Dying to self brings life.
A long-time friend wrote, “As you run from God, while you believe that you are getting away with something, you are being given leave to do as you please. The longer and farther you run, your imagination will be allowed to keep expressing itself till you have deceived yourself from acknowledging the presence and reality of the Creator. Turn back.”
Running from God has a name, The Jonah Syndrome. Jonah heard God’s voice and literally started running from God to the point he had to die (swallowed by a big fish) and then be resurrected (spit out by same fish) to turn around.
If you’re running from Jesus, don’t you think it’s time to stop in order to experience all that living in God’s presence brings? The Alpha and Omega and the Author and Finisher of your faith is the only One who can bring you what you think running from Him will achieve – peace and purpose.
Jesus’ death made us right with the Father to give us peace. Jesus’ death took away all condemnation while we walk with Him in pursuit of our God-given purpose. And, Jesus’ life keeps us experiencing both on a daily basis.
Jesus offers you a fresh start each and every moment of the day. I encourage you to take Him up on His offer right now. It’s much more pleasant than being thrown overboard to get your attention.

Your answer to a simple math problem speaks volumes about your belief system.
It was a public discussion on the results of taking God/Higher Power out of the American public school system. Does everyone believe 1+1=2 anymore?
During the discussion someone said, “We should teach morality in our schools.” I then said, “Whose morality?” They were stumped until they that realized that not everyone believes 1+1=2 anymore.
“1+1=2 is a statement about reality. Among other things, it’s a denial of eastern mysticism where ‘all is one.’ For if ‘all is one’ were true, then 1+1=2 wouldn’t be true. Everything would equal 1.”
Think about that for a second. What kind of reaction would you get from the cashier if you gave them $1 for two pounds of apples at a $1/pound? They’d ask for more money; and, if you’d leave without paying that extra buck, you’d soon be handcuffed sitting in the back of a police car for stealing.
1+1 does = 2.This concept of absolute truth and real meaning to words (e.g. love) and symbols (e.g. numbers) comes from Scripture.
John 1:1 states that Jesus is the logos, or logic, behind the world in which we live. And, the reality of His birth was written in words using symbols that had absolute meaning long before Jesus was actually born.
In Matthew 2, the magi came to Jerusalem because the numbers of Daniel 9 added up and asked where the king was to be born because words in Micah 5 had a specific meaning.
Jesus came to fulfill the absolute meaning of the words in Scripture right down to every stroke of the pen and breathing mark on the page.
And because that’s true, make sure Jesus is your Higher Power, not your feelings or opinions. 1+1=2. Choose to believe that His words can change your life for the better today, tomorrow and well into eternity! It’s as simple as 1+1=2.

This small book, the Bible, is about a big God.
It’s been said that the smaller our view of God is, the bigger our challenges become. And yet, it takes those very same challenges to expose our tiny views of God.
The reality of life is this. As long as we live on this planet, we will face challenges. We live in enemy territory where our adversary wants to defeat us through our small views of God.
Yet he loses every time we allow our faith in a huge God to grow. And, where do we discover more truths about this huge God? Reading the Scriptures through a Spirit given lens while listening to Jesus.
As we continue to dig deeper and deeper into that small book that we hold in our hands, our view of who God is and what He can do only gets bigger; thus making our challenges become smaller and smaller.
It’s uncanny how reading it through each year has allowed me to be right where I needed to be in order to read what I needed to read so I could hear what I needed to hear so my faith in a bigger God could get me through each day’s battles.

Seeing life through Jesus’ lens, not yours.
It today’s western Christian culture, there seem to be many who are questioning the validity of Scripture. The reason for this is that there are passages that seem to go against what some feel are not valid for today’s living.
Which scriptural injunctions are for today’s world? And more importantly, who gets to decide? Picking and choosing based on one’s point of view, rather than God’s, is always a slippery slope. If you need examples of this, simply read the book of Judges; and, look at Israel’s history that led to her being removed from the Land…twice.
If we believe the words in the Book are from God; then we have to dive deeper when passages “seem” wrong to “us” to get at what God is trying to explain to us.
Do we really believe Jesus knows what’s best for us? And isn’t the entire point of faith to trust what He says to do or not do, even when it doesn’t make sense or feel right to us, because it’s for our good and His glory when we do?
I’ll bet it seemed pretty crazy to Noah to hear God say build a boat, something he’d never done before, and, to Abraham to go to place where he would only the get the directions to until after he left his home and friends behind.
Everyone on this planet lives by faith. The question is, in whom?

When Scripture seems contradictory, blow up your boxes!
I often find that the Spirit has to blow up my tiny boxes so He can expand my view of Jesus. This is especially true when it comes to how I view myself when I look into the mirror.
Hebrew 10:14 states that through one sacrifice, Jesus’, we’re both perfect right now and being made perfect at the same time. I realize this seems contradictory; only, however, if you see if from your point of view.
God knows, at times, we will fail this side of heaven. This doesn’t mean that He wants us to fail. He knows sinning only hurts us and those around us. It’s just that it doesn’t surprise Him.
God sees the entire picture from beginning to end. We’re already holy/perfect because of what Jesus has already done. Our Father sees this picture while we only see the process of becoming perfect, which entails failure.
Our viewpoint leads to making wrong conclusions about who Jesus is and what He has done and to saying some very degrading statements about ourselves, which only leads to more failure.
It is because of the one sacrifice – Jesus’ – that we have access to a forgiveness that covers those failures. Be ever thankful for that one sacrifice. And then, give thanks for how God sees you the next time you look in the mirror. It will blow up your boxes about who Jesus is!