August 2012

27 Aug

Posted at 15:04h in Devotionals
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"You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions." Psalm 45:7 The writer of Hebrews says that these words were spoken of the coming Messiah, but do they actually describe the One who came? As we walk through the Gospels do we see Jesus as one who was "anointed with the oil of gladness"? Isn't He considered to be the "Man of Sorrows"? Wasn't it on the muddy banks of the Jordan that He was anointed for a ministry of great suffering and pain? Wasn't the inaugural address given by the Baptist - "Behold the Lamb of God!" - a foreshadowing of Jesus' sacrificial work? Yes. So, are we now to change our view of Him from the man of sorrows into a man of joy? Are we to no longer see Him as the One who was so marred by the hands of man that He didn't even look like a man, and begin now to see Him as One who is distinguished from all the men around Him by His perpetual, powerful gladness? If such is the case then it would indeed be a tremendous transformation of thinking.

24 Aug

Posted at 12:01h in Fridays Are For Family
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This past Sunday afternoon Kim, the kids and I made the nearly 12 hour trip (bottle, potty and leg-stretching stops included) from Augusta, Georgia to Milan, Tennessee for Kim's grandfather's funeral. He had been sick for several years, but his health had deteriorated quickly in recent weeks leading to his death early Saturday morning. So, after preaching Sunday morning we loaded up the family minivan and headed north toward Tennessee.

20 Aug

Posted at 12:46h in Devotionals
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"who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 1:22 The Spirit’s guarantee is always found in the heart. It is more than just wanting to be good. It is a God-given desire to be more than what you are apart from Him. You see, the Spirit has great heights that rise before Him – heights of understanding and accomplishment, heights of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb, but its earnest, its down payment is a simple desire of the heart. Just like Sharon’s Rose springs from the bud of longing, the first gift that God gives my soul is a sense of lacking, the realizing of an empty heart. It is that emptiness that tells me that I am more than some sort of animal. I am the highest, crowning creation of the Creating God. As such I bear His fingerprints on my soul.

17 Aug

Posted at 11:23h in Fridays Are For Family
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My brother told me last night that he'd told somebody recently that I'm a "very driven person." I'd never heard him make that statement about me out loud before, but I guess that I have to admit that it is true. I'm a very driven person. There are very few hours of the day - or night - that either my body, my mind or even my spirit isn't working on something. I'm always racing, and very seldom resting. In fact, I've been known to run out of gas on the side of the road a time or two because I didn't want to take the time to stop and gas up my old Ford Explorer. (That's another post for another day.)