Voluntarily Yielding Rights

"But we're not going to start demanding now what we've always had a perfect right to. Our decision all along has been to put up with anything rather than to get in the way or detract from the Message of Christ." - 1st Corinthians 9:12 (The Message Bible)

An article in The Consumerist¹ reports about a Walmart customer refusing to show his receipt because, by legal rights, he did not have to. We all have rights - Yes! Some are offered by our country of residence, still others are given to us by our creator.

But we who have given our lives (rights) to Christ have a bigger purpose - to bring honor to Christ and to further his kingdom.

There are times to voluntarily yield rights in a spirit of cooperation, love, and understanding. Knowing when is a matter of maturity and good judgment.

Sure, the guy at Walmart won the fight but in so doing he made everyone else wait, ruined the day of a nice man only trying to do his job and came across looking like a jerk for no good reason.

Sometimes there are higher principles to stand on.

- fritz

^{1 - "Calm Man Successfully Buys TV And Denies Walmart Receipt Checkers" by Ben Popkin, The Consumerist, March 7th 2011}

Following Faith - Step 3 (The Embrace)

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them" - Hebrews 11:13

To embrace is to hold on and not let go.

It was what the Syrophenician woman in the Bible¹ did when she kept pressing Jesus for her daughter's deliverance in spite of insults. It was what blind Bartimaeus² did when he kept crying out to Jesus in spite of everyone telling he to pipe down.

There is an IF to receiving from God,

"for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." - Galatians 6:9b

When you see what you want and you become convinced you can have it, embrace it and don't take "No!" for an answer.

- fritz

^{1 - Mark 7:28
2 - Mark 10:46}

Word Flinging

"Let me tell you something Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you ... Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation." - Jesus (Mathew 12:37 Message Bible)

Words are flung around so much they are no longer taken seriously; a promise here, and apology there - in our society they now mean nothing.

Next time you talk to customer service for anything, actually count the number of apologies you receive - including the automated one while on hold. How can an apology mean anything if it's automated?!

God values words, and to Him they mean something.

We should be the same way. The Bible says,

God, who gets invited to dinner at your place?
How do we get on your guest list?

"Walk straight,
act right,
tell the truth.

"Don't hurt your friend,
don't blame your neighbor;
despise the despicable.

"Keep your word even when it costs you,
make an honest living,
never take a bribe.

"You'll never get
blacklisted
if you live like this." - Psalm 15:1-5 (Message Bible)

-fritz

^{See "Cascade of Broken Promises", Seth's Blog March 7, 2011}

Following Faith - Step 2 (Being Persuaded.)

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them..." - Hebrews 11:13

Following faith is a five (5) step process beginning with seeing God's promises afar off - choosing to believe that what looks impossible right now is possible with God.

But that is not enough! We must become convinced what we see is intended for us, and that comes through persuasion - an interesting combination of evidence, testimony, and choice. God doesn't expect us to believe without evidence but he does expect us to allow ourselves to become persuaded.

That persuasion usually comes through what's called a "witness", or "testimony". God provides a witness in our hearts that what we are desiring he wants to give.

Read it in Hebrews 11 - Able had the witness, Enoch got the testimony, Abraham heard the "call", Sarah believed what she heard from God and though she laughed she became convinced!

Where does the witness come from? Ultimately from God, but sometimes by way of listening to others we respect, by reading what is written in the Bible, and by asking God to speak in our hearts.

Spend some time with godly people - those following faith. Listen to some good preaching (you don't have to wait until Sunday), have some alone time reading the Bible and asking God to speak it into your heart.

Tell God you are willing to be persuaded!

- fritz

Following Faith - Step 1 (See afar off)

"The just shall live by faith."
- Romans 1:7, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38

Living by faith is more a matter of following than leading. It involves a five (5) step process revealed in Hebrews 11:13. After listing some famous people it says,

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

The first step, "seeing ... afar off", is seeing something from God that looks impossible, and wanting it.

For Abraham it was a son, for Enoch it was not having to die, for Noah it was being spared from world catastrophe, and for all the heroes of faith it was having a place to call their own that would not wear out or fade away.

The Bible says,

"[God] is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" - Ephesians 3:20

Our problem is that we settle for so little, thinking all we can expect is what we currently have right now.

God can do more! Take that first step; begin to dream big and follow faith!

- fritz

Pretending to Believe

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1

Substance is, actually, a combination of two words in the original language - "under" (or "sub") and "stand", hince the literal translation, substance.

If something has substance we can be feel it, hold it, and use it - which is what the heros of the Bible did!

It is not an idea to believe in without any evidence. Real faith is the evidence without which we are only pretending to believe - which doesn't work.

It's time to stop pretending and get some real faith from it's source - God's word!

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the [spoken] word of God." - Romans 10:17

Put yourself under some good preaching, read the Bible asking God to speak it into your heart, let the Holy spirit give you the substance of hope and the evidence of what you can't, yet, see.

- fritz

God Likes Books

"Every day of my life was recorded in your book before one of them had taken place." - Psalm 139:16b

God likes books, words, and writing - from the beginning of history to the end.

As important as preaching is, as enjoyable as pictures are, as entertaining as videos have become, it is the common book, with written words, God has chosen to use for everything he cares about.

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" - Revelation 20:12

Why? Not sure, I just think he likes books, words, and writing - and we should learn to enjoy them, too.

- fritz