Why Did You Get Up This Morning?

And remember the words of the Lord Jesus,

that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts 20:35

Nearly one year ago, I made a life-changing decision to take some time off from school to pursue a fulltime career. Nearly a year later, while I don’t regret my decision, it has taught me some very important things. Not only did I realize that the company I felt sure I was put on this earth to work for wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, but I also realized that I have no desire whatsoever to be a part of the modern business world. In fact, I have become convinced that “the great game of business,” as one college professor put, is not something that should ever be played by those who know the Lord and the teachings of His Word.

We are told in 1 Timothy 6:10 that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” It wasn’t long after I took on my current job that I realized the real reason that the company exists. It exists to make its owners a lot of money. Yes, I am fully aware that we all need money to survive, but money shouldn’t be our reason for living. The people I work for get up every day to make money. Friends, I want a better reason for waking up than that.

The Bible doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil; it says that the love of money is the root of all evil. It isn’t wrong to have money. It isn’t wrong to have a whole lot of money. However, it is wrong to love money so much that it becomes your sole purpose for living. Therefore, if you are a business owner and the only reason your business exists is to provide you with an income, you’re in trouble. I realize we all need a stable income, but should that really be the only reason we go to work every day? Think about it.

I think that, if we were to analyze the mission statements of every business in operation in this country today, we would be shocked at how many really shouldn’t be in business at all. You see, if you cannot say that what you do is making a positive impact on your local community, I don’t believe you should be in business. Even more to the point, if your main goal is not to serve the local community around you to the point that you would do what you do for free, you definitely should not be in business.

I don’t know about you, but I have much higher goals in life than making money. I want to wake up every morning knowing that what I am about to do is going to make a difference in the lives of the people in the local community around me. I want to wake up knowing that I am going to a job that is good, honorable, and worthwhile. Adrian Rogers said it well when he said, “If you really want to know how wealthy you are, add up the things in your life that money can't buy and death cannot take away.” Money can’t buy a person’s way into Heaven, but your life can lead them there; and that’s certainly something that death can never take away. So I ask you, what was your reason for getting up this morning?

No Girlfriend for Me Please

He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord,

how he may please the Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:32

It has become commonplace in this day and time that we live in to think that, if someone is single, there must be something wrong with them. For some reason we have gotten the idea that, for someone to live a life of singleness as an unmarried person, that person must be unhappy and feel desperately lonely. Therefore we have grown accustomed to giving ourselves away in meaningless, superficial, and short-lived relationships that often end very tragically simply for the sake of not being “alone.” That is the only purpose that I can see behind the boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and it is not at all biblical. The Bible, on the other hand, teaches us that marriage is a sacred union ordained by God. Marriage is so much more than a cure for loneliness and depression; it is a calling by God for a man and a woman to come together as a team to serve Him in a way that they never could apart from one another.

Genesis 2:8 says, “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.’” Notice here that God made one specific woman for Adam—He didn’t just make a whole bunch of women and say, “Go pick.” No. God knew exactly what Adam needed, so He made him Eve. This tells me that marriage is a calling. Billy Graham once said of his wife, “Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team.”

People often wonder why it is that I don’t date. Well, I’ll tell you why. When I get married, I don’t want to marry someone who’s been passed around from man to man like a Gatorade bottle in football huddle, and I don’t want my future wife to be married to a used husband. There are certain things, certain words, and certain places that I choose to reserve only for the one that I will someday marry, if marriage is indeed in God’s plan for me. I don’t give just any woman jewelry. I don’t buy just any woman flowers. I don’t call just any woman “honey” or “dear.” I don’t treat just any woman to romantic candlelight dinners. No. Those are all things that I plan only to do with my wife.

On my wedding day, I want to be able to kiss my bride and have her know that her lips are the only lips that my lips have ever touched. I want to be able to walk hand-in-hand with my wife in the moonlight and have her know that her hand is the only hand that my hand has ever held. I want to be able to tell my wife that I love her and have her know that I really mean it because I haven’t said it to a half dozen others before her. I want my wife to have the assurance that I will always be there because I haven’t had a dozen other relationships that I left because they stopped being convenient for me. In short, I want my wife to know without a doubt that she has always and will always be the only one for me.

Marriage is no joke, folks. Marriage is not a game. It’s not something that we play until it stops being fun and then quit. No. Marriage is serious business. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Marriage was created by God to be an ever-present picture of His endless, boundless, unconditional, sacrificial love for us. Therefore I choose not to play the field but to wait instead for the one God has for me. If a wife is indeed in God’s plan for my life, He will cause our paths to cross, we will get to know each other in a nonromantic way, and then, in God’s time, we will come together in marriage.

I have come to believe that dating toys with people’s emotions, rendering them incapable of making intelligent decisions. Therefore I choose not to date, for dating is superficial. Girlfriends come and go, but a wife stays for a lifetime. So the next time someone asks you if I have a girlfriend, you can tell them that I don’t want one because I’m waiting for the real deal.

A New Meaning to ‘Till Death Do Us Part’

Today, I want to share a story with you that a friend recently shared on facebook. This story that I am referring to is not a story about a heroic US soldier dying for his country, nor is it a story about a grieving widow searching for explanations about her husband’s death. These things are part of the story, yes; but they are by no means the whole story. No. This is a story of love, loyalty, and faithfulness to the nth degree. The beautiful love story of Billie and Peggy Harris brings new meaning to the phrase “till death do us part.”

When Peggy Harris received the news that her husband had been “missing in action” during World War II, she was still a very young woman. No one in this world would have blamed her if she had chosen to pursue marriage to another man. After all, she was still young, and most would claim that she had the right to know love and happiness and to have a family of her own. However, instead of pursuing that worldly dream, Peggy Harris chose to hold out hope that her husband, 1^st Lt. Billie D. Harris, may still be alive. So for over sixty years, Peggy searched for answers, for the truth about what really happened to the love of her life all those years ago.

Today, Peggy says simply, “Billie was married to me all of his life, and I choose to be married to him all of my life.”[1] What love! What faithfulness! That, my friends, is what marriage is all about. If marriage was simply the answer to loneliness, I suspect Peggy would have remarried years ago. No. When Peggy Harris stood at the marriage altar and vowed “till death do us part,” she really meant it. So please join me as I say thank you to Mrs. Billie D Harris for showing the world what true, sacrificial love is all about.

If you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord of your life today, it is my earnest prayer that you would come to do so before it is eternally too late for you. If you will simply turn from all sin and trust Jesus alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever. You will never be sorry that you chose to place your faith and trust in Him.

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQLXrmAjD38

Marriage: A Journey of Faith

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

If you are here reading this today and you are not already married, my guess is that you probably would like to be at some point in the future. If that is you, my goal in writing this blog post today is to challenge your reasoning for wanting to get married. If you want to get married simply because you don’t like the idea of spending the rest of your life alone, my friend, marriage is not the answer to loneliness. No. Marriage is first and foremost a journey of faith—two people coming together to serve God together in a way that they never could apart from one another.

In the beginning, when God created the first marriage, He said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:8, emphasis added). Notice there that God said that he would make for Adam a helper; He didn’t say lover. Most people today fall in love over moonlight and roses and think, “Oh, we’ll get married, and everything will be just hunky-dory.” However, once they get married, they find out that everything isn’t hunk-dory at all. That’s because that’s not how marriage works, folks. Marriage is when a man and a woman come together with the purpose of serving God and each other every day for as long as they both shall live.

Having said all that, you may be thinking, “Well, how do they do that”? First of all, they do it by illustrating the love of Christ for His church, the husband representing Christ and the wife representing the church. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” Likewise, Ephesians 5:22 says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” That’s what marriage is. It is a reminder to the world of how much God loves His people and how we are to honor Him as our Heavenly Father. It is for this reason alone that God hates divorce.

Secondly, God calls husbands and wives to train up the next generation. Not only did God tell Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply,” but He instructs us in Proverbs 22:6 to “train up a child in the way he should go, [that] when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is why I will always believe that becoming a parent is so much more than a biological process. Simply put, parenthood is a calling. When God gives you a child, He expects you to bring up that child in His Word. If you don’t do that, you have failed as a parent.

Adrian & Joyce Rogers

Lastly, when God brings a man and woman together in marriage, He creates a ministry. Those two people are to minister to one another, growing closer to each other as they grow closer to the Lord. They are to pray together, study God’s word together, and serve others together. If you are married, you ought to be thinking of ways that you as a couple can reach this world for Christ. I will never forget hearing Adrian Rogers tell how he and his wife, Joyce, got down on their knees together on their wedding night and committed their marriage to the Lord. When God brings two people together in marriage, He brings them together for a purpose. It is up to you to find out what that purpose is and start working to fulfill it.

Maybe you are here today, and nothing I have said makes sense to you because you have never acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. If that is you, it is my earnest prayer that you will give your heart and your life to Him before it is eternally too late for you. Simply turn from all sin and trust Christ alone to save you. If you will do that, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

A Family After God’s Own Heart

And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king,

to whom also He gave testimony and said,

‘I have found David the son of Jesse,

a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’

Acts 13:22

Today being the day after Valentine’s Day, I really wanted to write something concerning love, marriage, and family; however, as hard as I tried, I just couldn’t seem to find the words to say. Therefore I thought that I would post the below video of Jim Bob and Michele Duggar sharing their life-story. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve no doubt heard me say many times that marriage is first and foremost a journey of faith—two people coming together to serve God together in a way that they never could apart from one another. I’ve not encountered a couple yet who illustrates that concept and lives it better than Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.

When it comes to marriage, there are two points in this video that really caught my attention. The first one is that Michelle realized that it was God’s will for her to marry a man who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and who talked about Him in such a way that revealed his overwhelming love for Him. Secondly, Jim Bob realized that it is God’s will for the husband to be the spiritual leader of the home. If you are thinking about marrying a person whose very presence does not cause you to hunger and thirst for the Lord Jesus and His Word, I can promise you on the authority of the Word of God that it is not God’s will for you to marry that person as they are.

When it comes to parenting, there is one major point that I got out of this video. That one point is that parenthood is a special calling; not something that just happens out of the blue. The Bible makes it plain that every child is formed by the hands of God with a very specific plan and purpose to fulfill. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” As God has a plan for all children, He also has a plan for all parents to “train up a child in the way he should go: [that] when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

When it comes to life, the one thing I took away from this video is to “cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). Michelle suggested that we let the joy of the Lord be our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and I couldn’t agree more. Philippians 4:4 says to “rejoice in the Lord always.” God has blessed each and every one of us beyond measure. Even in our darkest moments, we can still praise His name, knowing that He will see us through.

Please take the time to watch this video. I get something new out of it every time I watch it. I’ll even let you in on a little secret—I’ve often said that I want to marry Michelle Duggar’s much younger twin. When you watch this video, I believe you’ll see why. The Duggars truly are a family after God’s own heart. I know you’re going to be blessed by their testimony.

Animal Crackers Were in Her Soup

Shirley Temple-Black
1928-2014

To this day, I remember very well the scene with a young Shirley Temple bouncing around a dining room full of kids, singing, “Animal crackers in my soup. Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop.” You see, my grandmother loved Shirley Temple and, on more than one occasion, forced me and my cousins to watch her films; although I can’t say that we ever really minded watching them. Today, in fact, I’m rather glad I can say that I’ve seen a Shirley Temple film or two, even though I can only remember one scene from one movie. Shirley Temple-Black is an American legend, and rightly so.

It has been said by former child actor Darryl Hickman that “Shirley’s gift to show business, to the United States, and to the movie-going public was a revelation of the creativity and the sense of joy and fun of childhood that is in each of us.” He then added, “I don’t think any child ever did that better than Shirley Temple.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt was even noted for saying, “As long as we have Shirley Temple, we’ll be alright.”

Shirley Temple, with her famous curls, brought hope to American movie-goers during the Great Depression. She later went on to serve her country as United States Ambassador to Ghana, Chief of Protocol of the United States, and, in 1989, she became the twenty-seventh United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. For over eighty years, Shirley Temple-Black served her country well.

Sadly, the lady once known as “America’s little darling” is no longer with us. Shirley Temple-Black passed away Monday night at the age of eighty-five. She is one of those very few Hollywood celebrities that we can say spent her life well, leaving this world with no known scandal attached to her name. As her mother often encouraged her to do, Shirley Temple truly sparkled. It is for that reason that I plan on sharing Shirley’s movies with my children, and I pray you will do the same.

He Will Meet You Where You Are

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…

John 1:14

Have you ever put any thought into the fact that the King of Glory came to earth to trade streets of gold for roads of dirt and gravel? Have you ever put any thought into the fact that the God of the universe would trade eternal bliss for hunger, for thirst, for sorrow, for pain, for suffering, for temptation, etc.? The Bible says that Jesus was fully God and fully man. He didn’t allow Himself to be exempt from the struggle that we all face here below. And I can only ask myself “Why”?

Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” That verse says it all, really. God is not some distant ruler who seeks to be appeased by outlandish rituals. He knew that our sin kept us from coming to Him, so He came to us, wrapped in flesh. He became one of us that we might become like Him.

He walked and He talked among men. He knew them personally. He knew them intimately. He was known as a friend of sinners (Luke 7:34). He touched the untouchable and loved the unlovable. He sought out the despised and rejected. He came “that they might have life,” He said, “and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

The woman at the well found that, when we are unwilling to search for Him, His is willing to search for us. My friend, no matter where you are in life, Jesus wants to meet you where are. You don’t have to get cleaned up. You don’t have to build an altar. All you have to do is acknowledge His presence right where you are, and He will meet you there.

Do you know the Lord today? I mean, do you know Him personally? If not, He gave His life that you may do so. Only through the shed blood of Jesus can we know Him. If you will turn from all sin and trust Jesus alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever. Thank God He is a personal Savior!