ClydeStyle

Category: Discipleship

  • 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!

  • Living with honor

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    Honor is like a little battery placed on your shoulder that has to stay there as you walk. And then while you’re walking, someone is constantly trying to knock it off.

    Or honor is like a glass of water filled to the brim and someone is trying to get you to spill it.

    Whatever the case, as Christians we are challenged daily and judged by a world which is against us. To be the light in a dark place is not an easy task, but it is the challenge give by the savior. He said to let our lights so shine that others would see our good works and glorify our father in heaven. That sounds easy enough, but have you ever really tried it?

    The Christian must act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God and positive effects are inevitable. We must live our lives with honor remembering that we are citizens of another place and this place we live in is temporal.

    So live with honor that others will find the path. Live with honor to make your calling and election sure. And live with honor so that God will honor you in the end.

  • 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.

  • Killing faith

    There are many different faiths of the past being expressed through tradition and culture and sometimes law. The cumulative traditions attempt to ignite present faith, but it’s not working.

    In our society we allow human experience, human merit and human tradition to define our faith instead of allowing the word of God to do such. Faith should be deeper and more personal than mere religion. It then allows for a person or group to respond to the value and power of God as perceived and grasped through the forms of cumulative tradition. These forms serve only as an extension of what we truly believe in our hearts. The stronger the inner faith, the more visible the belief.needforfaith

    This is similar to the faith of the past being used to increase the faith in the present. Typical bible classes use this format to increase the faith of members by teaching the things from the past. The apostle Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans that the things which were written aforetime were written for our learning and that in the understanding of these things we would have hope.

    However, we can’t afford to allow faith to be lessened to simple belief. Faith needs to be allowed to breathe and produce a product that relies on the transcendent and fosters trust in another — this defines a resurgence of faith. Many churches stop evolving and reach a point where tradition supersedes God’s word. In many places the members don’t even know the difference. Bible classes are not well attended and teachers and leaders, instead of studying and creating their own lessons for their flock, purchase generic material that does not address the issues of today. Faith has to step out from the exclusive assignment of religious belief to an action that allows us to trust and build hope. faith

    I believe the only way to really accomplish this is by taking the members out of the traditional bible classes and take the teaching to their world. Classes need to be inclusive and outside of the traditional setting. A resurgence of in-home bible studies designed to put faith in motion. This goes beyond small groups which were designed primarily for fellowship. In-home bible studies would be equivalent to “labs” that a college student would have if he was taking biology or chemistry. The only true task of the Lord’s church today is to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ relevant in the 21st Century.

    If we want to be truly transformed by the renewing of our minds, it has to be through our understanding of God’s word. We must study to show ourselves approved of God. If not, we will kill our faith.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • How we are saved

    20130614-230636.jpgHave you ever wondered exactly how the gospel saves? I mean we say it all the time and it is a staple in Christian circles. However, is the “how” ever addressed? We definitely get the “who” the “what” and the “where”, but it seems the “how” is the black sheep of this family.

    Well, please allow me to share the “how” and open your heart to the rightly-divided word. The facts of the gospel are contained in 1 Cor. 15:1-4. Paul writes that Jesus died according to the scriptures and he was buried and he rose on the third day according to the scriptures. So the death, burial and resurrection are the simple facts.

    In Romans 5:10, Paul says that in His death we were reconciled back to God. With Jesus’ death we have a new relationship with God. The bible says that we are but filthy rags before him. The blood of Jesus reconnects us. This is the soul purpose of his death — that those who die with Him get the benefit of being united with God.

    The resurrection is this new life that we, who believe, live in. Rom. 5:10 says that we are “saved” by His life. How? You see, for those who are in Christ, it is His life that we walk in, not our own. His life is the light. And that life is the light of men (John 1:4). And if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). So there is only light and darkness. We walk in the light by faith. We have been called to walk by faith, not live perfect lives. As a child of God who has been reconciled to God and saved by His life, I have eternal security as long as I “walk by faith” (a.k.a. Stay in the light).

    The death and resurrection are tied together by the burial just like our reconciliation and life in Christ are tied together by baptism. Rom. 6:4 says, “we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

    This makes baptism as essential to salvation as the burial is to the gospel. No wonder Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved …”(Mark 16:16).

    I hope that I have brought clarity to this topic and please don’t hesitate to comment on this blog with questions.

    In Christian love,

    Clyde