Give Life With Your Words
Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit – you choose. (Proverbs 18:21 MSG) You have the power to kill or give life. Yes, you, gentle reader – a follower of Christ – are capable of murder, and so am I. We can speak death with our words, or we can speak life. Perhaps you’ve been on the other side of the killing kind of messages: “You’re not smart enough. You’re not thin enough. You’re not fast enough. You’re not good enough. A real Christian wouldn’t think such a thing.” In a world where people are beat up …
wanted dead or alive
About the time I think I’m having a challenging day … I discover another truth about Jesus. Although believers call Him the King of Kings … He certainly didn’t live like a king while on earth. As a matter of fact Jesus was a wanted man. Before He was two years old King Herod wanted Jesus dead. Matthew 2:13 His hometown “friends” in Nazareth wanted to throw Him over a cliff. Luke 4:28 The Pharisees wanted Him dead. Matthew 12:14 The Jews wanted Him dead. John 8:59 The Sanhedrin wanted Him dead. John 11:53 The Chief Priests wanted Him dead. …
The Forgetful Servant
“All of you, serve each other in humility, for God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 NLT) Serving others requires forgetfulness on your part: You need to forget your own needs. You cannot be self-centered and serve the real needs of another person. “Don’t be selfish …,” Paul says in Philippians 2:3, “Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.” (NLT) Jesus gave his disciples an example of this humility when he stooped to wash their feet: “So during the meal Jesus stood up and took off his outer clothing. …
Cooperating With A Smile
“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had – though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave ….” (Philippians 2:5-7 NLT) Cooperation is doing with a smile what you have to do anyway. You’ll never find that sentence in the Bible, but I think its spirit is implied throughout God’s Word. We are called to be obedient to God’s commands, and part of that obedience is having a sensitive servant’s attitude. I learned this lesson years ago when I …
