ClydeStyle

Category: Change

  • My God is not a buffet!

    When you live in a country as great as ours, it’s easy to take for granted our bounty. We are used to having things done our way. We live in a “now” society that gives us any and everything we can afford. Our carnal selves actually feed off this abundance and as long as the carnal body has nourishment like this, it will be strong and difficult for us to handle.

    A Chinese buffet restaurant in the United Stat...
    A Chinese buffet restaurant in the United States of America (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    There must be a separation of our spiritual and carnal selves. It was first explained to us in Romans 6 that when we were baptized we put to death the “old man” and that we live anew in Christ. It seems as though we keep nursing the old man back to health. You see, when we take God’s principles to heart, we bear fruit. According to Rom. 6:17 we are to obey from the heart that form of doctrine delivered to us. We can not take the things God offers like we take food from a buffet. At a buffet, you do not have to eat everything — although some people try. At the buffet you can have whatever you like and leave what you don’t like.

    God is quite different.

    God did not send his only son to die for the sins of the world only to see us commit partially to him. God wants us to surrender all and as much as he loves us, he expects us to honor him with our whole lives. There should be none of this “I’ll submit to the things that I like and I’m a work in progress for the rest”. We are to love because God loves us; we are to forgive because God forgave us; we are to treat others with respect because it honors the God we serve.

    So many claim to be children of God, but treat him like a buffet. I was counseling a young lady who was having difficulty potty training her son. This kid was so smart that he would potty on himself and then bring a diaper to his mother so she could change him. Clearly, if this kid could bring the diaper then he could certainly make his deposit into the toilet like anyone else. At the time that we can acknowledge our sin, we need to cut it out. Simply acknowledging our sin is like the boy who brings his mother a diaper for him to be changed. We need to do better than that!

  • Parable of purity

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    Once upon a time a father baked a beautiful cake. He decorated it with the finest icing, and he  added extra icing to it because his cake was so sweet.

    He took his cake and placed it in a display case for safe keeping until the right person came to purchase.

    Each evening, unbeknownst to the father, some guy would reach up and take a bite out of his cake. In fact, by the time he noticed, there were more than 11 bites out of his cake.

    The father was sadden and although he still cared deeply about the cake, he wondered if the bites would hinder quality sales of the cake. The father also remembered when he used to sneak bites of cake and it saddened him more. “No one should be trying to taste cake before purchasing it!” He exclaimed.

    The interpretation of this parable is this: The cake is this man’s daughter and every bite out of it represents the daughter’s sexual experiences. The purchasers are men who would be great candidates for marriage.

    Moral of the story: No one wants to purchase a community cake. Or as the Apostle Paul wrote: “Marriage is honorable by all and the bed is undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

  • The power of one

    untitledIt is easy to look at this world and all of the evil there in and feel that as one person we are powerless. It seems like my voice and vote doesn’t matter and my single voice is too small.

    Well, this ideal is family to the fear and doubt that is given by the evil one. This concept has halted a lot of would be powerful movements. A wild forest fire can be started with one match and whole wars have been started with one shot.

    What if the energy that was donated to the negative thoughts were reserved for the one? The one who would dare to speak out against injustice or the one who would dare to love their spouse in spite of infidelity.

    Or the one who would dare to challenge a bully or plead for the less fortunate. Or the one who would choose to see that the glass really is half full or understand that the best dancing is done in the rain.

    Jesus made a huge impact living only 33 mortal years on earth. God has given most of us more time and the same power!

    Let’s celebrate the power of one and do something with it.

  • Parable of a good breakfast

    20130824-012634.jpgA Father woke up one morning to eat breakfast. He arose early while his kids were still asleep.

    He began to make homemade pancakes, breakfast sausage with potatoes and onions and farm fresh eggs. He squeezed oranges and blended them with apple and carrot juice, garnished that with pineapple slices.

    His son got up about 20 minutes after the father had started to eat. The son said, “Daddy, where is my food?” The father answered, “It’s in the kitchen son. Everything I made, I did it with the items that are in the kitchen.”

    The son was a little angry that his dad had not made enough for him so he settled for a bowl of cereal. The daughter got up and commented that something smelled good. The father said thanks and the daughter asked where was her breakfast.

    He gave her same answer he gave the son. She looked stunned and opened the refrigerator and just stared.

    The youngest daughter got up, came and kissed her dad and said good morning. The dad smiled and she looked at him and said, “you still can’t get those pancakes right huh dad?” Then she began to make homemade waffle batter and fry chicken. She had the house smelling so good that her siblings couldn’t believe it.

    In amazement, the two asked their younger sibling why she made chicken and waffles. The youngest child said, “I made chicken and waffles because that’s what I wanted for breakfast. You guys are always out with your friends and I’m here learning everything I can. Life can be tough so I am sacrificing now for my future … Gotta be able to take care of myself.”
    The father just smiled.

    The moral of this story is simple. There are three kinds of people in the world. Some are like the son, who sits back and watches what’s happening. This person never gets engaged in anything, he just watches and settles. Then there is the oldest daughter who is like another type of person who sits back and wonders what happened. They don’t have a clue and feel a sense of entitlement as if someone owes them something.

    So we have the person that sits back and wonders what happened, the other person who sits back and watches what happens and then the one who makes things happen like the youngest daughter. She follows the rule of doing what you need to do so that you can do what you want to do.

    Dear reader which child are you?

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  • Respect for all things

    imagesCA6M5MVVSometimes the simplest lessons get past us. We don’t think anything of killing an ant, squashing a pesky fly or any other bug.

    We live in a violent society. We rage war, buy weapons and loose control. We seek revenge and we allow our anger to get the best of us. In the midst of it all we treat cows, chickens and pigs horribly, but will send a man to jail over dog fighting. We will hunt and kill for sport and even allow certain species to become extinct.

    We would have more respect for each other, I believe, if we practiced respecting the things God gave us dominion over first.

    It takes nothing from our character to respect all the things God created, rather it enhances who we are. Gen. 24 tells the story of Rebecca and the fact that she passed the “camel test”. Basically she not only showed kindness to a traveler by giving him water, she also made sure his camels had their fill of water too. The point is that her respect for all things did not go unnoticed and for that she became the promised child’s bride.

    You see, if just a little respect goes a long way, then what would our country be like if everyone practiced it?

    As children of God we should respect what he respects, love what he loves and forgive like he does. Only then will we have true inner peace.

  • Gratitude vs. Thanks

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    I was unaware of the symbol for gratitude. Of course, Eastern culture exhibits the symbol as much a we see stop signs here.

    Gratefulness and thankfulness each have its purpose, but have you ever viewed these words as levels of maturity? What I mean is a child will mimic what you say to him, but there will be no emotion behind it and that’s because there is not much intellect behind it. Imitation is what children do and it seems that some people never grow past mimicking.

    We are taught by our parents to say thank you when someone does something for us. We say thank you as a sign of respect. We do it because it’s the “right” thing to do.

    We grow up and understand thankfulness in the context that we learned it as a child. Thankful means to be glad or relieved that someone did something for us. That is a great thing to understand — when you are a kid.

    Gratitude seems to be the next level because it means that you understand what has been done for you and you want to express an inward feeling outwardly. You want to do something because you are moved by what someone else has done for you.

    Wow! That is different!

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    So ultimately our faith must do better than rest at thankfulness because faith without works is dead. So if we understand what God has done for us, then our actions should speak for us.

    So if I am grateful for God’s unconditional love then I will give it to someone else. If I am grateful that God has forgiven me, then there is no way I don’t forgive. If I am grateful that God’s grace saves me from a state where I could not save myself, then why would I not be so grateful as to learn of him and shout from the roof top telling others about him?

    Thankful appreciates. Grateful expresses the appreciation. Thankful shines with a smile. Grateful is a call to action.

    Therefore, I need to be grateful instead of thankful. I need to be more of a doer and not just a hearer that my faith and trust in God may be displayed before the world.

    I give God my thanks regularly, but I need to let him and everyone else know that I am grateful.

  • Becoming truly independent on Independence Day

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    As June comes to a close we are set to focus on a summer which is in full swing.

    The month of July reminds us that as a country, we took measures years ago to insure that we would enjoy freedom. We declared our independence and wrote songs about it. Heroes secured their place in history and it has been taught to future generations.

    Wouldn’t it be cool if we not only remembered our independence as a nation, but we examined our own lives and sought independence for ourselves?

    Over time we develop bad habits, bad relationships and bad dispositions. Maybe instead of complaining about them we decide to do something about them.

    Maybe you have been a dumping ground for other people’s problems or a scapegoat for other people’s troubles.

    Maybe you are in an unhealthy relationship or you are financially strapped because you are living above your means.

    Maybe you are enabling someone in a negative way that keeps them handicapped from dealing with their own problems.

    Whatever your lot, you can decide on Independence Day to free yourself! You should be in control of your life! Who better to make decisions for you, but you?

    This just takes some planning and praying. You can do this. Free your mind and you body will follow. This would make July 4, 2013 the best holiday ever!

    Think about it and make it happen. You deserve it!

  • Acknowledging him has it’s benefits

    We are half way through 2013 and it seems like we were just singing Auld Lang Syne (as much as we can sing that song but you get the picture). Many of us made resolutions and before Valentine’s Day we were done. I would like to offer a word of encouragement for those who have not made the most of this year.

    Despite failed attempts and unmet expectations you are still here. And that’s a good thing. I know it seems like you’ve let yourself down and there may be people in your life constantly reminding you that you’re not good enough, but there is a God my friend. And this GOD loves you.Image

    He loves you enough to watch you make decisions that don’t make much sense. And he doesn’t intervene because he doesn’t want to take away your free will. He loves you enough to make sure things don’t get too out of hand. Imagine how much worse things could have been? If you thought about it, you could think of folks who are doing worse. In fact it seems that no matter how bad you are doing, there is someone doing worse.

    These are the little things that the Lord stays on top of while he is waiting for us to acknowledge him. In fact, he said that if we would acknowledge him here, he would acknowledge us before his father in heaven (Matt. 10:32).

    Why don’t you spend the rest of this year acknowledging him. The bible tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not unto our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge him and he will direct our paths (Prov. 3:5,6).

    He’s waiting on you. Call him up friend, call him up in prayer.

  • Yes, no or not now (Part 1 of 3)

    Trust-God1Have you ever wondered how God decides to answer prayer? It is difficult for us to understand how God would respond to us as we know it is written that God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. But certainly we can understand what God’s word has to say about prayer to the almighty and understanding that God is sovereign.

    Sovereign speaks of God’s supremacy, his kingship and his Godhead. To say he is sovereign is to declare his majesty and that he is the Most High. His sovereignty states that he is exactly what Paul called him in 1 Tim. 6:15 — that he is the only Potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. So God has the power then to decide to answer our prayers, deny them or delay them. And we trust him to do such…or we should.

    To pray to God is to trust God. To make your request known to him is to acknowledge him as the giver of all things and believe that he will respond in the best interest of his children. Our problem is deciding whether God is saying yes, no or not now to us. The first step in understanding this process is to know you are praying in God’s will. You can only know God’s will by studying his word. God’s word tells me that his intervention is greatly needed in this world. It let’s me know that God’s will is far better than the will of man and that salvation belongs only to the one who gave it. So TRUST is the first ingredient in understanding God’s answer.

    There is a familiar gospel song entitled Trust and Obey which was written by John H. Sammis who was a Presbyterian minister. It says, “When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,  What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

    Are you willing dear reader to trust God and allow His will to be done? Next week we will discuss the silence of God when it comes to answering our prayers.

  • Unconditional marriage?

    unconditional loveSo we know that the divorce rate is really high. But it doesn’t have to be. Is it really possible that all of these divorced people just happened to marry the wrong person?

    I know that there have been some in terrible abusive relationships and for safety reasons they had to get out. But the lion share of divorces stem from unmet expectations and selfish motives.

    No one told them that unconditional love was supposed to be brought to the marriage, not generated from within.

    They didn’t know that forgiveness wasn’t optional when they said “I do” and that expectations were only conditions you place on yourself.

    They were ignorant to what things should have been the most important. It’s a bad feeling to be judged by how much money you make, how you dress, how shapely your hips are or the size of your breasts. It’s extremely shallow for someone to expect their own version of what’s perfect to be matched or exceeded by their partner.

    Of all the scriptures we take literally, no one bothered to take Jesus seriously when he said, “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out!” Or “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off!” (Matt. 5:29-30).

    The simple fix for marriage is for each party to take a step back and really look at what they are bringing to the table. What you are bringing to the table can’t just look good to you alone. It needs to be valuable to the person you pledged to live forever with.

    If it is not, and it probably isn’t, the two of you need to talk and stop playing married and truly work at being married.