God Doesn't Save Avatars

                The use of social media is at an all time high around the world.  Just about everyone has a page that they have created to share their life with their “friends”.  All the sites allow the users to post a picture of themselves so all their friends know who they are.  These profile pictures are called avatars. 

Your avatar can be anything that you choose for it to be.  Most people use a picture of themselves or something of interest to them.  But there are other people that put up a fake picture in order to deceive their “friends”.  These are the people that usually make up everything on their page in order to be liked by more people.  Their social media life is a complete fabrication.

                The real question that comes to mind when I think of avatars is how many people that call themselves Christians are nothing more than avatars?  They are walking around the world saying all the right things in order to be accepted and liked by others, but they are completely fictional.  They lead a life around other Christians that is an example for others to follow, but in private they are completely different.  They put on the fake profile in order to deceive the people they want to like them.  These are the people that are lukewarm in the church, even though they give off the appearance of being on fire for God. 

                There will come a day when these people will be judged by God and not man.  They will have to stand in front of God and make an account of their life.  Their avatar will be removed and they will be seen for who they are.  Only then will they understand what Jesus said in Mathew 7:21-23.  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’”  So instead of being allowed in the gates of heaven, they will be cast in the pits of hell. 

                We all know people that are using their avatars in the church today and are trying to impress others with their knowledge or status.  You may even be one of those people yourself.  Whatever the case may be, God doesn’t save your avatar.  He wants to know the real person behind the fake persona.  He wants a personal relationship with us and not just “friends” on social media.  He doesn’t need you posting, tweeting or snap chatting your feelings, He wants you to have a conversation with Him.  He wants us to put the social media mentality down and truly get to know Him.  Then you will really get to know what a FRIEND is.

                Lord I pray for anyone that lives an avatar life. I pray that you strip my avatar from me and bring me closer to You.  Lord I pray for anyone that lives two separate lives.  You are the only way to make our life the same in and out of the church.  I pray that you give us the desire to make the relationship real and not a fake profile for show.  Take the social media mentality from us and replace it with a true desire to have You as a FRIEND.  In Your name I pray, Amen.

Agape Love

                Joey and Kim had been dating for almost a year and were thinking about taking their relationship to the next level.  They were both active in their church and knew what the Bible said about being equally yoked in their relationship.  Joey was the son of a long time minister and knew his parents would want the young couple to seek the wisdom of other couples that had been married for many years.  Kim on the other hand was the first person in her family to become Christian.  She came from a broken home and had only had limited interaction with father.  She really didn’t understand why Joey was so adamant about meeting with older couples.

                Reluctantly Kim gave into Joey’s persistent asking about talking to another couple.  He arranged to have dinner with a couple that had been married for almost fifty years.  The older couple had watched Joey grow up in the church and knew his parents very well.  They were excited about the opportunity to mentor a young couple just as another couple had done for them years prior.  They prayed over the notes they prepared for Joey and Kim.  They wanted to make sure God has His hands in everything they told the love birds.

The evening started out with the pleasantries and storytelling from over the years.  The older couple loved being able to tell the younger generation about how God put them together and all the adventures they had through their marriage.  They joked about how their parents and grandparents didn’t give them a chance to make it in the world.  The couple explained that their life had never been easy but was very rewarding.  God had blessed them with four great kids and a flock grandkids and great grandkids.  They beamed with pride when talked about their family and how God had been at the forefront of everything they had done. 

As dinner was winding down, Joey finally asked the one question that he needed the answer to.  He asked the older man what it took to make a marriage last.  Joey was expecting the gentleman to give him the standard answer of put God first in the marriage, but instead his answer was completely different.  The old man looked right into Joey’s eyes and said you must cleave unto your new wife.  He then quoted Genesis 2:24 from memory.  He explained that when the two are married, they become as one flesh.  They should have agape love.  Joey was so stunned by the response that he didn’t ask what he meant by agape love. 

Over the next few days, Joey spent every possible minute trying to understand what the old man meant by agape love.  Finally when he was about to give up, he asked his mom what it meant to

have agape love.  His mom did not hesitate to pull out her Bible and went to 1 Corinthians 13.  She said this is the love that God has for us and it is the love that we need to have for our spouse.  She started reading from verse 4, “4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude.  It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”  When she finished, she asked Joey if he could live up to those standards with Kim.  If he could, then he would have agape love for her.  She then reminded him that we are all created in the image of God and that He loves us unconditionally with agape love.

Lord, I pray tonight for my wife.  I know I have not lived up to the standards You have set out for me.  But by Your grace and mercy I am given the opportunity everyday to show her that I have an agape love for her.  You gifted her to me and I want to show her that Your gift is precious to me.  Lord, I also pray for anyone that is going into a relationship that is built on a brotherly or physical love.  Lord, transform that love into an agape love and take them deeper into their love for each other by them going deeper in their love for You.  Father you have laid out the perfect example of agape love for us, so I pray that we can follow the example and honor You in the process.  Thank you Lord for the love and mercy you bestow every day on the undeserving people that we are.  In Your precious name, Amen.

Not My Church

                The Jones family was new to the small town.  Bill’s company had moved him there to run their factory.  Bill, his wife Ann and their three kids, April, Jason, and Mary, enjoyed the small town.  They loved the slower pace and were settling into their new lives.  Bill and Ann knew they needed to find a new church home for the family.  They started visiting some of the churches in town.  It didn’t take very long for almost everyone in town to hear that the family was searching for a church and one of the pastors decided to make a visit to the family’s home. 

                The pastor reached out to the family and they invited the pastor over for dinner.  The pastor and his wife arrived at the Jones’ house very excited to meet the family and tell them about their church.  As they sat down for dinner, Bill introduced the pastor to his kids.  Jason met the pastor first.  Jason is a handsome, athletic young man that has a very bright future.  The pastor knew he would make a great addition to the youth group at the church.  Next Bill introduced his oldest daughter, April.  April is a sophomore in college.  The pastor looked twice at April when she walked into the room.  Her hair was multiple colors and she had many piercings and tattoos visible.  Finally, Bill introduced his youngest daughter, Mary.  Mary seemed a lot like Jason when she was introduced to the pastor.  She was a beautiful young woman that loved basketball and volleyball.  All three children were very well mannered and polite.  The pastor enjoyed meeting all three kids.

                Dinner was going great for the family and the pastor.  They were all getting to know each other and the family was starting to like what the church had to offer.  The church had something for every member of the family.  There were several different adult classes, they had a college class and the youth group was the largest in town.  Everyone started getting excited about the possibility of finding a church that met the needs of the entire family.   As dinner finished up, Mary excused herself from the table and ran to the bathroom.  The pastor’s wife started to get concerned for the girl and asked Ann if there was anything she could do because she was a nurse.  Ann explained that Mary would be fine and that she hasn’t been feeling good for the last couple months.  The sickness was just part of the process Mary had to live with and it would pass with time.

                The evening started getting late and the pastor knew it was time for them to head home.  As they gathered their things, Mary returned to see the pastor off and apologize for leaving the table.  The pastor’s wife gave her a hug and told her that she would be praying for her condition.  Mary told the pastor’s wife that she and the baby greatly appreciated the prayers.  The pastor was astonished that he just heard that Bill’s sixteen year old daughter was pregnant. 

           

     Bill and Ann walked the pastor and his wife to the door.  As they were leaving, Bill told the pastor they looked forward to seeing them Sunday morning for services.  The pastor turned back around to Bill and said that they may need to keep looking for a church to call home.  He explained that his congregation was very traditional and the family would probably not be as welcomed in the church as they would like.  Jason would be welcomed with open arms and April would win the members over with her charm.  It would take some time for the members to look past the piercings and tattoos but they would eventually come around.  But the congregation would not accept a pregnant, teenager that was living in sin.  The pastor didn’t want to hurt the family anymore and encouraged them to try the more contemporary church in the next town over. 

                This story is an exaggerated rendition of things that happen, but there are congregations and churches that make families feel unwelcome because of their situation.  They think that people who are different from them or have made mistakes should not be welcomed.  Some people put degrees on sin and refuse to allow the sin to enter their sacred church.  They become very judgmental when they see others hurting.  Churches loose the thought that they are a hospital for the hurting and start believing they are a museum for saints.  These churches have lost the focus of why Jesus came to Earth in the first place. 

                When churches decide that they have the right to judge or even turn people away because they don’t fit their image, then they have become just as bad as the sinners they are trying to keep out.  They have forgotten the words Jesus spoke in Mark 2.  He replied to the Pharisees, when they questioned why he was eating the tax collectors or “scum”, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor- sick people do.  I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”(Verse 17)  These churches that don’t want sinners to ruin their image are no different from the Pharisees.  Jesus is still calling all the sick and hurting to Himself.  He is still eager to have dinner with the “scum” that are in world.  Those are the people that need God in their lives. 

                Just like the three kids in the story, there are different kinds of people in the world.  They are all uniquely different but are all the same.  Jesus came to save everyone, not just the people that fit the image of a church.  It doesn’t matter what your sin is, sin is sin.  Jesus wants everyone to get to know Him and turn away from their sinful past.  But just because you turn away from your past does not mean that you will not have the reminders of that past.  Just as a sixteen year old, single mother will have the reminder of her sin, we all have the memories of our past.  The church should be the last place to turn those memories into condemnation.  And every time they judge someone for their past, they are condemning them for it.  When they turn their past over to Jesus and He washes it white as snow, the church should follow suite and welcome them into the fold.

                Lord I ask for forgiveness for ever making anyone feel unwelcome for their past sins.  I pray for any church that has lost the desire to be a hospital for the sick and hurting or have become judgmental towards people that are different than their image.  Lord we all have sinned and fallen short of Your glory and it’s only through You that we will ever have a chance in this world.  Lord I pray for all the churches that have lost their purpose of serving the lost.  Only You can change the hearts of the members of those churches.  In Your Holy Name I pray, Amen

2016

                It’s been said many times that 2016 has been one of the worst years in history.  There have been over 100 “celebrity” deaths during the year.  The presidential election caused many hurt feelings on both sides of the aisle.  Terrorist attacks happened all over the world.  Cancer took the lives of many people across the country and world.  Racism exploded in many of the states resulting in the loss of lives for no reason.  Droughts caused ideal conditions for forest fires in the Smokey Mountains which resulted in the loss of more lives and destroyed property.  And the list goes on and on. 

                But 2016 will not even register on the list of bad years when we look at it in the scope of eternity.  Once we change our thought process, we will see that all the things that happened around the world didn’t change who we are.  We still get up, still have people in our lives, and still have the opportunity to live our life.  All the negative things that have gone on can’t change the fact that we are still alive.  They can’t take away the opportunities we still have every day. 

                The biggest opportunity that we have is to serve our Father in Heaven.  God’s love for us has no end and He is always there for us.  He is there through elections, the fires, the terrorist attacks, and even when cancer comes calling.  God never leaves us even though we go through hard times.  We feel like He has left us because we have to deal with the results of sin in the world.  But all we have to do is call on His name and He will bring back the peace we have lost. 

                So to say that 2016 was the worst year would be a gross mischaracterization of God’s power.  The only way that this would have been the worst year in your life, you would have had to die and not known Jesus.  Then I would agree that this was the worst year in history for you.  But since you are reading this, then you can still get to know Jesus.  It doesn’t matter if you have been a Christian all your life or you don’t know Jesus, you are still given the chance to have a relationship with Him.  You could make the upcoming year the best year in your life.  And no matter what happens in the world around you, you will have the confidence of knowing that your future is secure.  He is waiting with arms open wide for us to come to Him. 

                You do not have to allow the world around you to dictate what a good or bad year is.  When you know who created the world and everything in it, then you will always have the hope of great years.  That does not mean that everything in life will be roses or you will not have to deal with adversity.  It means that you will know where to lay all your burdens down.  The world still affects all of us, but we don’t have to allow it change our outlook about it.  God is in control and He will make us a way out of all situations when we turn them over to Him.

                Lord, I pray for this world.  I ask for Your hand of protection over this world.  Lord I pray for a peace to fall over this land.  Give people the strength and desire to make this a better place for everyone.  I pray for the people that don’t know you.  I pray that someone introduces them to you in the upcoming year.  Lord please open up their hearts and minds to You.  Lord I pray for the new year and all the possibilities that lay ahead for all of us.  You alone can change the desires of our hearts.  Lord I pray for all the things that the world said made this the worst year and You use those things to bring glory back to You.  In Your name, Amen.