LIFE…A PAINTBALL WAR

 

Have you ever been in a paintball war?  “Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with round, breakable dye-filled oil and gelatin pellets (“paintballs”), usually shot from a compressed air (nitrogen) or carbon dioxide-powered low-energy air weapon called paintball marker.” (according to Google)  You should wear layers of clothing which consists of long sleeves and long pants, headgear with a face shield, boots, and take ibuprofen for muscle pain.  It’s all about being prepared to feel the splat of the paintball.  The only thing you can’t be prepared for is where the paintball will come from or where it may hit you. Whether you are an amateur or a professional, the game will come to an end.  It’s then that you can laugh at the paint you and others are wearing as you do a recap of the game together.  Our daily life is similar in some ways but very different in others from a paintball war.  Let’s look at life using a paintball lens.

We compete with people in life.

Unfortunately, this is very true of us.  We have a tendency to want to be better than someone else.  That’s our sinful selfish nature rearing its ugly head.  Is it the “Miss America” syndrome which tells us we are special or just the love of ourselves?  There is such a desire to compare ourselves to others.  It makes us feel better about ourselves because there’s always someone sinning more or worse off than we are.  Jesus warns us about this when he told the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  The Pharisee prays, “…God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” Luke 18:11-12  Even as we read this, we may have the temptation to say in our hearts, “I’m not that bad.  I don’t pray that way about myself.”  Be careful because we don’t really have to say it to be guilty of the competition with others.  Just as those who fight in a paintball war must prepare themselves for the battle, we must be ready to fight our competitive spirit.  Jesus reminds us how, “…the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:14b  We need to put on humility and see ourselves as God sees us, as needy sheep.

We shoot people in life.

You may be shaking your head thinking, “I’ve never shot anyone”.  The truth is we all have with our words, actions, or thoughts.  We spit paintballs at others splattering them with our garbage.  We don’t think before we speak or act, not considering how it will affect the one with which we are engaging.  Sometimes we strategize how we can best get to someone, other times we just react without any forethought.   “…those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.  These things are excellent and profitable for people.” Titus 3:8b  We are to be careful to devote ourselves to good works for the benefit of others.  This is a reminder to not shoot people but to do good to people.  On the paintball field of life, we should be helping them, not contributing to their pain.

We get shot in life.

We will all be on the receiving end of the splat of another hard circumstance in life.  Those who are going to fight a paintball war prepare by layering their clothing and wearing gear for protection.  This is not always possible in life.  The hard circumstances come at us when we least expect them.  How do we prepare for that?  Perhaps you can relate to being in a hard circumstance, trying to manage it when another one hits you in the back of the head.  You never even saw it coming.  This circumstance adds to the other one so, now, the pain starts to increase but ibuprofen will not relieve it.  Just about that time another circumstance hits you from another angle, then another, and another.  This can be overwhelming to the point of making us feel defeated.  Extra clothes or head gear will not help us.  There is only one help, God.  The problem is that it’s hard to see God in the midst of so many paintball splats.  We become blinded to how He is working or if He is working at all.  What do we do?

 

We remember.

When it’s hard to see beyond our feelings of defeat, we must remember God.  We remember the difficult times from our past and how he rescued us.  We reflect on His Word and the help it can give us.  “I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!” Psalm 119:107  This is a great reminder of how God’s Word will help us when we are afflicted.  These circumstances that continue to splat us may be the handiwork of evil men.  We have been given Psalm 37 to meditate on and put into practice.  From this Psalm we need to remember,

“Fret not yourself because of evil doers; be not envious of wrongdoers!” vs. 1

“Trust in the Lord and do good;” vs. 3

“Delight yourself in the Lord” vs.4

“Commit your way to the Lord” vs. 5

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;” vs. 7

We need to remember these words and put them into practice as we are hit by hard circumstances. We may not be able to control the incoming splat, or even prepare for it, but we can remember how to respond after the splat.

God holds us.

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.” Psalm 37:23-24

In eternity we will enjoy times of remembering the great deeds of God together as we recap how the gospel saved us and sustained us.

PARENTING: THE VALUE OF FAMILY

Originally Published:  1-16-2018

Family is designed by God.  Before the world began God was a family within Himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  God was the perfect family all by himself.  After man was created and sin entered the world, families came into existence among men, but they were sinful.  We are all born with our own personal sin into a sinful family.  So how do we parent in such a way that our children learn to value family in the midst of sin.

Make family about God

“Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise.”  Deuteronomy 6:4-7

God needs to be made known to your family.  He is made known when we begin to love him with our whole being as we are commanded.  Children will notice if we love God and put him first in our lives.  Children will watch but they will also listen.  We need to be talking about God during our day so that it is evident he is the center of our family.  When we talk about him, we should be giving him credit for the blessings in our family or for the comfort he gives in times of need.  Are you hesitant to bring up God in a conversation?  Do you seek to give him credit for your family?  Are you aware of the blessings God is providing to you?  The warning is that sometimes we get so focused on correcting our children, we forget they belong to God.  Our family is about God.

Make family about others

“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,”  1 Thessalonians 4:9

God calls us to love one another.   That includes sister, brother, father, mother, grandpa, grandma, etc.  The people in our families are not the ones we always choose to love.  We take them for granted or argue over silly things.  We buy into the idea that it’s all right for children to fight in a family.  We need to take the time to teach our children to love their family well.  It’s beneficial to take the time to talk about how love shows itself in kindness. We should be training our children to be kind.  One example of how to do that is to have love surprises. Make something for someone else or let them go first in a game or watch their favorite television shows.  In other words, we teach our children to prefer another member of the family over themselves.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,” 1 Timothy 2:1

God also calls us to pray for one another.  We need to teach our children about prayer but it needs to go beyond food, God bless, and please give me.  We need to teach children to pray for others especially within their family.  Children can make their prayer list which should include thanks to God, concerns for others, and then a need for themselves. When we begin to pray for others we will begin to value them more.

Make family a unit

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52

Jesus willingly came to earth to be born as a baby into an earthly family.  He was submissive to his parents as he grew from a baby to a man.  Jesus was part of his family as he ate, drank, and worked with them.  This was before the internet and electronics, which can bring about many distractions from a family as a unit.  Children disperse into different rooms with a different game system or computer having their meals alone.  They spend time typing texts to friends they never met when their family is in the same house with them.  We need to begin to be serious about our family unit.  If we, as parents, don’t value the family enough to be together then how do we expect our children to value family?  The family has to engage with one another in order to love one another, learn from one another, pray for one another, and speak to one another about God.  Too many families today are divided except when they pass in the hallway on the way to the bathroom or kitchen.  Are you encouraging your family to be a unit?  Do you seek to spend time with your children?

Family is God’s idea!  We’re called to cultivate our family into a unit that values God and each other.

PARENTING: DEVELOPING GRATEFUL CHILDREN

Originally Published:  1-23-2018

As we look at the subject of developing grateful children, we can’t forget the heart of our children.  We can seek to help to model gratefulness and teach them to give but that won’t necessarily change their hearts.  However, it’s what we have been called to do as parents.   Our job as God’s ambassadors is to teach and train our children in his ways.  It’s not an easy job, but God gives us grace to do the job to which he has called us. We can depend on him to lead us and strengthen us in this task.  Let’s look at some of the reasons we are all so ungrateful and then look to the Word of God for direction. We’ll end with some practical steps we can take to help develop gratitude in our children.

Reasons for being ungrateful

There are many words used to describe someone who is ungrateful.  The most obvious one is selfishness; which applies to all of us.  We get the idea that what we have is ours and only ours.  If we want it, we go after it.  This is because we want what we want.  This selfishness leads to entitlement.  A person who is entitled feels they deserve honor or title or things based on who they are.  In our families, entitlement can take place because it has been fueled by overabundance.  It’s easier to just give in to the demands of a child than to stand your ground.  This flows out of having the wrong goal; which is to make the child happy at any cost.  Our goal as Christian parents should never be about the child’s happiness.  We need to have the goal of pointing our children to Christ and exposing their need of a Savior.

Good Gifts

“…which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”  Matthew 7:9-11

God, our Father, gives us good gifts.  A good gift is one that will be in our best interest.  The same is true for a child.  We may not respond with what children want.  The wants of your children can be a never ending list, just like our list of wants.  Sometimes the good gift is no gift.  Expectations of getting everything we desire and more doesn’t lend itself to thankfulness.  It tends more toward selfishness.  We have to be aware of over saturation in our child.  To pile gift on top of gift on top of gift presents the problem of not really being a gift anymore.  It is all too much.  In the scene from the movie, “The Christmas Story”, around the tree on Christmas morning, we see gifts flying, paper being thrown everywhere, gifts opened and then tossed over the shoulder in order to reach for the next one.  There is a point of saturation.  Look for it!  Be aware of it!  Giving too much doesn’t promote thankfulness.

Thankfulness, a command

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.  And be thankful.”  Colossians 3:15

As followers of Christ, we are commanded to be thankful.  There is a connection with peace and being thankful here.  When we aren’t grateful we are unsettled and can be agitated because we aren’t satisfied.  Satisfaction brings peace and thankfulness breeds satisfaction.  If we are commanded to be thankful then it only makes sense that this is a characteristic we should to seek to teach our children.

Practical thoughts

1. Model thankfulness – Does your child see you being thankful for the things in your life?  Do your children hear more grumbling from you than thankfulness?  A simple thank you to them will go a long way in showing them to be grateful.  Evaluate your own heart to see if you are being thankful.
2. Thank you – These words should be taught to your children at a very young age. There are those who teach the sign for thank you to their babies.  Then after a while move along to the verbal.  This takes time but the habit of it begins to instill the need to be thankful.
3. Life is not about you – This is something we have to constantly remind ourselves of as parents. What my child does or says is not about us!  We need to teach our children that life is not about them either. We are born thinking it’s about us!  Children need to be taught that life is about God.
4. Verbal Vertical Gratitude – We need to take the time to rehearse the gifts God has given our families. The attention needs to be drawn to him as the provider of all we have.
5. People are Gifts – Things are so important to us that we can forget people. It’s a good practice to make sure we are teaching children that others are more important than their toys.  Practice this among siblings by serving one another.

There is no guarantee in this life that our children will be grateful for anything we do for them or give them.  The only guarantee we have is that God gives us grace to train our children in his ways.  This job is hard so our dependence on God is a must.  Are you depending on him?  It’s the only way to go forward in this job called parenting.

PARENTING: BEHAVIOR OR HEART

Originally Published:  11-3-2017

A child’s behavior can be so important to parents that it overshadows what the real target is in raising a child, his heart.  The heart is the core of our being where our emotions and desires dwell.  Behavior is how we conduct ourselves in this life.  The outward behavior can appear to be obedience but the heart may be totally disobedient.  As parents, we need to seek to understand and guide the heart of the child.  We can pick up some tips by looking at Matthew 23 which is the account of Jesus speaking about the scribes and Pharisees.  Jesus gives examples of how these men were more concerned about their outward behavior than their hearts.  How can these examples help us?

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do.  For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.  They do all their deeds to be seen by others.”  Matthew 23:2-5a

These verses contain some warnings we can apply to our parenting.

1. Practice what you preach.  We can’t help our children to see the motives of their own hearts if we don’t practice obedience ourselves.  We can’t live one way and expect them to live another.  A parent’s heart is on display with every choice we make.  We’ve heard it said, “Do what I say not what I do!”  This is a big plank in a parent’s eye that needs to be removed.  The truth is, but for the grace of Christ, they will do exactly as we do.
2. Don’t load down children with too many rules. We need to be aware of how many expectations we put on children.  Too many rules will only make them angry.  The truth is children are just like us in that they don’t want to be told what to do.  We must remember that we are to train them and keep them safe so there should be some rules. Remember to make it simple.  If we train with a general rule of obedience and honor based on Ephesians 6:1-2 then it will be less cumbersome for children to follow.
3. Your children’s behavior is not about you. A parent loves to be proud of her children.  But this pride becomes a problem when our desire is for a perfect child.  It causes parents to take everything a child does personally; which will result in an angry response to their behavior.  Our anger can be the result of embarrassment.  All this teaches a child is that if they’re not perfect then anger is the result.  There is no training in that.  Pride and embarrassment are about the parent, not a loving response to help a child respond well in similar circumstances.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faithfulness.  These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”  Matthew 23:23

As parents we need to look deeper than behavior.  Our focus often can be on our children’s actions rather than on the reasons behind the actions.  Our children need us to not be so focused on correcting their behavior that we miss who they are.  We need to learn to interact with children so that we can begin to understand them and train them.  We often neglect simply playing with our children and miss the opportunities to discover their motives, their understanding, and the joy of laughing with them.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  You blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”  Matthew 23:25-26

Good behavior is not a true sign of obedience.  We know as adults we can do the right thing for the wrong reason and so can children.  They may want a reward, attention, praise, to look good, or to be better than someone else.  These are all wrong motives.  Manipulation is a huge motivation for doing the right thing in order to get their way.  An example is that of your child taking out the garbage and grumbling all the way.  This is not obedience.  There is a heart attitude that needs to be addressed.  This is not a time for praise but one for questions.  Asking questions to understand what is going on in the heart of the grumbler will be helpful in the training process.

The gospel is the answer.  In the end, raising children is not about producing good children but about the gospel.  We have to continually bring Christ into the picture when we discipline our children.  It is important to remind them of sin against God but also remind them of Christ’s sacrifice and God’s grace.  We need to be humble enough to admit to our children that we too are sinners and struggle but God’s grace, through Christ’s sacrifice, is sufficient.  As you parent, remember that you are not perfect; actually you are weak but God gives grace and His grace is sufficient.

 

 

PRESSING ON…OVERCOMING THE “YEAH BUTS” OF LIFE THE “YEAH BUTS” OF FORGIVENESS

Originally Published:  2-22-2017

Forgiveness can be very hard.  We feel deeply the injustices perpetrated against us.  These feelings drive us to hang on to the injustice rather than to forgive the offender.  The results of not forgiving are grudges, bitterness, hatred, a miserable attitude and a lack of joy.  This affects our relationships not only with the one we haven’t forgiven, but with others as well.  Above all that, our relationship with God is affected because of our disobedience.  He calls us to forgive others but we have our excuses and we stick to them.

YEAH BUT IT’S JUST NOT FAIR!

This is one of the first complete sentences a child will utter.  We are born with a sense of fairness.  We don’t like it if we are commanded to forgive someone who in our opinion, doesn’t deserve it.  After all we are right and they are wrong!  The truth is life is not fair.  This world is sin-cursed and people are born sinners.  These two produce injustice.  As Followers of Christ we are called to live in this world while trusting God with our lives.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5  When someone isn’t fair to us we need to trust God instead of looking to ourselves for the answers.  We are to forgive.

YEAH BUT I’M MUCH TOO HURT TO EVER FORGIVE.

We nurse our hurts sometimes just like we would a baby.  “It’s my hurt…don’t touch it!  Don’t take it away from me!” It becomes part of our identity. But this is not truth.  As Followers of Christ, our identity is in Him.  We are not to be known by our hurt.  When we refuse to forgive someone because it hurts, we are not remembering how we have been forgiven.  “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  Ephesians 4:32  The only way to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving is to first remember God’s forgiveness given to us in Christ.  Yes, it may hurt; but to not forgive will hurt us even more.  We need grace to overcome the hurt and forgive.  God will give us that grace.  “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16  We are to forgive.

YEAH BUT IF I FORGIVE HIM HE WILL THINK IT IS OKAY.

There is so much fear in this statement.  We think we can hold onto control by not forgiving, and keep the fish on the hook, so to speak.  We have to remember that it’s not our job to punish the offending person.  Our forgiveness is to be in direct proportion to the amount we have been forgiven.  As followers of Christ we have been forgiven all.  Do we think sin is okay because God has forgiven us?  NO!  Our responsibility is to be obedient to forgive and trust God with the other person.  The other person’s sin is not our fault.  We are not to harbor unforgiveness because of fear.  “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”  Mark 11:25  We are to forgive in prayer and in our hearts even before the person asks for the forgiveness.  If we don’t then we are putting up a blocker in our relationship with God.  The blocker is a grudge against someone resulting in bitterness.  When we are bitter, the grace of God is blocked in our lives.  We are to forgive.

YEAH BUT I CAN’T FORGET!

It’s unlikely we will forget a wrong done against us.  We will forget something like what to pick up at the store or someone’s birthday.  When we are hurt by someone it makes a deep impression on us and we remember.  “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”  Hebrews 8:12  Does this mean that God forgets our sin?  Absolutely not, He is not forgetful; He refuses to call them to mind.  He promises not to bring them up again.  This is love.  In 1 Corinthians 13:5 we read that love keeps no records of wrongs.  We are not going to forget the wrongs done to us but we are going to choose to love.  This means when we forgive we make a choice to not bring up the sin to the offender or to others or even to ourselves.  We are to forgive.

We’re called to press on in our life with a forgiving heart.  We have been forgiven every sin past, present and future by the blood of Jesus.  This should make a difference in how we live.  We are forgiven!

PRESSING ON…OVERCOMING THE “YEAH BUTS” OF LIFE THE “YEAH BUTS” OF SIN

Originally Published:  2-13-2017

Sin is progressive.  It starts small and then grows bigger and bigger.  When we begin to accept the small sins, then be assured that greater ones are just around the corner.  The problem is we believe the things we tell ourselves concerning the things we do.  We make justifications for our sins or blame others for them.  One of the things we do as we justify ourselves is use the phrase “yeah but”.  This is such a great phrase because it gives the appearance of agreement and yet follows that up with a justification.  Let’s look at some common “yeah buts” we use when it comes to sin.

Yeah but, everybody does it!

This says a lot about where we get our standard for living.  We begin to look to others for our standard instead of God.  Sin is never okay; but when our standard is man, it can look pretty good to us.  As Followers of Christ, we are to seek God’s standard for life from His Word.  We can certainly have role models to follow but they must follow God’s standard.  We are to be God-imitators.  “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” Ephesians 5:1

Yeah but, I’m not hurting anyone.

Sin’s consequences nearly always spill over to others.  For example:  pornography can affect relationships in marriage, driving drunk can cause an accident and death affecting the families involved, or an abortion is the murder of a baby that affects both the mother and father, emotionally and spiritually.  Sin’s consequences can last a lifetime.  We need to check ourselves to see if we have hurt others with our sin.  We need to confess and repent seeking forgiveness from God and those who have suffered because of our sin.  Our lives are about God and others.  “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.”  Romans 15:2

Yeah but, no one will ever know.

We may think things like no one can see me, no one knows what I’m thinking or I’m in a different town where I’m not known so it’ll be okay.  We’re only deceiving ourselves when we think like this.  There is nothing hidden from God.  There are not secret sins that we don’t have to be concerned about.  We can’t hide from God.  He is all-knowing, all-seeing and ever present.  He knows about what we do; He sees and He is there with us when we do it.  God wants to reveal our hearts to us to bring about repentance.  He’ll use consequences to do that in our lives.  He wants to bring about repentance in our lives.  Don’t be deceived.  “Your sins will find you out.” Numbers 32:23b

Yeah but, I wouldn’t have sinned if he or she hadn’t made me.

We hate to take responsibility for our sins.  We want it to be someone else’s fault and we make that happen by blame shifting. We shift the blame of our actions onto someone else.  If we always blame others, then we will never change.  When we take responsibility and call sin, sin then there is hope.  We have hope because Jesus died for our sins and there can be forgiveness granted to us.  We get so used to playing the blame game that we never learn or grow.  We just spend our time pointing our finger at someone.  We need to remember that we are to take responsibility of our sin before we can point at someone else.  “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” Matthew 7:5

Yeah but, I couldn’t help it, I love him.

Hollywood would have us believe that lust is love.  They are always showing those who fall all over themselves to be together after just looking across a crowded room.  This assumes that we don’t have any self-control.  As a Follower of Christ, I have the Holy Spirit indwelling me who has a gift for my use.  Part of that gift is self-control.  This tells us that we don’t have to sin.  We don’t have to give into feelings of lust.  In the midst of a situation like this one, we need to preach to ourselves instead of listening to our desires.  We need to depend on the Spirit to overcome.  “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”  2 Timothy 1:7

When we acknowledge sin as sin then we have hope.  There is hope at the foot of the cross of Christ where forgiveness is found.  This forgiveness brings about peace because of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ.  We need to check our lives, call sin, sin and then confess and repent of it.

 

 

PRESSING ON…OVERCOMING THE “YEAH BUTS” OF LIFE THE “YEAH BUTS” OF THE WORKPLACE

Originally posted 3-13-2017

It’s easy to forget as a follower of Christ how we relate to the world.  Jesus said, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” John 17:16  We don’t belong to the world.  We belong to God but we still have to live in the world.  It’s also easy to think that it’s our job to correct the world.  Correction of the world will come when God sits in judgement over it.  We’re called instead to be witnesses of the truth as we have contact with the world.  One of the places we hit the world head-on is the workplace.  It can be so hard to work among those who don’t share the same beliefs as we do.

“YEAH BUT” MY BOSS IS UNREASONABLE

We all know who this boss is.  He is the one who wants everything done yesterday with a smile.  He wants things done his way and only his way.  He acts as if he owns you and your time.  This man or woman is not someone we look forward to seeing every day.  This boss is so unreasonable, others know it too, and the conversation at lunch can become a boss-bashing time without any thought at all.  “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,” Colossians 3:23

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.” 1 Peter 2:18

These verses are a great reminder that our jobs are not about us but are about God.  We are to respect even those who don’t earn it because we are God’s representative to this boss.  We are to abstain from joining in on the boss-bashing at lunch by bringing up something good about the boss.  We need to take some time and seek to understand our boss by watching and listening.  Then we should respond with pleasantness by giving him what he does not deserve.  As a follower of Christ we’re certainly familiar with receiving what we don’t deserve.  If the boss isn’t a follower of Christ, you could be the witness God will use to save him.

“YEAH BUT” MY CO-WORKERS LEAVE ME OUT OF THINGS

This happens when we work in a place where the habits of this world are used as appropriate behavior for business.  For instance in order to network with others in your same business, you may find yourself spending time at a bar.  If you choose not to join in the drinking, you may not be asked out again.  Or maybe someone wants you to take something from the workplace and sees it as no big deal.  When you don’t participate in this activity, you may be talked about or left out of other things that are happening in the office.  If you are left out you can be tempted to have a pity party which can lead to bitterness. If we allow bitterness to take root then the picture of Jesus Christ we should be painting at work will become a scribbled treasure of the immature.  We have to be on guard against our feelings and where they will take us if we allow them.

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.”  1 Corinthians 16:13-14

“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”           2 Timothy 1:7

God has given us the power through His Spirit to stand firm in the faith in all situations.  Getting to know co-workers and pray for them.  Have our own party or dinner to invite others from work to attend. Be courageous by rising above the crowd and not letting their treatment of us determine our treatment of them.

“YEAH BUT” MY CO-WORKERS USE INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE

The people of this world do not live by the Word of God.  They live by their feelings and their desires.  We expect people to live the way we want them to live.  No follower of Christ wants to hear inappropriate language or should she want to use that language.  In a work environment we must remember to be who we are in Christ.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,” Colossians 3:12

We are called to put these characteristics on display; therefore be kind to our co-workers even when they speak inappropriately.  Instead pray for them, change the subject, or speak with positive tone and words.  We must focus on the person, not their words. Have compassion for the lost using the eyes of Christ.  The biggest thing to remember here is God does not need us to defend Him; He needs us to be Jesus to others.

Let’s press on in obedience to God in spite of our work circumstances.  Remember that people should be interested in God because of who we are.    Are you willing to die to your flesh and press on in obedience to God in the workplace so that God will be made known?