THAT EXTRA PUSH
Only God’s love can give it
A few weeks ago I was curled up on the couch wrapped up in a hand made cozy quilt.   While I sat there all warm and comfy, I was flipping through the Old Testament of my Bible and reading all the things I had underlined, highlighted, and written in the margins.  It was like visiting with an old friend.

I came across a scripture that stunned me.  Up until this moment scriptures on PRIDE had that effect on me.  PROVERBS 13:10  ONLY BY PRIDE COME CONTENTION: BUT WITH THE WELL ADVISED IS WISDOM.  Now that seems straightforward.  I always want to cringe when I read it. 

          Then I read NUMBERS 15:39 AND IT BE UNTO YOU FOR A FRINGE, THAT YE LOOK UPON IT, AND REMEMBER ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD, AND DO THEM; THAT YE SEEK NOT AFTER YOUR OWN HEART AND YOUR OWN EYES, AFTER WHICH YE USE TO GO A WHORING: Now that is just down right blunt!

         We are not used to hearing such straightforward talk in these days we are living in.  Our society goes out of its way to come up with words and phrases that are nice about things that are bad.  Words that make us feel better about ourselves and help us sleep better at night.  Example: 'friendly fire’ or ‘coming out of the closet’, ‘a fling’, ‘your significant other’ or ‘cohabitation’.  These words do not challenge us to change.

          We are good today at rationalizing our behavior.  “ Well I didn’t mean it.  One thing just led to another. It was no big deal”, or  “It’s not personal. It is just business.” 

          God does not allow us to get by with bad behavior so easily.  ROMANS 6:23 TELLS US THAT THE WAGES OF SIN ARE DEATH.  1 JOHN 1:8 IF WE SAY WE HAVE NO SIN; WE DECEIVE OURSELVES AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN US.  That is straightforward.  That is blunt.  God loves us too much to let us get away with sin.  He knows the consequences.  He wants to jolt us out of our comfort zone and give us a push in the direction away from sin.

When we decide to turn away from sin we need to remember how easy He has made it for us to get forgiven and our sins washed away.   1 JOHN 1:9 IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS, AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.

Don’t cover up your sins with nice words or phrases.  Don’t rationalize away bad behavior.   WE ALL HAVE SINNED, AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.  ROMANS 3:23.  Talk to Jesus about it.  Get rid of it.  Be clean.  Hum… Straightforwardness, bluntness, God’s love, it is amazing and refreshing…  

Continued below

                                                                       FEBRUARY 2006

THOSE PESKY 10 COMMANDMENTS

I wrote this first part of this study in the year 2000.  I am amazed at how much more slack people have become when it comes to their vocabulary and the lack of thought that goes into what is said.  It's now 2006 and I find myself again with another sticky note of phrases and comments I have written down that people have been saying that have been sticking out to me.  Let me share them with you.

 1.When confronted with an out right lie, one they know they are caught in.  The response is " I miss spoke".

2. When speaking of someone who has done an out right wrong another person may say of that person  "they violated a boundary".

3. If a person has been caught in many wrongs in their lifetime it may be said of them that they have " a colorful history of corruption."

4.     A person may be married yet being with another person.  Today that is called an "indiscretion".

5.     A person does not lie "they spin the truth".

6.     There are new wedding vows out today that say "until we love each other no more".

THESE PHRASES AND THE ONES ABOVE FROM THE FIRST PART OF THIS STUDY HAVE BECOME LIKE 'BUZZ' WORDS.  WHERE IS THE INTEGRITY IN THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE TODAY?  WHAT IS THE MEASURING STICK FOR WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG? 

Where are words like, Lie, Adultery, Fornication, Wrong, I'm Sorry or how about wedding vows that mean something.

Matt 12:34

34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
KJV

We need to think long and hard about this within ourselves.  Listen to ourselves speak.  What are we saying and portraying to others?

1.     Are we credible?
2.     Is our word good?
3.     Do our words and actions line up?
4.     Can people see Jesus in us?

There has been some concern in the news lately about the 10 Commandments.  They are being treated with little respect like a pesky problem having to be resolved.  It amazes me really.  The 10 commandments are carved and enscripted in our Government buildings yet our Governing Parties do not want to see them or deal with them as anything more then batting at a pesky fly.  The concern is can they be printed or displayed on public property, especially Government property?  Property like where the laws of our land are discussed and matters of public law decided.  The reason I used the term " pesky 10 commandments" is because in the news in 2003 there was a chief justice named Roy Moore who made a 10 commandments monument and put it in the state supreme court building. Well, the news media went nuts and he was taken to task over this. The Alabama judicial ethics panel removed chief justice Roy Moore from office for defying a federal judges order to move the 10 commandments monument from the state supreme court building. After the ruling Moore said he was not surprised by the decision and that he was being removed from office because he "acknowledged God". Can you imagine it could come to him being dismissed? That is the issue and the concern.  It seems to run right along the lines of the issue of the Constitution right now.   Our lawmakers are trying to 'interpret' what our 'Founding Fathers' would have meant in the constitution in light of today?  Hum, I wonder what our Founding Fathers would have thought of that? In light of today… Well we don't have to wonder when the issue confronting us is the 10 Commandments what they mean 'in light of today' Jesus says below:

Matt 5:17-20

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

HERE ARE A COUPLE EXAMPLES FROM JESUS TO HELP EXPLAIN

THOU SHALT NOT KILL

Matt 5:21-24

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY

Matt 5:27-28

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

This is Jesus Himself speaking here.  He takes what is one of the 10 commandments and doesn't outlaw it (because we are now in the New Testament and under grace) but adds to it.    We are not only expected to see the 10 commandments as something for us today but we are told to take them one step farther.  Matt. 27-28 just above is a great example.  Jesus takes it from just the physical act to the thought act.  From committing the act to just "thinking" about the act.  That is something to seriously think about. 

Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees below to consider all the matters of the law.  Again; this is a New Testament scripture, and applies for us today.

THE MATTER OF THE TITHE

Matt 23:23

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
KJV

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS ARE FOR TODAY

I have been trying to stay in the New Testament with my scriptures for this study to remind us that this is not just a neat old story.  A neat story from the Old Testament that needs to be dusted off and read some times; mostly in Bible school for kids.  An old story from the Old Testament about an old man taking a trek up a mountain and coming back with a couple tablets of stone which God wrote on Himself; oh I don't know having something to do with the Jews or something.     No these tablets of stone hold great value for us in our lives today.  Here are couple scriptures below to show us God does not change and neither do His thoughts and ways.  They are NEVER changing.

Mal 3:6

6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
KJV

James 1:17

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
KJV

So what do we do with the scriptures below?

Gal 3:24-26

24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
KJV

 The 10 commandments are still relevant today because they remind us that we cannot live every moment of our lives with out blowing it.  Messing up right here with everybody and God watching us.  We are still accountable that is where being justified by faith comes in. We read the commandments and then try to fallow them.  But sooner or later we realize we can't.  We realize that we need Jesus and His help.  We went through the scriptures earlier in this study on how to go to Jesus for forgiveness and He will forgive us. That is where faith comes in and stays.   We are not stoned to death like in the Old Testament that too is where grace comes in. 

We must never take the 10 commandments for granted or think of them as nothing to do with us.  Always remember:

Rom 6:23

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
KJV

So yes they apply today as a guideline for life.  We need to ask Jesus to help us live to the fullest everyday of our lives.  Also we need to remember to ask Jesus to help us take advantage of all of the blood that was spilled from Jesus for us personally that day on the cross.  We need to learn to live in all He came to give.  That includes the 10 commandments.

Matt 22:36-40

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
KJV

The 10 commandments were given to God's children out of love from their Father God.  He loves us and knows the consequences to sin and does not want to see us get hurt or see us have to suffer through the consequences.  What do we tell our kids over and over again?

1.     "Don't talk to strangers."
2.     "Keep your shoes tied so you don't fall."
3.     "Don't run in the house with those scissors in your hand."

And when they are older do we stop with the laws we've laid down?

1.     "When you are driving make sure all your doors are locked."
2.     "Don't drive drunk."
3.     "Don't pick up hitchhikers."

Why do we lay these laws down for our kids anyway?  Because we love them and don't want to see them hurt or in trouble.   That is the same thing with our Father God.  He loves us and knows the consequences of sin and does not want to see us get hurt or have to pay the price for our sin because we turn our back on him and refuse to obey Him.   It's always our choice to believe in Jesus and fallow His way or not.  Remember always the love of God.   Jesus already paid the price for our sin on the cross.   We are bought with a high price. 1 Cor 6:20 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
KJV

God is also a righteous God.  He can't let sin go unpunished.  So if we do not except the punishment Jesus took for us, yes there is a hell and we will go there.

Gal 6:7-8
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
KJV

LORD JESUS WE HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE EACH DAY OF OUR LIVES.  ARE YOU PRECIOUS TO US?  DO WE LOVE YOUR COMMANDMENTS AND YEARN TO FOLLOW THEM?  DO WE FEEL BAD WHEN WE DON'T?  WE STUDY A LOT ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU LOVE US.  HOW YOU MAKE RULES TO KEEP US SAFE AND GIVE US GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW TO MAKE OUR LIVES HERE ON THIS EARTH A GOOD LIFE AN ABUNDANT LIVE.  AND WE ARE THANKFUL.  LORD JESUS HELP US TO SEE HOW REALLY PRECIOUS YOU ARE.  HOW YOUR LAWS ARE TRULY A JOY TO FOLLOW AND NOT A BURDEN.  HELP US LORD PLEASE TO BE AWARE OF YOU IN OUR LIVES.  TO TAKE THAT MOMENT TO FEEL HUGGED BY YOU NOT TO SEE YOU AS FAR AWAY WAY UP IN HEAVEN BUT RIGHT HERE LIVING INSIDE OF US IF WE ARE FOLLOWERS OF YOURS.  IF WE ARE NOT IT IS EASY TO BECOME FOLLOWERS.  WE LEARNED EARLIER HOW TO COME TO YOU PERSONALY BELIEVING YOU ARE THERE FOR US LISTENING TO HEAR US SAY WE ARE SORRY.  AND YOU ARE THERE EAGERLY AWAITING THE CHANCE TO SAY YOU FORGIVE US. 

SO WHAT DO YOU TAKE FROM THIS STUDY?  ARE THE 10 COMMANDMENTD PESKY?  SOMETHING IN THE WAY TO SWAT AWAY LIKE A FLY?  MAYBE YOU SEE THEM AS I DO.  THEY ARE A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH.

Josh 24:15

5 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
KJV