"God Isn't Fair!"

It is something that we have all said one time or another in our life..."God isn't fair!" We may have had an illness or lost a loved one and we ask God "why" and tell Him what we think He has done is not fair at all! Although we have all experienced that in our lives in some degree we need to understand that it is only in our human mind that God isn't fair and by the way...thank Him that He is not fair!

It is because God is not fair, that we have been given the greatest gift ever given to mankind. Think about this, Barabbas should have been executed, Jesus should have been freed. God isn't fair because He decided that we deserved a second chance and had His son die on a cross for you and I. There is no logical reason that Jesus had to die for us...we don't deserve it, we did nothing for it...in other words God demonstrated that He is not fair and THANK HIM THAT HE DID!

There will always be things that happen in our lives that seem so unfair. It could be an illness or a loss of a loved one, but remember that you have been given someone to lean on, someone to talk to and, more importantly, someone who loves you...Jesus Christ! There are people who you know in your life who have experienced unbelievable trials and hardships but their faith never wanes. They don't think that God is unfair, but rather they understand that in life is just life and sometimes we are dealt a hand that is not the greatest. Instead of blaming God and telling Him that He is unfair, they turn to His son Jesus Christ and ask for strength to make it through!

It is hard sometimes not to feel that God has been unfair in our lives, but remember instead of abandoning us He gave us Jesus Christ who said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." I don't know about you but I am so thankful that GOD ISN'T FAIR!

"Jump!"

Every Sunday morning I have a song that I listen to before Sunday morning worship service starts. Now you are probably thinking that it is some sacred old time hymn, but it is Van Halen's "Jump"...yes I said Van Halen. The song is off the album entitled "Van Halen" and was released in 1984. The reason I like to listen to the song (besides being a rock and roll disc jockey on the air previously to becoming a minister) is the first line of the song..."I get up and nothing gets me down!"

When I was listening to the song a couple of weeks ago I realized, that for me, the title of the song had a special meaning. For me Jump means Jesus Understands My Problems! We as Christians sometime forget that Jesus really does understand our problems. The reason God sent His son to us in human form was to reconnect with us. Through Christ, God was able to "feel" every emotion that we experience and He really understands them. Remember Christ said "let all who are heavy laden come to me and rest." That statement alone proves that Christ understands our problems.

There is another aspect of Christ that is proven throughout the New Testament of the Bible. The aspect is that Christ wants a relationship with us. Throughout the New Testament Christ talks about "the love of God" and it states in the New Testament that God is love. As we have learned in our human existence, to experience love in our lives we must have a relationship. Thus, for us to experience the love of Christ we must have a relationship with him.

So one way of experiencing this love/relationship is to jump right into it. I realize that people think that having a relationship with Jesus Christ is difficult, but it really isn't. All you have to do is just ask Christ into your life. Just say, "Lord I need you in my life!" Of course you need to be asking this from the heart and really mean what you say.

Maybe you need to think about the song "Jump" by Van Halen and remember the first line, "I get up and nothing gets me down." For if you think in those terms you are really thinking of how Christ impacts your life. I know that every Sunday morning I am reminded when I listen to that song that Jesus Christ will get me up and will make sure that nothing gets me down because, Jesus Understands My Problems!

"Where Did IT Go?"

It happens with everyone sometime in their faith journey...losing the feeling they had when they first discovered Jesus Christ. Believe it or not it even happens with pastors. I did not realize that until I went to a Mark Lowry concert recently. For those of you who have not heard of Mark Lowry, he is a Christian singer and comedian. He is most noted for the song he wrote entitled "Mary Did You Know?"

One of the problems of being a minister is that if one is not careful you spend all your time taking care of other persons' spirituality and you forget to replenish your own. I realized that at the concert when I felt God trying to tell me "sit back and take it in...your spirit needs to be replenished!"

I also learned that you can regain that closeness to God at anytime, because God did not leave. Remember that Jesus said, "the kingdom of God is within"...which means that God is with us all the time. Most of the time the problem is that we do not take time out to be with God. We find ourselves running around trying to get our kids to different things or running around to do what we think we have to do.

If you are not spending at least 15 minutes a day with God, then expect your spirit to feel like it has left on an extended vacation. Although we have time for everything else it seems like God comes last and God always has us first! It is when we put God last that our spirituality starts to suffer and we feel abandoned.

For me, I have been reminded that I need to take time out and replenish my spiritual batteries and I have to do it everyday. So if you are having a problem with your spirituality, take time out to be with the one person who will never leave you and whose love for you will never end...Jesus Christ!

"You've Gotta Be Kidding!"

Over the past several years, I have become increasingly concerned about how so called Christians are acting in churches. I am blown away when I hear about people who get so upset over the most insignificant things in a church or hear about a church that protests at military funerals. All I can say is "You've Gotta Be Kidding!" It seems that in some cases they have forgotten the main message of Christ...LOVE!

I often wonder if that is what Christ says when He sees how we act. The problem, in my opinion, is our church people are reacting instead of acting. This reacting can be to small changes in the church or to disagreements over how someone does something in the church. At times their reactions are so mean that it borders on frightening.

Maybe what we need to do is think before we react and to ask ourselves the following question. Is what we say or do pleasing in the eyes of Jesus Christ and does it further His kingdom? If we ask ourselves that question before we react it will temper our emotions (rage) and it will also slow down our reactions. I don't know about you, but I don't want to ever think that Jesus Christ is saying "you've gotta be kidding" when He hears or sees something I am doing!

It is time we start acting like Christians (one who follows Christ, what the word Christian actually means) and demonstrate the love that Christ has for us to others. Remember from 1 Corinthians 13:13 "and these three remain, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love."

The one emotion that prevents us from receiving or sharing the love of Christ is anger. I firmly believe that anger is the one emotion that satan uses to his advantage and against us. You see the other name for satan is the devil and if you take the "d" off of devil and added to anger you have danger. And when you do that what is left from the word devil is EVIL!

Make it your goal to try and be that beacon of light and love from Christ to others. You can be that beacon by stop reacting and start acting after you have asked yourself...are my actions pleasing to the eyes of Jesus Christ and does it further His kingdom?

"An Interview With God!"

Over the twenty years I have spent in the ministry I have been amazed at how difficult it is for people to talk to God. For some reason, people think that to talk to God you have to use "million dollar" words or their prayers have to be "formal." Fortunately that is not the case, you just have to take the time and have a conversation with God.

One way to help accomplish that is to act like God/Jesus is sitting in a chair. I use that technique all the time and I have discovered over the years that my prayers are more meaningful and are from the heart. Remember the old hymn "What A Friend We Have In Jesus," and the verse that says "Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?" Since Jesus is our friend doesn't it make sense to talk to Him like we do any of our close friends?

If you use the chair technique you will discover your prayers will take on a whole new meaning. You will start talking like you do to a friend and you will be more relaxed when you pray. I feel that praying in that manner is what God has always wanted His children to do, but we have put up a wall of "formality" which separates us from Him.

I have imagined over the years what it would be like if I sat down and conducted an interview with God. I am convinced that He would tell us that we worry about too much and that we forget to love, not only others, but ourselves. He would remind us that His son, Jesus Christ, died for us out of His love for us and that all He really asks from us it to love Him back.

If you are struggling with prayer...just have a conversation and remember that (prayer) prayer releases all your everyday rubbish. Isn't it time you sat down and had that conversation with the greatest friend you could ever have?...God!