Running Out of Time

All of God's blessings to you, my friend! Ready for a conversation with God? Let's do it! But first let's remember to let God be the one who decides what we need to hear. The conversation starts with him, the sovereign King.

I'm taking in the thoughts of Psalm 39 on this beautiful Thursday. It's not expressing the mood I feel today. I'm up and this text is down. But before I move away from it, there may still be something I should hear. So I'm giving it a second read and a third... Here's one thing that I think God wants me to apply:

Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. (v. 4-5)

Thank you for that reminder, God. But I'm all too aware of it. I think a lot about how quickly the time passes, how fast the years seem to be blowing by. I see it especially in my children as they grow. A lifetime seems long when you think about it, but the actual living of it goes by so fast. And I wonder how many people rush through their lives and one day come to the moment of their death and realize that they never got around to truly living.

I don't want to be that guy! I don't want to waste my life on trivial stuff. I don't want to fail to experience the joy of the little blessings. I don't want to miss out on the big ones either just because I was too afraid to trust God and take a risk. I want to spend the time I should with my kids, my loved ones and my friends, and especially my God. I want to accomplish something I can take with me into eternity, something that will last and continue to make ripples for good after I'm gone. I can't let the clutter of this life keep me from what's most important. There is only so much time...and then it's gone.

It isn't exactly inspiring but it is motivational. God has given me my one life to live here and now. And it's not going to last long.

And so, Lord, my only hope is in you. (v. 7)

I'm going to live a whole lot longer on the other side of death than I will on this side. It's like comparing an inch worm to light ray from the furthest star, multiplied exponentially into infinity. So yes, I'm going to live now in preparation for then. I'm going to make sure that I use this little test run we call "life" to launch me into the real thing yet to come! There's just no other way that makes sense.

Check out the video below of a relevant song by Rebecca St. James. But first, can I ask you a favor in return for the time I put into this blog? Share this entry to your Facebook page by clicking on the Facebook icon below (F). Also, share your thoughts and reflections by commenting below. Choose Anonymous from the "Comment As" field, or sign in first with your Google account (top right corner of the page). Thank you so much!

I Feel So Guilty

Welcome to today's conversation with God! I hope these times in God's Word are strengthening to you and bring you closer to God. Today, let's settle into Psalm 38 for a few minutes. Give it a reading. Is there anything that stands out to you or speaks to your life right now? This psalm is a prayer of repentance and a plea for mercy and healing. So it's very specific to those times when we know that we have sinned against God and we feel the distance that our sin has created between him and us.

My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. (v. 4)

Guilt can be good and guilt can be bad. It depends on what is causing it and how you deal with it. There's true guilt and false guilt. True guilt is when you have done something wrong or failed to do something good that you should have done. It's like your conscience's smoke detector. It's going off, alerting you that you screwed up and you need to do something to fix it. False guilt is when you feel bad about something that you really shouldn't. Maybe it's guilt that someone else loads on you unfairly. Or maybe it's just you beating yourself up. But either way, guilt is heavy and it sucks the life out of you if you let it hang around.

So what to do? The solution isn't to lose your conscience. It's there for a good reason! If you keep repeating what you did wrong you'll eventually stop feeling bad about it. But that doesn't mean you're alright. Quite the opposite, it just means you've gone numb inside. You've stopped feeling what you should. You've let the smoke detector's batteries die. The threat is still there; you're just not hearing the alarm anymore.

The thing to do with guilt is deal with it. Figure out the source. Is it true or false guilt? If it's true guilt, the solution is found right here:

I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.... O LORD, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior. (v. 18, 21-22)

Give it to God. Own up. Admit it. And ask forgiveness. If you've received Jesus as your Savior, then the price has already been paid for your sin. Claim it. And then celebrate God's mercy and grace!

If it's false guilt, let it go. Identify it as an unfair burden and refuse to carry it. Give it to God, too. Affirm to him that you aren't subject to anyone else's judgment. You only answer to God. You are free to live under his loving rule and let his word be your guide. You are free from the bondage of other people's rules and expectations. God, it's good to be free!

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My Jaw-Dropping Inheritance

God is on his throne and watching over us today! I saw a glimpse of his majesty in the sunrise this morning on the water. I need to hear from him so I'm going to his Word, back to Psalm 37 for a second helping! Did you notice this thread?

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture (v. 3) .... those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. (v. 9-11).... those the LORD blesses will inherit the land (v. 22).... Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever (v. 27).... the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever (v. 29)... Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land (v. 34).

That's the refrain throughout this inspired song, which is all about the fact that God establishes his people and assures their future. The most immediate fulfillment of these promises was that the people of Israel would continue to be blessed to live in the land God had promised and given to them. But it ultimately speaks of something more, something further down the path of time--a time when all evil-doers will be totally removed from the landscape and only those who have put their hope in God will remain. Jesus was alluding to this psalm and reaffirming the same promise to you and me when he made the famous statement, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5: 5).

Throughout Scripture God makes promises about the new earth that he will recreate when he destroys the present one to purge it of all its corruption, much like he did in the flood of Noah. But this time it will be a total recreation, and the biggest difference will be that God will join the new heaven and new earth together as one. He will dwell among us, and we who love him will inherit it all! It will be ours to live eternally, to laugh, to play, to love, to serve, to be together, to be productive with work perfectly suited to us, to explore, to worship, to enjoy music and dancing, to feast, to experience the ultimate best of all of God's blessings forever!

I can't wait to enjoy all that God has in store! It will make all the struggles of this life fade away into oblivion, scarcely to be thought of again. And I will inherit it because of the grace of Jesus Christ! My investments are going there. It's going to be awesome beyond words! Thank you, Lord!

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Sweet Time With the Lord

Good morning and happy Friday! This is Michele sharing with you this morning. I am reading Psalm 37, which is rather long. There are a plethora of insights to be gained from this song but this is what spoke to my heart this morning:

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. (v. 4-5)

First of all, how do I delight in the Lord? Remember what it was like when you first met your spouse or, for the single people, the time you fell in love with someone? The longing for every minute you spend together, talking on the phone for endless hours about any and everything, taking extra time to make sure that you look wonderful for this person. Getting to know him or her was/is exciting and exhilarating! You took/take delight in that person, deriving great pleasure from being with him or her. That's just the same way that we should take delight in the Lord! The more time we spend with God, the better we will know him. Spending time with him should be as exciting as spending time with the person we are in love with. After all, God loves us even more! Knowing that gives me delight in him.

Does the second part of this verse mean that if we do this then God will give us anything we want? No, not hardly. Wouldn't that be nice? I do believe it means that the more time we spend with him, the more we will delight in him and desire him. This will then result in us wanting more and more of him! Don't we become like those we spend lots of time with? My heart will ultimately desire the things of God and not so much the things of this world. Therefore, he will give me the desires of my heart because my heart will desire him!!

As I spend more and more time with the Lord, I will learn to trust him in all areas of my life. God is trustworthy and is able to take care of all things much better than I am. I will begin to commit everything to his care because I will have experienced the true depth of his grace and love for me over and over again. What a relief to know that he will help me!!

Dear Father God, I want to desire you more and more every day! I want to take even more delight in you than I do in the person I am in love with. Help me to spend more time with you, talking with you throughout my day, sharing each and every detail with you. Give me a deep desire for your Word, Lord. Please lead me in your ways and fill my heart with delight and desire for you! Amen

Okay, guys....it's your turn now! Please share your thoughts and insights with us. We thoroughly enjoy your comments and hope that you will make them known. Have a wonderful Friday and great weekend!

The Fun House Mirror

Welcome back to the fellowship we share here in the blog! What a blessing it is to my heart every day to come here and be stimulated with thoughts that help me be a better person in God's sight. I am also thankful to be part of this Christian family that I treasure -- the family of God. I, Katrinka, am writing today instead of Chris as he travels back home after a short trip out of town. It is my prayer that the thoughts that come to me today from Psalm 36 will be a blessing to you, as you are to me with your comments. Please DO comment. Then it is as though we are sitting together in a lovely place and discussing these things instead of just traveling a one-way street.

"...concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:

There is no fear of God before his eyes,

for he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin." (vv. 1-2)

It is really hard for me to see myself in an unbiased way! Mostly I think that I am "a good person" who tries my best to live in a good way. I try to keep from hurting others as much as possible, and I try to remember to work on the faults I know that I have. But even then, it is impossible for me to see myself as others see me. It is especially impossible for me to see myself as God sees me. It is a lot like looking into one of those crazy mirrors in a Fun House. No matter what you do to get a better perspective on yourself, still the image you see before you that is supposed to be you is really not right at all! It is a false image -- a distortion of me.

I am especially humbled when I remember that Jesus taught that only God is GOOD. I know that I sin even when I try not to. But if only I can recognize it and see myself in a more realistic light, then I can know how to pray and how to live to become more what God wants me to be. The Bible is the best mirror for our souls. If we look into it regularly, we are more likely to see our own shortcomings more clearly. We can then see a true image in place of a distortion.

Most of us are a lot better at checking out the faults of another person than we are at seeing and recognizing our own "dirty linen." We can easily tell someone else what he/she needs to change, can't we? It reminds me of the parable that Jesus told about the guy with the log in his eye trying to take a splinter out of another guy's eye! Impossible, right? Please, Lord, let me remember this story more often!

The real cause of such blindness is diagnosed right there in the first part of this passage in Psalm 36: "There is no fear of God before his eyes." If a person has no fear of God, no respect for His Creator, does not even acknowledge that there is a God, then he is truly blind in the ultimate way. God is Light, and if we refuse that Light, we live in the deepest darkness. No wonder then that such a one cannot see his own faults? Does a mole know that it lives in darkness?

The closest way to God's heart is through humility -- through our humility to see our own mistakes and confess them. First I must confess my mistakes to myself before I am even able to begin to confess them to God, and to others. We are taught by Jesus to confess our sins to each other. Instead, all too often we go to great lengths to simply cover them up. It takes genuine humility to admit fault, and yet we are never more fault-free than when we fall on our faces before our God, and before other people and admit our mistakes. Then we are truly raised up and blessed as a child of the King! Now, it is YOUR turn. Please share your thoughts on this, or another verse in this beautiful Psalm.

Blessed Lord, please give me clear eyes to see myself honestly. Please help me to be able to admit to my problems and sinful ways, and then seek your Face and the love of my fellow Christians to overcome my failings and sins. Thank you, Lord! In Jesus' blessed name I ask it all, Amen.



How to Comment As Yourself

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That will take you to another page titled “Create a Google account.” Fill in the fields, choose a password, submit it, and you’re done. You can even attach a photo or icon to your profile if you want which will show up beside your name when you comment.

Now you can go back to the Sign In link on my blog, fill in your email and password, and click on the Sign In button. It will send you back to the blog page and you can now comment. You will see in the “Comment as” field that it now has your name.

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Let me know if you have any problems. Now, please read today's journal entry, God In My Corner, by clicking on it's title in the right-hand column!

God In My Corner

Welcome to our daily conversation with God! If you'd like to read it regularly, please use the appropriate link on the right column. Today we're letting God speak to us from Psalm 35. Voice this prayer with me. What most resonates with you? I found both an assurance and a great purpose to carry with me. First, the assurance:

The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant. (v. 27)

Michele pointed out in yesterday's entry that a trouble-free life would leave us feeling independent and without need of God, even though he would be the one eliminating all our problems. That is one reason he allows us to go through times when our faith is both tested and refined. But at the same time, the above statement from verse 27 assures me that God is always for me, not against me, when I have given him my life.

That's important because every temptation I face to do wrong basically is rooted in the lie that God's way isn't the best, that he is holding out on me. And every time I feel discouraged in the middle of life's troubles and stresses, it's because I wonder if God has turned his back on me. As someone I know recently complained, "Why should I keep believing in God? He's doing nothing for me!"

But God is telling me that he delights in my well-being. He is for me, not against me. He is wise enough to know what is best for me and loving enough to want to give it to me. When I flourish, he is delighted! And the reality is that my best growth often comes through the challenges and failures. So he allows those too. But even then God's ultimate purpose for me is to see me flourish and become all that he dreams for me. With that confidence, I can carry with me the purpose that David had for his life:

My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long. (v. 28)

Knowing that God is in my corner, rooting me on, I will go about each day with this intention--not just thinking of him or avoiding sin but also looking for every opportunity to put in a good word about God. I will honor the God who loves me as his own child by speaking his praises. When I am blessed, I can acknowledge that with my mouth. Instead of saying, "Wow, I sure am lucky!" I can say, "Wow! God sure is good!" That will both increase my feeling of closeness to him and point others to him. See how many times you can speak of his goodness today!

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