets me live in newness. (Of course there are consequences people live in for their actions, but I’m not talking about that.) I’m talking about the war we are constantly in that Paul mentions...
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 7:18-25)
... And how the grace of Jesus is the solution for our behavior – NOT a society that drudges and shuns.

Dear God,
Thank you for you unending GRACE! Thank you for your Son. I pray for our god-forsaking mistaken society that does not embrace grace and forgiveness at all. I thank you that this culture nor any other can undo what you have done for me and for all who love and trust you and believe in your Son, in whose name I pray. Amen.