Category: Flesh

7/11/2023 1 Comment

Grumptitude

What is grumptitude, you ask? Essentially, it is the quality or feeling of being grumpy or unthankful. Whereas people with gratitude look for things for which to be thankful, those with grumptitude prefer to live in a prickly state of dissatisfaction. Their lousy attitude has several consequences. First, who wants to spend time with them? Their negativity makes life miserable. Second, their philosophy is built upon an underlying conviction for fault-finding or gloom globbing. If the sun is shining, it is sure to rain. If it is raining, expect a flood. If it floods, count on losing everything. If everything is lost, it’s because life is stacked against them. Do you get the picture?

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7/3/2023 1 Comment

"The Sparkle Creed"

Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Edina, Minnesota, celebrated Pride Sunday led by their female pastor in reciting the sparkle creed whose words state:
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.[1]
This creed is a gross perversion of theology. It represents the misguided attempts of a congregation to fit God into their inclusive agenda that will spare no expense to accommodate a world fully intent on making sexual sin something to celebrate and force upon all those who take God’s warnings seriously and strive to obey Him.

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4/23/2023 1 Comment

Because of His Majesty

How do we avoid sinning? It’s a fundamental question that has many implications for our lives. Reading through the book of Job, we can pick up some amazing insights from a man horrifically tormented by Satan for his righteous life. In chapter 31, Job identifies at least thirteen things that would be inappropriate for him to do, with verse 23 serving as the lynchpin for his profound reasoning.

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4/13/2023 0 Comments

Completely Open

Meditation
2 Corinthians 5:11--Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well.

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11/23/2022 0 Comments

Beating Mediocrity

Janet has her own cleaning service; for years, she had no trouble gaining enough clients to run a successful business because of her work quality. As her business expanded, she hired another worker, and that’s when the problems began. When Janet cleans a room, it is immaculate, but with her new employee Justin, it was not the same. She showed him the cleaning materials to use and demonstrated what “right looks like.” At first, she thought his cleaning lapses merely required on-the-spot corrections. But Justin’s work continually languished. He responded with excuses when she would point out deficiencies rather than learn and improve. After three frustrating months, she had to let him go.

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9/7/2022 1 Comment

The Long Walk

Meditation
Romans 8:3-4--What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

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8/3/2022 0 Comments

Vines and Thorns

Jesus taught the parable of the sower to a large crowd assembled by the Sea of Galilee. Seed in healthy soil and free of the threat of birds, rocks, and thorns grows to produce vibrant crops. Had Jesus lived in other parts of the world, He might have added vines to His illustration. In southeast Virginia, there is a vine that produces a beautiful purple flower. It is called purple Wisteria. These vines produce a wide array of leaves in the summertime that form a cover and make for a lush, green setting. Wisteria is a beautiful addition to a lawn or garden if properly grown and maintained. But if left unrestricted, it can destroy trees and shrubs.

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8/28/2021 0 Comments

Withering

The Hebrew word navel, basically means wither or lose heart. It is used twenty times in the Old Testament. The word describes Moses in Exodus 18:18—warned about wearing out from trying to judge the people alone. Eleven times it refers to plants dying. Isaiah uses it to show people withering from sin (Isaiah 64:6). When you think of the condition of the world right now does it feel like it is withering? Such a thought should not be surprising for God warned us that this would happen.

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7/29/2021 1 Comment

Nebulous

I have a theory for which I would love to get your feedback. Earth’s inhabitants all spoke the same language when they were created. That ability to easily communicate fed their pride and they decided not to spread over the earth in obedience to God’s command (Genesis 1:28). They preferred to build a prodigious city with a colossal tower where they could make a name for themselves or, in essence, do whatever they felt like doing (Gen. 11:1-4). Because of their pride and idolatrous hearts God came down to their city, called Babylon, and decisively acted.

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4/14/2021 1 Comment

Degraded

When the leaders of the military set as their highest priority rooting out right-wing extremists and ensuring transgender Americans can serve in the force we can be sure that our readiness is woefully compromised. Who feeds the Commander-in-Chief his information? If it is people from the Palm Center the United States is in big trouble. This organization focuses its attention on America’s LBGT population and they say focusing on transgender issues is an urgent priority for military readiness.[1] Supposedly “recruitment, reputation, retention, unit cohesion, morale, medical care, and good order and discipline” are compromised by banning transgender Americans from serving. But they do not back up their statements with evidence outside their small population group. As someone who served in the military for 36 years I can tell you from my experience that their findings are absurd.

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1/14/2021 0 Comments

Spiritual Warfare

The first evidence of physical battle dates sometime between 4000 and 3500 B.C. from the ancient city of Hamoukar located in modern northeastern Syria. Historians believe the Uruks of southern Mesopotamia invaded the region.[1]Battles around the world have been fought for a long time and their spreading evil caused God regret for even creating man (Genesis 6:6).

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7/18/2020 1 Comment

Self-Dependent

Meditation
Isaiah 22:10,11--You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.

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4/16/2020 1 Comment

How Will You Finish?

“The older man continued. ‘It has been my observation that just one out of ten who start out in full-time service for the Lord at twenty-one are still on track by the age of sixty-five’ . . . What makes you think that you will be the one man out of ten who finishes strong?”[1]

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3/26/2019 0 Comments

Frustration

Have you ever been frustrated by something that should work and doesn’t? For the last several months I’ve had a rotten time trying to charge my phone. I purchased several charging cords but the connection always seemed to be an issue to the point where many times I would have to hold the phone and firmly push the cord to get a steady charge. I was just about to take the phone into the store and replace it when I had an idea. Taking a pin I probed the cavity where the cord connected and immediately all kinds of dirt and matted hair began to come loose. Honestly, I felt pretty foolish—no wonder the phone was not properly charging—it was plugged up with debris.

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5/14/2017 0 Comments

Willpower

Joe works hard at work and by the time he gets home he is exhausted. Too often he is impatient with his children and snaps at his wife. When he loses his temper and yells at her it is not because he wants to be a jerk or to act in such an unloving manner. The fact is his willpower is nearly sapped. Unfortunately, because of this, he is also insensitive to the fact that his wife, Alice, is also exhausted from watching high-energy children and operating at the tail end of being sick. Her willpower and ability to understand his feelings is also at a low end.

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9/13/2014

By the Spirit

Addicere has serious problems. She is obsessed with pornography and she dares not take even a sip of alcohol or she will soon be drunk. This young woman is amazingly talented and comes from a home with loving parents who raised her with strong moral values. Yet despite their good example, their daughter is on a road that will end in tragedy if she does not come to a crucial spiritual understanding.

7/12/2014

This Too Shall Pass

Teesha* was my waitress as I ate at Barrio Cafe in the Phoenix Airport while waiting for my flight to El Paso. As she refilled my lemonade I noticed a tattoo on her neck, “this too shall pass.” When she brought me my bill I asked her if she would tell me the story behind those four words. She immediately shared that she had a rare blood disorder and had almost died on numerous occasions. While wiping her forehead in the hospital, her mother would often say to her, “This too shall pass.”

6/3/2012 0 Comments

Cheyenne Disaster

Meditation
Romans 13:14—But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.

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1/7/2011 0 Comments

Lingered

In Genesis 19, we read one of the saddest stories in the Bible. Evidently, the behavior of the valley inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah was so awful that the Lord with two angels came down to investigate. Fearfully, Abraham asked Him if He would spare Sodom if He found just ten righteous people there. He was concerned because his nephew Lot lived in the city. The Lord replied, “for the sake of ten I will not destroy it” (18:32).

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12/5/2010 0 Comments

Infatuation

Jamaal and Hannah spend hours each day playing video games. Their mother Roxanne*, says it is “okay”—at least they are not doing drugs or out on the street involved with the wrong crowd. Today we have Jamaals and Hannahs in their mid-thirties who devote hours each day to gaming. Their spiritual lives are mediocre and their contribution to advancing heaven’s agenda is abysmal. Their parents let them feed their infatuations when they were younger so long as the obsession was “harmless.” But there is no such thing as a harmless infatuation.

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Photo used under Creative Commons from Rachel Maxey Miles