ClydeStyle

Category: Jesus Christ

  • The Change has come!

    So I was reading the bible the other day and pondering the words in 1 John 3:2. Now before I go into what it says I need to set the stage a bit.

    Occasionally in hospice I come across some veterans and have the esteem pleasure of talking with them. We discuss many things, but I particularly like it when they feel like discussing the war. I’ve never been to war, but I admire those who fight for our freedoms. Most vets have a difficult time adjusting to life here in the states after experiencing war. I don’t think we will ever know the fullness of their  experiences no matter how many stories we hear.

    There is something about war that once you experience it, your life is forever changed. There is much blood shed, death, and the loss of close friends. War surrounds you with sadness and pain. Those who are fortunate enough to make it home have some horrible images burned in their minds. This is probably the worst thing you can experience in this life — to be surrounded by enemies who want you dead, while watching your comrades fall and narrowly escaping yourself.

    I wonder how much the human side of Jesus was bothered by this? Christ being 100 percent man and 100 percent God knew things that other men didn’t. When you consider this, Jesus knew that the very men he chose as apostles would all die horrible deaths (except John) and would be in a state of turmoil for the rest of their lives after meeting him. Jesus’ apostles were surrounded by enemies who wanted to introduce them to tragedy. They were well aware of the stoning of Stephen (acts 7) and all had their fair share of beatings and imprisonment. Their lives were forever changed after meeting Jesus.

    Now back to 1 John 3. This text says, ” Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” KJV. Seeing Christ now would be to experience the fullness of the Godhead bodily and when he returns, that is exactly who we will see. But for those of us who have really experienced the wonderment of Jesus Christ and the freedom that comes with that experience, have had our lives changed forever.

    We were dead and now we’re alive. There was blood shed and death here too and God be thanked for that! We live a life surrounded by sadness and pain, but Jesus fixed that! The hallelujah part of this is that as we continue to experience and learn of him, the end result is our change into his image. 2 Cor. 3:18 says it this way: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” KJV.

    Dear friends let’s lead everyone we come in contact with toward the source of our happiness and the Joy in our hearts! To God be the glory!

  • Leave marriage out of this

    I have been having a hard time with gay marriage.

    It’s not that I mind that people of the same sex come together. I believe that since I don’t trust our government to tell me what to do, I don’t think our government should try and tell others what they can or cannot do. Morally I have issues with it because I believe the Bible to be the absolute truth. But the key phrase that I said was, “I believe.” I’m not trying to force my religious beliefs on anyone.

    I’m the type of Christian that if you want to know what the Bible says, I stand ready to give you the answers. I’m not going to club you over the head with my Bible,  nor am I going to try and convince you to follow my Bible. The reason is because my Bible says you have to believe and obey from the heart.

    The God I serve is pro-choice. Pro-choice in the sense that He allows everyone freewill. He would never do anything to prohibit your freewill and your freewill doesn’t checkmate His perfect will. Basically, you choose to do what your heart really desires and His judgment will reign in the end.

    With that said, I am bothered by the use of the word marriage.

    I know what a marriage is and I know that gays wanted their significant others to be able to get medical benefits and such. I totally understand that. To make this happen, the insurance industry practically forced them to seek marriage instead of just allowing them to appoint the people who are able to get benefits.

    Should it matter who gets benefits?

    To greedy insurance companies, the answer is yes. They were trying to avoid allowing us to designate who we want to give benefits to.

    I said all that to say this:  instead of gays entering into a “marriage,” why couldn’t we just call it a “union?”

    Doing it this way allows the true intention of marriage to stay pure and its defining elements to remain intact. Jesus said, “Have you not read that He who made them in the beginning made them male and female.” (Matt. 19:4) This is what He meant when He said,”…what God has joined together (a male and a female), let no man separate.”

    The use of the word “union” would be generic enough to allow any two things to come together: a chicken and a cow… a pig and a frog…peanut butter and chocolate – and even two men or two women.

    Let union ring!

  • Part 2: Unconditional Love???

    In the Bible, the Apostle Paul made a really big deal about the gift of love. He says:

    “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…”

    Whenever I have heard this passage (1 Corinthians 13:1-8) taught, it’s used as an absolute definition. I believe that the intent of this passage is to give you the results of practicing unconditional love, not simply define it.

    Unconditional love has nothing to do with the person being loved. It has everything to do with the person who is giving the love. Unconditional love seems to refine the giver. We dwell on the benefits to the receiver, but the giver of unconditional love benefits the more.

    Let’s say that I have an anger problem, but I choose to love unconditionally. As my anger is kindled, I am faced with the choice of whether to honor unconditional love or follow my anger. If I allow love in, it will not only conquer my anger, but solve the reason why I am angry in the first place.

    Or say that I am faced with a person who has the reputation of being incapable of love, what are my choices? I could choose to stay away from that person which is what most would choose, or I could choose love. Now, this doesn’t mean that we allow people to run over us. It means that we will love them enough to do what others would not and that includes telling them what they really need to hear instead of enabling their behavior.

    When you truly love someone, you don’t give up on them. This is why God said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” When you truly love someone, when they are at their weakest, you are the strongest. This is why it was “while we were without strength, Christ died …”.

    When you truly love someone,  you become a benefit to them that they can see. You enhance their life so that it’s worth living. This is why Christ said, “I came to bring you life and life more abundantly.” The greatest part of loving someone is doing something for them that they could not do for themselves. This is why “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever shall believe on him shall not parish, but have eternal life.”

    Love is something for the mature, not the immature. If you are trying to love someone and “self” keeps getting in the way, you’re not ready for the commitment of unconditional love. But if you would allow this love to have it’s way with you, all of your insecurities, fears, quirks and impurities would pour out of you.

    Remember, mankind requires a condition,but  God never did. Who do you believe will be left standing in the end?

  • Part 1: Unconditional love?

    Love is probably the most overused and misrepresented word in the English language.

    I say this because of the condition of the world. How many men use this word love to lure innocent woman into sexual relationships? How many children were conceived to teenage mothers under the idea that it was love? How many people have been betrayed by people who claimed to love them?

    Love is NOT something you fall in, something that finds you or something that you feel. Love is something that you know, it is taught and those who know what it is, practice it. It is a by-product of experiencing Jesus Christ or people like Him. It is expressed in many ways. Clearly, it is a way of life.

    By the way love is done in our country, we will never understand it the way it was intended. Love is conditional in America. People practice it conditionally and place expectations of the people they are loving. Love is distributed based on whether or not you meet the lover’s expectations.

    This explains why a young woman searching for love will give herself sexually because she understands love as conditional. Men have long made sex a condition for their love. After all, that fits the love economy we have here so people just run with it.

    This also explains the divorce rate.

    Fifty percent of all marriages will end in divorce. That number goes up 20 percent for law enforcement and fire fighters. Why? Conditions were just not met.

    We have played with this concept long enough. Next week I will show you a more excellent way.

  • The parable of the lines: part 2

    Parables are always wonderful stories. Jesus Christ is the master teacher and he told them far better than any man. This little parable of the lines gives us great insight to the condition of America.

    There is a condition in our country that creates a permanent underclass. We have generations of people living on government assistance and this is never what FDR intended when his administrator looked for a way to provide temporary help for families in need. Families were quite different during that time.

    There were many jobs to be had and they required little or no skill. A person back then could graduate from high school and secure a good enough living to sustain a family. Somewhere along the way we got greedy and began to get paid more for doing less. This sense of entitlement is what led to the first and second lines.

    Struggle has become a way of life for so many in our country that it seems most don’t mind residing in the first two lines.  The second line at least tried to work out a plan and purpose for their lives, but their efforts were met with rules that were against them and a lack of real opportunity. The largest part of that opportunity comes because despite America being culturally diverse, the people doing the hiring are not interested in creating a staff that is culturally diverse.

    What we have then and now is the hiring managers and the gatekeepers of the majority of our jobs hire those people who they feel most comfortable hiring – which is normally a person of the same race. That wouldn’t be a problem if the gatekeepers and hiring managers were already diversified. Now this does not make them all racists. It means that this trend has helped to create this permanent underclass. Still many companies are just now hiring their first black this or their first Hispanic that. And I’m talking about the real jobs, not the minimum wage gigs or the middle management positions. I’m talking about the six figure jobs.

    The third line is basically your middle class and this group is just trying to prove that the American Dream does exist. It’s the group that doesn’t like everything that is going on, but because their scenarios are not as bad as others, they grin and bear it. The interesting part is that more of this class is beginning to understand how the fourth line got to be the way it is.

    The fourth line cheated, benefited from old money and/or knew someone that showed them the way. It’s sad, but true.

    This parable really is about change and the real need we have in America to change. This is one of a thousand scenarios that could describe this trend. We are in trouble. If we stay the course, we won’t make it. We need to wake up and be heard. What are you prepared to do?

  • Can you love me?

    I’ve been pondering a question all week.

    I’ve been thinking whether or not it is easy to love me.

    Arrogance makes you answer the question too quickly and say, “Of course it is!”

    But in your most inner thoughts, when you get really serious about answering this question, what do you come up with?

    The first thing I thought about was what criteria I would use to really determine it:

    • Would I base this on the grounds of how often I attend church services?
    • What about how much money I make?
    • Or whether or not I can remain faithful and committed in a relationship?
    • Do my possessions make me easier to love?
    • What about my political views?
    • Am I easier to love if I have the heart of a servant or a leader?
    • Would I be easier to love if I were completely fit?
    • What about my intellect?
    • Would I be easier to love if I were smarter?
    • What if I were more attractive?
    • What if I were cleaner?

    The list could go on and on.

    So if I were to answer the question seriously, I would have to look at some standard of love.

    I chose to use Jesus Christ – since most people in our country show some allegiance to Him. The Bible says God is love, so in the case of the Son, He would have to be love, too.

    John 3:16 say, “For God so LOVED the world that He gave … .” It would appear that giving is a great place to start. If I could give unconditionally of my time and my means, this would make me easier to love because of the way I give.

    I think another important characteristic is sacrifice. It seems that a person who can be selfless would literally draw people to himself. This must be an important aspect as well.  I’m obviously still pondering this question. However, if I was to look at the other side and assume that it was difficult to love me, could I be honest and admit that it’s difficult?

    Why would it be difficult? Because I feel entitled and I want others to serve me, I make it difficult to love me. Because I feel someone owes me something or I’m not happy with my life and I want others to suffer because I’m not happy. Or because I think that I’ve done some great thing in the past and now I’m owed. Like say if I raised a family, maybe now I feel that my adult kids owe me something.

    Bottom line is this: We are going to one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will have to give an account. When that time comes, can we say that we were lovable or unlovable?  This is our choice and I choose to be lovable. I choose to make a difference in the lives of the people that I come in contact with so that they will be better people, too. I pledge to let my light shine to honor my Father in heaven.

    If you choose the latter, I hope today you change. If not, I pray that He has mercy on your soul.

  • Happily ever after

    by guest columnist Hope Seavers

    “Happily Ever After,”  we’ve all heard the phrase, but what does it mean and how does one get there?   Does it mean that once you get married something “magically” happens or are there other factors involved?   I’ve worked with several couples who, after 20 plus years, are considering divorce because they are no longer happy…they’ve grown apart.  More accurately, one member of the dyad has grown and the other has remained stagnant.  The stagnant member proclaims, “I haven’t changed…I don’t understand what happened!”  It’s human nature to change and grow, otherwise, how could one mature through the various stages of human development?  It stands to reason that in a marriage it’s necessary, for both husband and wife, to grow and change as well.

    Let’s take a moment to look at marriage as it relates to Christianity.  On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached a very powerful sermon, teaching that repentance and baptism are necessary to receive forgiveness of sins and to be added to the church (Acts 2:38 – 41).  So, once the baptism takes place, does that mean that the once wayward individual has arrived…that there is no more need for growth and maturity?  Not according to 1 Peter 2:1-3, which says “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking,  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”  It’s clear from this passage that change must happen in order to mature in Christ.

    Just as each Christian must continue to grow in knowledge and faith, so must each individual of the marital union.  The lives of Paul and Peter are excellent examples of how the “not so righteous,” through faith and obedience, matured into servants for the Lord.  What is the parallel for the husband and wife of today?  First of all, each individual needs to be “one whole,” before the dyad can truly function on all cylinders.  Now, it would be great if “wholeness” could have been achieved before the marriage, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case as evidenced by the climbing divorce rate in the United States.  In our society, the alternative for most is to just suffer through it as the traditional wedding vows dictate, “…for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”  Come on now…who wants that, really!?!  Suffering through it produces relationships where the husband and wife are, at best, roommates and, at worst, just counting the days until the other one leaves (by any means necessary if you catch my drift).  This is the antithesis of what God intended for marriage to be.  God expects each individual to study His word regularly and apply it to their lives (I Timothy 3:16 – 17).  Through this process, some cognitive and behavioral changes will take place, that manifest themselves in the putting away of unfruitful habits (i.e., nagging, uncontrolled anger, passive aggression, idleness, gluttony, poor stewardship etc.)  and adopting new more profitable ways of being (i.e., congruent communication, long suffering, working toward a meaningful goal, healthy eating and exercise, self-control,  etc.) (Romans 12:1-21).  This process is not about placing blame on or trying to change the other, but rather putting the onus on self to be the best that God intended.  When our lives are aligned with God’s will, the result is always “Happily Ever After”.

  • A Love Letter to Meadowlawn Church of Christ

    On June 6, 2004 I officially became the ministering evangelist at Meadowlawn Church of Christ in Sandusky, Ohio.

    I never wanted to preach or even be seen as a preacher. Many accept this calling and the criticism that goes with it. Living a life under a microscope for people to judge you and hold you to a different standard than the rest.

    For me, Meadowlawn always seemed to fit. I remember in 2004 having the opportunity to leave Ohio and take the ministerial work in Rockledge, FL at the Fisk boulevard Church of Christ. The church was 10 times the size of Meadowlawn and had more than 400 members. Again for me, Meadowlawn always seemed to fit.

    At Meadowlawn, God took me through a transformation by the things which I endured. There were many struggles. We struggled with tradition, evangelism, money, discipleship and support. As a result, we grew into a family. We fellowshipped together, we cried together and we fought together. Every problem we faced seemed to bring us closer.

    I grew up spiritually at Meadowlawn and was able to make full proof of my ministry. I would not change the experience for anything.

    Now it is time for me to move on and I have mixed emotions about that.

    I love what we have been building and I love the fact that our congregation is not your typical congregation. Most have been able to take off traditional glasses and view the Bible, God’s people and the service we give in a purer fashion. We began to truly allow Jesus to be the author and finisher of our faith.

    We grew in a way that increased our knowledge of God’s Word and allowed some of us to build a closer relationship with Christ. I cannot thank the church enough for the opportunity to serve and the patience to forbear me in areas where I needed to grow.

    I want to encourage you all to continue in the fight of faith. Love one another. Laugh together often and never return to the traditional shackles that have enslaved you for so long. Support the leadership and encourage them to do what’s right. Invest in the children and take care of the seniors. Don’t allow Satan back into the church. Challenge everything you are taught to make sure it is of God and never quit reaching out to the community.

    I hope that you all know how much I love and care for you and may God be with you all the way.

    Now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling; and deliver us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our Father be glory, majesty, dominion and power both now and forever, amen!

  • Rembering John Wooden

    This week the sports world will moan the death of a legend. “The Wizard of Westwood,” as he was called, is being heralded as the greatest coach – in any sport – of all time.

    This is a great honor for John Robert Wooden, who would also drop pearls of wisdom to those who played for him and admired him. Such sayings as: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail,” “Flexibility is the key to stability, ” and “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”

    Early in my journalism career, I had the esteemed pleasure of hearing one of Coach Wooden’s lectures on leadership. I was also honored to have the chance to interview him. We spent 35 minutes alone and I was able to instantly see what everyone who came in contact with him saw: Greatness.

    This is not an adjective that I use lightly. When you meet someone so humble, so genuine, so gracious and so blessed, you recognize very quickly that he’s just not like the rest of us.

    John Wooden sat and talked to me in three ways. I know that sounds strange, but in part of the conversation he was a coach to me – not basketball coach, but life coach. In another moment he was a father to me, sharing the lessons he learned in life very intimately. And in still another moment he was a true man of God, giving God all the credit for the man he had become.

    It was weird in a way because his actions were nothing like I expected.

    I wanted to talk to him about his coaching career and his 10 NCAA championships. I wanted to talk about all the great players he had coached. And I wanted to talk sports period with him and get his take on who he thought would win the championship that year.

    I even remember being given the assignment because everyone else was out covering games and I was on the sports desk that night. The sports editor at the time said that if I wanted to, I could cover the talk or just write something up from talking with the event planners.

    For us, this wasn’t big news.

    After all, the guy had been retired from coaching for at least 15 years. He had written a book and was talking to the Boy Scouts or Boys and Girls Clubs – I actually can’t remember which one now.

    But what I recall most from that interview was the fact that he didn’t think his accomplishments were as big as the people he had come into contact with throughout his career. He didn’t want to discuss basketball as a part of life, but life itself and what really matters in life.

    Coach Wooden retired in 1975. He could have coached anywhere and clearly he was healthy enough to continue coaching. Obviously, Wooden was not coaching just for the love of basketball. It was his vehicle. Basketball was his means of telling God’s secret to everyone he came in contact with during his career. I call it God’s secret because it seems as though the rest of the world has forgotten it – and continues to forget it.

    God’s secret is LOVE. Remember John 3:16?

    Wooden was a savvy preacher because he never made you feel like he was preaching to you or that he thought you were lacking in an area so he had to instruct you. Without coming across as “holier than thou” or being inappropriate in regards to mixing religion into his business, he just lived his life in a way that reflected the image of God in the face of the people he met.

    I remember reading about how Jesus did that same thing. Jesus then turned around and told His disciples to do the same thing.

    Clearly Coach Wooden was listening.

    And as he is put to rest and the media, fans and his family spend the next week laying him to rest, it is my wish that basketball never comes up and they don’t even talk about what he’s done, because he wouldn’t.

    I hope they remember him for the man he was, and not the things he did. For the latter doesn’t even compare to the character of this great man.

    And if you haven’t seen it yet, search the internet for his famous “pyramid of success,” for by reading and studying it, you will know everything you need to know about John Wooden and how you, too, can have a successful life.

    R.I.P. Coach!

  • The Man in the Mirror

    Have you ever looked in the mirror and forget what you looked like? Seems strange, doesn’t it?

    I mean we see ourselves all the time and you would think there would be something wrong with a person who can’t remember what they look like, especially after just looking in the mirror.

    Well, the Bible tells of this condition where a person beholds himself in a mirror and immediately forgets what manner of man he is (James 1:23, 24). The Bible is comparing this mirror-looker to a person who hears God’s word and forgets about it.

    It’s interesting how God would make the spoken word so powerful. Someone who you give your trust to could give you a compliment and literally change a bad day into a good one. Unfortunately, the fence swings both ways so that a negative comment would have the converse effect.

    God never wanted us to be forgetful hearers.

    The truth is that we are. His Word was designed to spiritually turn us into the image of His son – if we would remember the things we heard from His Word.

    The Bible is full of folks who were forgetful hearers. Remember Cain and Abel? It was by faith that Abel offered a better sacrifice. It was because Cain was a forgetful hearer that God wouldn’t accept his offering. Two sons who grew up in the same household, with the same parents only to respond differently to what they heard is shocking, but not uncommon.

    Remember Jacob and Esau? That birthright really didn’t mean much to Esau who clearly lived his life in the moment. Jacob, on the other hand, paid close attention to such things and well, you know what happened: Jacob got the blessing and the birthright.

    Abraham and Lot also come to mind. I’m particularly thinking about when Abraham wanted to keep peace between Lot’s men and his own so he sought out territory for them to split in order to keep peace. He let Lot pick which area he would live and he chose Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s like choosing Las Vegas, NV over St. George, Utah. Nevertheless, Lot’s choice tore up his home and eventually ruined his life. Why did Lot choose Sodom? Was he just trying to make a fast buck or did he just forget what he heard?

    How many other people do you know who must have forgotten what they heard? You think Tiger Woods forgot? How about Lawrence Taylor? Or what about Jesse James (Sandra Bullock’s Ex), Chris Brown, George Bush, Allen Iverson or Congressmen Joe Wilson, do you think they forgot?

    Let’s get even more personal. What about me and you? It’s seems as though we are running out of excuses. We need to be the change we want to see, as Gandhi said. That will not happen until we began to take a long look at the man or woman in the mirror or as the Bible says spend a long time studying God’s Word. Until then, we just have no right to point fingers and complain. We need to get busy.