Remember His Wonders

 

Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;

Speak of all His wonders.

Glory in His holy name;

Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.

Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek is face continually.

Remember His wonders which He has done….

Psalm 105:1-5

We need to do some bragging about what God has done for us.  Not to rub the noses of others in our blessings, but to give witness that God is with us and that He is with them, too.

The blessing just keep coming and we need to take time to recognize the blessings.  Do you have a car that always starts?  That is a blessing.  And, how about when you drive to work and every light along the way is green?  Or, when we are able to help someone out, and we bless them and we are blessed? We are blessed in hundreds of ways every day.  

Seek the Lord and His strength and remember the wonders He has done for you. 

What Are Our Motives?

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3-4

The Apostle Paul points out a common human flaw - we want what we want and to get what we want we may not act in the best interests of others.  

Paul encourages us to examine our motives; that is, are we merely working to achieve our financial and personal goals, or are we interested in achieving our goals while looking out for others and their interests? 

I think this comes down to asking:  What would Jesus do?  And, then doing it. 

 

Do Good Anyway

 

But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?”

“And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Luke 13:14-17

When someone is doing something good for people there are always critics. People can make you question if what you are doing is right, even though you know what you are doing is right.  You may be serving meals to poor people or giving shoes and coats to children or helping people pay their electric bills or any of a hundred other things that people do everyday to help needy people.  Then BANG!  There they are: The critics trying to discourage you.  

 

Jesus experienced this same thing when He was healing people on Sunday. 

Why should we expect less when we are doing the work God has given us to do?

Mother Teresa said, “… Do good anyway.” 

And we will. 

Sow Bountifully

 

Now this I say; he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

I think this is about more than giving money.  It is about giving of ourselves; speaking up when others are silent, taking care of those who others may not think deserve to be taken care of, and doing the right thing when everyone else is standing around with their hands in their pockets and saying, "It's not my problem."

Like it or not, as Christians, it is our problem.  Our job is to speak up and defend the defenseless and the not so defenseless, because we are not called to be judges, we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus and do His work.

 

And, we cheerfully do this because we are changed. God has taken away our hearts of stone and replaced them with hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19-20).

Sow bountifully.

A Little Too Much Pride

 

Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind but associate with the lowly.  Do not be wise in your own estimation. 

Romans 12:16

We all have a certain amount of pride, which is alright.  If we had no pride we would not bathe or take care of ourselves.  But we sometimes have a little too much pride in ourselves to the detriment of those around us. 

We need to step back and look at how we treat those who we think are not as good as we are or as well off as we are.  When we level our view of others to that of being our equals, we open more opportunities to minister and present the Gospel to people.

Under Grace

 

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:14-19

When we ask Jesus to be our Lord, Master and Savior, we are no longer under the law and we will not be judged by God according to the law. We are subject to the grace of God.

The Apostle Paul points out that this does not mean that we can sin with impunity. It means that we are now the servants of the living God and as such are bound to live in a manner which brings glory to Him. This is not to say that we will never sin, but that if we sin, we need to repent and not repeat the offense.

Grace means we have a much easier go of it in life because we are no longer burdened with and subject to the consequences of willing sin. We are covered by the grace of God who will direct the paths of our feet so that we can enjoy the good life of a redeemed believer in Christ.

Say Something Kind

 

Pleasant words are a honeycomb,

Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24

The best thing we can do for people when they are going through difficult times is to offer kind words.  Kind words cost us nothing and comfort those who are suffering. 

When you do not know what to say, say something kind.