For Sale Or Lease

I saw the sign again today, for sale or lease. I cannot count the number of times I have seen the same sign as we search for a new church location.  Leasing is temporary with modest upfront cost.  Buying a building requires financial stability with a sterling credit history.   Your signature on the contract indicates your commitment for the long-term.  The consequences of breaking a lease pale in comparison to walking away from a contract.   Leasers are expected to come and go. Owners are sold out. 

Daniel 3:16-18

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

The three Hebrew boys were dedicated to God.  They refused to worship King Nebuchadnezzar despite imminent death.  Their faith was rock solid.  They were invested in God until death.  Those that bowed to the king were willing to deny their Lord to escape the king’s wrath. Their faith was temporary.

We are like buildings.  Some of us are for lease, following God when it is convenient and or beneficial.  Others are for sale, dependable and faithful despite dire circumstances.  Sold out Christians are able to say as Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, “But if not”, I will still serve God.  When the world looks at your “building”, what will they see?  It depends on whether you are for sale or lease. The choice is yours.

Let it Rain

 

The drought is almost over in south Texas.  We have been inundated with rain to the point of flooding in some areas.  It has been over twenty years since we have seen this much rain.  Farmers have prayed, the Edwards Aquifer Authority prayed, greater San Antonio have all prayed for rain.  We needed rain.  After decades of sunbaked farmlands, brown lawns, water  restrictions and burn bans, we were desperate for rain.  Life is not the same when you are in a drought. Rain makes a difference.

2 Chronicles 6:26-27²⁶ 

When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, ²⁷ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

 

Unconfessed sin is the leading cause of a drought filled life.  We can spend our lives in a parched, cracked, dry existence when we refuse to acknowledge our disobedience and outright rebellion against God.  We become like the walking dead, unproductive and useless.  Rain will not come until we pray to the Father, confess our sin and turn form our wicked ways, then God will hear from heaven, forgive our sin and teach us the right way.  Refreshing rain will pour down form heaven and bring healing. We can truly live again when the drought is no more. Let it Rain!!!

It's MINE

TODDLER’S CREED

If I want it, it’s mine.

If I give it to you and change my mind later, it’s mine.

If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.

If it’s mine, it will never belong to anybody else, not matter what.

If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.

If it looks just like mine, it is mine.

Maybe this is not the “Toddler’s Creed”.  This may be the creed for all humanity.  Our world revolves around us.  Everything that happens must benefit us.  If anything is said about us, it had better be good.  Whether we deserve it or not, the promotion must be ours, the best office should be ours and we should always be the first chosen.  I found this creed in a keep sake drawer filled with the boy’s art work and childhood memorabilia. It’s a creed that is better left in the past.  How do we let go of the “it’s mine” mentality?

Psalm 50:7-12

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, your God!
⁸ I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices
Or your burnt offerings,
Which are continually before Me.
⁹ I will not take a bull from your house,
Nor goats out of your folds.
¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

The answer is simple. None of it is ours.  All things belong to God.  We are His stewards.  We own nothing. When we understand whose we are and who owns what, our grip loosens and giving becomes easier.  Then with empty hands we are able to praise and lift our hands to give God the glory because it does say in His word, that glory you speak about, “It’s Mine.”

 

Twitter

Why use Twitter?  Is it because we do not have much to say?  Or is it because the art of conversation is becoming extinct?  Do we do it just to be heard?  Tweets are cascading through the atmosphere by the millions to everyone at the same time.  Is anyone really listening?  Will anything change or happen as a result?  Is it worth the effort? Are Tweets beneficial?

Isaiah 38:14

¹⁴ “Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

If you want results, send your Twitters to God.  In dire straits, with eyes looking toward heaven, express your cares to the Lord.  As a bird tweets and chirps, we moan and utter words in humble submission that only the Holy Spirit can translate.  The sounds of which ascend to our Creator as twitter supplications.  Our twitter is heard.  This kind of twitter produces a changed life. Sincere, heartfelt twitter can defeat our enemies.  With twitter, God does all the work without much effort on our part.  Be assured, twitter directed toward God is always beneficial.  So go ahead, Tweet on.