Friday, April 23, 2010

"Life long learning"


II Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."


I wasn't sure I was going to like getting older. But I kind of do like it. While I don't care to much for the aches and pains that come with getting older, I do like the fact my knowledge of things is always increasing. Getting older isn't really as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

As a young boy and a teenager, I didn't care too much for school. Homework annoyed me, tests and quizzes frustrated me, and reading books bored me. I was not good student at all. I know I frustrated every teacher that ever had me...I know that because most of them told my parents as much! However, now that I am getting older I find myself wanting to learn more. I enjoying reading now more than ever. And I find myself want to increase my knowledge about several things. Maybe it's because I am getting older. I can't play baseball, basketball, or football like I could when I was younger and now my interests are changing.

With all that being said, we have a mandate from the word of God to be always learning. In II Timothy 2:15 the Bible instructs us to study. We must all give ourselves to life long learning. Just because we may not be enrolled in a school any longer doesn't mean we have to stop learning things. Now go grab you Bible, sit down and learn something.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

The Spiritual Diet


I Peter 2:2-3 "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."

Several months ago I began a diet. Let me begin by saying I hate dieting, as a matter of fact I hate everything about dieting. Well even so, I began one. Within the first 8 weeks I had lost a little over 20 pounds. (Now, don't think that I'm bragging here, because there is a whole lot more to lose!) The problem with the diet, was that I started it just a few weeks before Thanksgiving. That was not the most opportune time to began trying to lose weight, especially given the love affair that I seem to have with pecan pie. I did quite well through Thanksgiving, only indulging in a couple of slices of pie. Then Christmas came and the diet has been set aside for the last few months. Although I was able to maintain my weight within a few pounds here and there, I still had not reached my final goal. So now it is time to diet again. The funny thing about dieting is this, it cannot be a fad thing. It must be a lifestyle thing. Now while I may not allow myself the opportunity to indulge in a piece of pie, or a gallon of ice cream, I could if I wanted. Now if I choose to do so, I would be defeating the purpose of the diet, or should I say my new lifestyle. All in all in the end, when all of the weight is off, I will feel much better about my self and the accomplishment.

The Christian life is not any different than the physical life. It's not really a diet but yet so many Christians treat it as one. If something horrible happens in their life they will make a run for the church for a few weeks determining to "lose a few pounds". And after they feel better, the "diet" is off and it's back to the same old game. The same problem happens in the spiritual body, as it does with the physical body. The weight only stays gone for so long, and when the old habits come back, so does the weight.

What we need today is for Christians to make spiritual lifestyle change rather than following some newly finagled dieting fad. Get in the word, taste it, and let it change you for the better. Let Christ make the difference in your life.
When you let Christ make the difference you will feel that spiritual weight lifted, you will feel so much better about your Christian life.