Learning to Abide in Christ

Learning to Abide in Christ

Apart From Me Ye Can Do Nothing—John 15.5

Apart from me ye can do nothing.—What a plea and what a call every moment to abide in Christ! We have only to go back to the vine to see how true it is. Look again at that little branch, utterly helpless and fruitless except as it receives sap from the vine, and learn that the full conviction of not being able to do anything apart from Christ is just what you need to teach you to abide in your heavenly Vine. It is this that is the great meaning of the pruning Christ spoke of—all that is self must be brought low, that our confidence may be in Christ alone. “Abide in me”—much fruit! “Apart from me”—nothing! Ought there to be any doubt as to what we shall choose? -Andrew Murray

Eight Time Thieves

Eight Time Thieves

One commodity of which we have a limit supply is time.  There are a number of Bible verses admonishing us to use our time wisely; but most of us let what time we have here on earth slip away from us.  We allow time thieves to steal our time away. We have identified eight of those time-thieves below with the hope that we can help you guard again these bandits. 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 NKJV

Time Thieves

1. Trying to change the past

Trying to undo what is already done is a bandit that eats lots of our time and can rob us of our future.  You cannot change the past.  If you have wronged someone or sinned against God, then seek forgiveness and move on. 

Philippians 3:13-15 (NKJV)
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

2. Trying to escape the present

Trying to escape the present

Sometimes the affairs of the present day and/or the future are so overwhelming that we seek to just blank-out.  We fill our day with unproductive activities like watching television or reading novels so that we do not need to face the daily obligations of responsibilities.  Therefore, we waste time.  For some this can be one of the signs of serious depression; but for most of us, it is a sign of a need to refocus on the hope and blessings that are awaiting us in the adventure of life. Don’t let the thief of the present steal your valuable time.

 Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

3. Dreaming away the future

Everyone knows a dreamer that is always dreaming big dreams but never acts on them.  Perhaps, we all have a little bit of that dreamer in ourselves.  Of course, there is always an excuse for never initiating the dream. Hours or even days are lost in dreaming.   A person can dream their future away; and time lost in fantasizing can never be found.

Proverbs 22:13 (NKJV)
The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”

4. Worrying 

Worry is perhaps the greatest cat burglar of all time.  Anxiety sneaks into the mind and causes us to spend needless time worrying about things that never come to pass.  Some say that ninety percent of what we worry over never amounts to anything.  

Matthew 6:25-36 (NKJV)
"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

5. Procrastination

Generally speaking, we tend to put those things off that we do not like doing or are fearful of doing.  Here is where procrastination becomes a time thief.  First, we spend more time finding excuses for not doing it than if we had just done it!   Plus! What is often the case; the job we have put off becomes more difficult and takes more of our time and money to remedy. 

Ecclesiastes 11:-4 (NKJV)
He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

6. Punishing Yourself

Have you noticed how much time people spend on beating themselves up for a mistake?  It’s often more time than it takes to correct the mistake.  Take this example: John installed a storm door only to discover he had it swinging the wrong directions.  John was so upset over his error that he spent the next three hours sulking in angry.  Three hours of wasted time and energy. 

This time crook (Punishing Yourself) delights in stealing time from Christians.  Many Christians have wasted a ton of time by being reluctant to serve God because of past sins.  Don’t lose another moment of time.  If you have sought forgiveness, then you have found forgiveness.  Move on!

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

7. Pleasing Others and/or Seeking Approval/Praise from Others

Living your life for others can be very exhausting and time consuming.  While it is natural to want to do nice things for people you love, pleasing others can become compulsive.  If you self-worth is based on the approval of others, there is a good chance most of your time will be spent unproductively.

Galatians 1:10 (ESV)
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

8. Never Leaving the Starting Gate

A race horse will never win a race if it doesn’t leave the gate.  The best way to make the best of the time the Lord has given you is to live it!  

2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV)
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Psalm 90:12 (NKJV)
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Living Out of this World!

Have you been told that you're not living in the real world? If you haven't been told so, then the probability of you living by faith is low; and chances are, you don't have a firm belief in the promises of God. 

Consider for a moment the account at Kadesh when Moses sent the twelve spies in Canaan (Numbers 13,14).  If you recall, ten of the twelve returned with a good and bad report.  They claimed the land was everything God had promised but that the inhabitants were mighty -- too mighty to be conquered by Israel even if the Almighty God was their redeemer. 

But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:6-9)

The ten were convinced that Joshua and Caleb were not living in the "real world." In reality, Joshua and Caleb were living in the "real Word"!  They were trusting the promises of a promise-keeping God.

The world today views the believer that lives their life according to the Word of God as being out of touch with reality; when in truth, they are in touch with reality.

So if you find people regarding you a little Out-of-this-world, cheer up.  You are among a noble group including Joshua and Caleb. 

How do you measure up?*

A key to living for Jesus is found in Galatians 2:20:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

A. W. Tozer made this observation concerning people who messure up to being "crucified with Christ:"

"People who are crucified with Christ have three distinct marks: 1. they are facing only one direction, 2. they can never turn back, and 3. they no longer have plans of their own." -A. W. Tozer 

How do you measure up?

Faithful Rewards?

His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Matthew 25:23

Remember when Jesus was talking about the talents? He said the same thing to all three men; (two were faithful and one wasn’t) He said, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things . . . I will now give you a gold house to live in, a pair of wings to fly with, and also an harp!” No, all of those things hadn’t anything to do with what He was talking about. He said, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things.” What was the reward? A gold crown? An harp? No, the reward was the lifting up of a quality of faithfulness, which the two men earned here, and projecting it upon a new plane over there—multiplied!

The reward was not the material things which most hymn writers put in singing books. The reward for those men was the faithfulness which they had acquired HERE, multiplied and projected upon a new level; on a new plane. Jesus Said “Thou hast been faithful over a few things—you will also now be faithful over many things.” -

John Wright Follette, Golden Grain

Beware Where You Let Your Heart Go!

His wives turned away his heart. 1 Kings 11:4.

EVERY man is vulnerable at one point of his character. Strong everywhere else, and armour-plated, he is weak there; and our great enemy knows just where to strike home. It would have been useless to argue with Solomon for the claims of idols. He could at once, by his wisdom, have annihilated all infidel arguments, and have established the existence and unity of God. But, step by step, he was led by silken cords, a captive, to the worship of other gods. It is  a solemn warning; and Nehemiah was perfectly justified when, in his contention with the Jews who had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab, he said, "Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things! Yet among many nations there was no king like him who was beloved of his God."

Let young people beware where they let their hearts go forth in love. Whom we love we resemble; and in the marriage tie it is almost inevitable that seductions to the lower will overcome the drawings to the higher. When a Christian disobeys God's distinct command against intermarriage with the ungodly, he begins to sink to the level of his ungodly partner whom he had thought to raise to his own religious standing.

Our associates determine the drift and current of our life. It is so easy to launch upon the current that flows past our feet; it seems impossible that the laughing, enticing water should ever carry us against sharp, splintering rocks, or over breaking cataracts. When we are compelled to associate with the ungodly, let us maintain a strict self-watch, and pray that the breath of the heavenward gale may more than counteract the tendency of the earthward current. -F. B. Meyer, Homily 

Life Is Too Short*

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice...) Hebrews 3:7

"Life is too short for us to put into manifestation much that we would choose. Even with a good choice, life is too short for it. But I tell you one thing, life is long enough so that when Truth is presented, and there is an occasion for us to make a decision; or a surrender; or die a death; or accept a Truth—right here is where we do it, but the fruitage—the real fruitage—of it, won’t always be seen here. We aren’t here long enough; the real fruitage will be projected in the things yet to come." -John Wright Follette, Golden Grain

Drive Only Your Car and Live Only Your Life

You can only drive one car at a time. Drive your car.  Many automobile accidents could be avoided if drivers would heed this simple fact.  Accidents occur when one driver assumes he or she knows what the other driver is going to do.  For example, you assume the other driver sees you or you may assume he or she has perfect control of their car.  When you begin driving for the other guy, you become a foolish driver. You can only drive one car at a time. 

This principle is true concerning life. You can only live your life and should never try to live someone else’s life. You really have all that you can handle living your own life. That is a little difficult especially when someone you love appears to be making the wrong choices. Nevertheless, the principle stands true. You cannot live for someone else.

You can, however, pray for that person; and if given the opportunity, you can attempt to influence them through love. Remember that you have no control over their life. You have all you can handle living your life. 

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Romans 14:12

You might find this article helpful: No Backseat Driver Needed!

To infinity and beyond

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Philippians 3:12 (NKJV)

In the movie Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear made famous the saying, “To infinity and beyond,” which is a paradox since there can be no “beyond” if there is infinity.  However, that catch-phrase popped into my head during a sermon when the speaker referred to the truth that none of us have arrived to perfection. True!  We won’t until we have reached “infinity and beyond” – heaven!

Nevertheless, I find it amazing that so many Christians believe that they have arrived.  They believe they have reached some destination of perfection that is usually better than most of their peers.  It really astounds me when I see this attitude appear in my preacher brethren and scares me when it appears in me.   Layman or clergy, you can be assured that the "I-have-arrived-syndrome" is a telltale sign of a coming fall (Proverbs 16:18 and 1 Corinthians 10:12).

Every morning we should awake with the keen awareness that we have much to learn and that this is a journey that only ends in heaven.  As Buzz Lightyear says, “To infinity and beyond!”

Check out this blog "Warning! Dangerous Curve!"

The Likeness of Christ

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. (Roman 6:5)

The likeness to Christ consists chiefly in two things—the likeness of His death and resurrection. The death of Christ was the consummation of His humility and obedience, the entire giving up of His life to God. In Him we are dead to sin. As we sink down in humility and dependence and entire surrender to God, the power of His death works in us, and we are made conformable to His death. And so we know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the victory over sin, and all the joy and power of the risen life. Therefore every morning, “present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead.” He will maintain the life He gave, and bestow the grace to live as risen ones.

All this can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. Count upon Him to glorify Christ in you. Count upon Christ to increase in you the inflowing of His Spirit. As you wait before God to realize His presence, remember that the Spirit is in you to reveal the things of God. Seek in God’s presence to have the anointing of the Spirit of Christ so truly that your whole life may every moment be spiritual. -Andrew Murray, The Deeper Christian Life

Read more about the Christian Life by Clicking Here.

The Seventh Principle

James Cash Penny, the founder of chain of stores known as J C Penny, opened his first store in the small mining community of Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902. The store did not bear his name but rather the name of Golden Rule which was the name of his former employers stores and now his partners.

Kemmerer was a boom town with a population of 1,000 people, a competing company store, and 21 drinking saloons. James adopted and endorsed seven business and personal principles know as Penny's Golden Rules.  It is the seventh principles that overshadows all the others that I have chosen for today's Wisdom Tidbit.

Penny's Seventh Golden Rule:

To test our every policy, method and act in this wise: "Does it square with what is right and just.?"

Does you life, motives, methods and actions square with what is right and just?

He has shown you, O man, what is good;And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly,To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

A good principle to live by! -Pastor Jim

Good-Old-Days?*

Are you living in the past? Some people miss the present and hinder the future because they are stuck in the past. They can only remember the good-old-days, so much so that they have no time to create some new good-old-days. 

The Christian needs to balance his life with the wisdom gained from the past so he or she can live rightly today while planning for a better tomorrow.  Solomon said, “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10 ESV).

"We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility of our future." -George Berrnard Shaw

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past are certain to miss the future." -John F. Kennedy

"Learn from the past, look to the future, but live in the present." -Petra Nemcova

Give you devotional time a kick-start with this affordable eBook, For His Glory: 31 Daily Meditations! Click Here and take a peek inside!

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