LETTING GO! Of our GUILT, and GRUDGES, and
GRIEF!
Though it seems like it would be an easy thing with two dudes in the house, Griff and I seem to have a hard time getting the garbage to the curb for pick up on Tuesdays. We forgot it last week and so we had to finally, on Saturday night, take the can to the convenience center ourselves. It was stinking up the whole garage…BAD! By the time we took it, the can was full and we had trash bags piled around it too. When we got the the site and dumped it out, it was, well, er, funky… to say the least. To top it off… read later if you just had lunch… in the bottom of the can were a pile of maggots. Fat, disgusting, juicy, maggots.
You know what? Our lives are that way. If we don’t regularly “get rid of the garbage”, the next thing you know, our entire lives will begin to stink. We try to cover the smell with our appearance, our stuff, our jobs, our money, but you can’t cover stink. It just gets worse.
Here is what I know, some of us, many of us, have been carrying around loads of garbage in our hearts. Some of us for years. And it stinks. It stinks up our whole lives. Doesn’t it? Garbage of GUILT from things we have done in our past. People we have hurt. Sins we have committed. Stuff. Bad stuff. Maybe sexual sin. Maybe a secret sin. Maybe you walked out on your family years ago and just can’t undo what’s been done. Maybe you had an affair. Maybe you stole. Maybe you weren’t there for someone close. Maybe a parent passed and you never fixed things. Whatever it is, you carry the GUILT. Day to day, house to house, relationship to relationship, the GUILT, the shame, the pain, the regret, is ALWAYS with you. Oh, now you know. Hindsight is 20/20. You wish you could go back. You wish you could redo. If only you could undo what has been done. But, that can’t happen. What’s done is done. So, now what? The penalty box for the rest of your life? Must you now carry the chains of garbage and guilt with you for the rest of your life?
Some of us are carrying around loads of garbage from GRUDGES. Pain from our past if things people have done to us. Maybe you were the one walked out on. Maybe your were the one cheated on. Maybe you were left, abandoned, abused, lied about, lied to… and the GARBAGE that has left in your heart you still CARRY around with you like a prison ball of maggot ridden GRUDGES and pain from what people have done to you. Some of us carry GRIEF. Not normal grief, which is a good, healthy thing, but unresolved, un-dealt with grief from things in your life that brought you pain. Terrible heart crushing pain. GRIEF. Grief that you have never dealt with. GRIEF that has over time, turned to GARBAGE. Decaying, maggot infested, painful, garbage… that has pretty much stunk up your entire life since.
Is that you? Have you carried trashbags of GUILT, and GRUDGES, and GRIEF within your heart for so long that your heart stinks? Are there maggots of GUILT, shame, remorse, pain, regret, that aere eating away at your soul? Are there maggots of GRUDGES, unforgiveness, bitterness, hate, anger, that have contaminated your soul? Has unresolved and not dealt with GRIEF now turned to GARBAGE that has your entire life a stinking mess, and you don’t know how to fix it?
Here is some of the BEST news you will EVER hear… I know a great garbage man. I know a guilt exterminator. I know a mac daddy grudge disposal service. I know a grief waste management service. Here is some of the best news you will EVER hear… You can LEGITIMATELY, COMPLETELY, RIGHTFULLY, PAID IN FULLY…. LET GO (did you hear that?), LET GO, of and be TRULY FREE from— ALL of your GUILT, ALL of your GRUDGES, and ALL of your GRIEF. Say that with me again… “I can… (come on say it again…)
How much of it? ALL of IT. How free? TRULY COMPLETELY FREE. How?????? Come back tomorrow and I will tell you… Let’s just say I work for GOD’S Waste Industries…
DON’T Miss The SERVICE!
Easter is kind of like Christmas for Christians. Usually our churches are planning some kind of “special” service for the special holiday and so, naturally, we don’t want to miss it! That is normal, even understandable. The PROBLEM is that very often creates a very stressful dilemma for those in charge of finding volunteers to serve in areas, like children’s ministry, nursery, greeters, etc, because no one wants to “miss the service”. But, when you truly think about it. What is the “service” really about? Isn’t it about “SERVEing”? Didn’t Jesus kind of tell us that with His example on the night of His passion and betrayal?
The bible says that on that night when Jesus was going to be betrayed, after supper …He got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” John 13:4-17
On the most intense night of His life, when He was about to give His life for us, Jesus gave us an example of what true SERVICE, and perhaps, true WORSHIP (Romans 12:1), is really about. It is about the SERVICE! It is about selflessness. It is about humbling taking the place of a SERVANT to others for HIS GLORY and following HIS example. Ironically, we think that we will miss the special blessing if we miss the SERVICE, but Jesus said that if we DO THE SERVING we will be BLESSED! (John 13:17). SO, I encourage you peeps, all of you, no matter what church you are a part of, ARISE or any other, GO today to your church leaders and VOLUNTEER to SERVE EASTER SUNDAY. Tell them that the reason is that you can miss the music, you can miss the sermon, BUT you TRULY don’t want to miss the SERVICE! Because THAT is where the true blessing is! HE gave His life for us! We can give our time and service for Him!
This Ain’t Heaven
We have been going through The Story bible together at ARISE and lately we have been reading about Moses and the people of Israel and the story of their journey- from enslavement, to freedom, to the desert, to the promised land. They were for many years– in between. In between freedom from enslavement, and the Promise land. They were once enslaved and treated harshly by the Egyptians. Then, they cried out to God in their distress, and He answered by sending Moses and setting them free. They were free indeed, and on their way to the Promise land. A land God had promised to give them that was flowing with milk and honey. But the key words, in the meantime, were “In between” and “on their way”. Because “in between” slavery and the Promise land was– the desert. An “in between” place and time. It wasn’t their old life of slavery in Egypt. But it also wasn’t the promise land either. It was in between. It was the desert. Yes, God was with them. Yes, there were some great times of God’s blessings and abundance. BUT, there were also times of testing and trial. Times of hardship and trouble. God was using this time to prepare them for the Promise land. he was using it to build their faith and character. To prepare them for the Promise land ahead. They never quite understood the “in between” time. They never understood the desert. So, they complained and quarreled and doubted God. They freaked out when things weren’t perfect or when hardships arose and concluded that God had abandoned them in the desert. Deserted them and left them. They wanted to quit. Go back. They never quite understood that between freedom from slavery and the Promise Land is a desert– a desert of trials, a desert of testing. A desert to build their faith and their character. I don’t think we do either.
I see their story as a picture of our story as God’s people today. We are “in between”. Once we accept Jesus into our lives we are set free from our imprisonment and slavery to sin and the old life. But we await the promised Land of Heaven with God. It will be incredible. It will be AMAZING! It will certainly be worth it! The Promise Land for eternity! But, “in the meantime” we are here, in the desert of this old world. Yes, God is with us. Yes, He will provide all our needs. Yes, there will be times of great joy and celebration and blessing even here— but, there will also be times of trouble, and hardships, and trials, and sorrow. And when they come, let us not moan and groan and be dismayed like God has abandoned us, as the people of Israel did. Instead, let us realize that God is using this old world to make us more like Jesus, to build our faith and trust in Him, to guide us to a better place- The Promise Land. Heaven. An ETERNITY of paradise. And when the harder times come, let us remember that we aren’t there yet. We are “in between”. We are in the desert. Let us remember that THIS AIN’T HEAVEN.
The Tiger of the fairways or The Lion of Judah
Today at 11:00 am EST the world kind of just stopped, as millions of people tuned in, all in one accord, to see what Tiger Woods had to say. MILLIONS, from all over the world, in numerous tongues, at the same time, attentively listening, lingering for every word, exceedingly interested, to hear what Tiger Woods has to say.
My question is ……will you tune in to the Lord Jesus Christ today and see what HE has to say! What would the world be like if we were more passionate about listening to The Lion of Judah than the tiger of the fairway! Here is what HE says…
