we’ve been given enough…

let me ask you, do you think GOD is stingy?  obviously the sunday school answer, the right answer is no, GOD is not stingy.  but in the back of our minds we have at one time or another thought GOD is stingy.  here’s how we think it: “GOD, you’re a great GOD.  but if only you’d give me little more.  if only you would give me a little more time.  if only you would give me a little more money.  a lot more money!  if only you would give me different talents than the talents that i have.  i would have a great life.”

what we’re really thinking is, “GOD, you didn’t give me enough to have the great life i know i could have!”  when the truth is, GOD has given us enough.  HE’s given us enough time, HE’s given us enough money, HE’s given us the right talents to have the great life that HE has planned for us.  only in america could we be surrounded by so much and think somehow that the secret to happiness is having more.  it’s not having more.  it’s learning to use as a gift the things that GOD has given to us.  the secret is using the gifts that i’ve been given.  we’re surrounded by these gifts that GOD has given. 

john 1.16 (msg), we all live off HIS generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.  that’s what GOD does in our life.  not that any of us have a perfect life, not that any of us don’t have struggles in our life or some times of lack in our life.  but everything that we have, every good thing that comes into our lives is a gift of GOD.  and they keep coming.  gift after gift after gift.  they come to all of us.

JESUS said in matthew 5.45 (msg), this is what GOD does.  HE gives HIS best.  the sun to warm, the rain to nourish, to everyone regardless, the good and the bad.  you don’t have to be a good person.  you don’t have to go to church in order to benefit from GOD’s gifts.  everybody gets the gift of time.  everybody gets the gift of talents and resources.  the question is how do you use those gifts.  do you use them just on yourself, selfishly.  or do you use them as gifts of GOD and truly begin to enjoy them?

just a thought from the front porch…

the most desired gift of love…

GOD’s first law of relationships is the best use of life is love.  the second is the best expression of love is time

you spell love, time.  1 john 3.18 (Gw) says, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words.  if you say you love but you’re not showing any time, you’re just kidding yourself. 

guys, what is the most desired gift of love?  diamonds?  wrong answer!  roses?  no.  chocolate?  fat chance! 

the most desired gift of love is focused attention.  i want to see your eyes, your ears.  i want you to give me your time.  i want to talk.  i want to listen.  i want to commune.  i want to fellowship.  i want you!  focused attention.  the greatest gift you can give anybody is your time.  it’s the most precious and the most desired gift, because your time is your life. 

time is your most precious commodity.  you only have a certain amount of it.  you can always get more money but you cannot get more time.  every time you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you will never get back.  that’s why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.  you can’t get it back.  your time is your life. 

JESUS taught that the essence of relationship is not what we do for each other, and the essence of relationship is not what we give each other, the presents we buy and give.  you can do that without having a relationship.  the essence of a relationship is how much we give of ourselves to each other.  that’s what a relationship is all about.  giving yourself.  the greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of self. 

guys, as men, we just don't get this so much of the time.  i can’t tell you how many guys have said to me, “i don’t understand it.  i provide for my family.  they have everything they need.  what more could they want?”  they want you!  your eyes, your ears, your time, your attention, your presence, your focus.  they want you.  nothing can take the place of time.  nothing.  not clothes.  not candy.  not vacations.  not a big house.  not money.  nothing can take the place of your time.  the greatest, the best use of life is love.  and the greatest, the best expression of love is time.  nothing can compensate for it.  listen, we spend all our time working ourselves to death trying to get money to buy things for our kids and kids don't need things.  kids need parents who spend time with them.  i want to say to you young couples.  if you’re not going to raise them, don't have them! 

just a thought from the front porch…

it doesn’t have to be perfect, just real…

the wise men also gave the gift of frankincense. and frankincense is an aromatic sap from a plant in the middle east that was burned in worship services. frankincense was the essence of divinity, the smell of GOD. it brought worshipers into the holy presence.

so how does your worship smell? how does it taste? what does it feel like? can you touch the presence of GOD when you worship? is there an atmosphere of the SPIRIT all around when you come into HIS house? one of the things people will say when they leave church is, “i could just feel the presence of GOD in the worship.”

rich mullins, the late CHRISTian musician who was tragically killed in a car wreck, was always attentive to the SPIRITual atmosphere of worship. he chose which church to attend not on the basis of the quality of the leadership or the music, but on the devotion of the people.

eric hauck, a close friend of rich mullins, recalled being in a worship service just a few days before rich died. a group of people had come together, and anyone who could play an instrument was invited to play and sing praise to GOD. musically it was chaos - out of tune, fourteen different rhythms - it sounded awful.

finally they asked rich and eric to lead the singing to give the noise some order. mullins took the microphone and said, “i love to be in the church. i love to listen to people sing and play with their hearts. in my profession (contemporary CHRISTian music) we worry about being in tune and sounding good. but this music is the music that's the most pleasing to GOD, because it's so real, and it comes from the hearts of the children of GOD.”

as he spoke, rich got choked up; it was the last time his friend eric saw him cry.

SPIRITual worship is the cry of the heart for fellowship with GOD. it doesn't have to be perfect, any more than we have to be perfect to be in communion with HIM. it just has to be real.

just a thought from the front porch…