In kids worship we have been studying the parables of Jesus.  This past Sunday we studied the parable of the Prodigal Son.  I have to admit that I was thinking I have heard this a hundred times since I was a little kid.  It is amazing how God’s Word always proves to be truly living.  As I studied the story again, I thought about it not as much from the Son’s point of view, but the Father’s.  You can look at the older son as a Pharisee who knew nothing but the law and was not willing to extend mercy or grace, the younger brother as the sinner who was lost, and the Father who represents God’s unconditional love.

I guess, as I have gotten older and became a parent, I can relate more to the Father.  I think when you become a parent you get a taste of what it means to love unconditionally.  This past summer we were at a Softball Tournament in Muscle Shoals.  Isabella was sitting with her friends eating her food.  When I glanced back again she was gone.  My first thought was she was in the restroom, so I went to check.  She was not there.  Then I had my mom and Chad help me look.  By this time my heart rate is beating a thousand times faster, and all kind of thoughts were running through my head.  You have to understand there were only four fields, with two ways out.  It has now been over five minutes, and no sign of her.  At this point the whole team is looking for Isabella. Time kept passing, and no sign of her.  I am not going to lie, by this time I was in tears.  We had looked everywhere in this small space for her.  I remembered thinking I can’t imagine if I never see my child again.  This may sound dramatic to you, but under the circumstances it was a real thought.  Finally, by this point all the Hartselle age groups were looking for her, and finally found her with another age group of girls hanging out somewhere else.  As I saw her walking to me nothing but the joy of seeing her face mattered.  You see because we love Isabella unconditionally, it didn’t matter what she had done, only that she was safely with us.  I know if you’re a parent you have probably had a similar experience, or something that made you express unconditional love to your child.  Although you should be very upset with them, you can only rejoice because they are safe.

In the story the Father doesn’t want to hear where the son has been, why he is dirty, why he has no shoes, or why he has no money.  The man was simply so overcome with joy because his son was home, that love overlooked all sins.  God is the same way.  He does not judge those who are willing to come to Him.  He is always there to receive anyone into His arms.  Many people believe they have to clean their life up in order to come to church.  I wonder why they think this way?  Well it is nothing new.  If you look in the story the older brother was not the slightest bit happy the younger brother had come home.  He is just like the Pharisees, extending no mercy and no grace.  He had abided by all the rules day after day, but now his brother was being celebrated for disgraceful actions.  The brother refers to the younger brother as your son, and also tries to list out all the sins the younger son has committed.  I wonder how often we are like the older brother.  When people who are hurting and need help try to enter into our midst, what do we do?  Do we act self-righteous and throw their sins in their face, or do we meet them as God would, with compassion and love.  Jesus is clear in the New Testament about the greatest command: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ So although the eldest son had followed the rules, he had missed God because he did not love. The Father in the story is the perfect picture of how God loves us, especially the ones who are separated from Him.  If we as Christians would practice the love that God extends to us daily, what an awesome change we would see in our world.  Which one are you living as today; the sinner, the Pharisee, or the Father?

"The Proof Of Your Love"
If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say
If I give
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
Oh, let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
When it's all said and done
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains

Sometimes we get so caught up in life, we try to do everything our self.  Now I know those of you reading this devotion would never have any problems like this one.  The truth is that sometimes we get so caught up in the end result that we forget about the process in the middle, which usually involves people.  Chad and I coach Isabella in softball, and even in 6 and under it is pretty intense.  The first day we met our team, I thought I would cry.  I played softball as many years as I could, high school, college, and attempted to play last year as an older person.  Anyway, I have been around it all my life, but when I looked at our team as a whole I thought to myself, “we will never make it”.  So the grueling process began of trying to learn where to stand at the plate, are they right or left handed hitters, which hand does the glove go on, which way do we run around the bases, what are the name of the bases.  Can I just say, I forgot how much there was to learn when you have never played.  The problems were far to big for just me to handle, or Chad and I together for that matter, so we called in assistant coaches that were very capable.  If we had continued to try to do everything our selves, no one would have known what they were doing.  But because we allowed people to help us we got to see the process work. We saw little girls beam with joy when they got their first hit, caught their first ball, hit their first homerun, etc. You see although we wanted the end result of winning; the joy of coaching was all in the process of getting to the end result.  If doing the task alone had overwhelmed us, we would have short changed the girls on our team. We would have missed the opportunity to teach each girl their effort was awesome, working hard yields results, and good sportsmanship was a necessity of life. 

What does this have to do with anything?  Sometimes in our lives, we are so focused on the end result we miss out on opportunities to minster to people around us, we do not allow others the opportunity to minister, or we miss developing relationships.  We get in the mindset that we are better off without anybody in our own personal space.  We build walls, and keep people at least arms length away so we are not disappointed or hurt.  We may be protecting our selves, but that is never the way God intended us to serve Him.  There is a story in the Bible about a man who took on too much work, and was being beat down by everyday problems of life --his name was Moses.


Exodus 18:13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

Moses was obviously a goldy man, but God never intended for him to do all he was doing alone. He was being so beat down by everyday chores; there was no room for anything else. Just because we see a need does not mean it is our responsibility to fill it. Henry T Balackaby says, “When you become aware of a need, do not automatically assume God wants you to meet it.  The only reason to perform a ministry is that God clearly tells you it is His will.  If you are feeling overwhelmed by all that you are doing, you are probably doing more than God has asked.  Pray carefully about the responsibilities you take so that you don’t rob yourself and others of God’s best.”  For those of us with leadership personalities, it is always easier to do the task ourselves.  However, by doing this we may often rob others of an opportunity to serve.  Moses found men that he thought was honorable, capable, God fearing and taught them the decrease, then trusted them to do their job.  Here is the bottom line.  At some point Moses allowed people into his life to help him.  Will we be disappointed? Probably. Will we be hurt? Maybe.  However, ministering is about relationships and people.  If we are good leaders we will mentor those around us to become great ones. 

Where do you find yourself today?  Do you relish in sharing responsibility, or do you like to keep all your space to yourself?

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Galations 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ……………….9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

God never intended us to walk alone.

 

Do you considered yourself to be a good listener?  I have generally felt like I am a good listener.  However, God will always be the judge of things, right? I am about to tell you a story that happened in our family.  Bless their hearts; I tell them I can only write about things God has shown me personally, and it usually comes through them.  Before I tell the story, I want to say that I have a wonderful husband that does many things for me, and I would not trade him for anything.  So last weekend I had something happened to me that I thought was a big deal. So I start describing what has happened, and as I am telling Chad the story he says, “ un huh, yeah, un huh,” as he continually carries on the task he has been doing, which included walking into another room for part of the story.  So silence fell in the air.  He said, “Why did you stop telling the story, I’m listening?”  In my head I thought “really, you are giving me your attention in another room?”  So I was agitated to say the least, because it appeared he was disinterested about something I thought was important.  The next day or so Isabella enters the room, “Mom I have something to tell you.”  I said, “Go ahead I am listening.”  Mid way through the conversation I go to throw some clothes in the laundry, which is right off our living room.  I stopped in my tracks; I thought I am doing the same thing to Isabella, that I got so irritated at Chad for doing to me.  I realized I was not truly listening at all.  Then I tried to replay how many times I might have made her feel unimportant because I did not give her my full attention.  After all, it had made me feel the same way a day earlier.  I immediately stopped everything I was doing to make sure I got all the facts of her story, but really to make her feel like whatever she had to say was very important to me.  Can I just say those are never the mom moments you want to have, when you realize sometimes you might not be doing a good job.

God immediately brought the verse from James to my mind 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

As I thought about this verse, I contemplated if we even listen to what God has to say?  Or do we treat God the same way we treat others around us? We pretend to listen, but do not truly hear.  We cannot do, what we have not heard.  The only way to know the will of God is to listen to Him, by being near him.  I could not understand the true emotion of Isabella’s story until I stopped all activity, and looked into her face.  The same is true with God.  We cannot hear what he has to say if we do not take the time to linger in His Word, and long to see his face.  I love the story where Moses pleads with God not to send him on unless His glory would go with them.  And then Moses says, “Show me your Glory.” God did allow Moses to see His back and all the Glory that followed Him.  The point is Moses was not afraid to ask, and God was willing to give because Moses was both hearing, and doing.  How powerful could our lives be if we truly listened intently to what God had to say?  I think sometimes we are scared to listen because we are afraid of what we might hear.  Once we hear, then an action is required.  So I ask you today have you given your 100%, full attention to what God is saying to you in your life right now.  Have you spent enough time in His Word, in prayer, and in seeking His will to know if you are where God wants you to be?  I hope you find today the confidence to ask God if you are where you need to be, and the boldness to say, Lord please “show me your Glory”!

Also remember to show people who are speaking to you, especially your family, that they are important enough to you to give them your undivided attention.  After all, we are never promised more than the breath we are breathing at this moment.

As we entered the opening weekend of football season all eyes were on Johnny Manziel.  In case you are not a football fan, Johnny Manziel is the star quarterback for Texas A&M.  He mesmerized many last year in his freshman year, with his quick feet and ability to pass the ball.  He is the first freshman to ever take the elite Heisman Trophy.  Things seemed to be going as well as could be expected for this young, athletic star.  Then just a few weeks ago the accusations started rolling in concerning money for autographs.  If you followed the story, you know that is was quickly resolved with a half game suspension (which was odd if there was no offense).  Many people felt like this case was not adequately investigated and the rumors started to fly.  So as game day approached all eyes were on Johnny Football to see how he would perform.  He still had all the moves, but seemed to be lacking in other areas.  This is a little exert a commentary had to say about him:

Everything he has done and said since the Heisman Trophy has affirmed Manziel's belief that he cannot be touched that he is bigger than the university he represents, that he is even above NCAA rules. After everything Manziel has gone through the last few weeks – and make no mistake, he's very lucky to have been on the field at all Saturday against Rice – you'd think maybe just a smidge of humility might have been in order.

Instead, after sitting out his NCAA-mandated suspension in the first half, Manziel returned and threw three touchdowns in the Aggies' 52-31 victory. But he didn't finish the game, as Sumlin yanked him after he earned a taunting penalty following a touchdown pass to Mike Evans with 9:48 remaining. That followed Manziel's blatant "Show me the Money" hand gesture after a touchdown and an apparent "air autograph" directed toward a Rice player.  Manziel, of course, was likely responding to trash talk from Rice's players about the autograph controversy that put him in the NCAA's cross hairs this summer. But as Sumlin told the news media after Saturday's game, Manziel is going to hear it all year long.  "That wasn't very smart. That's why he didn't go back in the game either," Sumlin said. "You would hope at this point, you'd learn something from that. We're still working on that. He wasn't going back in the game no matter what was happening."  It's quite obvious now that Sumlin still has a very immature player on his hands, one who is brilliantly talented enough to take Texas A&M all the way to a Southeastern Conference title but also one who is just volatile and narcissistic enough to implode on him.  Texas A&M just wants 12 more games out of Manziel without incident, but deep down Sumlin must know that might be too much to ask unless he asserts some control and makes Manziel understand that his actions have consequences.

Wow here is a player that seems to have everything he needs to go all the way to the top of his sport, except one little thing, humility in his actions.  How sad to think God has blessed a person with all the ability, but they might not reach their goal because of their own pride. I am not trying to judge him, but the point is when you have much, the responsibility is much. If you are at the top of your sport with millions of people watching you, then your responsibility just grew by leaps and bounds, regardless of what you wanted. The same is true in our Christian lives.  God gives us each spiritual gifts to carry out the task He has planned for us.  However, it is up to the individual to use the spiritual gift in such a way that would honor God. If we confess to the world we are a Christian, then suddenly all eyes are on our every movement, and our responsibility level has skyrocketed.  As Christians we do not have the luxury of second chances with non-believers.  We do not have the luxury of living like the world for a week, a day, or even one minute.  One temper flare, one fling, one dishonest action; non-believers will write you off in a New York second.

You see Manziels actions hurt himself, but also his school, his teammates, and his coach.  He was their representative, and failed to do that with class.  In the same way, we are Christ representatives, so every time we fail, we represent our Savior poorly. There are times in life we cannot afford to make a mistake, especially in our Christian lives.  How many people, great influential people, end up being a stumbling block for thousands of people because they mess up.  I am not suggesting we could ever be perfect; however, I am suggesting sometimes we get one shot to reach people.  As Christians we can never afford to do life by our self.  I am not sure about you, but when I do life by myself (without Christ) it never ends well.

As we know there is always grace and forgiveness in the arms of our Lord and Savior, but not always with others.  Some have already made up their mind about “Johnny Football” no matter what he does from this point.  The same is true for us as Christians.  The non-believer is always looking for ammunition to defend why they should not attend church, or be saved.  We are not capable of living up to our high, priority roles as Christians without God’s daily guidance.

Romans 7:14-16  The Message Bible I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.