ClydeStyle

Category: Sharing

  • A healthy portion of love and forgiveness

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    God specializes in doing things for us that we cannot do for ourselves. If you have built a relationship with God through faith in Christ Jesus, then you know that feeling of helplessness and the devastation when you feel the brunt of your undone condition. Since Christ was resurrected from the dead, many have looked to him to fix their relationship with the father.

    Today we have a unique opportunity to do something for someone else that they could not have done for themselves. I’m speaking beyond a tall person helping a short person reach something on a high shelf. Or a younger person running errands for a much older person. Or even a mother taking care of her child. Although these fit the basics of this thought, we should focus our attention on the weightier matters.

    There are people who are in a position that makes it impossible for them to love themselves. They live with guilt and shame and don’t feel worthy. They need someone to love them. There are people who have wronged others and it is impossible for them to grant forgiveness for themselves. They need to be forgiven.

    In a country where we take pride in things like revenge, winning and wealth, wouldn’t it be nice if at the end of each year it was mandatory that we would love or forgive? And wouldn’t it be cool if there were strict laws and people could actually go to jail for not loving or forgiving?

    The Apostle John wrote: “beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.”

    And Jesus himself said, … by this will all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. And if you read Matt. 18:23-35, there is a shocking revelation by Jesus in regards to how the father feels about forgiveness. We only need to remember what he has done for us and reciprocate.

  • 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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  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Jesus — the way, truth, life (Part 3)

    TheWayTruthLife10What is your life worth?

    Each year thousands of people commit suicide because they don’t see their worth. We go through life trying to prove to ourselves that we are worth something. We put in overtime with our jobs, we help out when we can and we even give money away to prove our worth. Kids in school are troubled by bullies who point out all of their flaws. They take to heart everything negatively that is said to them without regard for the good things. When kids (and adults) are faced with these type of challenges it seems as though the only option is to stay at home and cry.

    Many people are walking around desiring to be with someone that will give them more self-esteem credits. Each time they date and get hurt, they lower their standards more and more in an attempt to lessen the pain. They end up settling for “G” candidate thinking that they are not worthy of the “A” candidate. Furthermore, in America we spend money. Everything revolves around money so it stands to reason that value would be placed on everything here. Our lives should not be for sale. It’s tough when ad campaigns tell you that you are too fat, too dark, too skinny, too short or your hair is not good enough, your feet are too big or even your teeth aren’t white enough. Plastic surgery is a billion dollar industry. Low self-esteem doesn’t care how much money you have or what color you are. As a result we really don’t know who we are.

    Thank God for Jesus! You see, he placed value on all of us when he died on the cross for the sins of the world. Through his sacrifice he is trying to tell us that we have value. His actions prove we have worth — why else would the Son of God waste his time on us? If John 3:16 is correct (and it is!) then God loved us and was eager to save us. He sent his son to die for the sins of the world and simply says let me give you rest.

    Dear readers, I hope you know that there is no better life than one spent serving the Lord and enjoying the blessings he gives us. To live a life reciprocating the love God thrusts toward us is clearly an abundant life. Jesus said that he is the way, the truth and the life and he is right. There is no way to the father except by the mediator he chose and that is Christ.

    Help me spread the word that salvation has been brought down to earth and by it God has added value to every life. All we have to do now is live like it!

  • Jesus — The Good Shepherd

    ShepherdSheep are not the smartest animals. I mean, they really need caring for and who better to care for them than a shepherd. There is supposed to be a little shepherd in all of us. As Christians who are supposed to imitate Christ, we need to embrace the shepherd within.

    Look around you. There are many people who struggle with life’s challenges and make horrible decisions. We witness their calamity and in most cases we walk on by. Jesus said in John 10:11, “I am the Good Shepherd!” He explained that he was different from those who help because they are looking to get something out of helping. Jesus helps because it’s his nature.

    This being true, all who have been crucified with Christ have Christ living in them. This means that the life we now live in the flesh is a life of faith in the son of God who loved us and died for us (Gal. 2:20). So then, the Christ in me is a shepherd. And I need to take my part in the progression of the sheep. We have the ability in Christ to be game changers for some people. We know things, do things and have experienced things that would help others. A good shepherd searches for opportunities to do just that. And it’s easy to help people you know and care about. But what about the people who struggle that you don’t know? What kind of world would it be if we all took our “good shepherd” calling seriously? Albert Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

    The Good Shepherd was willing to lay down his life for the sheep. Dear reader, Jesus is inviting all of his disciples to be shepherds and lead those less fortunate to a path of righteousness. He wants us to join him in loving and caring for all mankind. Now what are you willing to do?

  • Benefits of sitting at His table

    20130112-234503.jpgIn the middle of the 23rd Psalm, David writes that the Lord would prepare a table for us in the very presence of our enemies.

    The curious student would ask, “well, what’s the benefit of that?” You see, God got real personal about us and the universe knew it. He created us in his image and as the angels stood in amazement at God’s affection toward us, Satan hated it.

    He thought if He could only get us to transgress God’s law then God would be forced to kill us or cast us away. This is something Satan knows all too well. Formerly Lucifer, he hoped to strike a blow for his cause. What happens in such cases is that your enemies will strike out against the people you love when they can’t get to you. Satan could not do anything with God on any level. So it stands to reason that he would bother us.

    When we stumbled in our garden (yes, everyone has their own garden that they were cast out of when they sinned) the angels didn’t even know that the manifold wisdom of God would be known by the church (Eph. 3:10). So in other words, God had a plan for us before the foundation of the world! His plan was perfect and it was hidden from the universe. His plan was John 3:16!

    It wasn’t enough to just save us. God had to restore us. Restoration is still a work in progress for us because it’s something we expect God to do for us, but many of us are still holding grudges against a brother or sister because we’re mad. God’s restoration puts us back where we were — with him!

    This is symbolized in the story of Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 9). Remember, he was the grandson of the former King Saul. He should have been put to death as part of the former royal family, but David not only spared him, but restored him to where he would have been if he was king. David understood restoration.

    This concept is ever present in the story of the prodigal son ( Luke 15). His father killed the fattest calf for his youngest son who had returned home from learning the most important lesson of his life.

    And finally, this concept is symbolized with the taking of the Lord’s Supper. This divine feast is for believers who are continuing in the faith and are looking forward to the coming of the Lord. Jesus designed this Holy feast and it’s more of a demonstration of his love for us in front of the unseen world. It serves as a reminder to evil as to who we belong to. It’s in the presence of our enemies that God showcases our relationship to him. This is when your big brother tells the bully to “back off or else!” This is God’s celebration for our decision to follow him.

    This very important table is another step in the direction of making us fear-free. Our God who promised to provide all of our needs according to his riches in glory does not want us fearful. So instead of being afraid, why don’t we simply remember where we sit in Christ and enjoy the feast!