What Helps Us Remain Steadfast in our Faith?

It’s never been easy to keep a healthy perspective on true and lasting values. The story of Mary and Martha from Luke 10 tells us Martha was upset by all the preparations for meals she planned for Jesus and his disciples, who were guests in their home.

Martha became angry with Mary for listening to what Jesus was teaching rather than helping out in the kitchen. Jesus gently explained to Martha that Mary had chosen the right thing to do at that moment. For Mary, what Jesus was teaching superseded kitchen duties.

Have you allowed yourself to get so caught up with activities that you neglect your relationship with Jesus? Perhaps Jesus is telling you to take an inventory of your lifestyle. Are you out of sync with what truly counts in your relationship with Christ Jesus and your family? Jesus tells you to lay up your treasures in heaven so they’ll remain incorruptible.

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Take care to live in me, and let me live in you. For a branch can’t produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from me. 

~John 15:4 The Living Bible

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Expressing Adoration with Thanksgiving

Reverence for the Lord builds a bridge to confidence, knowledge, and wisdom. Reverence also builds trust for managing crises which each person must face. Reverence for Christ Jesus builds faith to accept that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purposes".

When everything appears to be in place for us, displaying reverence to God by expressing thanksgiving demonstrates our heartfelt gratitude. Reverence for God helps us keep a right perspective on the transient nature of the material things we try so desperately try to possess. True wealth is only found in love for God and others.

This is what Jesus means when he tells us to lay up our treasures in heaven where they will be secure. 2 Chronicles 19:9 reminds us that reverence for the Lord helps us cope with situations that are beyond our control. Reverence for God places us in a position to receive all the help God is willing to extend to us.  

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A good person brings good out of the treasure of good things in his heart; a bad person brings bad out of his treasure of bad things. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

~Luke 6:45 Good News Bible

 

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, and offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship with reverence and awe.

~Hebrews 12:28 Amplified Bible

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Choose to Control Your Weaknesses: God Will Help - Part 2

The search for happiness seems never-ending and elusive when dependent upon possessions and personal accomplishments. A couple sold their home and furnishings to live on a sailboat, a dream the couple had longed to do for years. It did however get a bit cramped when their adult children and grandchildren came aboard.

Some dreams pollute our moral and spiritual fiber, blinding us to who we are in Christ Jesus. The inordinate need for happiness can allow evil to infiltrate all we are and do. The mother of a musician pushed her son beyond his ability to cope with the pressure. His disappointment is expressed in these words: "We slave to gain a worthless treasure. A house without love is not a home."

Jesus encourages us to store up our treasures in heaven where they will be secure and safe. Treasures worthy of heaven are faith that produces works and deeds done in the name of Jesus, giving honor and glory to God. Jesus gives us joy and peace. These comprise the core for happiness.  

Melting Stone-Cold Attitudes, Ideas, and Hearts - Part 2

In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus teaches that God's love and mercy extend to undeserving people. This idea collides with the Jewish belief that God's love was reserved only for the Hebrew people. They made their theology fit into a rigid social and religious belief system that could not be altered.

God revealed himself to the Jewish people so they could be witnesses of his love to all humanity. God told them they were indeed their brother's keeper and responsible to God for their attitudes and behaviors. When the older brother in the parable witnessed his father extend acceptance to his undeserving brother, it was more than he could manage.

Another teaching from this parable is, never devote your life to what is transitory, for it cannot guarantee acceptance into God's eternal presence. Jesus encourages us to store up treasures in heaven where their value will never diminish. When kindness and love are given to those who are undeserving, treasures accumulate into a heavenly account just for you.