For Whom Are You Playing?

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

Perhaps you have read the story told by Coach Bertman, the successful athletic director at Louisiana State University. But it's well worth a reminder in how it helps if we're playing and/or working for someone else. Here's the story as told by Michael Josephson in Character Counts.

"Coach Bertman emphasized the idea that his players were never simply acting for themselves. He reminded them: 'You represent LSU, your family and your Maker.'"

On one occasion "he told a story about a young man named John who played football for Columbia University in the 1930s. Well, actually, John was on the squad because he had a terrific attitude, but he was a bench warmer who hadn't been in a single game.

"During his senior year, John's father died. When he returned from the funeral he asked his coach if he could start in the next game to honor his dad. The coach couldn't refuse, but he warned John that it probably would be only for a few plays.

"To the coach's surprise, John played so well that he was declared the game's most valuable player. When the coach asked John how he was able to play at such a high level after just losing his father, John said, 'You know, coach, my dad came to every game. You probably saw me walking with him holding his arm. That's because he was blind.

Well, I figure today was the first time he ever saw me play. I was playing for my daddy.'"

I'm not going to argue whether John's dad saw his son play or not. But it's certainly true in that whatever we as Christians do, we'll do it better if and when we do it as unto the Lord knowing that he sees all and that he keeps the final score

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.

Do not envy sinners

Then Jesus said to his disciples:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Luke 12:22-26 NIV

Should vs Want

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom [liberty]."

Recently we had a critical situation. Joy went interstate to help take care of family matters and assured me that there was no need for me to come. Because I was under a lot of work pressure, it would have been so much easier for me to stay at home. But to me it was important that I go, not because I should, but because I wanted to be with Joy to support her and the family.
Have you ever been in a similar situation and noticed that there is a big difference between "shoulds" and "wants"? If I do certain things only because I should and my heart is not in it, how genuine is that? I am talking more about a type of compulsive "shoulds" that can be very confusing at times.

If you have ever struggled with even mild compulsive "shoulds," how can you tell what is from God, from your own self, or even from the enemy?
Compulsive "shoulds" can come from various sources. They can come from a mental condition in the brain that is inherited, or from an over-dependent need to be popular, accepted and admired. They can come from a neurotic need for approval, from false motives, for payback or even to manipulate others. They can also come from a spirit of legalism which keeps one in terrible bondage.

Or they can come from the enemy—as the old saying goes, "If Satan can't pull us down into a life of sin and debauchery, he will try to push us over the top so we become so "heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use." This was so for me in my youthful days. It was like there was a little voice inside my head that would say, "You better do this or you better not do that. Or you better do that or you better not do this." At the time I thought this inner voice was from God telling me what I should do and what I shouldn't do. It got very confusing at times.

With the help of an understanding pastor, the defining factor for me was this:
Is there a spirit of freedom in what this "inner voice" was "telling" me to do or was it a spirit of bondage? In my heart did I genuinely want to do this or was I being compulsively driven?

If it were the latter, I knew it wasn't a genuine desire in my heart and it wasn't from God because, as God's Word says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom"

Good Read

Being Nice or Being Christian?
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."1
In training for Christian ministry I recall one of my professors stating that every church had a church boss; that is, someone or a small group who, often behind the scenes, control the happenings of the church. This isn't usually the pastor or priest. Today we call these people control freaks. They have a neurotic need to control others in order to feel okay about themselves, when in reality they do this because deep down they don't feel okay about themselves.

William Easum calls them bullies. After years of consulting with churches he said, "I have seen a disturbing pattern: Most established churches are held hostage by bullies. Some individual or small group of individuals usually opposes the church's making any radical change, even if it means the change would give the church a chance to thrive again. Courageous pastors often ask, 'What do I do when one or two persons intimidate the church so much that it is not willing to try something new?'"

Easum's response was either to convert them, neutralize them, or kick them out. To which some cry, "That's not very Christian."

The point is that sometimes (not always, by any means) we Christians are just too nice. That's more because we are too afraid to stand up to bullies and call their bluff—not because we're Christian. We'd rather keep the peace than rock the boat.

True, we are to be loving, but that doesn't mean we always have to be nice. I recall hearing an employer share how he was accused of not being Christian by an inept employee he was firing. So he said to the employee in question, "Well I'm going to lovingly fire you." If, after being given several warnings and help to improve, an employee is not pulling his or her weight, it isn't loving to let him off the hook. In fact, it is reinforcing his irresponsibility, which is anything but loving. Neither is it loving to allow bullies to control a church.

So let's not confuse loving with being nice.

Jesus was always loving and compassionate as this was his nature, but he wasn't always nice.

Think how he turned over the tables of the money changers—merchants who were ripping off the poor in the house of God, no less—and drove them out of the temple with a whip, and how he scathingly scorned the religious bigots who loved their doctrines more than they loved people, and used their teachings to control people for their own ends.

Jesus knew the value of tough love. Not that it's easy. In fact, it can be very difficult, but we need to exercise it too when such is called for.

In good times and bad times

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity;

in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry,

both of having abundance and suffering need.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:12,13 NASB

Can you guess who this is???

Watch the entire video and identify the person whom you guys know very well...in fact this person is one of us....:))) ...Guess who???

It is not a joke...it is for real!!!

I am confused.

Saw this recently and am rather confused. Can anyone enlighten me whether it is alright to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to GOD as indicated below?

And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-

These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."

Isaiah 56:6-7 NIV