Monday, October 09, 2006

Revere Him

Deuteronomy 13:4


"It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him."


Diets have been a fad for many generations. There are so many programs and ideas in how best to lose weight. When you watch the commercials, they will show you how individuals lost so much weight in so little time. If there is a program the proves that a person, especially the person selling the product, lost weight quickly and painlessly then people will follow. So many have obsessed over diet programs. Unfortunately, most have failed and then looks for the next best thing.


When we find ourselves in search of an answer and believes we found it, then we would do everything we can to follow the instructions to fulfilling our needs. Slowly our lifestyle changes along with it. If we see results, be invest more time and eventually it can be life changing. We share our successes with others so they can applaud our efforts, but also to have them join our successes.


As Christians, do we believe in the life changing experience of having Christ in our lives? Or have we "compartmentalized" our lives where this is only part of our "church life"? Most of us can say that we obey Him and follow Him, but is it when we attend church, volunteer at church, and with our church friends? Or does every actions of our lives reflect Christ in it?


We are reminded that to revere Him is not to sit at a pew and ponder on His magnificence, but to take action and worship Him. Worshipping Him is not just with lifting our arms and singing to Him. Worshipping Him is when our life itself is a song to Him.


Let us not just sing a beautiful song to our Lord with our voices, but also through our life.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Lifetime Race

Philippians 3:12-14

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (v. 14)


Ah, the new year has started and many are looking forward to a great year. People are chipper and have a great outlook. Unfortunately, it lasts for 2-4 weeks. An example is with the commercials. There are more ads about dieting and exercise during this part of the year than any others. This is due to the New Year's resolution most make. Unfortunately, most set too high of expectations only leaving failure to cope with. It is unfortunate that it comes once a year, and therefore an immediate sense of the inability to achieve the goal leaves it doomed to fail only to be attempted again at the start of the next year.


Fortunately, as Christians we are encouraged to live otherwise. Each new day is a new year. We do not take sprints or 100-yard races. We are reminded that this is a lifetime race. Every stride we take is equally important, and must be taken to reach the end goal. In a race, one may do very well during most of their laps, but if the last lap is not completed, then the goal is unmet and the race is incomplete. We must therefore pace ourselves and take every stride as best we can. Just as bodybuilders slowly increase their weights from the last one, we too should build from the last stride. Let us not be like a baby tossed to and fro, but continue to grow in our walk with our Father one step at a time. And if we happen to fall or stumble, let us get up and begin again to walk slowly and build our stride until we reach the end goal. Let us not lose sight or hope, for we have faith in our Lord and His strength will carry us through.