Author: admin

Few things bring any more joy to life than a pure conscience. Sin brings us down. It robs us of our peace of mind. It destroys our relationships. It troubles us at night. When our life is filled with sin, it is impossible to experience true joy.

A pure conscience does not come from a lack of sin, but with having thoroughly dealt with our transgressions. We can have a pure conscience when we know that our Savior remembers our sins no more. And, if Christ has forgotten our confessed sin, we ought to also.

Many try to serve God with guilty consciences. They vainly hope that they can somehow appease a holy God through their good deeds or sacrifice. But the truth is that you cannot do enough good work to atone for your sin. To achieve total absolution, you must repent of your sin and receive God’s forgiveness.

How are you serving your Lord? Weighed down by the load of your guilt? Or joyfully, free from guilt, because you know you sins have all been thoroughly dealt with in heaven?

Each of us has been entrusted with God’s truth. We have all received Scriptural promises that can set us free and provide abundant life. But it must be guarded. Just as seed cast upon the rock can be snatched away by birds and withered by the sun, so God’s truth can do us no good if we neglect it.

One of the ways to neglect God’s truth is to allow our minds to become so filled with unnecessary or worldly thoughts that we inadvertently crowd out God’s word from our life. We can become such experts on sports statistics or celebrity news or theological rabbit trails that we devote insufficient time to meditating upon the mighty truths of God.

You might be the defending champion of your family’s trivia game, but how well do you know, and apply, Scripture? You may be able to recount the batting averages of every player on your favorite team or recite an extensive list of stock prices, but how many verses of Scripture have you memorized? If we are not careful we can fill our minds with superficial data and yet neglect truths that could radically improve our life.

Others become enamored with theological speculation and popular religious fads. They spend countless hours debating and discussing issues of no importance and then neglect profound biblical principles. Time is precious and spent far too quickly. We must use our time wisely to nurture the great work God has begun in our life.

Every person has the potential to be rich. One simply must measure the right treasure. Some people spend their entire adult lives accumulating material possessions that will not last. Certain people have become extremely good at this and have accumulated impressive collections of material wealth.

Despite what “health and wealth” television evangelists may claim, not every follower of Christ will become financially wealthy. But every believer can become rich in good works. In truth, if God has granted you significant material wealth, it is so you can give more away. Wealth does not merely provide you a greater opportunity to buy, but a greater possibility to give.

It is as you give to others that you become rich toward God. The country is littered with monuments to tycoons who greedily hoarded their possessions throughout their lives. The wise person invests their wealth into eternity while they have the power to do so. Knowing they cannot take their money with them, godly investors make sure their assets are invested into God’s kingdom where it will pay eternal dividends. What has been the quality of your eternal investments, lately?

Christians in Paul’s day were much like those in ours. Those with worldly wealth often assumed that they were superior to those in the church who were poor. Unfortunately in our churches today, we can often cater to those with money and worldly influence. Who do we put on the elder or deacon boards? Who serves on the finance committee? Who does the minister befriend? Who wields the most influence in church business meetings? Often it is those who wield the most worldly influence.

In the church, godliness should be the measure by which we allot influence. We pay heed to the prayer warrior’s comments more readily than the person with the highest annual income. We seek counsel from those most like Christ, not those who put the most money in the offering plate. We elect into leadership those with the greatest servant heart, not the largest tax bracket. Humility ought to be predominant among church leaders and pride ought to be scarce.

Our problem is that too often we try to run our churches by using the world’s methods. We assume that administrative ability, and financial acumen are keys to good church leadership. We end up with churches that function just like a secular business. The world will not be drawn to Jesus because we operate like it does. Be sure you are operating with God’s standards.

Our entire life is spent before God’s watchful gaze. In fact, God the Father, who gives life to all things, Jesus Christ, who faithfully stood before Pontius Pilate, and the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, all witness our life as it unfolds. We never make decisions, or sin, in anonymity.

The apostle Paul urged his young protege to follow through with his commitments with a profound sense of awareness that he was living his life before a divine audience. With them there could be no excuses. Therefore, Timothy needed to be blameless.

We often feel that doing “the best we can” is good enough for God. It is not. God’s standard for our conduct is blamelessness. He seeks to help us live our lives in such a manner that there is no “spot” or blemish on our record. Such a life is a tall order! In fact, it is impossible unless God helps us. It is also unlikely unless we live our lives with the constant awareness that one day Christ will return and will then have us give an account to Him of what He already knows we have done.

How much do you want to be godly and glorifying to God? What price are you willing to pay? What sins are you prepared to renounce? What battles are you ready to fight? Paul knew full well the lengths one must go to fully live out one’s Christian life. His spiritual journey had been anything but easy. He had faced many opponents. He had undergone hardships and deprivations. Certain friends had disappointed him and abandoned him. Yet Paul chose to fight the good fight.

At times we fail to experience all God has for us because we do not have the stomach for the battle that is required. We don’t want to fight. We want an easier, less troublesome path. So when opposition strikes or critics assault, or pressures mount, we make our excuses and exit the battlefield. We may avoid conflict, but we will also miss out on the victories that might have been ours had we fought the good fight.

If you are presently in a spiritual conflict, don’t lose heart! Every saint in history has been engaged in such a battle. Just as those who prevailed experienced spiritual victories on the battlefield, so you, too, will see God bring you success, if you hold your ground and refuse to lose heart.

There are numerous ways to deal with temptation, but none any more effective than fleeing. At times we can feel that spiritual maturity calls for us to go toe to toe with worldly temptations. But that can be lethal. That’s because temptations never grow weary or disheartened. They will keep coming at you, wave after wave, until they find a weak spot. It is foolhardy to keep yourself in a place where temptation is prevalent.

Conversely, it is not enough to merely flee from evil. We must just as actively pursue that which is godly. Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness are noble qualities worth our best effort. The Holy Spirit working within us will be striving to produce these traits in our character. But we must likewise make every effort to work with the Spirit so we experience a bumper crop of spiritual fruit.

Don’t take your spiritual life for granted. Godliness happens on purpose. Those who yield to temptation are generally people who did not flee when an escape was available. Likewise, those who fail to develop a godly character are people who did not make the required effort to build it into their life. From what are you fleeing, and what are you pursuing?

Few things are as enticing as is money. With money, you can obtain all that the world has to offer. The pleasures of the world can all be bought, and they all carry a price. If you become obsessed with the world’s pleasures, you will crave money.

The problem with being obsessed with money is that it leads you to make foolish choices. Some will forfeit their integrity out of their pursuit of wealth. Others will enslave themselves to its pursuit and sacrifice relationships, their health, and their walk with God in their carnal quest. Many have sacrificed their wholesome family and church life in order to take a job in another city that paid more money. Even pastors have left thriving churches because a larger church, that paid a higher salary, pursued them. More than one layperson has asked why it seems that God always “calls” pastors to larger churches that pay more money.

While Christians would adamantly deny that money is a god in their life, we often let it drive our most important decisions. Christian marriages and families have been torn asunder because of money. People have sacrificed much in their quest for just a little more money.

Money should not drive what you do. God should. God is far more concerned for your character, integrity, relationships, and Christian witness than He is with how much money you accumulate. What is the driving force in your life, really?

We are born into the world with absolutely nothing. Our parents might be extremely wealthy. We might be destined for positions of power and privilege. But every one of us is born naked, with nothing in our hand. Likewise we will exit this life with nothing in our hand as well. The mortician may dress us in our finest clothes. Our loved ones may place treasures with us in our casket. But when our spirit departs from our deceased bodies, we will have nothing in our hand. We bring nothing in to this life and we take nothing out. Yet we spend a good portion of our lives frantically seeking to accumulate possessions and wealth, nonetheless.

The reality is that our body needs very little in order to have its needs met. Food, clothing, and perhaps shelter, and our fundamental needs are satisfied. Yet our eyes are continually viewing things that entice us to desire more than we need. It is not that we truly require them, but that we want them! Some people can spend the greater part of their lives dissatisfied merely because they do not possess that which they lust after. How tragic to lose your joy over a non-essential!

Some people have little, but they enjoy great contentment. Others have much, yet they are dissatisfied. The key is not in the amount of our possessions, but in the level of our contentment. Those who are satisfied with little, have a greater life than a king who is discontent with much.

Are you truly a contented person?

There are many qualities that Christians ought to strive for in their lives. Two of the most appealing traits ought to be godliness and contentment. Godliness should be the goal of every believer because it means becoming like Christ. Jesus is our role model. He provided the blueprint for what our character should resemble. To be godly is to be like God.

The inevitable result of godliness is contentment. Godliness does not merely lead to a reward; it is a reward. To act and think and view life as God does brings supreme pleasure and joy. To be one with Christ is to share His heart. It is to know that our lives are aligned with God’s purposes. When that is the case, no one can thwart us or defeat us. We know that God will grant us what is in our heart. God’s victories are our triumphs. How glorious it is to so align ourselves with the divine purposes so that we experience indescribable joy every time God’s will is done.

The problem for some is that their contentment is based on worldly values rather than on godliness. They cannot be content unless they achieve a certain level of wealth, or become CEO, or acquire a particular home, or achieve their personal goals. Such contentment is elusive. It pales in comparison to the satisfaction produced by godliness. Godliness and contentment: are they yours?