Food For Thought

I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.
Psalm 119:47

Not too long ago on the all sports network I watched the world champion hamburger eating contest. For those who care Joey Chestnut won by eating 102 hamburgers in six minutes. Consider these other amazing culinary conquests. Six pounds of baked beans in under two minutes, 1 ¾ pounds of butter in five minutes, 65 hard boiled eggs in six minutes, and my favorite 128 oz of mayonnaise in eight minutes. (Folks that is over four big jars of mayo.)

How is your spiritual appetite? Do you gorge yourself once a week at Sunday School and Church only to starve the other six days? I am not a dietitian, but I am quite sure eating four jars of mayonnaise, or 102 hamburgers can not be healthy. In the same way taking in spiritual nourishment once a week is not the path to spiritual health and vitality. Instead we need a steady diet of Bible study and prayer? Here are a few suggestions which can help make regular Bible study a reality in your life:

- Schedule time for Bible study. If you do not plan it, it will not happen.

- Eliminate distractions.

- Start small. Remember newborns do not dine on steak and potatoes. Your appetite for scripture will increase just like your appetite for food has grown over the years.

- Make Bible reading and Bible study a positive habit in your life. The good news is many experts estimate it only takes three weeks to develop any habit…good or bad.

- View personal Bible study as a privilege not a duty.

“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Jesus

AJ

Casting Pearls

Be careful in voicing judgments according to your Christian convictions. Jesus gave the reason in Matthew 7:6; He said doing so is like “casting pearls before swine”. Because pearls have no value to pigs, they will simply trample them under their feet. His other illustration was wild dogs turning on you, and tearing you to shreds.

To see this you only need to watch a news program when a Christian takes a stance on their spiritual convictions, believe me, the claws will come out in the secular media. The following is a case in point. I read this article on the KOCO TV 5 website about a documentary filmed at a Christian Church Camp in North Dakota called “Jesus Camp”. For the full article go to http://www.koco.com/family/9935738/detail.html

Some of the words used to describe the camp in the article are ‘shocking, indoctrination, frightening, brain-washing, and child abuse.” Folks, it is a short jump from mentioning Christianity and frightening brain-washing in the same sentence, to linking the two together. In fact, one mother was vilified because she home schools her children, and teaches them to question science. I thought asking questions was the whole point of science?

The bottom line is this; we may live in desperate times…but not in hopeless times. Jesus is still Lord, God is still on His throne, and the Holy Spirit is still working in the hearts and lives of men and women. Don’t be ashamed of the Gospel, (Romans 1:16) take your stand for Christ.

Matthew 5:10-12
"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great…

AJ