Is It Difficult to Keep Your Love for God Constant?

There are moments in life that provide an opportunity to wipe your slate clean and institute changes centered around an attitude that is  pleasing to God. The Prodigal Son had made a complete mess of his life but decided to pick himself up and make something out of the life God had given him.

He started by permitting himself to conceptualize what was feasible for him to accomplish. He then decided to change his attitude that had produced conflict and alienation. Most would agree that it’s difficult to make healthy changes to keep your thinking and behavior in line with what God will bless.

So what changes in attitude do you need to make that demonstrate you have a clean slate to stand by regardless of the external and internal pressure you encounter to renege on your commitment? Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” If you ask God to help you love him, your commitment has greater potential for success. Loving God is a choice you can make now.                         

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Jesus said, “’Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list.”

~Matthew 22:37-38 The Message

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Resisting Stress: God Empowers - Part 1

The word stress can be defined differently for anyone managing a difficult situation. "I'm stressing," is a negative expression known to everyone who believes stress is undesirable; yet without stress there would be limited motivation to make needed and necessary changes. Stress challenges us to reach outward and inward for solutions to bad situations.

While it's true that stress can be overwhelming, it doesn't have to be disastrous. If your attitude encourages surrender and defeat, then stress can be devastating. It's your attitude that supports the will to challenge difficult situations. The readiness to challenge and change situations determines the negative or positive influence stress has on your life.

When Jesus called his disciples, he endowed them with resilience that made it possible to challenge and change what they previously believed was impossible to do. When troubles came, their faith prevented stress from becoming overwhelming. They believed Christ Jesus was on their side and was the source of their empowerment. This is what he offers to you.  

Manage Conflict: Commit to Engage and Change - Part 3

Stress is inescapable. It meets us at work, at home, in traffic, and everywhere. How stress is managed is connected to our personality, education, training, and belief systems. People whose attitude is amenable to change and healthy challenge appear to have a healthier stress tolerance than those who rate low on these attributes.

I was impressed by a seventy-eight-year-old widow who decided she still had something to offer society. She set out to find a place for herself rather than stay home and rest, as her children advised her to do. She remains bright and spunky, capable of driving herself to exercise class, computer classes and several volunteer opportunities.

Significant is the renewal of her fellowship with Christ Jesus, including Bible study with other believers. Even at seventy-eight she's a model for self-control and self-determination. 2 Timothy 1:7 gives meaning and purpose to her. "For God did not give you a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love, and self-control."  That defines a stress-buster.  

Redeeming Bad Choices - Part 2

The older brother in Jesus' story of the prodigal son could not accept his father's determination to integrate his wayward brother back into the family. This unglued his equilibrium to the degree that frustration, anger, and disbelief replaced the tranquility he knew when his brother was out of the picture.

The older brother had trouble accepting that his younger brother had a different personality and needed to live on the edge of discovery. Their father supported  the fact that his sons were different - one adventurous and immature, the other choosing to stay close to home and run the family business. Children need parents who respect differences and encourage them to pursue ambitions equivalent to their skills.

God's grace and mercy allow for mistakes and failure, as seen in both the younger and older sons. Unforgiven anger and unforgivable failure in ourselves or in others is the pathway to heartache and hardship. God requires that we forgive others, as he has forgiven us. This is clearly the pathway to inner peace. 

Melting Stone-Cold Attitudes, Ideas, and Hearts - Part 3

How important are other people's opinions to you? There are individuals  who will never be swayed by what others think or believe. Then there are those whose lives hinge on other people's opinions. Fortunately, most people will consider what others say and then make an independent decision.

The older brother in Jesus' story of the lost son was emotionally locked into an inflexible way of thinking. To him, his younger brother made a choice that forever separated him from the privileges and rights of belonging to the family. To him, it was incomprehensible that his brother could come home and be embraced as an important family member.

The older brother's indignation kept him from celebrating his brother's homecoming. He appeared incapable of feeling empathy for his brother or father. Empathy clears the way for understanding what's important to another person. Empathy encourages you to walk with someone through a troubled or a happy occasion. God's love and redemption can melt a heart of stone and clear the way for compassion.  

Melting Stone-Cold Attitudes, Ideas, and Hearts - Part 1

The last few decades of the twentieth century are referred to as the age of narcissism. Narcissism originates from Greek mythology. It's defined as lacking genuine concern for others while being preoccupied with oneself. For the narcissistic individual, looking out for "Number One" is a "number one" priority.

This attitude is embraced in the story of the prodigal son, who left home with little concern for the impact his selfish choices would have on his family. However the father's unprecedented kindness for his son, who chose to return home after squandering his inheritance, is a perfect picture of other-centeredness.

The older brother is offended when the father restores his younger brother to an honorable place within the family. Proverbs 18:19 profiles the older brother. "An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city. His anger shuts you out like iron bars." Compassion and forgiveness are God's attributes that are available to all who sincerely seek them.  

Jealousy or Forgiveness? It's Your Choice - Part 3

Imagine a family member refusing to come to a party because of anger and  jealousy. The older brother in the parable of the lost son refused to celebrate his irresponsible younger brother's return home. Listen to the father's appeal to his older son. "Everything I have is yours. But it's right to celebrate, for your brother was dead and is now alive! He was lost and is found."

Jesus emphasized that it's your attitudes, thoughts, and behavior that make you unclean before God. The good news is, God can intercept and change the heart of anyone who has enough humility and honesty to be repentant. However jealousy and anger blunt the heart and soul to express compassion and kindness.

This older brother appears unwilling to accept his father's love for both him and his brother. The younger brother needs forgiveness while the older brother needs to come to terms with his jealousy and hatred. The love of God extends to the vilest offender who sincerely believes and repents. It's hard to love as God intends, but he will help you succeed when you give your best.  

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Never Too Late to Change - Part 1

The experiences of life, both positive and negative, work together to shape what we believe and how we behave. God designed us for growth, maturity, and change. An eighty-four year old woman proudly stated, "I'm still learning and changing." What we know and believe provides meaning and purpose to life.

When the prodigal son chose to go home and face his family, his attitude and mind-set had changed. His experience in the pig pen reshaped his entire belief system. He left home with an attitude of arrogance but returned with humility. Arrogance portrays false confidence. Humility reveals an attitude of flexibility, readiness to learn, and willingness to be transformed.

The father was so delighted to have his son back home that he celebrated by giving him a robe and ring and by throwing him a huge party. The pig pen experience helped the young man accept his father's love and generosity. This parable illustrates God's attitude toward us when we repent and return to him.