stay busy and tell it the truth…

find out how to resist temptation.  joseph gives us some lessons. 

1.  stay busy in the master’s business.  if you want to resist temptation, stay busy doing what GOD gave you to do.  for joseph that meant staying busy serving potiphar.  he didn’t have any time to sin with potiphar’s wife.  temptation becomes overwhelming when we stop doing GOD’s will.  as soon as you stop doing what GOD wants you to do, temptation just starts to overwhelm you.  stay busy doing what GOD’s given you to do. 

2.  tell the temptation the truth.  talk to your temptation!  tell it the truth.  look at the temptation joseph faced. 

genesis 39.6b-9 (niv), now joseph was well built and handsome and after a while his master’s wife took notice of joseph and said, “come to bed with me.”  [how old was joseph?  17, 18? 19? – a young man.] but he refused.  “with me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house.  everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.  no one is greater in this house than i am.  my master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife.  [then he told the temptation the truth.]  how then could i do such a wicked thing and sin against GOD.”

he just looked it straight in the eye and said, “this is the truth.  this is a wicked thing.  this is a sin against GOD.”

temptation comes and says, “why don't you cheat on your wife?  it would be so exciting.  it would make you happy.  it’s what you really need.” 

tell it the truth.  look it right in the eye and tell it the truth and say, “are you kidding me?  that’s a wicked thing.  that’s going to tear me apart.  that’s going to tear my family apart.  that’s going to tear my faith apart.  how could i do that?”  tell it the truth. 

temptation comes to you and says, “you deserve it.  you’ve had a tough week.  go out and get drunk this friday.  you need it.  you need to relax.”  tell it the truth.  look it straight in the face and say, “that just makes my life empty.  that just makes me sick the next day.”  tell temptation the truth.

temptation comes to you and says, “you’re in a little trap here.  you’ve got a little problem.  the easiest way out of this is tell a lie.  that’ll get you right out of it.  you won’t have to deal with any hassles.  just lie.  that will work.”  tell the temptation the truth.  “every time i lie it puts a barrier between me and the people that i love the most and the LORD that i love.”  tell it the truth.

just a thought from the front porch…

they were important to JESUS…

there was no one better at balance than JESUS CHRIST.  JESUS knew how to balance HIS life.  HE knew how to not let people press HIM into their mold. 

one time JESUS was having busy day.  you may think JESUS wasn’t very busy.  HE lived 2000 years ago.  how busy could you be back then?  HE had three years to change eternity.  HE had a pretty big job to do in a short time.  JESUS had thousands of people crowding around HIM every day to be healed, to talk to HIM or listen to HIM teach.  when HE wanted to get away from the crowds HE had to get into a boat and go out in the middle of the sea.  that’s how busy HE was.  HE’s busier than any of us could ever imagine. 

in the middle of one of those busy days some moms brought some children to see JESUS.  JESUS’ disciples were standing there.  they were feeling pretty important so they said, “JESUS doesn’t have time to see children.  HE’s got people to heal.  HE’s got sermons to preach.  this is not in our schedule for the day.”  JESUS overheard this and HE was angry.  HE said, don’t keep those children from coming to ME.  

it wasn’t important to the world, to HIS disciples, for HIM to see those children but it was important to JESUS.  HE didn’t let other people tell HIM what was important.  JESUS had the ability to understand that timing was more important than time.  and being at the right place at the right time to meet the need was really what was the most important thing in life.  JESUS often stopped and dealt with an immediate need.  but nothing could deter HIM from HIS ultimate goal.  HE had that balance about life.  HE’s the one to learn to have this balance of life from.

just a thought from the front porch…

the season of stress…

we are headed into a season of stress. the holidays are so full of stress. an article in newsweek talked about the fact that stress has an accumulation factor in our lives and once you’ve felt stress the next time you experience stress it has a greater impact on you. as you go through your life, stress accumulates. it has more and more of an impact on us throughout our lives.

what is stress? the simplest definition i know is this: stress is the result of carrying too great a load. when the load gets too great, whether it’s on a truck or foundation or a life, then you have that feeling of stress.

what does the bible say about stress? it says for one if you want to have less stress check your schedule. anyone with an overcrowded schedule is going to have too much stress.

dr. richard swenson in his book the overload syndrome quotes a mom who says, “i am so tired. my idea of a vacation is a trip to the dentist. i just can’t wait to set in that chair and relax.”

if you’re feeling that way, you’re overloaded. your schedule is too full.

what’s the result of all this busyness in our lives? ecclesiastes 5.3 (nlt) says it this way, being too busy gives you nightmares. it has an impact on our lives, an impact on the way that we sleep, an impact on what we’re going through. this busyness in our lives is overwhelming our lives.

busyness, this rush, is a part of our work but it’s also a part of our families and it’s also a part of our play. so how do we stop? how do we lessen the stress in our schedules?

psalm 90.12 (nlt) is a prayer that says, teach us to make the most of our time that we may grow in wisdom. GOD, teach me to use my time so that i may grow to be more and more a wise person, the kind of person you want me to be.

one idea for less stress of an overcrowded schedule: all of you have a schedule that’s already overcrowded. there’s already too much in it. so for less stress don’t add anything to your schedule without subtracting something from your schedule. if it’s already overcrowded and you try to add something in, something’s going to be subtracted anyway. so you don’t add anything without intentionally subtracting something from your schedule.

just a thought from the front porch…

a snack and a nap…

#2 of the “top five” things you can do to not be easily angered is to get some rest. more often than not when it comes to being angry, we just need a snack and a nap. that’s what we need to make it through.

there’s no better example of this than elijah in 1 kings 19. elijah is the prophet of GOD. he has just battled 450 false prophets on a mountain. one prophet of GOD against these 450 false prophets. that’s what i would call a poor “prophet” margin! he’s victorious over 450.

the next day queen jezebel says, “this isn’t over yet! i’m still after you.” elijah has a meltdown. he goes ballistic. he runs as fast as he can to the other end of the country, all the way talking about his depression and his anger, all the way talking about what a terrible thing. you can almost hear the wheels spinning. “i have this great victory! couldn’t i enjoy it for one day? no! all of a sudden, she’s after me again.” all the way to the other end of israel he keeps giving the same “poor me!” speech to GOD. “i’m the only one left. you’ve only got me, and look what you’re doing to me.” if you hear yourself continuing to give the same poor me speech, it’s a pretty good indication that you’re too tired. or that you need something to eat.

elijah gets as far away as he can from the situation, and then GOD encourages him to get some rest and eat. 1 kings 19.5 (niv) says, elijah lay down under a tree and fell asleep. all at once an angel touched him and said, [and here’s what the angel came all the way from heaven to earth to say to elijah] “get up and eat.” that’s an important message. lay down and rest. get up and eat. that’s one of the most important things you and i can do to break through the anger in our lives.

one of the reasons why you’re so angry is you are just too busy. the busyness of life, the pace of life is what’s creating so much of this anxiety. GOD invites you, before you do anything else, get some rest. take some time off. take the break that you need. that’s where all this is coming from.

just a thought from the front porch…