do something about it…

james says, “receive GOD’s word with the right attitude, reflect on GOD’s word by reading it, reviewing it, remembering it.”  but even that’s not enough.  i must respond to the word of GOD

i must do something about it, act on it, live it, practice it. james 1.22 (niv), do not merely listen to what the word says and so deceive yourselves.  do what it says.  practice. 

what good is a mirror if you look at it and don’t do anything about it?  the word listen in greek is the word for “auditor”.  if you audited a class in college you didn’t take it for credit, no tests, no responsibility, no research.  you were totally relaxed.  you just listened, you didn’t have any intention of applying it.  we have a lot of auditors in the church.  they come to church, walk in, hear the word of GOD, walk out with no intention of ever being changed.  we must respond to GOD’s word, let it change us if we’re going to be blessed by it. 

james says it’s self-deception when we don’t let it change us. we think that just gaining content is making us spiritually mature.  the test of maturity is not knowledge.  the test of maturity is character.  a lot of people have great bible knowledge and they are spiritual midgets.  i need to practice it, apply it,  and put it in my life. 

just a thought from the front porch..

more than making things easy…

most of us are slow learners.  most of us have had to learn something more than once.  if you don’t learn something GOD will bring it again in your life.  it will come back.  GOD is more interested in your character than HE is in your comfort.  GOD is more interested in making you change to be more like CHRIST than HE is in making things easy for you.  you never graduate from the school of hard knocks.  GOD allows difficulties.

does GOD have a word for you while you're going through your difficulty?  absolutely.  GOD brought you here to the front porch so HE could say this to you, “don't give up.  grow up.”  that’s what GOD wants to do through that difficulty.  HE doesn’t want you to give up, HE wants you to grow up.  HE wants you to mature, develop, become more and more like the person HE wants you to be.

how do you use your difficulties and problems to grow up?  by doing these things.  determine the reason, determine the result and then determine the response.

and you determine your response by asking yourself, “how should i handle this?” you’re going to be hurt in life many, many times because life is not fair.  it just isn’t.  you will have problems, difficulties and hurts that will make you bitter or better.  you will either grow up or give up.  you’ll either become what GOD wants you to be or you will shrivel and your heart will become hard.  It’s your choice. 

when you go through those situations in life, those difficult times, what happens to you is not nearly as important as what happens in you.  what you’ll take with you is your long-term character, what the circumstances have made you – bitter or better. 

just a thought from the front porch…

in, out of, or headed into trouble…

everybody has difficulty in life.  JESUS told us this would happen in john 16.33 (niv), in this world you will have trouble.  but take heart! I have overcome the world. 

either you have just gotten out of trouble, or you’re in it right now, or you’re headed into it.  trouble is a part of life.  you will have difficulties. 

few people faced the difficulties though that paul did in life.  yet he never gave up on his dream.  2 corinthians 6.4 (tev), in everything we do we show that we are GOD's servants, by patiently enduring troubles, hardships and difficulties. 

you show what kind of CHRISTian you are by the way you respond to problems.  your testimony of how emotionally mature and how spiritually mature you are is evidenced by your reaction to difficulty.  if you cop out, complain, gripe, run from difficulty, you're not a very mature person either spiritually or emotionally.  but if you learn from difficulty you just keep growing and growing. 

in acts 27 there is one of the stories of the many difficulties in paul’s life.  he was being taken as a prisoner to rome and he warned the captain, “don't sail out of this harbor, because GOD has told me there’s going to be a storm.”  but they got impatient.  and any time you get impatient you’re going to head right into a storm. 

so they decided to leave anyway and they sailed into a storm which inevitably caused them to shipwreck.  some of you have had an emotional shipwreck.  you have lost all of your energy.  some of you have had a relational shipwreck and a relationship that you thought was solid fell apart.  some of you have had a financial shipwreck or a career shipwreck or a health shipwreck.  what do you do when you face those difficulties in life? 

strart by asking the question, “what caused this?” and there are only four different causes for difficulty in your life.

1.  i cause a lot of difficulty in my life.  most of your problems you bring on yourself.  i’m the first and greatest cause.

2.  other people

3.  the devil

4.  GOD can be a cause of difficulty in your life.  HE allows problems to come into our lives to get our attention, test us, mold us, many different reasons.

just a thought from the front porch…