Day 324 - Making Godly Choices

"The guy I met with shared that he had been a drug addict and when he started coming to the church he was coming on the buses and getting food. He really loves The Rock for that. He now has a job and a vehicle and when he gives his tithes he knows it is going to help people and further the gospel. He told me that God jammed him up that he needed to choose either the drugs or his kids. Thankfully he made the right choice for his kids."

Too many times we hear of people who we know and love making the wrong choices. Their decisions effect their own personal lives as well as their families and friends. It is sad to see the results of wrong choices and bad decisions. 

I have shared in past blogs about how I hate seeing the effects of sin. It grieves me when people who were once on fire for the Lord turn their backs and walk away. But here in today's journal entry I see someone who was stuck in his sinful ways making a Godly decision. 

What made him different? How did he arrive at Godly decisions where others fail? 

I see some key things in his life. First was that he had an open heart to hear the word of the Lord. He had been getting help and the goodness of God lead him to repentance. He was attending church and his life was changing. We all at some point or another will be confronted with the word of God. You cannot hear the truth and not be challenged to change. The word is designed to show you where you need to change and then give you the power to change. 

The second thing I see that helped him to make a Godly choice was that he saw what was important. His children are ultimately more important than the pleasure he was receiving from his sin. Those drugs could never be as important as his children. The value he placed on them made the decision easy. It also showed him the severity of making the wrong choice. 

Finally, he add the choice based on his relationship to the Lord. He was learning from God and now was presented with a choice from the Holy Spirit. When you have a relationship with someone and you know their character then when they ask you for something it makes the choice easier. Knowing who God is and having the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will help us to make Godly decisions. 

What factors help you to make the right decisions? How can we differentiate between Godly and ungodly? 

Day 65 - How Holy is Holy?

"If we get the fear of The Lord and stay holy He will do the miraculous and bring revival. Will we be faithful, stay together, love one another, be holy, forgive quickly and walk in the Spirit?" 

This thought came out of a staff meeting where we were discussing a billboard. Our church has been known for being 'in your face' with the messages and our approach. We had a billboard that said 'No Bull, Only the Truth at The Rock Church'. We all loved it and even had T-shirts made that some of our members wear to this day. 

For Easter we had an image of the bull wearing bunny ears and buck teeth and it said 'No Bunny, Celebrate Easter at The Rock'. Our Sr. Pastors didn't like the design and made the statement that Easter is holy and shouldn't be a joke; not even on a billboard to get people to Easter services at church. 

Then the question was asked 'How holy is holy?' We lingered here. I would encourage you to stop and ask yourself that question. How holy is holy? When God asks us to be holy as He is holy what does that mean? What does that look like? How holy is that? 

We have a society that asks how close can they get to the edge before falling off. They get angry at boundaries and then shame people who fail. The double standard is hypocritical and unjust. God hates an unjust scale by the way. So then how holy is holy? 

Holiness has been mocked and downplayed but holy living is where every Christian should endeavor to live. To be holy means that we are exclusively God's. He has our full attention and obedience. We need to put away the evil things from our lives. We cannot compromise and live worldly any longer. We should be marked and separate. People should think we are weird or radical because we shun evil; even the appearance of it. 

We ended up making the billboard say 'Easter is Holy at The Rock Church'. We were probably the only ones who knew what that meant but God used it to speak to the Inland Empire as they passed the sign on the 10 Freeway that month. He is also using it today, a year later, to remind us to ask ourselves how holy is holy. 

What are some practical ways to be holy in everyday life? What does the statement 'how holy is holy' say to you?