Takers

Takers

You know these people? They take, take, take, and never give. They are spoiled children who take advantage of grandparents, use parents, and manipulate people to get what they want. They are employees, who dump off their responsiblities on other workers, or who work harder getting out of work than they do actually doing their job. They are spouses who marry people only to use them as a maid, a cook, and to wait on them hand and foot, and never give anything in return.

Takers are not good people. They use people, take advantage of people, manipulate people, and only care about themselves. What they want, how they feel, and what they can get out of it. They have an agenda, and the agenda is ME! They are people who use their kids for pawns in divorce, they fight over dead relatives belongings, and they use people who what they can get from them or what that person can do for them.

Takers are in the church as well. They go to church with the attitutude of getting not giving. They have an agenda, and want things the way they want them. They don't realize church is about GIVING God our worship and our service, not what we can get out of the church. Church is about giving, not getting, and being a christian is about giving, not getting.

We need to treat our spouse with mutual respect, not take, take, take, and never give. We need to teach our children and grandchildren that life is not always about our way, getting what we want, or always getting to do what we want, but that it's about giving as well. Being considerate, thoughtful, sharing, and having balance in our lives.

I'm not saying we should not give people stuff like gifts, or our time, or things, but what I am suggesting is we stop being selfish and stop allowing selfish behavior in others. Set boundaries, with people like this, or better yet, if all possible avoid relationships with people who are takers.

God is a giver, and wants us to be givers. He wants us to appreciate and respect others. Whether it's our parents, grandparents, children, co-workers, spouse, siblings, or friends. We cannot always take, take, take, and never expect to give. It's really about out attitude. We must develop or change our attitude to be more thoughtful of others feelings, resources, and position.

Stop using people, and start thinking about how you make others feel once in awhile. Stop being a taker and start giving something to this world for a change. Set some boundaries in your life with people, and do not enable them to be takers. Most importantly, give something to God. Allow God to work in your life and change your attitude so that you will be more of a giver and less of a taker. Or allow God to work in your life so you don't let people use you or take advantage of you.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.(NIV)

Righteousness

Rightouesness

Psalm 9:8

"He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity."(NIV)

The word is interpreted from orignial greek and hebrew words meaning "rightways" or "rightwise". It's a word we don't use alot in today's society, but it's a word that holds great meaning for those of us who are not only believer's, but committed to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

God makes us right with Him. He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, and only through Jesus' blood are our sins covered, and only through Jesus can we get to God, and only by Jesus are we saved.

There is no other way, no other religion or faith, no other means, for us to ever be right in God's eyes, except through HIS way, and that WAY is JESUS.

Today's world is full of confusion and dilusion. The world says, pick a religion. Any belief in God is safe. The world says I don't need to go to church to be a Christian, or all I have to do is go to church on Sunday mornings. People can say what they want, believe what they want, print what they want, and preach what the went, but the bottom line is it's God's way or No way.

God is RIGHT and He is RIGHTEOUSS and the only way me and you can be right is through Jesus Christ! But, that is a good thing! WE cannot serve enough, give enough, or be good enough to ever deserve God's mercy and grace. We only can receive it because God gives it freely.

Though it cost a greater price than we could ever pay, salvation is a free gift for you and me. You cannot earn you way to Heaven and you certainly can't plead igrnorance. God made a way for you to be right and we must either accept it or reject it.

Don't buy the lies that Satan plants in the world through media, through negative people, through confused or selfish people. You need Jesus! You need to develop and grow a committed relationship with Him. You need His church. You need His blood! You need His forgiveness! You need Him to make you right!

It is my prayer for you and me that we realize the great need we have and that is Jesus! I pray that we realize there is nothing we can do on our own to make us right with God. There is not enough money, not enough talent, and not enough resources for us to think we can make it on our own wisdom, wealth, or power. Do you know Jesus today?

Anger Management

Anger Management

I need it, how about you? It's taken me a long time to realize I have anger issues. I don't hit and throw stuff, so I thought I'm not an angry person, but yet I've realized when you don't have control of your anger or angry emotions and you let it control you or how you talk or behave, then you do have a problem.

I get upset, raise my voice, and "vent" or "gripe", but really I'm taking out my anger vocally instead of hitting or throwing stuff. Everyone gets angry, nothing wrong with getting angry, at times we should be angry or get angry. If someone does you wrong, your children disrespect you, or you see someone mistreated, you should get angry. It's not a sin to get upset. However, the sin comes when the anger turns into something else. When it turns negative, unhealthy, or out of proportion to the cause, you might have a problem and you react in bad ways.

Mine went untreated for years and instead of having balance and dealing with things appropriately I let it continue unchecked and when you leave something unchecked, it doesn't get better or fix itself, it progresses and get's worse. Hence, my denial for so long that I had an anger problem. And because of that, I hurt people, or offend people, and people I care about.

Now, I don't write this blog a cured man today, but I write as someone who finally recognizes an area of my life where I struggle and am weak. I now have taken steps to work on my anger, no matter the cause of the anger. Sometimes I fall into old habits, some days i fall short, some days I battle, but now I am prepared because I first realize and accept I have an issue and secondly, I am reading, studying, and praying through it to help overcome it in my life.

An issue seldom just affects you, it affects everyone around you, spouse, siblings, children, parents, co-workers, church family, etc....no matter whether the issue is anger, lying, gossip, whatever.

Maybe you are like me today, you struggle with those ugly angry emotions. You want to vent, speak your mind, be blunt, maybe you want to cuss, throw things, or hit somebody. It's very easy to lose control, especially if you don't know or won't admit you struggle with it. Maybe today is the day, to admit you have a struggle and start taking steps in the right direction, whether it's anger, greed, dishonesty, worry, or whatever your struggle. Take it to God, get professional help if you need it, search the net, buy a book, or talk to a trusted freind.

Ephesians 4:26“In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry"(NIV)

Gung Ho

Gung Ho

Does those words get you excited? Are you pumped? Psyched? We use this term when we or someone is enthusiastic about something. Some people are lame until you mention something they enjoy and then all the sudden they transform and are all "gung ho" about it.

Or maybe you know people who go in phases with something. One week they are "gung ho" about learning to play an instrument and then next week they are "gung ho" about motorcycles.

Enthusiasm is a good thing, but it like anything else must have balance and boundaries or it will be out of control in an unhealthy way. People unfortunately get all "gung ho" about Jesus and the problem with being "gung ho" is it's temporary and doesn't last.

People start out all hot and heavy and want to do and learn and serve as much as they can in as short amount of time as they can, but the christian faith is a marathon not a sprint. When you approach this attitude with God or with anything, it usually leads to burn-out, giving up, or fading out, because things don't happen fast enough for you, or you can't hold your attention long enough and then you are on to your next big fad.

It's ok to be excited and enthusiastic about hobbies and relationships and especially your christian faith, but make sure your enthusiasm and excited is in balance and in check. It's easy to get excited about dating relationship and start off hot and heavy and once the newness wears off, the relationship dissolves because you or they lost their "gung ho", same thing with exercise or dieting, people want to lose weight and try to lose it in a week and they burn themselves out, you got to pace yourself and build up discipline and stamina, that is why so many give up after a few weeks on getting healthy.

What about church? What about your faith? People get saved and get all on fire for God, but they get frustrated because they seldom realize becoming a christian is only the beginning and it takes time to overcome bad habits, old lifestyles, and form new habits and adapt to a new lifestyle. It also takes a life time of commitment to learn and grow in God's Word and in your service to Him through the local church. People get frustrated or confused when the "warm and fuzzy" wears off and they are tempted or sin or fall short, and they start missing church and stop praying and stop reading the bible.

Check your enthusiasm at the door. Maintain balance and realistic perspective in all areas, especially your faith. Don't try to become Jesus in a day. One day at a time, one moment at a time. Learn, grow, mature, overcome, and endure.

I'll leave you with the words of Paul to the chruch in Corinth about fellow preacher Titus who was coming soon to visit them and take up a collection. He was excited about His work for God and for the church in Corinth. I hope you'll be "gung ho" about your faith, but make it last.

2 Corinthians 8:17 (NIV)

For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative

Opinins, Opinions

Opinions

I don't have to repeat the saying about opinions for us all to know that we all have opinions. However, some of us are more opinionated than others, and yet even a few more are opinionated when not even asked for their opionion or advice.

I have to admit I am an opinionated person (i know your surprised!) and people are opinionated and like to give their advice on all sorts of things: religion, relationships, politics, jobs, life, etc....As human beings, we all have a right to our opinions, however opinions must not replace common sense, overstep boundaries, or become gospel truth if not backed by realistic facts.

The dictionary defines Opinion as a personal view, attitude, or apprasial. Or also, a belief or judgement that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty. Opinions can be good. There are people I go to for their opinion and there are people who come to me for my opinion, but we must be careful that we don't push our advice on people, and I am guilty of that.

Opinions should be take them or leave them. Whether it is advice about dating, marriage, career, faith, hobbies, or anything, we must give our opinion and leave it up to the person to do with it as they please. We can't get upset or offended if someone doesn't agree with our opinion or see it our way. I've been guilty of this. (I know another shock!)

Honestly, sometimes the other person will need to learn the hard way if our opinions are correct, and then again sometimes they are better off not to take our advice because our opinion is wrong or tainted by our own bad experience. Think about it, most of our opinions we have in life are based on our past experiences.

For example, if someone in a church hurt you, then it's more than likely you are going to have a bad opinion or all churches and christians. If you were hurt by an ex-lover, you may think all men or women are evil. If you were raised a democrat, you will think all republicans are bad.

However, on the flip side of it, there is great joy in being able to have an opinion. If feels good to contribute something to a discussion if it's positive, or help someone who is need. The key to opinions just like anything is balance. We must maintain a healthy balance and perspective in our lives, or our opinions will be overbearing, unrealistic, false, or even can put a strain on our relationships with others.

I've learned this from personal experience. I'm striving to learn and grow and work on myself so that my opinions are realistic, healthy, and I'm not trying to push them on other people. We all have to learn to agree to disagree at some points in our lives, and also realize our opinions aren't always accurate, realistic, or true, they are simply just our view of things, sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.

I also want to strive to base my opinions from a Godly perspective and have my feelings and advice reflect that of God. I also want to be able to repent when I over-step boundaries or cross the line with my opinions with other people. Saying your wrong, or sorry, or admitting fault goes along way for people to respect you and your opinions. I hope it's a lesson we all can learn, and that's just my opinion.

Proverbs 18:2

"Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions." (NIV)