There is some concern that God wasn't always a missionary worker, that he only wanted Israel to be his, and the gentiles were essentially a back-up plan. This is not so. Read Zachariah 8:23:
This is what the LORD Almighty says: "In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'"
Why you hate your job...
Men, want to know why you feel unfulfilled in your work?
Part of the curse my friends...
Genesis 3
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Part of the curse my friends...
Genesis 3
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
The problem with Success
Funny thing about success...it breeds complacency, at least when one is not accustomed to success. For example, I ran a half marathon just over a week ago. That's 13.1 miles straight and I did it with zero walking and with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes, 33 seconds. Not bad for a big fella like me. That equaled success for me. I essentially took the next week off, only running twice.
This week, I tried to run on Monday and got a mile and a half before quitting. Yesterday I ran 4 miles with a friend and ran it only because he was. I would have quit miles before that if he hadn't been running it with me. I kept thinking, "I already have a half marathon under my belt. Why am I torturing myself?"
Yes, I do already have a half marathon under my belt...and it will be the only one under my belt if I don't stick with the running. Last week, and through yesterday, I had been complacent with my running. I could look at the Finisher's shirt I got at the Carlsbad half marathon and know that I could do it.
But that doesn't mean I can do it again. I must get back out there and continue running. I have a huge mission. I have to lose a significant amount of weight for my Navy weigh-in coming up in just under two months. I ran my first half marathon for my daughter and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Now I'm running for my career.
Success, for those of us who have not felt substantial amounts of it, can breed complacency. I have been complacent for a little over a week. That ended yesterday with a punishing 4 mile run. Today I'm fully back on the saddle. I know it will be painful for awhile, but I will be back and better than I was at Carlsbad.
Has success equaled complacency for you? How are you able to push through complacency to meet your goals?
This week, I tried to run on Monday and got a mile and a half before quitting. Yesterday I ran 4 miles with a friend and ran it only because he was. I would have quit miles before that if he hadn't been running it with me. I kept thinking, "I already have a half marathon under my belt. Why am I torturing myself?"
Yes, I do already have a half marathon under my belt...and it will be the only one under my belt if I don't stick with the running. Last week, and through yesterday, I had been complacent with my running. I could look at the Finisher's shirt I got at the Carlsbad half marathon and know that I could do it.
But that doesn't mean I can do it again. I must get back out there and continue running. I have a huge mission. I have to lose a significant amount of weight for my Navy weigh-in coming up in just under two months. I ran my first half marathon for my daughter and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Now I'm running for my career.
Success, for those of us who have not felt substantial amounts of it, can breed complacency. I have been complacent for a little over a week. That ended yesterday with a punishing 4 mile run. Today I'm fully back on the saddle. I know it will be painful for awhile, but I will be back and better than I was at Carlsbad.
Has success equaled complacency for you? How are you able to push through complacency to meet your goals?
Gluttony Part III
In the first part of our trip through gluttony, I focused on two passages from Proverbs. Today is our final edition of the Proverbs gluttony file. You can click below for the first two sections:
Part I
Part II
As for the final section of our current study, we turn to Proverbs 23:20-21.
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine
or gorge themselves on meat,
21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
While gluttony itself can mean more than just overeating, but rather any indulgence, this passage makes it pretty clear that the writer is talking about overeating. So we look at this and see what the passage suggests:
1. Gluttony results in becoming poor. It's no stretch to believe that an alcoholic can and probably will ruin his finances. Beer and liquor costs money. But can you waste money with gluttony? Yep! I've never done the exact figures, because I still live in denial, but I figure that I spend at least $30-$40 a month on soda alone. And we're trying to save for a new family car right now! What a waste... I'm not saying that eating healthy isn't expensive as well, but we're talking about wasting, and gluttony is wasting. My soda-drinking habits are just part of that overall trend in my life.
2. Drowsiness clothes them in rags...Being full all the time makes one sleepy, especially in the afternoon. Like a food-induced coma, the overeater becomes lazy and unproductive. Unproductive people don't keep jobs, or don't advance in them. In the Biblical times, that equaled living in rags. That might be a little different for us in our day, but not much philosophically.
3. Matthew Henry says: "It is really a shame to make a god of the belly." That is exactly what we do with food, unless one eats because he has made food his god. Either way, it is a shameful act.
We must fight against the act of gluttony. Correction...I must fight against the act of gluttony. I must go back to the true God every time the desire to fall comes, just as I might to fight against lust, cheating, lying, etc.
What does this passage mean to you?
Part I
Part II
As for the final section of our current study, we turn to Proverbs 23:20-21.
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine
or gorge themselves on meat,
21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
While gluttony itself can mean more than just overeating, but rather any indulgence, this passage makes it pretty clear that the writer is talking about overeating. So we look at this and see what the passage suggests:
1. Gluttony results in becoming poor. It's no stretch to believe that an alcoholic can and probably will ruin his finances. Beer and liquor costs money. But can you waste money with gluttony? Yep! I've never done the exact figures, because I still live in denial, but I figure that I spend at least $30-$40 a month on soda alone. And we're trying to save for a new family car right now! What a waste... I'm not saying that eating healthy isn't expensive as well, but we're talking about wasting, and gluttony is wasting. My soda-drinking habits are just part of that overall trend in my life.
2. Drowsiness clothes them in rags...Being full all the time makes one sleepy, especially in the afternoon. Like a food-induced coma, the overeater becomes lazy and unproductive. Unproductive people don't keep jobs, or don't advance in them. In the Biblical times, that equaled living in rags. That might be a little different for us in our day, but not much philosophically.
3. Matthew Henry says: "It is really a shame to make a god of the belly." That is exactly what we do with food, unless one eats because he has made food his god. Either way, it is a shameful act.
We must fight against the act of gluttony. Correction...I must fight against the act of gluttony. I must go back to the true God every time the desire to fall comes, just as I might to fight against lust, cheating, lying, etc.
What does this passage mean to you?
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