Category: Christian Living

  • The high cost of stubbornness

    black lamborghini hurricane
    Lamborghini Hurracan

    Some years ago, I was driving down Anthony  Henday Drive (part of a ring road system that encircles Edmonton) when a new-looking Lamborghini blew past me at an incredible rate of speed. The traffic around me was traveling about 30km over the posted limit, and I was keeping up with the flow of traffic. He blew by us by at least half our speed again.

    Just down the road, we all passed him as a police officer was writing him a ticket. It wasn’t long before he passed us again. Five minutes later, he blew by and hadn’t slowed down.

    I passed him again, stopped for the third time, and got what I assumed was his third ticket. I wanted to see if he would go for number four, but I had to take the next exit and never saw him again.

    Maybe he had so much money that he didn’t care about the cost of the tickets and the increased insurance premiums. Perhaps he thought the law didn’t apply to him. Maybe he was leaving the country never to return and didn’t care. Whatever his reasons, he struck me as being slow to learn. 

    Sometimes, we’re stubborn and slow to learn. That is generally not a good thing.

    Being stubborn and slow to learn is often a problem in our Christian walk. We complain we don’t understand everything the Bible says, but if we took the blinders off and put the little bit we understand into practice, we would see the world transformed.

    God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He does expect us to work diligently at what He’s told us to do.

    You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:14-15 NIV

    We’re called to do what He’s told us to do. There’s a reason for that command. Obedience brings joy.

    As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:9-11 NIV

    In what areas of your walk have you been stubborn or slow to learn? What are you going to change today (with His help)?

    Until next time, remember that there is joy in obedience and pain in disobedience. My prayer is that you opt for joy.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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    The high cost of stubbornness

  • Moose Lake Ballet

    How grace filled are your words?

    Bull moose in winter
    Bull Moose in Winter

    You’ve heard of the Swan Lake ballet but probably  missed the Moose Lake Ballet. It’s not as graceful as the former, but it’s far more exciting.

    The setting is a dark country road. The players are a moose, a frozen lake (actually a pond, but give me some room for artistic license on that point), a driver, and a car.

    Some years ago, I was driving home from a friend’s house after dark. As I approached a bend in the road, a huge moose was hurrying across the lake headed in my direction.

    At the same time I braked, the moose saw the car. The moose quickly applied its brakes but couldn’t maintain its balance on the ice. Its front legs buckled under him. The moose crashed onto its face with a loud grunt and slid on the ice face first.

    With God’s protection, both driver and moose left the scene of a potentially very dangerous accident unharmed. After I got over the fright of the near miss, I could see the humor in the moose and his fall.

    Moose are not the most graceful animals in the forest, but falling like that is ungraceful even for a moose. 

    Like the moose and his sudden stop, sometimes we can be far less than graceful. Sometimes, that’s a lack of physical grace; more often, it’s a lack of grace in our words. Our words can do tremendous damage. 

    It’s no wonder Scripture is full of admonitions about the tongue.

    There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV

    A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. Proverbs 15:4 ESV

    If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. James 1:26 ESV

    How’s your tongue? As graceful as a charging moose on ice? Or does it bring forth wells of love, blessing, and life?

    Until next time, may your tongue bring blessings, not curses.

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.

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    Right living or right belief?

    Like skunks in a bucket

    Old porky – God is not a porcupine