Charles Spurgeon once said, "In contemplating Christ, there is a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in His immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated."

Wow, what a perspective from a 20 year old pastor! What about you? Can you claim the same or are your contemplations and musings fixed on your wounds and your sorrows?

Words of Wisdom

August 2 was the tenth anniversary of Andrea's (my late wife) death. And today, I was catching up a bit with her mother. This is what she said: "This path I would never have chosen. And 10 years of His grace experienced, I would never change." I praise God today for His abounding grace and infinite wisdom.

Cut Me To The Heart

Acts 2:36-38. ...Know this for certain that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you..."

Three thousand people were "cut to the heart" that day and experienced the spiritual death that comes as a result of accepting the Gospel Message...that Jesus is the Christ and He died because of you and for you.

Take a moment and put yourself back at Pentecost. What would your response have been if Peter would have pointed his finger at you and told you that you were responsible for the death of Jesus? Would you have been cut to the heart? Or would you have been like those in Acts 5:33 and 7:54 who responded with rage and grinding teeth?

Pause for a moment before you answer and consider the reality of the death that comes from being "cut to the heart" by the Truth of the Cross:

1. You have been looking for the Messiah, someone to save you, but not one riding on a colt to His death on a cross.
2. You are confronted with the reality that you must give up the life you are accustomed to in order to enter one that does not make sense.
3. All that you have learned from very gifted teachers is being shot full of holes.
4. You are surrounded by family/friends/mentors who will disown you...and worse.

Hey...those who responded with rage and grinding teeth were not willing to give up the life they were living. It meant too much to them.

So...look at your life today. Yes, you may have experienced the initial "cut to the heart" that led to your belief and acceptance of Jesus, but does the message of the Cross still have the same impact today? Does it still "cut you to the heart?"

One final thought. What is Jesus asking of you that makes you grind your teeth at Him...that thing or those things from your former life that serve as a steel plate of selfishness, keeping the Cross from cutting?

The never ending list of "shoulds".

"Today, I promise to not should on myself." What a tough promise to keep. How often do we find ourselves creating a list of things we think we should do in order to earn position in The Kingdom? I should get up before daylight and pray. I should spend time in God's Word. I should give. I should feed the hungry and I should provide shelter for the homeless. I should, I should, I should! ...Agreed. These are not bad things. As a matter of fact, they are Scriptural. But it does lead to a very crucial question that should be wrestled with by every citizen of The Kingdom. What is it that REALLY drives me? What is it that causes me to do the things I do? Is it a belief that I "should do" because that's what it takes? Is it a fear of condemnation? Is it a past that has been riddled with experiences you consider to be unfair? If we are doing all of these good things, but with the wrong motive, we will wear ourselves out under the burden of trying to "earn."

Praise God for His great love and for Jesus on The Cross. For it was there, through His love for us, that Christ turned our "should do's" into "doesn't matters." "It is by grace we have been saved, through faith. And this is not of our own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that we cannot boast." (Ephesians 2:8, 9) In the end, God won't want to hear about all of the things we did for Him. That would be boasting. What He will want to hear is that we were so compelled by His love for us, that it drove us to love Him in return.

Nutshell: What drives you? It should be nothing other than "the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge!" (Ephesians 3:19)

Long Suffering

So, this morning, I had the opportunity to "establish my heart" by expressing patience in a difficult situation (James 5). Nine years ago, in the midst of an incredibly challenging trial, I was given a book on prayer that has become the foundation of my prayer life. Because it has become so important to me, I have done the very best to preserve this book...that is, up until this morning. Well, as I was engaged in my "beach chair prayer" enjoying the beauty of God's presence and creation, with my prayer book in hand, the blessing that I so often find in a cup Starbucks coffee quickly turned into a horrifying curse as it found its way all over my handbook to prayer! It wasn't my fault...never is, right?:) In that instant, my patience was put to the test. I utterly failed. Offering a few choice words with reserved gusto to the listening trees, I brought upon myself the ever-so-familiar experience of the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the resulting confession of my ugly sin. What does it say about a person that can, in one instant, be worshipping the Creator God with Psalm 104, and in the next instant blowing his top?

Here is the painful conclusion. It wasn't the words uttered that hurt my Savior, but the black speck of impatience that continues to stain my heart. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Luke 6:45