Something To Think About

If rewards were based on time, talent, or treasure, those who are relatively rich in these assets would be rewarded for possessing things that actually come from the providential hand of God. The fact that rewards are based on faithfulness to the assets and opportunities we have been given is the divine equalizer that gives every believer, regardless of economic, social, intellectual, or vocational status, the possibility of being approved by God.
Ken Boa - Handbook To Spiritual Growth

God is not measuring us on what we have but how we use it in His name. There is no excuse for not running the race until He declares it over for you; of fighting the good fight until He calls you home. No reason to give in or give up. It is a sobering thought that God does not expect us to do what He has not equipped us to do. He is gracious in the granting of gifts, but He is just in measuring how we used what we are blessed with.

He knows what you have, do you know to use it? I don't, at least not all the time, so I am really going to think about this for a while.


Technorati Tags: Ken Boa, Handbook To Spiritual Growth, rewards, God

How Are You Living Your Life

Dr. Ken Boa, in his Handbook To Spiritual Growth, compares our lives here on earth to eternity in the following way. A man is planning on moving from Dallas to Atlanta to live the remaining 50 years of his life. He plans every detail of the two day drive; where he will eat, sleep, stop for gas. But he has no clue as to what he will do for the remaining 50 years. Sounds ridiculous, but the point that life here on earth and eternal life are the same way. We plan the details of a short life here, trying to control it all (there is that control thing again) yet let the eternal consequences slide, pushed back in our minds because we do not want to think of death in this life, even if it means life eternal in the next. But at that point, the consequences of our choice are irrevocable, so make the right one now. Accept Jesus as the Savior of your life, the only way to your eternal salvation.

We are all going to live forever in eternity. That is not the question.

The question is where.

Technorati Tags: Ken Boa, Handbook To Spiritual Growth, Jesus, Lord, God, salvation, eternity

Someone's Gotta Be In Control

A few days ago I was reading from Dr. Ken Boa's book, Handbook To Spiritual Growth (he has a really great series of these handbooks, which are fantastic to use in your walk with Christ, I highly recommend them, I have them all and keep getting the new ones as they come out) when I came across this sentence, which I posted as my thought for the day on Facebook:

Because of our security and significance in Christ, we do not need to be controlled by the opinions and responses of others

It really got me to thinking about control in my life, what are the options and who really has it. It made me think who I am wanted to be in control of my life.

As a child, it is our parents because we are not in a position nor do we have the ability to do so (yeah, like anything really changes as we get older). There are various authority figures in our life as we approach adulthood, and we chafe to get to out from under that control. We finish our schooling and the thought might enter our heads that we are free. Then we get jobs (if you had really known what a job was, you would have stayed in school). Soon, it is family obligations; spouse, kids, home mortgages and car loans. Through it all there is control over your life, control points that rub up against you and are, quite frankly more or less painful to us. Because they are all man made, even the ones we put there ourselves. And the human race has shown it has a miserable track record at properly controlling things, starting with Genesis 3.

I was that way for 40+ years until I came to Christ. And even then, there was a struggle for control of my life as I fought with my own nature to give up control to the One who gave me my life, who has given me eternal life. It is still a struggle, but at least I focus on it daily and try to turn it over to Him. (OK, I keep trying to grab it back, but hopefully less often and with a less vehement lunge at self control).

So I try each day to be secure and significant in Christ alone, and all others stand aside. It is work, but it is so worth it when I do. I would much rather have real significance and security in my life. The only way to be truly in control is in the Lord.



Technorati Tags: Ken Boa, Handbook To Spiritual Growth, Jesus, God, Lord, control, security, significance.