A Tale of a Redheaded Step-Child named Thanksgiving.

The radio is playing Christmas music 24/7. The lights are already up and Santa has come to town. I know, unfortunately, that Lifetime is already playing Christmas movies. Friends already have their stockings hung by the chimney with care. Christmas shopping has already begun. Black Friday has seeped over to Thanksgiving day.  Poor ole Thanksgiving, just sitting there being overlooked. People are looking at Christmas, worrying what they are going to buy with money they more than likely don't have. People are trying to find out what deals there are for Black Friday aka Thursday. Here in Alabama the majority are focused on the Iron Bowl. The outcome will effect church attendance on Sunday. Thanksgiving now is as a day to eat turkey and dressing, a favorite of mine by the way, watch football and relax. Thanksgiving is starting to feel neglected, like he's not important anymore, like he has no value. He is starting to feel like people are overlooking him. Thanks in part to the media, we just blow by Thanksgiving. Christmas is pretty, Christmas is sleek, Christmas is fun and Christmas is the superstar. I asked the school kids today what they thought of when I said "Thanksgiving". They gave the standard answers, turkey, pilgrims, Indians, corn, Mayflower, Macy's, football and even black Friday. No one said God. Thanksgiving is about thanking God for all his blessings in our lives.  We have been blessed with so much that it would take us weeks to write them all down. Thanksgiving deserves all of our attention. It deserves to be held in a high regard. People complain about America moving further from God, well here is a perfect example.  Instead of a focus on God and family, we as a nation have made it a focus on other things. It should be a day of prayer at churches and in homes all across this great country for the blessings that God has bestowed upon us and upon this great country. It will be like this as Christmas draws near. The lack of focus on Christ will be very well publicized. 

Free Trip to Heaven?

On my way home from church today I saw a church sign that said " Free Trip To Heaven. Come Inside for Details" I thought to my self,  my salvation wasn't free. It was paid in full with the blood and death of Jesus Christ. I find this to be a huge problem with the modern church. False advertisement. Its a good sugary message, Accept Christ and get to go to heaven, see how easy that goes down? In reality once you have become a Christian, there is a price to pay. That price is change. Change in behavior, in friends, in heart, in spirit and in priorities. These things are just some of what the cost will be. Friends will leave you, you may lose your job, your spouse may leave, all the things you hold dear may fade away but the gift of following Christ is worth it. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain but He washed it white as snow. Jesus paid a cost, it as NOT free.

Hey Negative Nancy.

Negativity seems to be the order of the day here in America. Whether it be Obama, Healthcare or BCS standings, everything is so negative. Why? We live in America where we have freedoms that other countries would die for. We just seem to be so negative as a society these days. People mad at people who have money. People mad at people on welfare. People mad at those with nicer things.  Looking around we see it in our media and especially in our social media today. Why?
I think its about what we think about. I think that we see others having an "easier" time and become frustrated. We see those on welfare as living an "easier" life because they don't have a 9-5 job. Those on welfare see those with a 9-5 having it "easier" and the want that. Those things are what we think on and it effects us negatively. Its like that sweet and wonderful couple in your church that cant have kids but we see so many babies aborted and given up each year. It makes us frustrated. We see or perceive someone else as having an "easier" life but that may not be the case. Its all about perceived appearance, or how it looks. We don't know the whole story about anybody or their situation. We think about and it effects us negatively. Its root is in our mind. We feel like we are missing out. We feel like we must keep up with the Jones. What that does is makes us a Negative Nancy. More importantly it shows God how much we don't appreciate the blessings that we currently have in our lives. If we would spend more time focused on what God has done for us in this life, outside of the sacrifice Jesus made for us, we would be truly grateful. Philippians 4:8 helps us learn this for fact.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there anything worthy of praise, think about these things." I believe that if we would focus on these things our negativity would be removed from our life. If there is anything? There are so many things worthy of praise  in our lives, that it would take days to list. So think on these things and be positive.

Laser Pointer vs. Spotlight

I stumbled upon a conversation today. It was in line at Walmart of all places. It was a discussion about Gay Marriage. As I listened, because the lady in front of us all had a buggy full in the 10 items or less line, I was mesmerized by their arguments for and against. Then they turned to me and seeing my school badge they said well what is your opinion on this. I told them this. "Your using a laser pointer on a subject that requires a spotlight." See it's not about gay, straight or whatever, it's about sexual immorality. These folks were judging based on their own personal thoughts on the matter. Instead look at the heart of the matter. Sexual immorality in America is such a big problem that we can not even fathom how to begin to deal with it. I said look at the magazine covers we are standing by.  Listen to the music in the car. Pick a station or genre. Our teens are so exposed to sex they are saturated in it. It's a struggle for them to escape it. It's not just them either. Adults of all age struggle with it.  Divorce rate is high, adultry rates are at an all time high and people have seem to just given up on the idea of marriage. Why? 

I think Philippians 3:19 goes well here. "Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." The belly is pleasures of the flesh. Lust being one of them. Also Romans 1:24-25 is useful here. "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! "  It's a sin that we all know too well.  We see that God knows our struggles and our lust. This is where we are as a society. It's not pretty but it is truthful. 

As always I welcome your thoughts. 

The Doctrine of SELF

I was asked by a student in my Bible class what I thought was the biggest issue facing Christians today.  It took me awhile to come up with an answer.  I think that the Doctrine of Self is the one effecting most Christians today. Let me define this new and seemingly important Doctrine.  It's  about how important I am or how important my life is.  It's about my things and my place in this world. It's about me. It's about how important I am to God and my society. It's about my outward appearance and the appearance of my family. It's about my wealth and being self made.
          We are saturated in a Self  society today. Christians get pulled into this trap too. It's very easy to get drawn into. It looks good and feels good.  It appeals to our senses on a deep level. Oh how we love our toys and things but if we are not careful we can put these things ahead of our relationship with God. Remember in Matthew 19, Jesus told a young rich man to go and sell everything he owned and give it to the poor. When he heard that he went away sorrowful.  He was wrapped up in his things and possessions. This is a problem that many Christians face today.  Are we willing to sell everything in order to follow Christ? This is a hurdle that many Christians face today.