Burn the Bridges

Read: Hebrews 12:1-11


Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.                                   Hebrews 12:1


     In ages of war gone by (particularly when most armies were largely transported on foot) battle strategies were much different than they are today. Many famous generals – Constantine, Scipio, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Napoleon, Washington – gained their fame through the tactics they developed to achieve victory. An interesting plan, practiced mostly by the early Roman armies, was to burn their bridges behind them after the entire army had crossed the river. That left no way for the army to retreat. They must stand and fight to the death, or plunge to their death in the waters they had just crossed. Many fierce battles were won by these armies who knew they must press forward or perish. By burning the bridges behind them, they left themselves with no chance at cowardice, no choice to turn back on the decision that had been made to cross the river.

     Burning bridges is exactly what young people must do if they are to move ahead for God. Often they will hear messages, then make decisions at camp or in a youth conference. Conviction burns within their hearts as they recognize the need to rid their lives of some sin that is holding them back. As they sit in the pew, they are determined to lay aside those hindrances so they might accomplish something for God. Yet, something changes when they get back home. The fervor is no longer before them in the form of preaching or making decisions. They still want to please God, but familiarity slaps them back into routine. In order to let God complete the work He has started in their hearts, they must be willing to burn the bridges behind them.

     If God deals with you about music, then putting it in the closet will not work because someday, perhaps when you are backslidden, you may pull that music back out. You must get rid of that music. Maybe God has dealt with you about the worldly clothes you are wearing. It is not good enough to just set them in the bottom of the drawer; you must throw them out. If you do not burn those bridges behind you, then you are leaving yourself a way of retreat when the zeal of your decision is gone. There may be fierce battles ahead when you close off your retreat, but that is where heroes are born. It is this strategy that will win you the smile and admiration of Heaven – and that is the only thing that matters.

 

Quote of the day: “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.”            – William Murray

A Tale of Two Prisoners

Read: Hebrews 10:23-31

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 

                                                                                                               Hebrews 10:26-27

     There are two young men, whom I know very well, who grew up in the same place and at the same time that I did. Both of them are in prison. One of the young men made some foolish mistakes that he wishes he hadn’t made, and he found himself behind the bars of a prison cell. As he sits there day after day, he longs for the time when he can finally be free – free to move on with life, free to breathe fresh air, and free to live outside the confines of four cement walls. The other young man lives nowhere near a prison established by the state. He has the freedom to do as he chooses. Sadly, in an effort to live life in his own way, apart from the Word of God, he has allowed the devil to entrap him in a prison of his own choosing.

     There are many young men who are enslaved within the walls of a prison the devil chose for them when they gave their lives over to him. To them, that was the way to true happiness. The devil promised them a good time. He promised them that if only they would turn their backs on what they had been taught in church their whole lives, then he would make it well worth their time. If they would only rebel against the authority God has placed in their lives, he would richly compensate them for their actions. He invites them into the room where the party is taking place, where they can live the high life according to the world’s standards. What he doesn’t tell them is that that room is the prison cell to which only he holds the key.

     The devil makes good on his promises of a good time – for a while; but then the walls begin to close in around them, and the reality of their situation starts to settle upon their lives. They have become the devil’s prisoner, dismally walking from corner to corner in their cell and doing exactly as their master bids them do. The freedom they were promised apart from authority and the Word of God has been replaced with chains of sorrow, guilt, and shame. He allows them to see the life they could be living through Jesus Christ, but alas, he holds the key to their prison cell, and he is not interested in releasing his prisoner to freedom.

     Indeed, that is the fate of those who choose to walk away from God and into the waiting chains that the devil have planned for those who choose to follow his path. Only the power of God and a return to Him can release that prisoner back into the freedom that only those who follow Christ can truly enjoy.

Quote of the day: “The devil promises you the whole world, but he doesn’t own a grain of sand.”

Fast-Forward

Read: Hebrews 11:23-27


Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.                                                    Hebrews 11:25


     If you were born in the late 1990s or after, then you have possibly never used a cassette tape. You might know what it is, but that is about it. The step before the modern MP3s was CDs, but I grew up listening to all of my music on cassettes. Technology has advanced to such a level that you can fit the equivalent of three or four hundred cassette tapes on a device a fifth of the size. It wasn’t as simple as touching a button and skipping to the next track, or scrolling through a list of music to find the exact song you are looking for in seconds like we do today. If I wanted to find a song on that tape, I had to push fast-forward, wait as long as I thought it would take to get to the song, press stop, press play, and then repeat the process if I still hadn’t found what I was looking for.

     It would benefit young people if they did the same thing in their spiritual life – fast-forward. When you are tempted to sin, think ahead to where that sin will lead you. Fast-forward ten or fifteen years in your mind and dwell upon what your life will be like after that sin. When you are tempted to lose your purity, think ahead to where you will be in ten or twenty years. Think about the regrets you will have after that time has passed. Think about how much more wonderful your life would have been if you had just passed by that temptation; and then – pass it by. Even thinking into the immediate future when you are tempted can help your spiritual life. Think about things like “Where will listening to that music take my thoughts?” or “What will I be tempted to do if I allow myself to view this wicked thing on television or online?” or even “How will my future wife and kids be affected by the decision I am about to make?”

     Thinking ahead of the sin for one moment would make us realize that there is no benefit to the sins we are about to commit. No one is taken so quickly by a temptation that they don’t have a moment to pause and think about the consequences before they jump into the action. Just think about pushing a button on a cassette player. Fast-forward a couple days, a couple months, or a couple years and try to imagine where that sin will take you. No present pleasure in sin is worth the sacrifice of a beautiful future. Visualizing a destroyed future for a moment of sinful pleasure should cause us to divert our direction away from the temptation and back onto the path of a victorious Christian life.

Quote of the day: “Ask yourself if what you are doing today is getting you closer to where you what to be tomorrow.”

Struggling on the Hook

Read: Hebrews 11:23-26


Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.                                                                      Hebrews 11:25


     Though I really don’t enjoy fishing, I have done it a few times. I see no point in wasting perfectly good sleep to get up early in the morning, and then spending hours waiting for something I’m not even going to eat to magically appear on the end of my fishing line. I realize there is an art to really knowing how to fish, but I’m not an artist, and I have no desire to learn how to fish. Having said that, I have been dragged out to the pier a couple of times. What I have noticed about the fish always intrigues me, though. From a pier, the water is shallow enough to see the interest piquing in a fish as he swims up to where that hook is dancing in the water. The succulent worm seems to be his for the taking. It’s almost as if he knows, however, that a worm shouldn’t be there, and to him, there is something “fishy” about the whole situation. He begins to swim away, but the worm starts screaming his name and calling him back to the hook. He gets closer and closer and begins to nibble at the dangling dinner. Before long, he is mesmerized by the enticement, and he swallows the hook, line, and sinker. The only thing left for the fisherman to do is to reel in the fish, struggling on the hook from which he will not escape.

     So many fall prey to Satan, the master fisherman. He dangles the bait of fornication and impurity. He drops a line of impure thoughts right in front of you. He makes alcohol, drugs and smoking look so cool. He will try to reel you in by getting you to hook up with the wrong friends. He puts temptations in front of you that seem to be screaming your name. You may avoid them for a time because you are afraid of getting caught or because you just know they are not right. However, until you make a firm decision to shun Satan’s advances, he will continue to place those lures in front of you repeatedly. It must be a deliberate choice to avoid his pitfalls. The truth is, just as the worm that is placed in front of the fish is held in place by a hook waiting to cause his demise, the temptations the devil places in front of you are propped up by the unfailing destruction that will render your spiritual life useless and ineffective. Don’t let Satan trick you into thinking that his pleasures are real. It is nothing more than bait that, when you finally take it, will destroy your life.

 

Quote of the day: “It is better to shun the bait than to struggle on the hook.”

The Size of a Mustard Seed

Read: Hebrews 11:1-3; 32-40


And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.  And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.                                                                                                          Luke 17:5-6


     I experienced some car trouble this past week. It wasn’t just the “my-breaks-are-squeaking; I should-replace-them” kind of car trouble. It was major car trouble. It seemed like the car was never going to run again, and if it did, it was going to cost thousands to fix. It was the type of car trouble that looked like there was no way out but to either take a loss to get rid of it or spend lots of money to get it fixed. I went to God and said, “God, you have the power to heal a body, which is a far more amazing machine than a car is; I know you could ‘heal’ this car if you wanted to.” I can attest to the fact that I had a very small faith that He would actually do it. On a measuring scale, it would have been faith that was certainly no bigger than a mustard seed. But God worked a miracle. On Sunday, that car was smoking, sputtering, and would hardly start, let alone run. By Monday, the car was running perfectly. I took it over to get appraised and it got the highest rating for mechanical and electrical function. I will never be convinced that God did not reach down and ‘heal’ that car.

     That was all done on faith that was smaller than a mustard seed. Imagine what God could do with us and through us if we were willing to cast all of our faith on Him. Imagine what He would do if we had faith the size of a walnut, or a watermelon, or house. We hold back so much faith because we don’t want to feel let down when it doesn’t happen or because we just don’t really believe that God can do what we are asking Him to do. But God is still in the miracle business, and, like He says in the book of Matthew, if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.

     Do you struggle in school? Have faith that God can get you through. Do you live in a difficult situation at home? Have faith that God is using that to mold you into what He has for you later on. Do you have a relative that is sick or dying? Have faith that God can heal them. Are you praying that God would save a friend or a loved one? Have faith that God can save them. God places so much emphasis on faith, and if we could just have faith the size of a mustard seed, we would see Him perform so many more modern-day miracles for us.

 

Quote of the day: “Faith is not believing that God can – it’s knowing that He will.”

Unknown Heroes

Read: Hebrews 6:9-20

For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name…                                         Hebrews 6:10 

     The name King Tut is one of the most recognizable names among all the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. The amazing truth is that King Tut was only nine or ten when he ascended the throne, and his reign was halted when he died at the young age of nineteen. His parents were brother and sister, and, as a result, he was born with many physical maladies. He was inflicted with a cleft palate, scoliosis, malaria, and a variety of other genetic defects. He had married his half-sister at a very young age and had two daughters who never made it to birth. It is believed that his multitude of genetic defects were likely the cause of his early demise. A common theory is that he had an epileptic seizure that led to a fall in which he broke his leg. The leg became infected; because of a weakened immune system due to the other diseases, his body was unable to fight the infection that caused his death. As a result, the family line of King Tut ended with his death.

    The truth is King Tut died in relative obscurity. For centuries no one knew his name, much less studied him as one of the great pharaohs. He only became famous when Howard Carter and George Herbert discovered his untouched tomb in 1922. He became the source of ancient Egyptian historical study because of the treasures and wealth found buried intact with him in his tomb. John White wrote, “The pharaoh who in life was one of the least esteemed of Egypt’s pharaohs has become in death the most renowned.”

     Over the centuries many Christians have lived their lives for Christ and died in obscurity. No one knows who they are or what they accomplished for Christ. From the elderly lady’s fervent prayer that brought revival, to the young man’s faithfulness that led to the salvation of many, to the martyr’s death that encouraged others to stand for Christ, the kingdom of God has been built upon the sacrifice of those who were concerned only with pleasing their King. Only years later – perhaps centuries later – will the extent of their work for Christ be revealed, but one day they will be known in Heaven for all they accomplished for Him.

    Don’t spend your life, as so many do, in search of fame. The rewards received in Heaven for a life lived for Christ will far outweigh any accolade or recognition that can be bestowed upon us by men.

    

Quote of the day: “Only one life ‘twill soon be passed; only what’s done for Christ will last.”

The Dash Between the Dates

Read: Hebrews 12:1-4

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.                                              1 Corinthians 9:24 

     Cemeteries have always been considered creepy, especially at night. I don’t know how someone could live next to a cemetery. I certainly couldn’t do it. It’s not that I feel like someone is going to come out of the grave or anything like that, but I guess it’s that death is such a morbid thing. It seems as if you would always wake up in the middle of the night with the eerie feeling that something is going on over there. In the daytime, I am fine with cemeteries, and I actually like to walk through and look at what is written on the tombstones, especially the old ones.

     One thing that I have noticed on every single tombstone, whether it is very large and expensive-looking or very small and simple, is they all have a birth date and a death date with a little dash in between. Everything that the person lying beneath the cold stone ever did is wrapped up in that little dash. And that is just it. We all get only one dash through life. We don’t get any restarts or re-dos. When our birth date announces the start of our race through life, we only have one chance to make our life count for Jesus before the stone masons come and chisel in the death date.   

     You are at the beginning of your dash. If you live a normal life, then you still have most of your dash to fill. Don’t waste it on things that will not count for eternity. Perhaps we should strive to live the words of the songwriter who wrote:

I want my life to count for Jesus,

All earthly joys will quickly fade.

No need to add to worldly riches,

I only seek eternal gain.

    Let’s start today to fill the dash between our dates with as many things for Jesus Christ as we can.

Quote of the day: “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”

Why Do I Need Church?

Read: Ephesians 2:18-22

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.     Hebrews 10:25 

     Many young people today are falling away from church. They think it is boring or that it is only for their parents. They are dragged to church week after week until they are finally old enough to make their own decisions, and then they never darken the doors again. At a critical time in their lives when they really need church the most, they abandon the institution that God created for their spiritual survival. Here are just three of the many reasons why you really need to be in church.

1.      To protect you from the enemy. If you were a wolf that happened upon a herd of sheep, which one would you go for first? Would you go after the one in the center of the flock that was surrounded by other sheep and close to the shepherd? Or would you single out and attack the sheep that had wandered from the flock, separated from the rest? Of course you would go after the one that posed the least threat to you. So it is with a young man that has wandered from the flock of God. Satan singles him out as an easy target, attacks him, and tries to ensure that he will never be useful for God again.

2.      To feed your soul. I remember how it was to be a teenager. For a while I ate everything in sight, and I was still hungry. What if you just stopped eating? Your strong, healthy body would shrivel up like a raisin and you would eventually die. How devastating would it be spiritually if you just stopped feeding your soul? The sermons we hear in church feed our spirit, and if we stop getting fed, our spiritual lives will just shrivel up and die, as well.

3.      To move forward for God. If you have any desire to please God with your life…If you have any desire to see God use your life…If you have any desire to accomplish great things for God, then the first step is to be in church every time the doors are open. You will never be successful for God unless you make a commitment to be in the house of God.

     In an age when so many are falling away, renew your commitment to be in church. That is where God expects to meet with His children, and when you don’t show up, you miss the fellowship He longs to have with you.

Quote of the day: “Going to church will not make one a Christian. But…refusing to fellowship with believers will not make you one either.”  - Billy Graham

Drinking Poison

Read: Ephesians 4:30-32; Hebrews 12:15

Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.                                                                                            Acts 8:22-23 

 

     Imagine sitting in the courtroom of a king in the ancient days. A once-faithful servant was caught in the act of plotting the murder of his king and is now standing trial before the man he had plotted to kill. A deathly silence falls over the courtroom as the king takes his seat upon his ornate throne. All eyes are on the king, and all people are expecting the punishment to be immediate death. Imagine your surprise when the king produces a vial of liquid and stands to pronounce his judgment: “I trusted you with my life, and you have violated that trust. Now, as your punishment, I am going to drink this cup of poison.”

     “That’s crazy!” you might shout. “That is not a punishment that is going to affect the accused.” And you would be exactly right. Yet many people commit that same act so often through bitterness. Maybe someone offended you in front of a group of your friends, or perhaps someone took advantage of you in some way. The natural human reaction is to be bitter toward the person who wronged you. Instead of going to talk to the person to work things out between you, you say nothing; instead, you harbor those feelings of anger and resentment in your heart.

    Do you realize that the only person you are hurting is yourself? The Bible commands us over and over not to harbor those feelings of bitterness because they will destroy our spiritual life and our inner peace. The person you are bitter toward is rarely affected by your bitterness because, many times, they do not even realize that you feel that way about them.

     The way to resolve the problem is to go to that person one-on-one and talk to him about what is bothering you. What you will find is that, most of the time, the person will apologize for what he did and things will get back to normal between you. Bitterness is like drinking poison to punish someone else. It makes absolutely no sense. If you have problem with another person, take care of it today before it is too late.

Quote of the day: “He that carries bitterness to bed with him will find the devil creep between the sheet.” – Rev. William Secker (1899)