What are You Thankful For??

These days, people seem to have a temporary thankfulness for the things they receive. At Christmas time, we tell the gift giver "thank you" and play with our new toy for a while. My question is do we remember everything we received last year? Probably not. But we do remember who we were with for Christmas. I encourage you this holiday season to think of all the things you are thankful for from being able to see, to that special someone that you love very much. We may be thankful for an Ipod or an new flat screen, but what is the good of having those things if we have no one to share in the excitement with? 

My wife and I did something fun at the dinner table tonight, we thought of things we were thankful for that started with a letter of the alphabet and went through the whole alphabet. It was fun, but it allowed of us to think of the things God has blessed us with rather than the things we do not have. The next time you find yourself frustrated because you don't have something, try to focus your mind on the things you do have. If you don't have much, then at least be thankful for your salvation in Jesus. If you do not know Jesus find someone you know that is a Christian or a pastor at a local church and ask them about Jesus. If you do not trust them I would love to talk to you about Jesus. He changed my life and He can change yours. Facebook me, and I will help in anyway I can.

Points to Ponder:

1. What are you thankful for?

2. If you were to die and stand before God in Heaven and He were to ask you why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say?

So can we prove that God is real?

One of the big questions in our world today is "Can you prove that God is real?" This is such a loaded question. However, since it is being asked by many skeptics it must be a question that Christians should try to answer reasonably.

I use the word reasonably because quite frankly we cannot prove that God exist physically by observing or by science. The beauty of this loaded question though is the Christian can turn the question around on the skeptic as ask him/her "Can you prove to me God does not exist?" With both answers being "no" to the two questions, where does the reason lie?

The reason lies in that although God cannot be seen physically his intervention into human history can. We have unexplained miracles, we have devout Muslims converting to Christianity, we have missionaries leaving the safety of the USA to go to another country only to get killed for their faith. In other words, We may not can see God, but we can see His effects/actions.

There are a few others things that we can not see, but we can see their effects. For example the wind. We can see the wind blow, but we cannot see the wind. Another example is gravity. If we jump off a house we will not float nor fly. We will be pulled to the ground by some unseen force. 

So we cannot prove God exist, but we can at the very least give them a reasonable explanation for why we believe He exist... oh by the way.

Our testimony... Something or someone changes all true Christians into being different. It is not media or those lovely Budweiser commercials that brings a person to their knees in repentance. It is not Harry Potter or the Twilight series that causes people to make life altering decisions that could cost them friendships and family. It is only Jesus that can do those things. A Christian's testimony of how Jesus changed their life is proof that God exist. The beauty of the Christian faith is you can be poor or rich, black, white, Asian, or any other nationality. As the book of the Romans says God shows no partiality. He wants all to come to know Him through His Son. A Christian's testimony is their story... their proof that God has done something in them.

Points to Ponder:

How would you respond if someone were to ask you "can you prove God exist"?

As a Christian do you have a testimony that you can share with others? If not why not?

As Christians our job is not to convert people to Jesus our job is to represent who Jesus is. Agree or disagree?

What Does Love Got to Do With It?

What's love got to do with it, got to do with it? What's love but a second hand emotion? We have all heard these famous lines from the famous Tina Turner. This song went to number one and was song of the year in 1985. The philosophy of this song set the stage for a new way of thinking about love. So is love a second hand emotion? Is love an emotion at all?

Our society would agree with this song and say love is an emotion just like sadness and happiness. We can either be in love or out of love. Not to mention, people make decisions on whether or not to get married based on financial security or if they are good in bed rather than love. So is Tina Turner right? Society would say yes...

Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 would disagree. Paul says love is patient, love is kind, love does not keep record of wrong, love conquers all. From Paul's perspective of love does not seem like an emotion based off the adjectives he uses. Love seems like an action that is chosen by the person loving. So as Christians what should we believe? Should we believe in the gospel according to Tina or 1 Corinthians 13?

It is easier to say 1 Corinthians 13, but much harder to live chapter 13. However, it is easier to live the gospel according to Tina. That is why we choose it over Scripture. If we decide we do not like the person any more or want to trade our "old" wife in for a newer model well we can do that and no one will look at us funny. However, as Christians, God has set a standard of holiness for all Christians to strive for. This is not optional it is commanded.

Last thing... what if God decided to fall "out of love " with the human race and divorce us for irreconcilable differences? What if God back in Genesis decided not to send His Son on our behalf? Where would we be?

I praise God that He did create love as a active choice and not a wind-blown emotion. I also thank God that He did not divorce us but sent Jesus to reconcile us back to Himself. God not only created love, but He showed us how to love perfectly through Jesus. He showed us that Tina was wrong and that love is not an emotion, and it is not second hand. God is love and that makes it top priority for Him. Should it not be for us as well?

Points to Ponder:

How can we love better?

Who do I need to love better?