Made for community

Hebrews 3:12-13 says:

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away for the Living God.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened to sin's deceitfulness."

I think a lot of us, if you're anything like me, find it challenging enough to "maintain" our own relationship with God, or in other words, making God more important than our own gods, but that's for another time. 

And if we are able to fit our own God time into our day, we often consider it a good day and move on. 

But we are not made to do this on our own. 

No matter how new your your faith is, or how immature in your faith you may consider yourself, 

there is someone, right now, today, as long as today is called today, who needs you. 

So here's our challenge. 

Who do you know that may be developing a sinful, unbelieving heart?

Who are you watching turn away from the Living God?

I know we all know at least a handful of people.

We shouldn't be okay with that.

So let's be bold, the salvation that Christ gives isn't something to be shy about. 

Love the people your Savior, who died for you, loves. 

Love,

A selfish ambitious guy, constantly being remolded by the Creator himself,

Tim

Why do we always lose the tug of war?

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is having a blessed day, as we prepare to watch two evil teams battle it out in the Super Bowl.

I heard an amazing sermon in Church this morning, and it spoke right to me, answering a huge dilemma I've been facing. I feel like many of us struggle with this concept, and maybe God can use me here to convey this truth that I think He wants us all to hear.

See, we're all in this dilemma where we know what we should do as Christians, we know (for the most part) what Jesus commands of us, but when we line His words up with our own lives, we are so far from obedient.  Understand that I'm not suggesting justification by deeds or anything like that, but Jesus says that if we love him, we should obey His commands. After all, they are the guidelines to living the most fulfilling life possible, as well as glorifying our great God who deserves all the glory. But if you're like me, what you know you should do and what you actually do are completely different. Even when we are complete conscious of what we are doing, we just can't seem to make the right decision. Paul admits that he's in the same boat in Romans 7:7-20 (and look how God used him regardless! but that's for another day).

As you know, we have two spirits within us, constantly at conflict with each other, in a "tug of war" for our heart. So why does it seem like our sinful nature always wins over the Holy Spirit living within us?

My pastor, Rick, put it in the simplest, truest terms:
"Whatever you feed, will grow"
Mind blowing statement, I know.
But I'll illustrate this similarly to how Rick did.

Think of the battle for our souls like a tug of war between two bulls.
If you fed one bull regularly, but the other only rarely, which one would win the tug of war?
The battle isn't decided by which side we hope will win, it's decided by which side is stronger.
Obviously, the one you feed more will be stronger.

So think about that in terms of the spiritual conflict within each of us.
Sure, maybe you occasionally read your bible, pray, and go to church every week.
But how much more are you feeding your sinful nature, allowing it to grow stronger by the day?

I know I feed my sinful nature WAY more than God's Spirit, and then I wonder why when it comes to critical moments spiritually, I never seem to make the right choice.

Friends, wanting to change is never going to do anything for us, and then we will continually be discouraged when we fall to sin and wonder what happened.

I wonder what would happen if each of us (not to mention all who claim to follow Christ) started feeding the Holy Spirit inside us, and consequently began starving our sinful nature. 
Join me in this challenge. When we stop having to worry about our sinful nature getting the best of us, we can begin focusing on so much more.


Sincerely, a fool, chosen and loved by the Restorer,

Tim

"Read, meditate on, and memorize the Red Letters of the Gospel"