The Today Series: February 2008 Archives

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers" (Ephesians 4:29).

This is a day of instant and inexpensive communication. A message can be sent out to any number of people in an instant’s time depending on the size of one's mailing list. In a day’s time, I receive a large number of messages from many different sources, most of which merits only the "delete button."

I never arbitrarily delete anything if it is from someone I know or who is on my mailing list. Respect for them requires me to at least see what they have to say. Of the mail that I get, that which is normally of the least benefit is that which has been forwarded to me. Although occasionally I will receive a message that is encouraging, instructional or otherwise edifying, usually those things that are forwarded to me are unsubstantiated 'hysteria' type mail or some type of frivolity. Those who know me know that I enjoy a good joke as much as the next guy but how much can I handle in a day's time?

There are many components that make up faith--trust, confidence, belief, etc. All of this is purely academic, however, if a fundamental step is left out--the step of faith.

James wrote, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works" (James 2:17-18). James is not saying, "God helps those who help themselves." What he is saying is that there is always God's part and man's part in the walk of faith. There is a difference. Let me explain.

Fundamental in every faith encounter is the step a person takes that moves him beyond all self-sufficiency and human dependency. James teaches that it is not enough for one to say he has faith if there is not a commensurate step taken to authenticate the faith he proclaims. In every faith encounter in the scripture, there was an action taken by the "faith-er" that took him beyond the realm of human dependency and caused him to depend solely on the Heavenly Father.

In further review the life of the Apostle Paul, we could isolate several key points that made him the man of God that he was. Question: did God select a man that had the personality characteristics for the role He had for him or did He call the man and develop in him the characteristics that He knew were needed? It would seem consistent to believe that He did a combination of the above. Knowing the makeup of Paul’s personality as opposed to the natural qualifications that He wanted to be inherently present in the man selected, He chose Paul because of them rather than in spite of them.

According to Eliphaz in his dissertation to Job, "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7). For most of us, that certainly seems to be the case. The question remains, however, are man’s troubles an abnormal part of living or are they a part of it?

A healthy person is not necessarily one who is disease-free, but rather one whose immune system, as well as the other functions of his body, is efficiently capable of protecting and/or healing the body, ridding it of undesirable elements, and insuring its wholeness.

“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:3-5)

To measure ourselves in comparison to those around us to determine our own worth and ability, is indeed foolish.

All of us, whether we want to or not, are vested with some measure of leadership in the lives of others. It may be in the home, at work, in the church or a vastly varied array of other roles we might occupy.

In our role as leaders, we bear some responsibility for the welfare of others based on the particular position we fill in their lives. In some cases it might be slight and in others it might be enormous. People under our care depend on us to give proper guidance, protection, and in some cases, an adequate provision of the necessities of life.

The feelings of low self-esteem, inadequacy, rejection, inferiority complex, etc. come from the same stock: the flesh--the residual memory from the corrupt nature. Someone said, on one occasion: 'We are all inferior. No use getting a complex about it.'

I consider it a hazard to be too secure within ourselves. Paul said: 'I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not' (Romans 7:18). Jesus said it this way: 'I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing' (John 15:5).

"Let this mind [attitude] be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).

In one of the multitude of tests I experienced while being treated for Wagener’s Disease, I had to go through a heart catheterization. While lying on the table waiting to go into the surgery I notice a long paper banner on the wall of the nurses' station across the hall from the booth they had me in. It read: "Attitude is the paint brush of the mind-it can color any situation." I had to lie there for some time before they took me in for the test so I took advantage of the opportunity and contemplated the message. I was quite struck with it-so much so that I later sent Norma down to make a copy of it so that I would have it right.