Give me thine heart by Pastor Tim Cruse

Here are some great thoughts from Pastor Tim Cruse that I thought you may enjoy.
 

“My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
Proverbs 23:26

God wants His people to guard (Proverbs 4:23), guide (Proverbs 23:19), and give (Proverbs 23:26) their hearts. When children give their hearts to their parents, they trust them to protect, provide, and prepare them to follow God’s will for their lives.
Here are ten truths about your child’s heart to keep in mind as you prepare them for God’s will:

• By nature my heart is sinful and therefore imperfect.
• I need you to hold me accountable and teach me good character by helping me to think biblically.
• My view of God and how to trust Him is being shaped by your influence and example. Please teach me how to properly respond to His authority.
• I feel most secure when there is harmony and structure in the home, and I am allowed to become who God wants me to be.
• I lack discernment, and need you to keep me from the appearance of evil so I will not be weakened to the evil itself.
• Your acceptance and understanding means the world to me even though we do not always see eye to eye on some things.
• Your unconditional love when I have stumbled teaches me forgiveness and grace.
• Know that I have problems, and do not believe me if I act like I do not need to talk with you about them.
• Your time is more important to me than your gifts.
• Never give up on me or stop praying for me.

By Pastor Tim Cruse

The Power of Influence

Galatians 5:7 "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" 

I love a good question.  You know, thought provoking questions, the ones that really make you consider something that you would otherwise think if the question hadn't been asked.  That is the type of question Paul is asking here in our passage this morning. 

There are two aspects to this verse. The first one deals with your own influence. Have you considered your own power of influence on those people around you? What kind of difference do you make in the peoples lives that you effect?  Do you cause them to want to be closer to the Lord? Do you encourage them be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving?  Or do you bring them down to a level that they don't even obey the truth anymore?

The second aspect of this verse deals with others influence on you.  First you must ask yourself, "am I obeying the word of God."  When we answer that question we must be honest and if we answer no, we must examine the cause.  Who in our lives may have influenced us to be this way?  We must consider everyone that we allow to influence us in any way.  What changes have taken place?  Who am I spending more time with?  Who am I giving my time too?  Who is influencing me?

In order to correct this in our lives there may have to be some changes in who we allow to influence our ways. Consider this today: "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" 

At the Crossroads of the Natural Way or the Bible Way

Proverbs 15:1-2 "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.  The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the moth of fools poureth out foolishness."

Many times in life we do what comes natural to us.  We typically have this attitude of, "If someone yells at me, I'm going to yell back."  It is very natural to yell back when someone is yelling at us.  It is instinctive, and we view it as necessary.  But is it really necessary to only do what comes natural to us?   

In Proverbs 15, the Bible is telling us to do something that goes against our nature.  It goes against mine at least.  "A soft answer turneth away wrath"??? When you consider that statement at first glance, it doesn't make sense.  What makes more sense to me is whoever yells the loudest and longest wins.  Look at what he says in the second part, "but grievous words stir up anger."  Grievous words??? What is that? Grievous words are those words we choose to say to hurt someone on purpose, usually in an argument.  Rather than choosing to use a soft answer, we choose to get back at them. As we get back at them, intending to hurt them, it only stirs up more sorrow for us. 

I have always considered this verse of scripture in the backwards.  I have always thought of the soft answer being for the other person.  And in a way it kind of is, but it is really for the person giving the soft answer.  If you want the wrath and anger to continue, yell & fight back.  If you want the wrath and anger to stop - consider using a soft answer next time.  Verse 2 actually gives us more insight into this line of thinking.  "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness."  When we use the knowledge of a soft answer, it will work.  To not use a soft answer is foolish. 

Are we so foolish to think that we know more than God?  I have talked with folks before about these very verses, and the response is usually the same, "that won't work"  or "I've tried that, it doesn't work".  Listen, the Bible doesn't say, "A soft answer turneth away wrath, and it you try it for five minutes and it doesn't seem to be working feel free to let them have it with both barrels." I'm telling you right now, if we only try it for a little while it will not work.  You are going to have to not just try it, but let it become who you are and what you do - because you are no fool I know.

It's simple, "a soft answer turneth away wrath."  You're at a crossroads - which way will you choose?  The natural way? or the Bible way?  Don't be foolish, choose the Bible way.

At the Crossroads of Refined & Wasted: How to respond to the Heat of a Trial

I Peter 1:6-9 "Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."

I'm pretty sure no one woke up this morning and said, "I think I'm gonna go find me a trial today and take it head on."  A trial is not something that we seek out and desire to go through.  It is though a stretch on the highway of life that we all must face from time to time.  Consider it a type of road construction.  Yes, road construction!  No one likes it, but it is necessary.

A trial is described here in our scripture passage this morning in such beautiful light.  Peter tells us first off that trials are temporary, they will not last forever.  The phrase, "if need be" is very important to take note of.  While none of us ever desire to go through trials, they are sometimes necessary for us to travel through in order to grow our faith in Christ.  The trial of faith is an amazing process.  Peter likens it to how gold is refined.  Gold is one of the most precious metals on earth, it's value is compared to very few things and here Peter tells that our trials are more precious than the gold we covet.  He goes on to tell us that it is precious because when we go through the heat & fire of the trial, the outcome is expected to bring glory back to Christ. 

There is another very important aspect of going through this construction zone of life.  This one, may very well be the difference between being refined or being wasted.  Our response to the heat of the trial is more important than the trial itself.  Peter uses a phrase that we don't like to consider when going through a trial, and he even uses it more than one time.  "Greatly rejoice," he said.  Finding the joy in the trial will be difference between being refined or being wasted.  He went on to say that we should rejoice with "Joy unspeakable and full of glory."  When we learn to rejoice in our lives, even in the midst of the trial that we may be in, we can know for certain, that we will be refined like fine gold and not wasted and discarded. Our rejoicing through the trial will bring us to praise the name of our wonder God.

As you come to the crossroads of refined or wasted, don't let the heat scare you into turning the wrong way.  Face the trial head on and rejoice. Don't be tempted to turn down Satan's detour that he will place along the way.  Just keep on going through, rejoicing as you go until you reach the end of that particular journey of increasing your faith in Christ. 

At the Crossroads of Action or Reaction

 

Proverbs 14:17 "He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated." 

Proverbs 25:11 "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 

Proverbs 29:20 "Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him."

I was at a crossroads this morning and I'd like to take a minute or two and share with you my personal experience in choosing which direction to go.    As I faced this crossroads in my life I was forced to make a decision between action and reaction.  In my flesh, I wanted to react.  As a matter of fact I wanted to react in such a way that what I was reacting to, would have had no doubt that I was reacting.  But something in my spirit, ok maybe not my spirit...something in my wife's spirit, which then spoke to my spirit, caused me to consider my reaction to this particular situation. 

The scripture references above came to me as I rapidly searched through my Bible trying to find somewhere that would justify my reaction.  While part of me wishes I could have found something to justify what I was feeling at the time, I realized after pondering on them for a little while that I was wrong.  Reacting hastily, and quickly to situations that frustrate us, usually ends up making us look far worse than what we think it will.

As I continued to study on this topic I found that action means "an act that one consciously wills and that may be characterized by physical or mental activity." While on the other hand, I laughed out loud when I looked up reaction.  Now keep in mind, there were several different definitions for this word, but only one seemed to sum up what I was feeling at the crossroads this morning - reaction: "A pattern of behavior constituting a mental disorder or personality type."  :)  And since I do not have any "mental disorders" (or at least any I admit too) I decided against reacting and decided to take action on the high road instead this time. 

Would you like to know something?  While the high road was not as easy to turn down, I am happy that I did.  Take action today over reaction, you'll be glad that you did.