Promise Keeping & Sacrifice

Promise Keeping & Sacrifice

Dear Champions,

 

The following is from Stu Webber, and the verses are as follows:  Ecclesiastes 5:5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.  

 

Promise making and keeping is at the heart of godliness.  At the heart of God-at the very core of His nature-is the making and keeping of promises.  All the Scripture hangs on a promise-a series of covenants.

 

Linda (Stu Weber's wife) and I married just over a quarter century ago.  Out of the whole world, we chose each other.  The power of that choice, that promise, has kept us.  There is no question in either of our minds that we could find a "better mate."  There is always someone out there better than you.  There will always be someone more beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, witty, competent, sensitive, or sensual.  That's a nonissue to Linda and me.  The toxin of comparison has been utterly neutralized and washed away by the sacred anti-toxin of a promise.

 

Understand that the heart of staying power is SACRIFICE-giving one's self up for the good of another.  For the ultimate example of staying power, our eyes have only to lock in on the Lord Jesus Christ.  When He could have turned away from the cross, He stayed on course, setting His face like a flint, all the way to Calvary.  When He could have come down from the cross and sidestepped the suffering, He stayed.  When He could have summoned armies of angels to deliver Him and called down divine air strikes on His adversaries, He stayed.  He persevered and "stayed under" all the way until that moment came when He could cry out, "It is finished!"

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

The Blessings of a Better Live or Jesus

The Blessings of a Better Life or Jesus

Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Heather Brown Holleman in the first paragraph and Larry Crabb in the second paragraph.
Rick Hove said, "Do we pursue Jesus as ameans to something more beautiful?"  In other words, many times I see my relationship with Jesus as the way to find health, happiness, or prosperity.  But really, Jesus Himself is the thing I want.  He is not a means to something else.  He is the Something Else.
We approach Jesus the way a child approaches a weary Santa Claus in the mall, who for the hundredth time asks, "What do you want for Christmas?"  I wager no child has ever pressed close to Santa's chest, looked up into his eyes, and said, "You!  I want only you."  No child believes having Santa join him for dinner could bring more joy than watching Santa stack presents beneath the tree.  Do we want the blessing of a better life more than we desire to draw near to Jesus?
May our hearts become like Psalm 27: 4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
 
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Evil and Loved

Evil and Loved

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the short excerpt is Luke 11:11-13 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Our understanding of sin is most likely breaking the rules.   If I keep the rules, don't cheat on income taxes, don't kill people, don't steal, and if I obey the Ten Commandments, then I'm not sinning.  But sin is really self-salvation.  It's trying to be your own Savior instead of letting Him be Savior.  When you realize that, you suddenly begin to realize that everybody is sinning.  You have to destroy your whole old idea of sin and realize you are a sinner – you are evil.  Then, you receive God's mercy, and that makes you evil and yet a beloved child. 

"You're evil, and yet you're His beloved child."  Is there any other religion or philosophy that says, "You are evil, and yet you are utterly loved – a beloved child of God?"  Common sense says you're either evil, or you're His beloved child."  You cannot be both.  But Christianity, the Gospel, says you are both.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining