Paying The Price

Bills! We all have them; there is no disputing that fact. The cost of living in 2008 is astronomical. Times are really hard and it’s not looking like that will change anytime soon. We all have bills that we pay every month and some are weekly. There’s the monthly credit card bill, the monthly rent or mortgage, the food bill, the car payment, fuel for the car, insurance, unexpected bills and then the occasional dining out bill. We all really have to stretch our finances and our imaginations to make ends meet sometimes.

In thinking about paying bills, I started thinking about how sometimes we complain about our bills. The mail carrier has a tough job these days. He’s delivering bills all of the time. Whatever happened to receiving a letter from someone every once in a while to break the financial monotony?

I can think of numerous times when I have taken someone to dinner. The check comes to the table and I take it and I say that “I will pay it. It’s all set”! Thinking about paying that bill for someone else, evokes a really good feeling in me. I like doing things for others, so I enjoy this sort of thing when I’m able to do it (which lately isn’t often). I recently thought of paying that bill a little more in depth. “I’ll pay the bill”. This made me think about paying the price.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for our salvation. He gave up His life, so that we could have ours. He paid the price that no amount of money could ever pay. You can’t buy your way into Heaven. You cannot buy salvation. You cannot buy peace, love, compassion or blessings; none of it can be bought. In Matthew 19:23-24 (Amplified Bible) Jesus said to His disciples, truly I say to you, it will be difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the kingdom of heaven.

This was said regarding a man of wealth who had just spoken with Jesus. The man had followed all of the commandments from his youth and wanted to know what else he had to do to gain entry into Heaven. Matthew 19:21-22 (Amplified Bible) says that Jesus answered him, If you would be perfect [that is, have that spiritual maturity which accompanies self-sacrificing character], go and sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have riches in heaven; and come, be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me]. But when the young man heard this, he went away sad (grieved and in much distress), for he had great possessions.

When Jesus was on the cross and he said “It is finished”, that also said to me that the price was paid. That selfless act of love by Jesus cost him everything and cost us nothing. When you see a less fortunate person on the street, do you pass them by or do you maybe exchange a pleasant hello or maybe even offer to buy them a sandwich. Where would we all be if Jesus decided not to go to the cross? We all were that person on the street until he paid the price for us to be free. I have a soft spot in my heart for the homeless and the poor. The way I was brought up was to treat everyone the way that I wanted to be treated.

That lesson isn’t often taught today. The mentality in the world today for the most part is to take care of you. There is nothing wrong with taking care of you first, but what about those who can’t take care of themselves? What about them? What would Jesus do? I believe that the poor and needy would be his best friends. The last would indeed be first.

See, when Jesus gave up His life for us. It was the ultimate act of selfless love. He taught us how to love. Yet if Jesus walked the streets today dressed as a poor person, I’m afraid he would be passed by many times, without someone even saying hello. As Christians, people are supposed to see Christ in us. If they don’t see Christ in our everyday lives, how will they ever listen to us when we want to minister to them?

I’ve heard people say things like (I need to be careful around certain people, so they don’t think badly of me). My response to that was if a person needs to put on a mask around anyone, then they have a lot of work to do on themselves. We shouldn’t have to be concerned with who we might run into. If we are living as we should be, all people will see a consistent picture of Jesus in us.

In closing, regarding the bills. It would be in our best interests if every time we spend money on anything, that we recall the price that Jesus paid. It will help us to keep in perspective how small our problems financial or otherwise really are.

Father I thank you for this message. I pray that we would all let this take root, so that we could be fruitful in areas where we may not currently be. Father, help us to see things as you do. Help us to have not only a servant’s heart but a giving spirit. Give us divine visions of how we can abolish poverty once and for all. Lastly, Father, I pray that you would help us to let go of concerns of worldly wealth and to embrace the reality of spiritual wealth and health.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen.

God Bless You All.

“The Sharpshooter”

“Practice today for a better tomorrow”

We are living in a time when the world is a mess. Work life, home life, even recreational time for many people has become so rushed and stressful that the ability to enjoy the moment, or “Live for today” is being missed. There are so many legitimate concerns that people have today, that you end up planning life six months to a year down the road and this has become a way of life for too long. We need the Lord’s touch in this area of our lives because we cannot in our own strength fix this. How did it get this way one might ask? I can say with all honesty “The devil made us do it.”

We are prisoners of our most precious commodity, time. Both of my parents were fifteen years old in 1940. I always hear about when they were in their teens and early twenties and at that time not many people could afford to own a car. The majority of people walked or took the trolley to work or school and maybe used the family car if they had one for a weekend ride or vacation. It was a simpler time. The newspaper was a source of information and entertainment and not many missed reading it especially the Sunday edition. My dad worked for the major Boston newspapers for a better part of his life. This is how I know this. Today journalism is a lost art and it has become sensationalism that just stresses us out. I have not watched a news program on purpose for over a year because of this. My stress dropped at least forty percent when I let go of that.

As time went on especially in the United States, everything was being made to make things more convenient. We were able to do more things in less time and that was thought to be a good thing, so what did we do, we kept on compressing that convenience until now you can heat up a bowl of soup (organic of course) in about two minutes. Have you ever seen someone almost lose their mind because the soup in the microwave was taking too long? I saw that once and at first I agreed with the person heating their soup, because we’ve all been conditioned by this system of doing more in less time with fewer resources. Then I later thought about it and realized that soup on the stove takes fifteen to twenty minutes easily. How could someone get irritated by two minutes? That’s quick!

We are so rushed today that we have become the most over medicated people in the world. Many folks are just swallowing there problems in the form of a pill or alcohol. There is a better way and that way is through Jesus Christ. The only way that I can truly cope with the stresses of life is when I relinquish control to my savior Jesus. That in itself is not that easy because all of us want some form of control and we have this belief that relinquishing that control means we are out of control.

I’ve often heard people say that this is “The nature of the beast”. Most people that say this have no idea what they said; they just think that it sounds good. However it is the nature of satan to want control. He wants to control every aspect of our lives to the point that he is able to pull us away from God with temptation of what looks like an easier way. Trust me, there is no easy way. The idea of control being lost when we give it over to Jesus Christ is a total illusion created by the enemy of our souls. In fact we are in the most control of our destinies when we give control of our lives over to Jesus Christ, because he’s the one that knows the plan for our lives, we have no idea what the next few hours hold.

We need to begin making changes in our lives that will decrease our stress and improve our quality of daily life. I am making a conscious effort to take the long way through life; I have to break what I call the microwave mentality which is all about short cuts. If we all start to make changes that will incorporate some old school thinking and slow us down, we will better be able to enjoy our today and it’s only through enjoying today that we can have a hope for tomorrow.

If we continue to zip through today, then our tomorrow’s will come and go and we’ll have missed our potential, our purpose and our freedom by being bound to convenience which only equals stress and that is nowhere close to the purpose that God has for our lives. “Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God said that “I have for you a plan that will cause you great stress and strife” On the contrary. Jesus said in John 10:10 (Message) that “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of”.

Won’t you take a moment now and thank God for sending his only son to die for our sins so that we could have eternal life with God the Father?

Father I thank you for all you have done in my life and the lives of those I know and love. Father without you sending Jesus, we would have no hope for redemption and it is only because you loved us so much that you sent your only son Jesus to die on that cross for our sins. I can never say thank you enough, but I can do my best to bring honor and glory to you in all that I do. I know that this is your will for all mankind and if we’ll just step into your will, we will step into our destiny. I pray father that you will bless in double portion all who read this message and help them to break through the miry clay that this world has become.

In Jesus name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All.

"The Sharpshooter”

yourvictory@gmail.com