The Bread of Life

The Bread of Life

John 6:48 "I am that bread of life"

Bread is a popular item, and it is eaten by all kinds of people. The rich and poor alike eat bread. The famous and the forgotten alike eat bread. Kings and servants alike eat bread.

Bread does not discriminate about who gets it, or who eats it. Bread finds itself in caves, in shacks, in hovels, in homes, in mansions, and in castles.

Bread is placed on the table alone with water, or with some humble soup, or with a small family meal, or even an enormous feast like we just enjoyed on Thanksgiving.

Bread is more available in some places than others, so it can be a scarce item.

Thank God that Jesus, “The Bread of Life”, doesn’t discriminate. He makes himself available to everyone. He is not a rich man’s redeemer or a poor man’s messiah, He is the Savior of all that will repent and trust in him.

Fishing for Wisdom

Proverbs 28:7 "Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: 

but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father."

We live in a culture today that defies wisdom. Many turn their children over to other adults all day at school; who then undermine their faith. At the same time, they are surrounded with other children that tell them that their parents are stupid, and "don't understand". As if a 15 year old has the answers.

However, there are children, who latch on to wisdom because mom and dad have poured it into them. Not only teaching them what is right and moral, but why....because Jesus deserves our love and obedience. What a blessing it is when we see real wisdom in our children.

It is like fishing. I enjoy taking my family fishing, and using it is an opportunity to teach life lessons.  Part of that lesson, is teaching them to prepare their poles, and get them into the water. Another important lesson is to put your line into the right water. I prefer trout fishing, but you can't catch trout if their aren't any trout in the lake. 

Oh how I want my children to learn to fish for wisdom, but if there isn't any wisdom in the lake they are fishing in, they won't catch any. My heart yearns for my children to fish in the same waters that I have learned to fish in, because there is a lot of wisdom in the Word of God. But the conditions of my heart have to be right, and I have to get my line in the water...

There is a reason that the Lord used fishing as a metaphor, because so much of the Christian life relates to that process. 

Lord, give me wisdom, to lead my family, and please create an appetite in the hearts of my children for wisdom. I am not the source of wisdom, you are. You alone can satisfy, and I place my children your loving hands...they are yours.

Proverbs 28:7 "Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: 

but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father."

The Hammered

Proverbs 27:17  "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

Good friends are hard to find, and what a treasure it is when we do. I have heard it said that a true friend is the one that walks in when everyone else is walking out on you.

But what happens when that true friend tries to offer some constructive criticism about you, in an effort to help you correct something in your life. How do you respond? What if you resist, and they persist, and sparks fly, and things get a heated? Is that the end of the friendship?

Oh how we need friends that will sharpen us, even though it causes friction. We see in the scriptures this same sharpening process. Time and time again we read about correction, reproof, and rebuke. Jonathan and David, Nathan and David, Joshua and Caleb, Peter and Paul, and many others. Thank God for these examples.

But it seems today, that friendships are so fragile, and men are so prideful. I have seen very spiritual men, friends, behave in deceptive, manipulative, and even underhanded ways, but when confronted, they refuse to admit wrong. Instead, they justify their actions and throw away the friendship. They want to be the hammer, but never the hammered. True friendships go both ways.

Proverbs 27:5 - 6 "Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."

God humble me, let me moldable and correctable, like clay in your hands. Give me true friends.

Sluggards

Proverbs 26:16 "The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit 

than seven men that can render a reason."

slug·gard

 [sluhg-erd]  noun. a person who is habitually inactive or lazy.

If there is anything that my dad taught me, it was to work hard. As a young man I just thought that it was what men do, work hard. I started working hard at 13 years old. So as I became a young man in my 20's, I just assumed it was what I was supposed to do, and that other men do the same thing, boy was I wrong.

I found out that often men work twice as hard at avoiding work than doing it. There were times on the job when I was told to slow down, and take it easy... I was making them look bad. No, they were doing a fine job at looking bad all by themselves. But when they lost their jobs, they thought it was unfair, they were entitled to better treatment than that.

Today, the economy is suffering, and many hard working men are honestly unemployed. My heart and prayers go out to them and their families. But there are many men that were unemployed when the economy was still booming, but now use the "hard times" as an excuse....it's just another excuse.

I have heard it said that welfare erodes the motivation to work, I would disagree. It just confirms how many sluggards are all around us, and brings them to the surface. So to all the men out there, who honestly want to WORK, hang in there, and keep looking, don't quit. But to all the sluggards, why don't you just stay home and let the honest working men take the jobs.

1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

2 Thessalonians 3:10 "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

Teachability

Proverbs 25:12 "As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, 

so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear."

It seems that teachability is becoming more and more rare. Our modern culture is swimming with information and knowledge, but wisdom has been replaced with Google and Facebook. Accessibility to that vast storehouse of data in the cloud has clouded our judgment.

Daniel 12:4 

 "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

Teenagers today can access the knowledge of centuries in split seconds, but when they receive some correction from a caring authority in their life, often times the wise adult is dismissed as ignorant because they are technologically naive. So many of these young people retain childlike foolishness as they become adults because of the so called "smartphone" in their pocket.

But oh, the man that desires wisdom, and inclines his ear towards the wise reprover, will gain the depths of wisdom that escape the shallow technocrats of our day. 

Help me Lord, deliver me from the great seduction of pride and knowledge, give me wisdom God. Surround me with wise reprovers, and open thou mine ears, that I may value godliness above all else, and that I may honor Christ. You alone are worthy....

Proverbs 25:12 "As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, 

so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear."

Haven't posted in awhile....plan to get back to it. In Cartagena, Colombia right now...preaching at a Spiritual Leadership Conference with a dear friend. 12 salvations so far. God is moving greatly...please pray. Check back soon for daily posts. God bless...

"Holiness"

Psalm 86:2 "Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee."

Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina, and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid for three days behind closed shutters, still the bright spot would not fade from his vision. "I used all means to divert my imagination from the sun," he writes, "But if I thought upon him I presently saw his picture though I was in the dark." If he had stared a few minutes longer, Newton might have permanently lost all vision. The chemical receptors that govern eyesight cannot withstand the full force of unfiltered sunlight. 

In Psalm 86:2, David calls himself holy. I don't know too many people that could say "I am holy" on their own merit. God is the measure of perfect holiness, and the only way we can have that perfect "holiness" is through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

However, aside from the perfect holiness of God, does God have an expectation of us? Does the Lord want us to be holy?

1 Peter 1:16 "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

He wants us to be like the mirror that Isaac Newton was looking at. We are to be a reflection of the Son, Jesus Christ. We will not reach sinless perfection until we get to Heaven. We are not sinless, but we should sin less. The Lord wants us to be holy. Not only through the blood of Christ, but also to lead a pure and consecrated life, separate from worldliness and carnality.

Lord, help us to live holy lives, as reflections of your son, Jesus. God, purify us and sanctify us with your Word. Guide us with your Holy Spirit within us, to be holy.