Between soccer tournaments, church, movie night with Lakewood Football, and activities with 4 children I couldn't even find time to write this weekend. Today and tomorrow will be somewhat busy for me as well since last minute tax returns are due on October 15th.
Update on Pastor Brian is that he is ok. Accident was pretty bad and his work van was totalled but he's just a little sore. We still need to pray for the other party involved in the accident.
As for me, I'm just a little tired this morning from a long weekend and find it hard to concentrate. I'm in a mood today and don't know why. Hopefully I will break out of it soon.
Yesterday at http://aliveagainalliance.com/ service, Pastor Bill gave a great sermon / bible study. Something that really makes you think. I know I will probably butcher most of what he said but here's what I got out of it.
The first thing I remember out of everything he said was, "When the Lord looks at us, he doesn't see what other people see!" Wow. Never really thought of it that way. When we fail, succeed, lie, do good deeds, whatever it is, the people of this world see that! They see us for our actions. They see us by our expressions and moods. Sometimes we are even judged! I used to see a homeless man on the side of the street and the first thing that would pop into my head is, "He's probably heading to the liquor store if I gave him some money!" Isn't that awful???? Isn't that horrible??? But the reality is that most people see that man and think the same thing because of what we see on the news, because of what we hear on the radio, because what society tells us to think of that man! Now most people would look at him as a failure. Wondering as they walked on by how come he can't get a job? How come he's begging for money? What will he do with the money if I gave it to him? And we would judge him based on his appearance. But God doesn't judge. God doesn't see him as a failure. God's will and plan's for this man were already put in place a long time ago. Sometime when we are weak, we are at our strongest.
I get judged all the time especially at work. Clients look at my office and say, "It must be nice!" or friends look at my home and say, "Business must be good, you sure are lucky!" So some might think or (judge) me thinking that we are "well off" as society says. But the only one that sees me for me is God. He doesn't judge and he definitely does not perceive! You see, yes I have a nice office and a big house. Perception would say that I'm doing great. But perception isn't always right. Owning your own business is not as easy as everyone thinks. Sometimes I would love to just collect a weekly paycheck. I can go 8 months without receiving income sometimes. But the bills still need to be paid. The payroll is always there. My health insurance is still 21k a year! (Thanks Obama). And as far as my house.....yes it's nice....it's big....but we are using every square inch of the house. I dare someone to find extra space in my house that's not in use. I even have to pay for a storage unit because we don't have enough space.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Things aren't always what they seem to be. We need to change our perspective. We need to change our perception. We need to stop judging. Only our Lord and Savor Jesus Christ sees and know what we are all about! And that's all that we should care about. You can look at me and think what you want, I don't care. I am only trying to impress one person in my life....God! And I am trying to impress him by living the way He intended me to live.
Now I ask you, how am I any different from the homeless man? Am I going to heaven over him because I have a house, a family, a business, possessions????? NO!!!!! God knows our intentions and knows everything we do. I was so caught up with what society threw up at me this weekend that I didn't have the normal time to pray and worship. Maybe the homeless man prays and give thanks to God everyday for being alive. Do we do that? Are we better than him??? No!!!!! One day that could be any one of us. Now if that was me, would your perception tell you I failed? Of course it would. But what if I decided to give it all up, lay it all down for the Kingdom of God and say, "Lord, use me the way you intend to. I gave up all my possessions, I gave up everything for you. I now have the TIME for you to use me according to YOUR will not MINE!" If I did that, everyone would perceive me to have failed. But in reality, I WON! I laid my life down for Christ! Only HE looks at us and can see what other people can't see!
So I now ask you to think of what your life is like. Do you care more about what other people think of you or do you care only about what HE thinks of you? The answer should be easy. We need to find our vision in today's tough society. Not our vision, but God's intention for us. We need to find our purpose in life. Not society's purpose, but God's purpose for us. We have all been broken. Some of us are still broken. But we need to step out of the brokenness for we are strong when we are weak. We need to surrender. Surrender our sins, surrender our wants and needs and give everything to God. It's time to carry OUR crosses. So let's be effective! Make a change. Not the change society wants for us, but God's vision for us! AMEN?
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
SONG OF THE DAY: Farther Along By Josh Garrels
Have a great day everyone!
~Scott
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