Not Worthy of God

Do we desire to grow up sooner than we should for the sake of feeling more worth out of life? Is that why young kids like to hang out with older kids and teens like to hang out with young adults? Are we rushing our life all for a tiny feeling of more worth?

In most situations, worth starts to diminish as something ages. Usually that comes to a monetary value. This can pour over into humans when it comes to the worth of an athlete. As they age they become less productive and are simply worth less. On the contrary, when a person stays in a position long enough their worth increases and they are paid more and able to keep their job.

To be let go of a position takes away some of your feeling of worth. Even when we disappoint someone we feel like we’ve lost some of our worth. There are times our view of God is paralleled to that – we disappoint Him and our feeling of worth takes a nosedive.

The story of the Prodigal Son takes us in to the mind of the first son. In this section he does not feel worthy to be called the son. He is in a desperate situation and he gets ready to go home. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

• Come to Your Senses ~ With every situation where we are swallowed up and it is taking us deeper into a state of recklessness, we must wake up. We must realize that we are in that state and acknowledge we need to do better. Whether that state is in our job, marriage, relationship, or our service to God, let’s wake up and turn ourselves around.
• Grasp the Love ~ Being a parent is like a curse in love. You don’t realize how much your parents loved you until you are a parent. All that icky affection your parents tried to keep going after you were seemingly too old was because they care about you so much. I know I will feel that feeling about my children even when they are “too old” for affection. Try to understand how much God loves you and that He is always waiting with open arms, not crossed arms, even when you’ve messed up greatly!
• Decide and Go ~ Do not sit in a corner and think that you are not worthy of God. Technically, we aren’t; thanks to Jesus, we are. No matter what has gone on in your life, you are worth the death of Jesus to God. He gave His only Son – His only child – for you and your wrongdoings. Whether you are holding a positive pregnancy test, a drug needle, a phone book open to a divorce lawyer, a bank statement with an overdraft, or an eviction notice, you are definitely worthy to God! You must get up and go to Him to get that life of yours straightened out.

May we all see ourselves in the life of this son and then see that we are worthy to be called a child of God’s!

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Divorce: Not Just Because

The other night I was visiting with friend and it came up what I was preaching on the next day.  I said, “I’m preaching on divorce tomorrow”.  My whole intent was to see the reaction, which I received one!  “Zoinks” was the response.  I just laughed and responded that I was preaching through Matthew and this was just part of the journey.

It seems that oftentimes the subject of divorce comes with so much stigma.  Whether it is in the religious circle or society itself.  Granted, it isn’t something that people should be bragging about.  But it has such a bad stigma that judgment usually follows the news of someone who did get or is getting a divorce.

Sunday, we looked at Matthew 5:31-32 as Jesus was addressing the disciples on the subject of divorce.  Jesus builds his argument by referring to a black and white thought which had come from Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (click to read).  In this text Moses visits the topic of writing a certificate of divorce and the woman who is impacted. Jesus then turns to a thought without the smooth edges to talk about how the Jewish mindset had abused Deuteronomy 24.

The Jews (who had two main schools of thought on this – Shammai, Hillel) had given just about any reason as an OK reason to write a certificate of divorce. Partly because of the hard hearts of the people at that time. Now, in Jesus’ day, they were still used to that way of thinking. Jesus was wanting them to understand that “any reason” was not a good reason.  The “good” reason for getting a divorce was “unfaithfulness”.  This didn’t address “unfaithfulness” as the only reason that was accepted, but Jesus wanted them to stop abusing women/wives by abusing the option of divorce. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

1. Permanency of Marriage ~ Marriage is a unique relationship. It starts out by an incredible, heightened interest that is predominantly about attraction. Marriage is about openness, honesty, and trust. Once that relationship matures to the point of sharing your lives, then the test comes. It would be wrong to say that the “attraction” wears off or the smoke clears, but something happens to cause us to finally see the person for who they are.  Sometimes we may not like that person very much.  That is partly what makes marriage unique.  If you are viewing your marriage as “not permanent”, refocus that line of thought to consider how you can return back to the way of thinking you used to have when you did view it as permanent.
2. Who Did You Marry? ~ The person you married is going to be named various names, but that isn’t what the question is about. I am addressing that those who are Christians have a marriage-type relationship with Him.  In Ephesians 5, Paul addresses how Jesus is “married” to His church (the bride).  Jesus has done a lot for us, as a “husband”.  He is not going to divorce us and we should not divorce Him!
3. Stay Married ~ During marriage we go through our fair share of ups and downs.  The downs may seem like it is impossible to keep going.  However, I encourage you to do just that.  KEEP GOING!!!
***A super, awesome, amazing marriage book is called Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs

Marriage should never be broken up “just because”.  It is a relationship that is expected to keep going and going and going, until “death do you part”.  Jesus is trying to get them/us to understand that marriage should not be broken up “just because”.

Whether you are “married” in your relationship with Him and/or you are married to a spouse…stay that way!

As this is a “hot” topic, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at ichthus_man (at) hotmail.com