never again

Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

- Hebrews 9:28 (NIV)

 

At least once in our lives we experience something where we think to ourselves “I’ll never do that again”.

After trying a new food that was just terrible or attending an event that completely missed our expectations, we say we won’t do it again.

But often even as we say that we will never do that again, we are taking steps to repeat ourselves.

How quickly we forget the choices we made that were not the wisest and we make the same mistakes over and over again.

Sin is one of those things that manifests itself as something fun or exciting that will turn around to bite us, yet some of us repeat those sins often.

In the Old Testament, people would atone for their sins via sacrifice such as an animal or crops, I’m thankful that we no longer give burnt offerings because Christ came to earth to live among us, to teach us, to die for us.

Jesus sacrificed Himself, just once, and by doing so He wiped out our sin, the sin of many.

We have salvation, we have a way to Heaven, and we need to live like it.

He is coming back, but this time He is not going to die for us – He only did that once.

As we wait for Him, we need to follow His example – the old saying “what would Jesus do”, while overused and cliché has a ring of truth to it.

Let’s live our lives as if He is coming back tomorrow and we want to go home with Him.

 

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good old days

Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise.

- Ecclesiastes 7:10 (NLT)

 

How many times have we sat with friends and family and reminisced about “the good old days”? 
Recounting memories can be fun, but we should not wish for those times to return.

When I hear “the good old days” I am reminded of a country song from The Judd’s called “Grandpa” 
Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Sometimes it feels like this world's gone crazy

Grandpa, take me back to yesterday

When the line between right and wrong

Didn't seem so hazy

Did lovers really fall in love to stay

And stand beside each other, come what may?

Was a promise really something people kept

Not just something they would say

Did families really bow their heads to pray?

Did daddies really never go away?

Whoa, whoa, grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Grandpa, everything is changing fast

We call it progress, but I just don't know

And grandpa, let's wander back into the past

Then paint me the picture of long ago
The song really sounds like the artist is longing for those “good old days”. 

We can’t live in the past, and I don’t think that many of us would want to live in the past.

It’s nice to remember a simpler time, but along with those simpler times there were problems that have now been solved. 
I’m thankful that technology has allowed humanity to diagnose and cure some diseases.

I appreciate being able to be in contact with my family and friends without an expensive phone call or waiting days or weeks for “snail mail”.

I’m glad that we can travel across the country in a matter of hours and in relative comfort, rather than weeks of traveling via covered wagon or by sea in a small ship.

Longing for the past we would lose so many of today’s conveniences.
Wishing for “the good old days” is not a good use of our time.  

 

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recognition

If we say that we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.

- 1 John 1:8-9 (TLB)

 

This is interesting: to be free from sin we must recognize its grip on our lives.
And as we look to Christ, His righteousness truly cleanses us.

No matter how long one has walked with Christ, we are in constant need of forgiveness.

Everyone has a past of which they may not be particularly proud, sin is present in all our lives.

In my past, I have been strong through some things that would break others, there were things that broke me that others sailed through with grace and their dignity intact.

But my past does not define me - I know that I sinned and that I still sin, but that sin does not describe the person I am.

I can admit my mistakes and own my sin, I am human and while I know that I have disappointed people, I also know that there is forgiveness.

If we can admit our mistakes and ask for forgiveness, then we should be able to forgive those who have hurt us.

Sometimes when people hurt us, they hurt themselves just as much and when we forgive them, we set ourselves and them free from the burden of sin.

I will never claim to be without sin because the truth is much better, the truth will set us free, free in the One who died for us so that we can be forgiven.

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mistakes are made

You will earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good; if you work for evil, you are making a mistake.

- Proverbs 14:22 (GNT)

 

There is a saying out there “Trust is earned, not given”. 
There is also a saying “Trust isn’t something that you earn, it’s something that you give”. 
Confused? 

I mean these two quotes are complete opposite of one another, so to which one do we listen?

Trust means that you can rely on others to do the right thing, and others can rely on you to do the right thing. 
If we try to do good in all situations, this means we are doing the right thing. 
I think that both quotes have an element of truth to them, we ask others to trust us, and they give us that trust.

People that lose the trust of others have generally lost it by their actions or making a wrong choice.  
Lack of trust can destroy any relationship – work relationships, friendships, marriages.

Can a person earn back the trust of another once it’s been broken?

Perhaps, depending on the severity of the mistake that was made.  
If we strive to do good and not evil, we have less of a chance of losing trust. 

 

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a gift for you

God has given each of you a gift. Use it to help each other. This will show God’s loving-favor.

- 1 Peter 4:10 (NLV)

 

We all have something that we are exceptionally good at doing, it could be something simple like painting a wall or something elaborate like baking and decorating a 5-tier wedding cake. 

What ever your gift is, we should use it to help others.

I like organization to the point of being (slightly) OCD, I can alphabetize, color coordinate, stack, and sort until the end of time.

I think that is one of my gifts, seeing the end result of doing these things makes me happy and occasionally my organization has been beneficial to others.

I feel like another gift I have is writing, I think that there are many people out there that enjoy my daily messages and maybe even learn something sometimes. 

Others have the gift of leadership, the gift of teaching, the gift of caring for those who are ill or less fortunate.

No matter what gift we discover that we have, we should always use our gifts to honor God.

He gave us these gifts with the intent that we would use them to benefit others, and therefore honor Him. 
What are you doing with your gifts?   

 

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give back

These things did not really come from me and my people. Everything comes from You; we have given You back what You gave us.

- 1 Chronicles 29:14 (NCV)

 

I have been in a few financial independence type seminars and the one consistent thing that I have heard is that there are three major components to being financially independent:

1. Spend less than you earn.
2. Save what you do not spend. 
3. Invest what you save.  

All three are good things to remember, when you learn to control borrowing and spending and you save and invest in the future you potentially find yourself in a good place financially.

But what about giving back? 
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University teaches a seven-step program to pay off debt, build an emergency fund, invest in retirement and college for your kids, pay off your home, build wealth and give.
If we are in a place where we are comfortable financially it shouldn’t be an issue to give. 
So many struggle with giving, feeling as though they work hard for everything they have earned and why should they give it away.

Why indeed.

Because it is not ours to begin with.

Everything we have is given to us by God, tithing is the way that we honor Him and thank Him for providing us with our every need.

Even when times are tough, we should still give all we can, having faith that God will get us to the next level.

 

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live carefully

The Lord who rules over all says, “Think carefully about how you are living. You have planted many seeds. But the crops you have gathered are small. So you eat. But you never have enough. You drink. But you are never full. You put on your clothes. But you are not warm. You earn your pay. But it will not buy everything you need.”

- Haggai 1:5-6 (NIRV)

 

This is an interesting verse, I actually had to do some research to understand the meaning of it.

I mean, we have been taught that God will provide for our every need, but this verse seems to contradict that completely!

Since these “daily bread” messages are my opinion, I believe that this verse is a reminder that we can do everything that we are told, but if we do it half-heartedly, we will not get all the benefits of our work. 

We will see more positive results when we put our whole heart into everything that we do.

From washing dishes to raising our children to taking care of ourselves we need to do our best. 
There are a lot of sayings about giving it your all and doing things with a cheerful heart, I think the bottom line is we get out what we put in.

If we live carefully, we will truly have everything that we need because God will take care of us.

 

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