Saturday, September 26, 2009

Love Your Neighbor

"The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31a)

LEGOS!!! A source of fun, creativity, wonder, and excitement. Each time you play with them, you can create oodles of designs. I have spent countless hours creating the design they were intended for (according to the directions) and many more hours coming up with my own creation based on suggestions from my children. (Children really do have creative imaginations.)

After spending what seems like hours building ships, castles, skyscrapers, cruisers, and an army of various lego people to be integrated into each new scene, my kids would sometimes spend only 10-15 minutes playing before my lego building skills would once again needed to repair a broken ship or put back together a crashed cruiser.

Confused by the quick destruction and rapid rebuilding process that was needed, I decided to watch my youngest play with his legos once I was out of sight. Lego warriors scaled the tall building, rescued other lego buddies from a burning ship, and crashed their modes of transportation into other legos. There also were swords flying and Tae Kwon Do matches going on among the lego people. Very fascinating!

I bet you are wondering how this all relates to "Love you neighbor". As a Christian, we are asked to rescue (help) those around us who are in need of assistance. That could be by holding the door open for them when their hands are full. It may mean taking an extra 5-10 minutes to call a friend who is struggling with something. But, we are not to have our swords flying at one another. That means, watch what you say to others. Our words can be so sharp and hurtful that we actually injury someone emotionally with them. Gossip is another way that we can harm another. Loving your neighbor means to be considerate of them. No verbal or emotional Tae Kwon Do matches!!!

Who is God asking you to be kind to? Be aware that sometimes, it may mean going out of our way to help them or show compassion to them. Listen for God's direction and ask Him everyday, how you can show kindness and love to someone else.

In His Service,




Tuesday, September 1, 2009

A Solid Foundation

"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established" (Proverbs 24:3)

Building a house takes a lot of planning, work, and money. It must begin with a solid foundation. If this foundation is weak, the house may be blown away when the storms of life come.

Our own personal faith can be considered to be like a house. We must build our faith on a solid foundation (Christ alone is that solid foundation). As we study God's Truth in the Bible, we are to pray for God's wisdom and insight so that we can understand the words written in scripture. As God opens His truth to us, we begin the develop a deeper understanding of Him. This deeper understanding helps to develop strong "beams" and brick walls to make our house stronger.

It does take planning on our part to set aside time on a regular basis to spend with God, it takes work (discipline) to not let the distractions of this world draw us away from studying or away for believing that God is the answer! It also takes a money (an investment maybe money or maybe an investment of time). God's Word tells us that were our treasure is, there our heart will be also.

When the storms of life come, they may rattle our windows but when our foundation is built on Christ and His Word serves as the beams and walls of our house, our house is not shaken off its foundation.

As you look at your own life, are you investing your time to build a solid foundation (one built on Christ)? Do you set aside time regularly during the week to pray and seek God's direction and wisdom? How do you spend your money? Do you give back of your time and money to serve others (participate in canned food drives, volunteer at a homeless shelter, donate to the Cancer Society or other worthy causes) and are you teaching this to your children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren?

I challenge you to be sure you have build a solid foundation on Christ. Be ready for those storms. It is not if they come, it is for when they come. Blessings,