Update

Just a not as to why I have not posted recently if anyone is seeing this. I am one week into a Bible in 90 Days challenge. At first. I borrowed the audio for week one  from the Tennessee R.E.A.D.S (Regional E-book & Auidiobook Download System) that is linked with my public library card  and was going to continue just listening, But I found two things: I find it easier to follow along in my own NIV copy to underline things to come back to and then I found out when I logged into R.E.A.D.S. to borrow week two that my library card "is expired."  To "renew" my library card I have to contact the library to confirm my contact information has not changed, but I didn't get that done before they are closed on Sunday and Monday. Since I only have the audio for  week one, I'm thankful I found a PDF Checklist here so that I can keep up with the reading. (There are two "Grace Days" calculated in, but who wants to use one of them up in the first week.)

That and avoiding the time-wasting and unwanted content temptations of logging on has kept me from blogging. If you really miss my posts, leave me a comment and I'll try to get back to it as quickly as possible.

Giving is receiving the better.

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. (Philippians 4:17 NASB)

Moments after learning to do the "impossible" and be content in all situations (vv12-13), Paul drop's this bombshell that value of the gift the believers of Philippi sent for themselves as the givers meant more to him than the gift itself.
Just some rambling thoughts on the value of giving: If God is love (1John 1:8), His love is epitomized by giving (John 3:16), and our identifying characteristic as Christ's follower is our love for one another (John 13:35) and is it even possible to be a follower of God and NOT a giver? Can I rejoice with the giver or am I too focused on me when I receive?

From

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. (2 Peter 1:8-9 NASB)

Listening through an audio version of John MacArthur's book "Twelve Ordinary Men" had one thing about Peter stick out to me. Primarily that he spoke from experience. This same man who promised never to forsake Christ (and swung a sword to prove it) was proved a liar hours later by a servant girl asking him for the truth only to give a confident, Spirit-filled sermon to those accusing them of being drunks weeks later. Not a man of knowledge or self-control (v7), Christ used him mightily because he was not gifted, but that he gave himself to be changed and let the truth increase in and through him.

If ought to be moving toward something greater. FROM who I was, FROM who I have been TOWARD the Spirit-Filled, Christ-like life that God has in store for me.

Judgemental or Discerning?

So then, you will know them by their fruits.

 (Matthew 7:20 NASB)

It has been my experience that those left on the outside by the type discernment this passage demands will label it as being judgmental. Those confronted by a loving brother often return fire with "Judge not, that ye be not judged." (Matt.7:1 KJV) entirely missing the point that both of these verses are from the same teaching by Jesus Christ. We must be discerning while remembering that we are all held to the same standard revealed in the Word and it's only through His grace that we are not all condemned and punished already.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. (James 1:22-24 NASB)

Lord, Help me in my "discerning" to be full of grace that I might not become judgmental.

Focus

But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7 KJV)

So many like today's ODB challenge focus on the "physical exercise" in verse eight, but that seems to me as a small part of the issue. Some modern translations (NASB and ESV I've seen) us a semicolon at the end of this verse and into verse eight that remind us English readers that the thoughts ar connected. I just cannot see the "put off" principle in verse seven becoming separated from the "put on" of the strength-building labor and exercise in verse eight. Turning toward exercising a growing, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled godliness cannot be done without turning away from the profane (irreverent, polluted, worldly) ways of thinking. 

After the recounting to the "Hall of Faith" walks of those who had completed their earthly journey in chapter 11, the writer of Hebrews began chapter 12:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

It's not only the sinful things that must be laid aside, but every weight that keeps us from giving maximum effort. The "okay" and the "good" may be keeping us from reaching the "best" just as effectively as the "bad."

—————

Lord,
     Help me to turn my eyes from all this world tries to set as distractions before my eyes, and turn my ears from all the contradictory "opinions"  so that they might not drown out Your voice and trip me up on my race. Help  me to keep my focus stayed on the finish line of being like You and finishing the race strong. Help me not to hold on to the things of this world but strain to grasp more of You in all that I do. I know that I cannot do this in my own strength, so as I yield to Your strength and Your guidance to preform Your work in and through me. 

Yours to do as You will,
Andy Jentes