Today is Marvelously Magnificent Miraculous Monday. Have you considered the miracles that have taken place in your life? Many of us don't give credit where credit is due. We decide to instead believe in a thing called Karma. Bad things happen to good people so how does that work in the Karma formula? Do you believe that if you are good enough, good things will happen to you? If so, I ask you, "How good is good?"
Jesus once asked a man why he called him good; allow me to share that conversation with you:
From the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10, verses 17 -
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good - except God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother."
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
We all have heard the saying 'love of money is the root to all evil'. Some shorten it to just say money is the root of all evil but it is truly the love of it. Our God does not like us to worship false idols. Money is a false idol and it rules many lives. It is even said that God is a jealous God, but we think in human terms when we hear that word. When God is jealous it is out of a form of protective love. When we love or think of things, money included, and put more importance on that thing than on God we lose out big time. Not so much because He stops communicating with us. He is always chasing us. It is because we have stopped seeking, listening, asking. When this takes place, we also begin to lean more toward sin than righteousness because we are no longer walking in step with the Holy Spirit.
The truth of the matter is, you can't be good enough on your own. We are all sinners. I sinned just this morning by allowing impatience and irritation to take the wheel for a moment and I was not exactly kind to my husband. I should have immediately stopped realizing where I was headed but I did not. My morning started before I had a chance to read even a snippet of God's word and I read it daily! But today was a new day and mine began before I had even dressed for battle. This is how quickly we are capable of sliding out of our righteousness into our flesh. This is why we need Jesus and this is why we need to wear our daily armor. The plain truth of the matter is we are never going to be good enough without Christ at the wheel.
The devil hates Christ and he hates freedom. He wants to bind you up in sin and tie you down with laws. He wants to convince you that there is a chance you can be good enough but lets face the truth, for that is what Jesus teaches. In Galatians 5:1, we read this:
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
What does that verse mean you may be asking yourself. It means this; when you judge your brother by the law, you are also placing yourself under the law. We are not here to judge one another but to love one another. Not one of us is perfect and without sin in our lives. Don't be picking the speck of dirt out of anyone else's eye when most of us wake up with a few specks of our own each morning. Jesus covers all of this in the Bible as well. Just flip to the Book of Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 1-5:
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Do you see how clearly it is stated that if you decide to govern others by the law, you are also yourself under the law and the law will bind you quickly when you are also seeking to please God with your life actions. Again, we will stumble, we will fail, we will have wicked thoughts, the evil one will use all this non good to cancel out your own good even in your own eyes and you will begin to have thoughts of doubt as to your goodness and the wheel of self doubt will begin. You of course will need to go out and do good to make up for your bad and soon you will discover yourself running in a senseless circle. Just realize today that no matter how 'good' you are, you are not good enough to enter into the kingdom of heaven on your own. Christ is the key to true salvation and an abundant life on earth.
I know this because in 2009, I began banging on God's door and as he is faithful, he opened the door and showed me many truths over the last 5 years. Now I am in college going for my degree in Biblical Studies. I am almost at the end of my first class which was 'An Introduction to the Bible'. When you ask God for knowledge, you just never know how he is going to give it to you!
God also has been giving me the desires of my heart as is also promised within the pages of the Bible. I did not seek him to have him grant the desires of my heart, I sought him because I was at the end of myself. Everything did not happen overnight. God certainly has things timed out and for a purpose that we may not always understand. I love what he has done through me. I love what he is doing through me. To date, I have written three books and I am working on my fourth one now. While all three can be read separate of one another, they are truly a wonderful collection that has a much deeper and fuller meaning when read together.
Today, I encourage you to help yourself by helping my ministry. Whether you prefer print books or e-books, all three of my published books are available on Amazon. In print, they will cost you $25.00 in electronic format, they only cost $13.00. My ministry receives the same margin of profit either way. In return, You will receive a priceless gift as you enjoy a true life story of a girl, her dreams, her failures and her finding her way back home. What are you waiting for? Buy your copies today!
www.amazon.com/author/wendyglidden
Wendy Glidden, walks with God, Mom of Many
© Wendy Glidden 2014
Jesus once asked a man why he called him good; allow me to share that conversation with you:
From the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10, verses 17 -
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good - except God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother."
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
We all have heard the saying 'love of money is the root to all evil'. Some shorten it to just say money is the root of all evil but it is truly the love of it. Our God does not like us to worship false idols. Money is a false idol and it rules many lives. It is even said that God is a jealous God, but we think in human terms when we hear that word. When God is jealous it is out of a form of protective love. When we love or think of things, money included, and put more importance on that thing than on God we lose out big time. Not so much because He stops communicating with us. He is always chasing us. It is because we have stopped seeking, listening, asking. When this takes place, we also begin to lean more toward sin than righteousness because we are no longer walking in step with the Holy Spirit.
The truth of the matter is, you can't be good enough on your own. We are all sinners. I sinned just this morning by allowing impatience and irritation to take the wheel for a moment and I was not exactly kind to my husband. I should have immediately stopped realizing where I was headed but I did not. My morning started before I had a chance to read even a snippet of God's word and I read it daily! But today was a new day and mine began before I had even dressed for battle. This is how quickly we are capable of sliding out of our righteousness into our flesh. This is why we need Jesus and this is why we need to wear our daily armor. The plain truth of the matter is we are never going to be good enough without Christ at the wheel.
The devil hates Christ and he hates freedom. He wants to bind you up in sin and tie you down with laws. He wants to convince you that there is a chance you can be good enough but lets face the truth, for that is what Jesus teaches. In Galatians 5:1, we read this:
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
What does that verse mean you may be asking yourself. It means this; when you judge your brother by the law, you are also placing yourself under the law. We are not here to judge one another but to love one another. Not one of us is perfect and without sin in our lives. Don't be picking the speck of dirt out of anyone else's eye when most of us wake up with a few specks of our own each morning. Jesus covers all of this in the Bible as well. Just flip to the Book of Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 1-5:
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Do you see how clearly it is stated that if you decide to govern others by the law, you are also yourself under the law and the law will bind you quickly when you are also seeking to please God with your life actions. Again, we will stumble, we will fail, we will have wicked thoughts, the evil one will use all this non good to cancel out your own good even in your own eyes and you will begin to have thoughts of doubt as to your goodness and the wheel of self doubt will begin. You of course will need to go out and do good to make up for your bad and soon you will discover yourself running in a senseless circle. Just realize today that no matter how 'good' you are, you are not good enough to enter into the kingdom of heaven on your own. Christ is the key to true salvation and an abundant life on earth.
I know this because in 2009, I began banging on God's door and as he is faithful, he opened the door and showed me many truths over the last 5 years. Now I am in college going for my degree in Biblical Studies. I am almost at the end of my first class which was 'An Introduction to the Bible'. When you ask God for knowledge, you just never know how he is going to give it to you!
God also has been giving me the desires of my heart as is also promised within the pages of the Bible. I did not seek him to have him grant the desires of my heart, I sought him because I was at the end of myself. Everything did not happen overnight. God certainly has things timed out and for a purpose that we may not always understand. I love what he has done through me. I love what he is doing through me. To date, I have written three books and I am working on my fourth one now. While all three can be read separate of one another, they are truly a wonderful collection that has a much deeper and fuller meaning when read together.
Today, I encourage you to help yourself by helping my ministry. Whether you prefer print books or e-books, all three of my published books are available on Amazon. In print, they will cost you $25.00 in electronic format, they only cost $13.00. My ministry receives the same margin of profit either way. In return, You will receive a priceless gift as you enjoy a true life story of a girl, her dreams, her failures and her finding her way back home. What are you waiting for? Buy your copies today!
www.amazon.com/author/wendyglidden
Wendy Glidden, walks with God, Mom of Many
© Wendy Glidden 2014