Previously On

             We've all heard it.  The sixty second recap montage before a new episode.  Sometimes the review can be redundant but if you've ever watched a complicated show like LOST, Once Upon a Time or Person of Interest you can appreciate a quick rundown. 
              If you had tried to watch an episode of LOST in the middle of a season, you wouldn't have had any idea what was going on.  You'd need the recap to tell you that a plane crash left an odd group of survivors on a mysterious island already occupied by a cult of peacey psychopaths.  You wouldn't know what a "tailie" was or what "the hatch" meant.  And pressing a button every 108 minutes would just sound crazy to you.  You'd be, well... lost.

             It's the same thing with the Bible.  If you just pull one verse off of a random page and don't read the surrounding verses or look at God's Word as a whole, the message you get might be confusing or you might interpret it wrong.
             Being confused about an episode of LOST is one thing- LOST is just a TV show- but being confused about the basic messages of the Bible is another.  The Bible is God's message to humanity.  It's all about life, death, Heaven and Hell.  The most important things for any person.  And even if you don't believe it yet, it is so important to understand it clearly.  So don't take it out of context!  Make sure you look into the "previously on".

WALL-E: For The Love

WALL-E.  One of the most charming animated characters ever.  A cute little robot in the not-so-distant future.  Earth has piled up with garbage and all the humans have evacuated to live aboard enormous cruise ship like spacecraft.  WALL-E was left on Earth with a directive: clean up trash.  He's the only working robot left on Earth and his only company is a cockroach who likes twinkies.

 

Until WALL-E meets EVE.

EVE is an advanced probe sent from one of the spaceships to search Earth for signs of life.  WALL-E falls in love.

When WALL-E shows EVE a plant he found while cleaning up trash, EVE takes it back to the spaceship and WALL-E decides he has to follow.  Aboard the ship, WALL-E is friendly to everyone.  He helps EVE and together they cause a chain reaction that brings the humans back home to Earth.

It might sound crazy but, in a way, I want to be like WALL-E.  His love for EVE made him throw away his old directive and chase after her no matter what the cost.  I want to be that in love with Jesus Christ.  So in love that everything else in my life is affected by Him.  I want Jesus to be my directive.  I want my love for Him to make me be friendly to everyone, showing and sharing His love wherever I go.  I want to help Him as He causes a chain reaction that brings people into a saving relationship with the Savior of the world.

"This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard and understood the truth about God's great kindness to sinners."  Colossians 1:6 (NLT)

"So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God."  1 Peter 4:1-2 (NLT)

" But may all who search for You be filled with joy and gladness in You. May those who love Your salvation repeatedly shout, 'The Lord is great!' " Psalm 40:16 (NLT)

 It is a tall order to put Jesus before yourself but I could never be good on my own anyway. God is the one who gives Christians the ability to please Him, we just have to let Him do it.  

      

        "So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better." Colossians 1:9-10 (NLT)

Song Recommendations: Motion of Mercy by Francesca Battistelli  

Side Effects

   Dizziness, fainting, blood clots, stroke, heart attack...  These are just a few of the possible side effects of the many prescription drugs that are advertised every day on TV.  Whether you sit down to watch a shark week special, a mini marathon, your favorite drama or the news; you will probably see a prescription drug ad or two.  Sprightly music plays while cartoon animals have a picnic and the voice over announcer uses a hushed tone to warn you about what could possibly go wrong if you take this medicine.
            The Bible talks about side effects. Galatians 5:22-23  "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"
            Love, joy, peace, patience...  This is what Jesus offers.  These are the side effects of having Jesus as your Savior.  And these side effects don't occur in rare cases.  This is what you have when you have Jesus.  If you sincerely accept Jesus as your Savior, you get the Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit gives kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control...  A world of unimaginable wonder and purpose.
            Christians still disobey God and do stupid things sometimes but if a person sincerely accepts Jesus as their Savior there will be... side effects.  If Jesus is your Savior and you're letting yourself get in the way of His side effects- stop it!  If you don't know Jesus, don't go another second living without Him.  You need Him to rescue you from God's punishment.  The joy and fulfillment He will give you isn't available anywhere else!  You don't have to talk to your doctor- ask God to prescribe Jesus this very instant and start living like you never could before!

Mid-Season Break

         So I've been off the air for a while.  I haven't published an article in over a month!  I've been on a bit of a "mid-season break".  That's what TV networks call it when a series plays reruns or goes off the air for a month or two, right in the middle of the season.
         Christians sometimes take a "mid-season break".  At some time in their life they realized they needed Jesus Christ.  They put their trust in the message of the Bible.  That no one is good, that they deserved God's anger- Hell- but that God sent Jesus to die in their place so that they could someday spend eternity with God in Heaven if they just trusted in what Jesus has done.  They started their new life as a member of God's family!  An exciting life of hope and peace. 
        And then, at some point during this wonderful new season of their life, they take a little break.  Life gets the best of them.  Busyness or stress or trajedy rise and they forget that they have an amazing Savior who cares about every aspect of them and wants to help them get through the tough or hectic times.  Or they want to do something that they know God doesn't want them to do and they feel guilty so they ignore God for a while.  They forget Who saved them and Who deserves their attention.  So they don't listen to what He has to say in the Bible, they don't talk to Him, they stop getting together with other Christians.
         The Bible talks about growing as a Christian.  How we need to act the way God wants us to act and feel the way God wants us to feel.  2 Peter 1:8-9 says "The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins."
         Maybe you've trusted Jesus to be your Savior but right now you're in a mid-season break.  I've had some times like that and so did some of the Christians that God talks about in the Bible.  King David was a "man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14) and more than once he took a break from living the way he should and was disobedient to God in big ways.  The beauty of salvation is that if you truly, sincerely put your faith in Jesus Christ, from that moment on you belong to God and you will never lose that salvation.  You may have taken a break when you shouldn't have but God will never "cancel" you.
         Now is the time for your return!!!!  Time for new episodes.  And even though I wish the show had never stalled, the mid-season premiere is the most exciting episode yet!
          
         "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone."    2 Peter 1:3-7

And if you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, now is the time!  Time for your "Pilot" episode.  God guarantees you'll never be "cancelled"!  2 Corinthians 6:2b "now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."