Teflon Love

Teflon Love

OK, I'm not much of a cook, but when my wife's really busy and under the weather, we get to eat my cooking for dinner. Which means a very limited menu which will, invariably, include the grilled cheese option. Now, as I prepare this gourmet specialty, I reach for my trusty skillet - the one that's coated with Teflon. You don't have to be a headliner on the Food Channel to know that life is much easier when you have a pan that things don't stick to; they sort of just slide right off.

Most churches, most families, most workplaces could use some Teflon, don't you think? I'm talking people who don't let things stick to them; they just let them slide right off. I hope you are one or that you want to become one!

The Apostle Peter is talking about that kind of relationships in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Peter 4:8. He simply says, "Above all..." Now, what follows is going to be his most important point. "...love each other deeply." Why? He says, "Because love covers a multitude of sins." He was talking to people who were undergoing a lot of pressure, a lot of pain for their commitment to Jesus Christ. The last thing they needed was grief from each other! So he recommends sort of a Teflon approach to relationships: love people enough that your love will enable you to overlook their wrongdoings.

Overlooking love - that's Teflon love! "Un-love" keeps score all the time; it marks down every time it gets offended or wounded, it harbors, and it never forgets an offense. If you're that kind of person in your relationships, then when someone crosses you, you don't let it go, you let it grow.

But Jesus-style love has no scorecard. If you love as He's told us to, then you simply refuse to store the negatives from other people or about other people. You're Teflon, and the negatives don't stick to you. They slide off.

Could it be that you've been allowing hard feelings toward someone you know to start growing in you? Is there some resentment, some anger, some bitterness that you've allowed to stick to your soul toward someone in your family; maybe even your mate or your child or your parent? Or maybe it's hard feelings toward someone at church, or where you work, in a ministry you're involved with. The Bible calls it a "root of bitterness" and says what will happen if you allow it to grow in you much longer. "It will cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews 12:15).

If there's any unforgiveness in your heart, hear your Lord's word, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another." You may say, "Yeah, but what about the way they treated me?" God shoots down all our "yeah buts" with His next sentence, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13). You don't treat people as they've treated you; you treat them as Jesus has treated you!

So ask your Lord for a dose of His love that will cover rather than harbor the wrongs against you. Love enough to cover not just a few of them, but a multitude of sins. Things don't stick to someone who has God's Teflon love. They slide off!

Ron Hutchcraft

Called unto Holiness

Called unto Holiness

"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." 1 Thessalonians 4:7

What is holiness of life? Immediately, many think of some pious individual, separated into an isolated lifestyle that knows nothing of the reality of life. That is not what Paul is talking about here. Holiness is conformity to the mind and will of God, which is applicable to both our heart and our walk, integrated into every phase of our life. Why is this so difficult? He who made us, knows best how we should live, what would be best for our good, and glorifying to Him. That's true, but we have such a struggle, a constant battle. We always want to raise the ugly head of SELF and seek after the ways of the flesh. WHY?

When Adam sinned, he received a sinful nature that was at enmity with God. A nature that puts self first and everything else, including God, wherever it may fall. We have inherited that sinful nature. However, when we received Christ as Savior, we became a new creation with a spiritual nature born of God, and when surrendered to Him, is glorifying to God. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who reveals to us God's Word, opens our minds to understand what it says, leads us in the paths of life, instructs us in the way we should live, and enlightens us to His will.

He seeks to bring us into a holy life, a life characterized by righteousness, not ours, but HIS. Paul said, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Philippians 3:9). To this end, Jesus lived and died "that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). We are to turn from the natural pull of our sinful nature and surrender to the claims of our new spiritual nature given to us by God at conversion.

God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy. Paul says, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?... Being made free from sin, and become the servants of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life" (Romans 6:16, 22).

A life characterized by His righteousness is to have HIS LIFE LIVED THROUGH US. It is when the totality of our life, our will, our desires, our hope, the very essence of our life is in His sovereign control. What others see is not our life but HIS. The striving to be holy becomes a yielding to His holiness. The only thing in our life that will last in eternity will be what HE DOES THROUGH US.

To be holy is to completely surrender our will to His Will, our way to His Way, and our life to His lordship. Could there be a more blessed life than to be under His care and loving control? Could there be any greater joy than to be led by His Spirit and motivated by His love? As the Holy Spirit begins to open our lives and hearts to a new and living relationship with Christ, only then will we start becoming like Him, being conformed to the image of HIS SON. He has called us to holiness.

Ed Powell

[Shared by Bro. Dinesh Pandian]

Where Is the Church?

Where Is the Church?

It seems to me that more people who claim to be Christ-followers in this world are caught up in doing church over being church. But church isn't a place. It isn't a set of rituals. It isn't the performance abilities of teachers or musicians. Church is the life of Jesus on display through his people – with Jesus functioning as head and all his people as various parts of his body in the world.

Jerry Cook tells a story about Richard Halverson that illustrates the contrast between "doing" and "being" as the people who confess Christ.

Dr. Halverson was chaplain of the United States Senate for several years. He would occasionally visit the seminary where Cook was a student. After one of those visits to speak to students, he joined a group of them for coffee and made himself available for informal conversation.

"Dr. Halverson," began one of the seminarians, "where is your church?" The student was asking about the street location of the Presbyterian Church Halverson served, but he got a deeper and more insightful answer.

"Well, its three o'clock in Washington, D.C. The church I pastor is all over the city right now. It's driving buses, serving meals in restaurants, sitting in board meetings, having discussions in the Pentagon, deliberating in Congress." He proceeded with a long list of roles and responsibilities where his church was functioning that day. "And periodically we get together at a building on Fourth Street," he added, "but we don't spend a lot of our time there."

The pastor-chaplain was not naive with his answer. He was brilliant. And he had the clear intent to challenge a young would-be pastor to raise his sights above the Sunday event of church as an assembly. Or even church as programs and budgets and organization. The church was never intended to be isolated from the world but to penetrate it as salt does food. Jesus wants his people to be "in the world" but not "of the world" - functioning as light to dark places.

Where will you be today? In meetings? On the phone? Calling on clients? Teaching algebra? Cleaning house? Delivering product? Delivering speeches? Delivering babies? Wherever you will be and whatever you are doing there, you will be part of the spread-out, scattered-over-the-world church. Your role is to be a stand-in for Jesus to make the world a better, less-threatening place.

"Whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father" (Colossians 3:17 NLT).

Rubel Shelly

Closing the Door on Your Past

Closing the Door on Your Past

When I was a kid, "Nautilus" was Captain Nemo's submarine in a Jules Verne novel. I knew that because Walt Disney put it on TV. Then "Nautilus" became the name of an early nuclear submarine launched by the United States. But I just recently saw a nautilus when we were at Ocean City, New Jersey. No, it wasn't a submarine. It was the original nautilus - the little sea creature with the fascinating shell. We actually saw a lot of nautilus shells in little shops. We bought one for our living room. It's real smooth on the outside with stripes on it, and it's bigger than my hand. To me, the nautilus shell is shaped sort of like a big, shiny human ear, or maybe like an unborn child in the womb, if you can picture that. The original inhabitant is gone, but his fascinating shell-house remains. When you cut a nautilus shell in half, it reveals the life story of the one-time inhabitant. At the center is this circular chamber with a wall around it. That was the original home of a little bitty nautilus. There are circular chambers all the way to the outer edge of the shell, and each chamber is a little larger than the previous one. That little sea creature kept outgrowing his shell, so he left it behind and moved on to the next chamber - and chapter - of his life.

We've got a lesson to learn from that little sea creature. He knows how to close the door on the old chapters of his life and move on to a whole new chapter. For someone listening today, some of those old chapters still define a lot of who you are today - the past hurts, the past failures, the past mistakes, the past sins. Don't you wish you could do what that nautilus does and just build a wall that closes the door on the old you and enables you to grow into the new, improved you? The bad news is you can't. The good news is Jesus can. He's been doing it for people for 2,000 years. He's done it for me. He can do it for you.

It's the promise of 2 Corinthians 5:17, our word for today from the Word of God. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Something miraculous happens when you go from being "outside of Christ" to "inside Christ". The guilt of the old is erased, and you no longer have to be defined by the darkness of the past. He makes possible a fresh start, a clean slate, a new beginning.

That's why God says to us in Isaiah 43: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? ... I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions ... and remembers your sins no more." What an awesome possibility! The blotting out of every sin of your past! No religion can do that for you because no religion can pay the spiritual death penalty for your sin. It took nothing less than the brutal death of Jesus Christ on the cross for you. You did the sinning but Jesus did the dying so He could build a wall between you and the darkness of your past and move you into a life that revolves around Him - a forgiven life. A life lined up with the purpose for which you were created.

But you have to be "in Christ" for that miracle to happen. Not in church, but in Christ. You can be in Christianity and still not be in Christ. What brings you into belonging to Jesus? You enter in by a step of life-changing faith. You admit the sin of your life to Jesus, you let Him know you don't want to live this way anymore, and then you tell Him, "Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on your death for me on the cross and your resurrection from the dead. My life is in your hands from this day on." You do that with all your heart, and you will be "in Christ" - and you will be His "new creation."

I wish I could sit down with you and personally explain more fully just how you begin this life-changing relationship with Jesus. I can't do that, but I can send you the little booklet I wrote about it called Yours For Life. If you want it, I'll get it to you right away. Just ask for it at our website – www.yoursforlife.net – or call us toll free at 877-741-1200.

The Bible says "the old is gone; the new has come!" You're on the edge of that miracle right now. Let today be the day of your new beginning!

Ron Hutchcraft

Conversation between GOD and Me

Conversation between GOD and Me

God: Hello. Did you call me?

Me: Called you? No. Who is this?

God: This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will chat.

Me: I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something.

God: What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.

Me: Don't know. But I can’t find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.

God: Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.

Me: I understand. But I still can't figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.

God: Well I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some clarity. In this internet era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you are comfortable with.

Me: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?

God: Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.

Me: Why are we then constantly unhappy?

God: Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That's why you are not happy.

Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?

God: Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.

Me: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty.

God: Pain is inevitable able, but suffering is optional.

Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?

God: Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.

Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?

God: Yes. In every term, experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

Me: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why can’t we be free from problems?

God: Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to) Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.

Me: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading.

God: If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.

Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?

God: Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.

Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?

God: Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.

Me: What surprises you about people?

God: When they suffer they ask, "why me?" When they prosper, they never ask "Why me?" Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.

Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I can’t get the answer.

God: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation.

Me: How can I get the best out of life?

God: Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.

Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.

God: There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.

Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat.

God: Well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that took our breath away!

[Shared by Sis. Shalini Rachel Paul]

I am Forgiven

I am Forgiven

Isaiah 43:25 - I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. (KJV)

I've known, truly known, God's gracious forgiveness all my Christian life. I've experienced beautiful times of repentance and the Lord's merciful lifting of burdens of known sins. I've literally lost count of all the forgiveness I've prayed for and received. I've been washed, cleansed, and freed from besetting sins and temptations, immeasurably.

There has been no doubt in my mind that Jesus died on Calvary, suffering a terrible death, to set believers free, and that He took upon Himself everyone's iniquities, in fact, the sins of the whole world. And so, I knew to bring all of my emotions into the light of God's Word.

Colossians 1:13-14 - For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NASB)

But -- in my case, a very big but -- I found all too often the guilt and the remembrance of past forgiven sins would return when least expected. This returning, oppressive guilt would plague and torment me as if I had never received forgiveness at all -- even though I knew by God's Word, as well as by the faith and belief in my heart, that I was forgiven.

Micah 7:19 - He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. (KJV)

My nagging prayer became, "Why, oh why, Lord, does the guilt and remembering keep returning, when I know that You have not only chosen to forgive, but also chosen not to remember, even to throw my sins into the depths of the sea?" After so long, a few years ago, I opened up enough to receive God's answer, and this truly works for me, now.

God had chosen to forgive and not to remember my sins, but had I? Obviously not! I hadn't chosen this as a deliberate act, as God had. Therefore, I hadn't asked the Lord to help me to choose to forgive myself or to help me choose to forget my sins. We hear it so often, don't we? "It's there for the asking, but you did not ask," and/or "You ask amiss."

Our loving, merciful Lord has taught me that He can heal tormenting memories and oppressive guilt, when we learn to choose what He chooses for us.

I knew it then in my heart, but I know it now by experience: as His beloved, we need to live in the full power of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, thus making pointless no part of the agony of His suffering. If God Almighty chooses to blot out the sins we have repented of, and to cast our sins into the depth of the sea, remembering them no more, we can surely learn to forgive ourselves.

We can live in the full freedom of God's forgiving grace. We can and should declare fearlessly at any time, to anyone doubting -- including ourselves -- that "I am forgiven."

Prayer: Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your great and wonderful sacrifice on the cross. May we always remember that true repentance and Your forgiveness free us from all guilt, so that we may live more fully the abundant life You sacrificed Yourself to give us. In Your holy name, we pray. Amen and Amen!

Rosemary Renninson

Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God

Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 2 Corinthians 7:1

Today we find very little teaching of holiness and even less in the performance of it. It seems average Christians are satisfied with their spiritual life as is, without any desire to be all God wants them to be or any effort to "grow in grace" as Peter exhorts all to do (2 Peter 3:18).

Holiness is not some pious attitude that causes us to be isolated from the world or clothed with some self-righteous display that is of no affect to anyone. We see too much of this and it is dishonoring to God. Holiness is simply the displacement of self and the enthronement of God in His rightful place. When He is on the throne of our heart, God is all and self is nothing.

How does this take place? Paul said there must be a renewing of our mind. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). The mind of Christ was first and foremost obedient and in humble submission to the will of the Father. Everything else was subservient to this. This should be our starting point. There is no place for pride, self-sufficiency or arrogance if humility before God is to characterize our life. Humility before God is the very essence of holiness and God's blessing in our life.

As Christ embraces our life with the reality of an intimate personal relationship, we will seek to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. We will not take pride in the things we put off that are displeasing to God. We will humbly seek to "put on Christ" and be clothed with His virtues. Jesus said, "Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:29). Humility is one of the highest graces and one of the hardest to attain. Jesus said, "He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. I am among you as he that serves" (Luke 22:26-27). Oh, that we might have a servant's heart and seek to magnify the Lord in every phase of our life. This will be the fruit of a humble heart and a contrite spirit that is in submission to His lordship.

We must "cleanse ourselves of filthiness of the flesh and spirit." Standing in awe of God must precede, not follow, the purification of our hearts. It is when we embrace a tenderness of conscience and a watchfulness of mind that our hearts are open in reverential awe of who God is. The searchlight of God shines on the wretchedness of our life in the light of His holy righteous being. We desire to put off the filthiness of the flesh and sins, which arise from the body -- uncleanness, intemperance, lust, laziness, irresponsibility, and the like. Then there are sins of the mind -- pride, envy, malice, revenge, deceit, and others that quench the Spirit. These must be cleansed, subdued, and put to death if we are to "perfect holiness in the fear of God."

"Holiness" is preceded by the fear of God and the image of God implanted in our soul. This is a positive renovation of the whole man by the power of the Holy Spirit. The fear of God is reverential awe of all that God is. "For unto us is given exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we may be partakers of the divine image" (2 Peter 1:4). These promises are of no avail unless we appropriate them, treasure them in our mind, plead them before God in prayer, and trust in the One who has given them to us! God will renew our minds and implant His holiness in our life to the praise of His glory. May this be the desire of our hearts and the joy of our life!

Ed Powell

[Shared by Dinesh Pandian]