Romans 12:18 What, It's My Fault?
“If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (NKJV).
I wrote this several years ago, and I have made some changes in my attitudes, but I think it is time to post it again. If this doesn’t apply to you, great. We need more like you.
Okay, I’ve had it. Enough! Let’s stop fighting and calling each other names. Let’s stop playing the blame game. “It happened because so and so said…” “You’re just trying to take political advantage of a horrible …” I was really getting upset with everyone else this morning when God stopped me in my tracks. He told me that I was partly to blame. “What! I didn’t do anything. I didn’t write or broadcast vile messages.” I was straightened out pretty quickly as God reminded me that I have been saying nasty things about those I don’t agree with, and I have been calling them derogatory names. My attitude has not been good.
When did I start getting pleasure from seeing someone else fail? When did I start liking political statements that tear other people down? When did I start caring more about how bad the opposition looks than about what those I agree with had to say? When did I start getting disappointed when the Yankees or Braves didn’t lose? When did the bad things that happen to other people bring me more pleasure than the good things that happen to those I agree with?
This was not a pleasant morning. I decided to change my attitude and look for those things I agree with and not spend so much time looking how to show my disagreement with someone else. I was feeling pretty good about myself for this change when I found myself once again getting pleasure from an article that showed someone I disagree with in a negative light. Whoa, I haven’t changed that much yet. It’s not going to be easy. I have long habits to break. With the help of God, I will make the change and focus on what I believe rather than on how much I disagree with someone else.
Somewhere in the political past of the last few decades we have become focused on writing, speaking, listening for, and enjoying speeches or articles that tell how wrong someone is. When did we stop making political speeches about what we believe and how we can make this country better? My vote should be FOR someone not AGAINST someone.
I find myself cheering against a football or baseball team or a Nascar driver rather than cheering for someone. I don’t have to get excited when the Yankees win, but I don’t have to let a Yankees win spoil my whole day. I HAVE TO START BEING FOR SOMETHING!
It is not wrong for me to campaign for a political candidate, but my campaigning should be about what he/she believes, not what mistake his/her opponent may have made. It is okay for me to disagree with a political party or politician and to make my disagreement known, but it is NOT okay for me to try to dig up dirt on the person or party just to make the person/party look bad. I should encourage people to vote for my candidate because of what he/she says and believes.
This isn’t my country. This isn’t your country. This is OUR country, and unless we quit fighting and start discoursing, it will become quite split and weak. You and I don’t have to agree about how things are done or even what things should be done, but we do have to agree that we want this country to be the very best it can be. When we disagree, let us discuss the argument on its merits, not on the personalities of those involved in the discussion. If we work together, America can again become the great bastion of freedom and blessing that this world needs.
Lord, help me to change. Help me to approach life and problems in a constructive manner-–one looking for solutions. Help me to trust you completely and not let my passions or anger carry me away from you. Lord, help me to live Romans 12:18. Lord, I know that you are in charge. Lord, I know you are trustworthy. Lord, I know you love me. Lord, I know your love extends to those I like and also to those I may not like. Lord, I am glad you are Lord. Lord, please heal our land!
Matthew 14:23 Alone with God
“After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night he was there alone” (NIV).
Immediately after the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus sent His disciples on ahead, dismissed the crowd, and climbed into the mountains to be alone with Father God. This is just one of numerous times that we read of Jesus going apart by Himself to pray. Even our Lord needed to have alone time with Father God. This particular time occurred between two noted miracles. He had just fed over five thousand people with a few loaves and a few fish, and He was about to walk on the water. Then two more miracles occurred; Jesus called Peter to walk to Him on the water, and then when Jesus climbed into the boat, the winds ceased and the sea calmed. WOW! What must His disciples have been thinking? Could there have been any doubt among them that Jesus was the Son of God?
I don’t know that I can expect results like this when I get apart from others and spend time alone with God in prayer, but I do know that I will have been greatly blessed and empowered to do the work assigned to me. Now it is up to me to make good use of the anointing I have received. Sometimes the anointing is given to me for the short term to help someone with an immediate problem, and sometimes the anointing is given for the longer term, something that may take planning and continued effort for a longer time. The important thing is that I not waste the anointing, “bury it in the sand,” but put it to the use intended by God. Then someone will be blessed by God through me, and I will have the spirit of joy for having been used by God. When I put it to the use God intended, He will bless it, His will will be accomplished, and He will be pleased.
Finding alone time with God in today’s world of tv, radio, cel phones, and computers is difficult. It often requires considerable effort, but it can be done. I find it easier to get alone with God in the great outdoors, where the only interruptions are caused by birds singing, streams gurgling, wind wafting through the trees, and maybe a distant rumble of thunder. These are what I call “God sounds,” and they enhance rather than interrupt my alone time with the one who created them. Perhaps you have a different set of requirements to get alone with God. Whatever you need to do to accomplish it will be worth it. I guarantee that when you make time to be alone with God, He will always be there. He is faithful!
Mark 15_15_16 One Day at a Time (Plus)
“He said to them, ‘Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.’”
Going into all the world certainly can’t be done in one day, but there will be a final day when that message is preached, and the final sinner will be saved. That’s the day when Jesus returns for those of us who believe on Him as Savior and Lord. What a fantastic experience it would be to be speaking to someone or to a crowd about the Gospel of Jesus Christ when He appears in the sky to take us home.
The Word tells us in Matthew 16:31-34 to “Live one day at a time.” There is a saying attributed to Jimmy Evans, a noted Christian author and evangelist: “Plan as though Jesus is not returning for a hundred years and live as though Jesus is returning today.” Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “Preach [and live] as if Jesus was crucified yesterday, rose from the dead today, and is returning tomorrow.” That’s good advice, and the part that says “as if Jesus were returning today [or tomorrow]” certainly speaks to living one day at a time.
We have to plan past today because today may not be the last day, and if it isn’t, we have more opportunities to spread the Gospel, and those who haven’t yet accepted Christ as Savior will have another opportunity to do so. Spreading the Gospel is the most important job we have, but it is not the only important job we have here. As long as we remain on earth, there are people who need our help in everyday life, who need a ride to the doctor or money for food for the family or someone to mow the lawn. We may be the only Jesus some people see, so we must share His love and represent Him well every day. Let's represent Him well tomorrow and every tomorrow until the day He returns. That's what living one day at a time means.
Jesus tells us in John 13:34,35: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another” (AMP). In other words, “Put legs to the Gospel.” That may well give us opportunity to speak the message of the Gospel.
So live today to the full, and plan for a fruitful future.
Matthew 6:31-34 One Day at a Time
“So don’t worry at all about having enough for food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to. So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at time” (TLB).
The song “One Day at a Time” was written by Marijon Wilkin in 1972 with the help of her friend, Kris Kristofferson. She said that the song came quickly after a pastor asked if Marijohn had ever thought of thanking God for her problems. After talking with the pastor, she went home, sat down at the piano and had the first verse in about twenty minutes. She called her friend Kris Kristofferson to come over and help her with the chorus and other verses. They finished the song in a short time. It has been recorded by numerous artists since then, and others have written new verses, but the central theme given to Marijohn Wilkin lives on. Many of us have been blessed by it.
“I’m only human, I’m just a man
Help me believe and all I can be and all that I am
Show me the stairway I have to climb
Lord, for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.
Chorus:
One day at a time sweet Jesus
That’s all I’m asking of you
Just give me the strength to do everyday
What I have to do.
Yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Lord, help me today, show me the way
One day at a time.”
I leave it to the reader to look up many other verses written and added to this great song. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:32-34 to “Live one day at a time.”
It is my belief that Jesus wants us to put full effort in what we are doing today. If we do that each day, we will be amazed at what we can accomplish for the Kingdom of God just one day at a time. He will prepare us for tomorrow with new blessings when we awake for the new day. In Lamentations 3:22,23 we are told, “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” (NLT). With that blessing we can march forward into tomorrow with satisfaction in the work we have done today with no worries for tomorrow for he will have made preparation for us when we get there. He’s already there.
Continued next time.
Psalm 100:1,2 I Lift My Voice
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (RSV)
In 1976 Laurie Klein wrote a short worship song that fulfills the words of this verse: “I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. Oh, my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my king, in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.” Every time I sing this song I can feel the joyful nose I am making to my Lord, and I am excited to realize that He does take joy in my singing, no matter the quality of my voice.
I believe that my Lord takes joy in the singing of praise of any and all of His people. And I also believe that each of us should get great joy whenever we sing words of worship and praise to our Lord. There are many, many great worship and praise songs that we can sing when we are alone or when we are in the company of a group of believers in church. What a privilege we have to bring joy to our King with our voices.
While I get great satisfaction in singing these songs to Him, sometimes I don’t follow the melody—I just speak the words. I do that because I occasionally find myself focusing on the music without thinking of the words I am singing. It’s good for me to slow down and consider each of the words of the song, speaking them as a prayer to my Lord and God. Sometmes it takes me a long time to speak through a song that contains deep meaning and touches my heart, but I find it is time well spent. Sometimes I just hum the tune because I also get blessings from the melody. Hearing a full congregation sing a worship song and singing along touches my soul and raises my spirits.
I guess I am saying that I am blessed by worship songs, whether I sing them alone, just speak the words, just hum the tune, or join fellow believers in raising a joyful noise to the Lord. Thank you to those who write these special songs, and thank you to those who lead worship and praise in church services.
