Guilty

It is generally accepted by most that not everyone is perfect. With fault comes guilt; some will carry more than others. Guilt is a part of our conscience that God made to help us see how every action we make affects more than just ourselves. When we take an extra piece of pie, later realize that there were only six pieces made for six people, guilt sets in as someone goes without.

Guilt can be a good thing if we respond to it, and that is what God hopes we do. There is nothing we can do to change our act; however, we can learn from it and attempt to correct the view others have of us. This is what God would want.

On the other hand guilt can be an over bearing burden on someone that is carrying vast amounts. It is heavy and cumbersome. It tires us mentally, fatiguing our relationships with others, especially those that may have been affected by our actions. This is not what God wants to occur, but it is how God made it work; and the Holy Spirit is relentless in making sure that the Father's will is met. Many shrug off guilt by passing off their acts as being in the past and there being no way to right them. In some ways there is truth to this, we can't right our wrongs; but we can right our hearts.

Adam wronged God by allowing himself to be deceived and eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He knew he had disobeyed his Father, and as many children do, he ran and hid. Symbolically, God came looking for Adam, found him hiding, and asked him why. With all the guilt on his shoulders, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve, the serpent.

Likewise Jacob, the younger brother of Esau, deceived his own father into giving him his blessing. By the help of his mother, he presented himself as someone he wasn't to a man that was old and could not distinguish between Esau's hairy arms and lambs wool placed on Jacob's arms. Isaac asked "Who is this?" and Jacob responded he was Esau, his eldest son. With the additional guilt of swindling his brother's birthright from him, Jacob had to deal with his own actions for years as he and his brother separated and lived in different regions. Jacob lived a life of fear of his brother, wondering how and when his brother would come to take revenge.

David, a man after God's own heart, saw a woman that he wanted. He did not care whose wife she was, he just wanted her. He took her, and attempted to cover his tracks using deception. When this attempt failed and his guilt was about to be exposed, David resorted to murder to cover his wrong. Guilt builds, it is embarrassing, and it makes us weak.

The Samaritan woman that listened to Jesus at Jacob's Well, listened intently as Jesus shared His living water with her. As Jesus asked her to get her husband, she confessed there was a man in her life, but he wasn't her legal husband. Jesus let her know that He knew all along by pointing out the five other men that used to be her partners. No condemnation, just the release of guilt and shame of her actions.


As for Jacob, he and Esau matured with time and they began to come together; but just before meeting Esau, God wants Jacob to realize who he is and what he has done. He wrestles with God and at the end, God asks him, "who are you?" He replies, "Jacob." The previous time we read of Jacob being asked who he was, he had replied "Esau." Jacob realizes he is: a liar, a deceiving thief, and a man of ill-gotten wealth. With this revelation, Jacob becomes Israel and a father of the chosen people of God.

David's best friend confronts him about his sin, and David confesses and is set free to once again seek God and to worship him. David can once again draw near to God.

That doesn't mean that all is made in the world, only spiritually. None of the wrongs are corrected physically. Esau still doesn't have his father's blessing. Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, is still dead. The woman's intimacy with multiple men still occurred. Each of these will carry the scars and they live with the affects of what they did, but the confession of sin allowed each of these to sleep peacefully that night. God created guilt, and it is a burden when we try to carry it. God sent his Son to carry that baggage for us. If we are willing to confess that we have the load and release it to the only One that can take it off us, we too can sleep in peace tonight.

me seeing me

"Open my eyes that I may see, glimpses of truth thou hast for me; Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free; Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see; Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!" Words from Clara H. Scott

Open my eyes that i see myself for what i am. Teach me in Your word God. You are awesome, God! You be lifted high.

Plans

The year is drawing to an end, and for me, every minute is planned out for the next 52 hours or so. But that's okay, because actually my eternity is as well. I'm headed to the fire station in the morning, I think, and there I have my sequence of duties with a few emergency calls thrown in just to complicate things. Then I'll come home, I think, and listen to the events and stories that collected during the 24 hours I was gone. Then we'll prepare for a New Years party, I think, with many of Alan and Amy's friends and their families coming over, if that occurs.

You see, I shouldn't worry about the next few hours or days or years, because God has me in His hand. He's taking me where He needs me to be for His good. He's taking you where you need to be also. We are not to worry about what we have planned for the next day because we are so far out of control for tomorrow's events that only God knows what will happen.

That is not to say we aren't to work or plan or develop strategies for our families and jobs. We are, but realize, that God's plans aren't ours. Isaiah quotes God when He said "I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me." We don't think like God and nor can we, no matter how close we are to Him. We know from scripture that His ways are incomprehensible to us and that needs to be okay. Is everything going my way right now? No. Is everything "hunky dory?" Yeah, because it's what God has for me. I, and you, are only here for a little while. Let's get busy, love what we're doing, be content with where God has us, and love God and all His creation.

Tough Times

Why does God let us suffer at this so called time of joy? Why are the holidays a time of pain and mourning every year for so many? Why does God allow death, pain and destruction in a period of time that we have set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus? So many at this time of year are feeling pain that they don't want to express because of the expectations they sense to show joy.

There are two things we should know: 1. we are to mourn with those who mourn, and 2. we are to struggle well.

God speaks to us about this in Ecclesiastes 3. There are good times and there are tough times, times of sorrow and grief. There is also a great amount of work to be done, and this includes ministering to others. God has placed each one of us where we are today for a purpose; it is His. Labor and sorrow fill the air and our lives, but God never intended for earth to be a place of rest for man. Even in the Garden of Eden, man had work to do. With the downfall of man, we became cursed as a broken vessel of our creator; however, He remains sovereign and Lord over all things, not just what we see as good things. Remember that we were created for God's purpose, not our own. If that sounds selfish of God, think of the grace He has provided for you and me through His Son that He gave as a gift to us. This man suffered more than you or I ever will, and this was His Father's will for Him.

Romans 8:28 gives us this assurance that whatever happens, happens for the good of those who serve Him. We may not see the beauty of God's work now or even later, but we must know in our hearts that God is coming out better because of our suffering. Let us accept suffering and the sufferings of others as a purposeful season of life to bring ourselves or others closer to the One who has given us hope: hope of our inheritance and hope of His presence with us when things seem all wrong. May the God of this world bless you and may we spread those blessings to everyone.

Three dead Men

I've been taught that dead men are good teachers. For the most part we can look back at their lives objectively without the bias of modern day media. I realize there are differences in opinions of what men were like and what values they really carried in their daily lives. There are in my life three men that I have studied to some extent and I hold a fondness of. And in three days I was given the privilege of visiting the graves of these three. George Washington, Thomas Jonathan Jackson and Robert E. Lee were men that were real men in my book. All three openly loved God. All three openly love their wives. All three owned slaves. All three drank alcoholic beverages. And all three would dance.

What I've learned about these and their attention to others touches me. Yes they owned slaves, yet many free men in their day would have been envious of these servant's well being. Lee and Jackson both knew that slavery was going to end within a few years by virtue of it's own merits. Washington went as far as to free his slaves after his death. The men loved others no matter who they were. George and Martha Washington upon his notoriety and fame as a general had hundreds of strangers come to his Mount Vernon home unannounced requesting food and shelter. Total strangers were not turned away.

"Stonewall" Jackson was known to live his life with the mercy taught by the New Testament while commanding his soldiers with the Old Testament fierceness that earned him the less known nickname of General "Joshua" Jackson. His love of children was from a tender heart for others; even the men he served. Robert E. Lee had the same concern for others. His leadership was what made him famous. His men would follow him anywhere and do whatever he asked of them.

All three of these men led by example. Washington stayed at Valley Forge with his men when he could have gone home. Lee and Jackson both lived by the law they made others live by. All three prayed.

It has touched me to spend just a few moments over the last few days to learn more about three of the greatest leaders I know of.

Rainy days, Good days

Sometimes it's good to realize how good things are. It may take some rain to make us realize how much we have, even if we don't have much according the the US standard. We have so much in our home. I sit here with one son playing the keyboard, one studying Christian literature, one daughter doing her math and another singing in the shower while my wife walks through the house being the beautiful being she is. God is so good.

I also realize that I can look at Job and realize that it can all go away. We just sang at church yesterday how God gives and God takes away. Even when He takes away I must praise Him. He is still good. We're only here for a little while, then we get to go to a place where nothing is taken away. That is where my treasure is. I want to know that all here in my house will be there and I want to get as many as will to meet me there, at the feet of Jesus.

As The World Turns (faster and faster...)

The theatrics of TV and movies make us laugh, and move us to think that we're glad our life isn't like what we're seeing. Right now I think I would take some of what we may see on the tube over what is happening in the world I'm living in today. I have friends that are not getting paychecks that have children. I have friends that are working over 60 and 70 hours a week to make ends meet, and they are being frivolous. I've got a friend that is a single dad and has to depend on others to make things work with his sons. I have a friend that has a son dying right before her eyes, and I've not been there for her in weeks. I've got a mother that doesn't know when I last came to visit her. She knows it has been a while. The sad part is that if I visit her tomorrow she won't remember it the next day. My super active dad is no longer as active and could use my help at times, but I'm not there for him. I have four children that each has his or her own things going on. I have a wife that is so overworked that I don't know how to help, in all my spare time. I'm a part of the Church that is to reach out to those we don't know and help them with their needs.

One other thing I have. I have a God that loves me and knows my burdens and wants my burden to be light. He is willing to carry the load if I'll just give it to Him. He is so concerned about me that if I would just sit down and talk to Him, He would listen for hours. I'm sure my wife and kids wished that of me. He's the kind of God that takes care of those that are brought to Him in prayer. I keep wanting to take care of all the problems myself and I realize that I can't. I think I'm realizing, yet again, that I need to take it to God. I need to trust God enough that He'll provide what is needed to each of the situations I see.

Would you pray for me? Would you pray for my friends and family? Will you please pray for yourself? Let us lift each other up in prayer. Earnestly seek God's will in your life and in the lives of those we see, realizing that what we want for them may be different than what God has planned. We are here on earth for just a little while; and it seems to be getting faster and faster. Don't forget that God can make your load lighter if you'll let Him. Take your burdens and also take everyone else to Him. He's in control.