Anyone who has gone to the gym and wanted to gain muscle has heard the saying “no pain, no gain.”  Trainers will tell you that if you want to strengthen and build your muscles you must put tension on them.  They have to work harder than normal.  At the time you get fatigued and think to yourself that you can’t go on any further.  But at the end of the workout you feel great. Even then next day you are feeling pretty good although you might be a little sore.  However, anyone who has done serious weight lifting knows that by the second day, the day you are suppose to work the same group of muscles again, the soreness has really set in.  For many people they decide they don’t want to push through the pain and lift weights that day.  Sometimes we even come up with excuses to not lift weights that day such as, “I don’t want to hurt myself” or “I don’t want to push myself to hard,” and other excuses.  The real reason is we are sore and we know that if we start lifting weights that it is going to be hard.  But if we are ever going to get stronger and build more muscle we must push through the soreness.  That got me to thinking about our relationship with Christ.

James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  Did you catch that?  James told us to rejoice over tension in our life because it is working for our good. If you ask the average Christian, they will say they want to grow in their faith.  However, if you ask that same Christian do you want to go through difficult times and they are going to tell you “no.”  However, it is impossible in the plan of God for you to grow and not go through difficulty.  Just like you need to lift on the second day even though you are really sore to build muscle, we all need to go through difficult times in life for God to grow our faith.  Neither one of those scenarios are fun, but they are necessary if we are going to grow in physical and spiritual fitness.  I heard a pastor say one time, “You can’t stay where you are and go with God at the same time.”  Every morning we must get up and decide, are we going with God today or are we ok where we are at?  I know the pain you are feeling is real, I know the anxiety it causes to follow a God you have never seen to a place you don’t know, but you must decide is the reward of knowing and growing in Jesus Christ worth more to you than any temporary pain you may experience?  That is the thing about lifting weights on the second day, once your muscles get warmed up you are fine and you are glad that you pushed through it.  You just have to decide are you going to push through and endure until the end or not.  This principle is true in our walk with Christ as well.  God will give you the strength the push through, but you must make up your mind as the old hymn say “Wherever He leads I’ll God.”

I pray for us all to have strength to push through today that we may be stronger in our walk tomorrow!

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

Proverbs 15:13 says, “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”  This is at least partly responsible for the phrase “laughter is the best medicine.”  Solomon in this verse hits the full range of emotions.  He talks about happiness and sorrow.  Someday it seems you have to laugh to keep from crying.  Life has a way of knocking you down.  Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulation (John 16:33).  Therefore, I would advise us all to look for the joyful moments in life and thank God for them.  I want to share one of mine.  As usual I walked over to the church yesterday (Sunday morning).  I walked through the grass and noticed that some of the grass fertilizer got on my shoes.  When I got to church I made sure to wipe them off (I can’t stand dirty shoes).  It wasn’t until this morning when I went to get my dress shoes that I noticed something was off.  I grabbed the two shoes that were the closest to each other, but noticed they looked different.  It was then that I noticed I had two different shoes.  The best part was when I saw the white residue from the fertilizer on both of my shoes, it was then that I realized that I had managed to wear two different shoes to church yesterday (I wish I could upload a picture of them because they look nothing alike other than both being black).  I wanted to see if it was as obvious to the rest of the world as it was to me, so I went and showed my wife.  She immediately picked up on the fact they were two different shoes and seeing my head drop, she began to laugh and asked if I had wore those two shoes to church yesterday.  Fast forwarding into later today there had been an incident that wasn’t very pleasant.  In all honesty, it was pretty frustrating for me, but even now sitting here re-telling one of my “I’m a goofball stories” I have to laugh a little.

I am convinced that God gives us these times in which all we can do is laugh to remind us that even when life is difficult (and it will be), there is always something to smile about.  Psalm 42:5 says, “Why art thou cast down, o my soul?  And why art thou disquieted in me?  Hope thou in God.”  Simple little reminder that regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in with life, you can always find hope in God, and that is something to smile about.  I will close with two precious promises from God Himself.  Hebrews 13:5, ” I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”  Psalm 23:4a, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”  Take heart dear brother or sister in Christ, God is always near, He knows where you are, He knows what you are going through, and He will give you the grace and strength to face whatever life throws at you.  Smile God loves you!

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

The tail end of last week and into today are some very important days for college football players who want to play in the National Football League.  Each year they gather in Indianapolis to show off their skills and talent to scouts for each NFL team.  Each position has certain skills and drills to do that show off their interview skills, intellect, and physical skills.  Each drill has a certain benchmark for each position such as how high is your vertical jump, how many times can you benchpress 225 pounds, and how fast can you run 40 yards.  The benchmark (the average) for offensive linemen to run the 40 yard dash is 5.1 seconds.  That is pretty impressive that a man who is generally over 300 pounds can run that fast.  This past weekend one offensive lineman set Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis buzzing because he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.67 seconds.  That is nearly one half of a second faster than the average expected time.  Factor in that this man was over six feet tall and weighed approximately 305 pounds and that is downright impressive.  One former general manager, the man in the organization who generally sets how a team will draft and who they will draft, was interviewed later that night and he was asked about this offensive lineman.  The former general manager’s response was “that is great but it doesn’t tell me how good of an offensive lineman he will be.” The only thing I could think of when I heard this is “wow talk about cutting a man’s legs out from under him.”  The lineman had been really impressive to most of the football world and one guy who’s job it use to be to draft players didn’t seem all that impressed.  Then it got me to thinking and I came to the conclusion that the former general manager was exactly right.  As an offensive lineman you aren’t going to be doing a whole lot of running.  Your job is to keep the defense from tackling your running back (who is suppose to run fast) or your quarterback.  You need good upper body strength, a low center of gravity, and good foot work so you don’t get knocked over but can control the defensive player.

You may be asking yourself, how does this apply to Christianity?  Very simple Jesus said in Matthew 7, “Not everyone who says to Me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of My Father.”  There are a lot of people who profess to be Christians.  They are even impressive in church circles for their “great sermons” or the fact they started a lot of churches, or any number of other things.  But does that necessarily mean they are Christians?  The answer to that is a resounding “no!”  Looking at the passage in Matthew 7 Jesus wasn’t talking to addicts, adulterers, and the like.  He was talking to well intentioned people who did things in His name (performed miracles, cast out demons, and other things).  That to me is like the former GM (general manage) not being that impressed because the man could run fast.  The former GM didn’t know if the offensive lineman had the necessary skills to be a good offensive lineman in the NFL.  The necessary thing to get into heaven is faith in Jesus Christ as the only hope for forgiveness of sins and the only way into heaven.  Notice again Matthew 7:21 previous quoted, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of My Father.”  How do we get into heaven?  By doing the will of God.  The things the people did were great, but obviously they hadn’t done the basic requirement of God, and that is have a relationship with Jesus.  Just like having fast feet is only the beginning of a great offensive lineman in the NFL, having a relationship with Jesus is the starting point of getting into heaven and doing great things with Christ.  Have you surrendered to the amazing love that is found in Jesus and turned to Him in faith?

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

Even though Valentine’s Day has come and gone I have been thinking about what is true love?  Furthermore, how do I demonstrate true love in my life?  In a culture where the word “love” gets tossed around like a football in the backyard, have we lost the meaning of love?  It is becoming increasingly more difficult to argue that society today understands what love truly is.  In a “me first” compulsive society we have defined love not by our own actions, but based on feelings or emotions oftentimes connected to how people treat us.  This will by no means be a comprehensive look at the issue of love, but there is something I believe every Christian and most churches should look at in order to answer the question, am I truly showing love?

Have you ever heard someone say, “I love Jesus but I don’t like the church?”  Other than sounding completely ridiculous, this is impossible according to Scripture.  First of all we see in 1 John 4:20, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”  The word “hate” hear means that we do not love our brother, not necessarily hate in the strongest sense of the word as we think of it.  John is saying, “you can’t love God and not love your brother.”  Why is this the case?  Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”  Notice Christ loved the church so much that He gave His life for it.  How can I possibly love God and hate something He thought was worth dying for?  Godly love is not based on feelings or based on emotions.  Rather godly love is based on an act of our will.  In other words, I am choosing to love you and I will love you regardless of how you treat me.  Obviously this form of love is very difficult because we are taught by society that it is all about us.  The only way I can love my enemies is to choose to look past what they do to me or say about me.  It is easy to love those who treat you nice or those who say they love you, but as Jesus said, “what are you doing any different from the lost?”  If you were to come up to me and tell me I was handsome, it looked like I lost a lot of weight, and I was the best preacher you have ever heard of course I’m going to love you!  But that wouldn’t prove anything.  Now if I could pray for your and care about your soul when you tell me that was the worst sermon you have ever heard, then maybe I have achieved love for you.  The bottom line is that if I truly love you, then your words and your actions will not affect my thoughts and actions towards you.  That is God’s standard!  No wonder many people walked away from Jesus according to John 6:66, this is hard.  But thanks be to God who gives us the Holy Spirit to help us and gave us His Word that we may learn from Jesus’ example.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” is recorded fully in Matthew 5-7.  However, Luke also has much of the sermon in his Gospel as well.  It is in Luke’s account that we see a very painful, pointed question.  Luke 6:46 says, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Jesus had a way with words that few preachers ever seem to grasp (myself included).  Why such a strong question from Jesus?  What would happen in preachers today spoke so openly and in the straight forward manner as Jesus did?  How could Jesus speak to people like this?  Those are just a few of the questions I thought of as I read this passage.  I believe Jesus asked strong questions because following Him requires strong commitment on our part.  I think some people would get offended if a preacher today was this straight forward, but I also believe those who are truly committed to Christ would accept the message as from God.  In a side note, I believe that too many times churches cater to the fringe masses, who regardless of what the church does will not fully embrace and accept the message and mission of Christ.  I believe Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gave us the words necessary in Ephesians 4:11-13 when he talked about that we are to equip the saints (key word there) to do the work of ministry.  Jesus modeled this for us when He left the many to teach the few (His disciples).  I believe that pastors today need to focus on those who are on fire for Christ and are willing to do the work of Christ, then lovingly pray for an encourage those on the fringe to fully devote themselves to Christ.  But the bulk of the energy must be spent on those who are “doing what Christ said to do.”  But this is a blog for another day 🙂

The final question I posed is where I want to spend the remainder of this post at.  I believe Jesus could speak to crowds like this because they saw Him model what He was teaching.  There was a story that broke late last week about the NCAA (college sports governing body) and the story said that the NCAA’s investigation into some “cheating” by a school was handled improperly.  However, the big part of the story was the fact that the head of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, was not accepting any responsibility for what happened.  The reason this is a big deal is because Mr. Emmert “preaches” to NCAA schools that accountability begins at the top.  He has called out head coaches, athletic directors, and even university presidents for what he calls “lack of institutional control.”  Yet now when a story comes out that people he is in charge of acted improperly, he wants to distance himself from it.  Is this a big surprise?  Absolutely not, it is called politics.  However, what Mr. Emmert needs to realize is that he has just branded himself as a hypocrite and has lost the ability to speak about “lack of institutional control” and that accountability starts at the top.  Jesus was different however, He led with love and integrity.  He could teach in a straight forward manner because in a sense He was saying “do what I say, because I am already doing it.”  Church leaders and Christians need to lead not just with their words, but (possibly more importantly) by their actions.  Notice what Luke 6:47-48 says, “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock., ”  Notice Jesus said this type of person does three things.  First they come to Him.  All truth is found in Jesus Christ!  Secondly, they hear what Christ says, that is they not only hear it in their ears, but they apply it to their hearts which leads to the final stage, they do what Christ has taught.

Don’t lose your voice and right to speak because you are unwilling to model what you are asking people to do.  If you want people to trust Christ with their heart and follow Him with their life, then you must first already be doing it.  That is leading like Christ.  That is what the world needs to see, and when they see it, you will have gained an audience and the right to speak to them.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

Have you ever had the moment in life in which you have over reacted and later come to realize it? That is pretty frustrating isn’t it?  I have one such moment here recently in which I made a snap decision on something only to realize that it is possible some of the facts are being portrayed incorrectly.  What makes it is even more frustrating to me is the fact I just recently taught about that sort of moment.  I often wonder do any other preachers or teachers have that happen, oh well, it doesn’t really matter.  Many times what happens is we will try to encourage each other as Christians (encouragement is good) with a phrase something to the effect of, “we are all human” or my favorite, “Paul talked about the same thing in Romans 7 when he said ‘what I should do I shouldn’t, and what I should do, I don’t do’.”  When I hear that I often think about the fundamental difference between Paul and most other Christians.  In Romans 7 Paul wasn’t trying to justify his sinful actions, in fact in Romans 7:24 Paul calls himself a “wretched man” and asks the question “who can deliver me from this?”  Paul wasn’t justifying his actions whereas most of the time that is exactly what we as Christians are trying to do.  I am so grateful that I have a godly wife.  I cannot even begin to tell all the ways she is a blessing to me and the children.  A simple reminder of “God is in control”, “God knew this was going to happen before it happened”, or “regardless of circumstances and situations we must demonstrate Christ to the world” goes a long way.  Then a little time to sit back, pray, and ask God for His perspective goes a long way.  And then that light bulb moment in which “I was wrong” regardless of the situation, I was wrong because of how I reacted.  I think I could probably write on this particular topic week after week, because that is how often it feels as though I need to be reminded of it.  I want to share a verse that helps me (now if I could just remember it before the moment).  James 1:20 says, “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”  We may be justified in being upset and frustrated with a situation, but reacting in frustration will never win a person to Christ, and at the end of the day that is what matters.  Dear Christians, may we all remember that the world is watching us and we are either influencing them for Christ or influencing them away from Him.  We need to “turn the other cheek” not because it is the easy thing to do, but because “a soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).

By His grace and through His strength may we live for and represent Him!

Have you ever tried to pick something up that was too heavy for you?  You may have been able to pick it up after straining a lot, which ends in pulled muscles and a miserable feeling body for a few days.  Maybe you were able to carry it for a little distance but then it got to be too much and you dropped it.  My boys are always eager to show off how big their muscles are and how strong they are.  I have to admit sometimes it is entertaining to watch them try.  But it got me to thinking about the struggle of sin in our life.  Is there something(s) in your life that want to get rid of, you confess it, you think you have repented of it, but then your next prayer time starts as follows, “Lord, I’m sorry for doing this again?”  I think in a moment of honesty we would all agree that we have a habit in our life.  But why can’t we get rid of it?  There can be several reasons.  The first is maybe we are praying for God to take it away, but we don’t really want Him to take it away.  1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us, “. . .the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”  God knows out true heart and feelings on an issue and so if we are not genuine in wanting to be delivered from this habit, God is not going to bring deliverance.  There are a few other possibilities as to why we continue to struggle with the same sinful habit.  However, it generally comes down to accountability.  Accountability is something many of us say we want, but then we get upset when someone holds us accountable.  Galatians 6:1-2 says, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”  Without fully breaking down this verse we learn some important truths.  First of all, when we get “overtaken” in a sin (the sinful habit we keep asking forgiveness for) it is a sign that we can’t handle this by our self.  Secondly we learn that we need to find someone who is spiritual ( a maturing Christian) to share this problem with and ask for help before the weight of the sinful habit crushes us.  Next we see that the person who is holding you accountable must realize that they are just as susceptible to falling into sin (considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted).  It is so easy to feel as though we can judge a person because they struggle with something we don’t, but we must remember we are sinners just like they are.  The beginning of verse 2 says that we are to “bear one another’s burdens.”  In other words we are to come along side of them and take on this struggle with them.  This speaks of praying with them and for them over this sinful habit.  And finally, when we do that we are fulfilling the Law of Christ.  What is the Law of Christ?  The law of Christ is that we love one another.  John 13:34-35 says, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  When we come alongside a brother or sister who is struggling with sin, we are showing the world that we belong to Christ.  The world may stand back and condemn the person, but as Christians we are to have compassion on them (without condoning the sinful behavior) just as Jesus had and has compassion on us and our struggles.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

Are there certain habits in your life that you would love to get rid of?  We could go into the psychological side of habits and addictions, but we will save that for another time. I will however share a story that is sad, funny, and yet unfortunately true.  Anyone who knows me is aware that I am passionate about three things, my Savior, my family, and football.  Obviously there are different levels of passion for all three, but they are passions nonetheless.  I will sometimes desire to give friendly coaching advice to Frank Beamer and my beloved Hokies (yes I am aware that they can’t hear me nor do they care what I have to say), and sometimes I do it in a louder than necessary fashion.  I realized it wasn’t a good thing, but I never thought of it as a “problem.”  After all, I have seen others in my family and among my friends do the same thing.  However, there was one particular fall day a year ago that I realized something has gone terribly wrong.  It was when our youngest son, Caleb came into the room while a game was on, he walked towards the tv, stomped his foot, pointed his finger, and asked the question “what is that?”  It was then I felt the glances (judgmental I think) of my wife boring a hole into me (any man who is married knows the look I am talking about).  To my wife’s credit all she said is, “he’s your son.”  That is all that she needed to say, because I knew the rest of that conversation was “is this what you want to teach your son to do?”  These are problems and we are aware of these, but that isn’t what I am talking about.  What I’m talking about are those habits that only you and God know about.

The truth is we all think we are more clever than we actually are.  We think we are getting away with something, when in fact we really aren’t.  In many circles today people go to great lengths to hide their habits from friends, family, co-workers, and even church members.  We fear that if anyone knew the things that we struggle with they would judge us and look down on us.  Sometimes we are so prideful that we give the excuse when we get caught, “it’s not that big of a deal.”  To those who are thinking that even now can I ask a simple question, if it isn’t a big deal, then why are you trying to hide it?  The truth is we know it is a big deal, but we just don’t want to deal with it.  Yet there will be a day in which it will be dealt with.  Jesus had been teaching for a while and a group of Pharisees were giving Him a hard time.  The Pharisees were the religious teachers of Jesus’ day and they put on all sorts of shows for the people to make them think they were super spiritual people.  Yet in the end of Luke 12:1 and into verse 2 it says, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.”  Talk about a shot fired across the bow of the proverbial ship.  Jesus was looking squarely into the Pharisees eyes and saying, “You may think you are getting away with this, but there will be a day when you will be exposed for the frauds you really are.”  Did Jesus hate the Pharisees and want to make them look bad?  Absolutely not!  He was trying to bring conviction into their life so that they could deal with the sin that was there in order for them to be forgiven.  That is what the apostle John told us to do in 1 John 1:9, “if ye confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Admit there is a problem, agree with God that it is a problem, and ask for help to remedy the problem.  We need to deal with the habits that are in our life because there is a day in which if we don’t deal with it, God will deal with it.  Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”  Judgment day is coming for us all.  Wouldn’t it be better to be able to say “The blood of Jesus Christ covered that sin” instead of having to try to explain why we did what we did (by the way no excuse will be valid in front of a holy God)?  Let’s allow the Light of Jesus to shine into the dark corners of our life, so that we can be completely clean.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

One of my favorite songs right now is by an artist called Big Daddy Weave.  The song is named “Redeemed.”  It has such a powerful message behind it.  A message that I think many Christians need to be reminded of.  Towards the end of the song they sing, “All my life I’ve been called unworthy, maimed by my shame and regret. . .but I’m reminded oh God, You’re not done with me yet, I am redeemed.”  Have you ever felt unworthy or wondered how can God love you much less use you because of your past?  It reminds me of the Boston Red Sox.  For 86 years (from 1918 to 2004) they lived under the “curse of the Bambino.”  It dealt with the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees.  The Red Sox didn’t win a World Series for 86 years.  Obviously that was nothing more than a superstition, it wasn’t real, but at times it felt real.  Does it kind of remind you of your past?  You know that your past is just that your past, and that it really doesn’t have any bearing on your future, yet it still haunts you.  Finally in 2004 the Red Sox won the World Series.  Papers in Boston and all over the United States read something similar to “The curse is broken.”  Three years later the Red Sox won it again.  Suddenly they didn’t have “the curse” hanging over them and they were able to simply focus on playing baseball.  What changed in the team and the fan base?  Absolutely nothing except their perception!  Before 2004 they were looking and expecting something to go wrong because of the “curse.”  But now that it was behind them, it was time to return to winning.

When a person comes to faith in Christ what happens to them?  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  Unlike the “curse” in Boston, something definitely happens inside of a person who comes to faith in Christ.  The “old them” is gone and God has made them new.  They have a new nature full of new desires to please God, and they have a new name, “Redeemed.”  That is a reality, but we all know that the old perception comes to our mind from time to time.  For Red Sox fans they are called Yankee fans.  For a Christian it is Satan.  He wants to remind us of our past and tell us that we are unworthy of our new name and our new nature.  And sometimes those thoughts come to our mind because we slipped back into the “old” us.  We must realize that God is never ok with any of our sin, but He did die for it.  So instead of listening to Satan and his attacks you can quote Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  In other words just as the song says, “oh God, You’re not done with me yet.”

There is another line in the chorus of the song that says, “So I’ll shake off these heavy chains.”  It’s time to shake off the heavy chains of your past and realize that because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, He has not only given you a new name, but He has given you a new future as well.  Run towards that future!  That is what Paul encourages us to do in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  You’ve been given a new nature, a new name, and a new future, now let’s go and share with others that what God did for us, He can do for them.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him

There is so much going on here at Westlake Baptist that is exciting and I praise God for that.  But so many times through our joys (personal and as a church) we forget that there is a group within the community and maybe even within the church that is not happy.  They are not upset with the church or the direction of the church.  Rather they are suffering in silence with various things going on in their life.  For some it is a struggle in their marriage, others it is an addiction to something, and for others it could be financial problems or other things.  The bottom line is there are people all around us who are suffering and we need to make sure that we are taking time to not only notice them, but to reach out to them with the love of Jesus.

In Romans 12 the apostle Paul was writing about Christian conduct.  In that chapter we see that we are to live in the world, but not be like the world (vv. 1-2).  We see that we are to be humble (v. 3).  Paul also reminds us that we as the body of Christ all need each other (vv. 4-5).  He also reminds us that God has given each of His children a spiritual gift that we are to use for His glory (vv. 6-8).  But the verse that stands out to me concerning our subject at hand is verse 15 which says, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”  The first part of that verse is generally pretty simple.  It is easy to be happy when others are happy.  But so many times we avoid or simply pass by those who are struggling with life.  So many times in the Gospels we read that Jesus “had compassion on them.”  That is what Paul is calling us to here in verse 15.  He is telling us that we must be compassionate.  The truth of the matter is we may not be able to help solve their problem, but many times taking the time to come over and show that you care does more for that person than we even realize.  In a world that is constantly beating us up and putting us down, what better way could we as Christians stand out as different from the crowd than by coming over and lending a shoulder or an ear to someone?  Take time today to look around you and see who could use some encouragement.  I promise they are there, we just have to take the time to look.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him!