Attitude

Nurture speaks of tutoring, educating, and training. This kind of instruction includes mild rebukes and correction but does not respond in a fleshly manner.

You know those seasons when you are so busy you hardly feel you have time to even look at your to do list? And you consider what would happen to your family if you actually lost your mind?

Have you ever made a purchase at the store and realized later that you were overcharged by several dollars? The happiness of the shopping excursion was soon replaced with frustration. Just as Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup, we often sell our happiness for a few dollars!

As much as we wish it wasn’t so, the truth is, all of us have a mean streak. The “works of the flesh” (our flesh) include “hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife” (Galatians 5:19–20). We all have flesh, our flesh is selfish, and the selfishness of our flesh often comes out in meanness.

Several years ago, I preached at a church about forty-five minutes away from where I pastor. The folks there learned that I was to preach at another church in the area.

Every morning brings fresh opportunities—and fresh challenges. Sometimes the challenges seem to outweigh the opportunities. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the opportunities embedded in the challenges. Sometimes—with or without challenges or opportunities—it’s just a rough day.

Paul loved the believers at Philippi and felt especially close to them. He wrote them about personal issues, and asked them to put aside their petty offenses and come together in unity: “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2).

In the home where I lived as a boy, there was a medicine cabinet that hung on the wall above the sink in the bathroom. That cabinet is where you would find the thermometer and antibiotic cream and other items that relate to health and sickness. In that cabinet were two small bottles that looked very similar.

In the midst of one of the greatest works for God in the Old Testament, Nehemiah reminded God’s people, “…the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Why the reminder? Because God’s people need joy, and one of Satan’s first line of attacks to weaken our hands in the work is to take our joy.

It’s not usually the great burdens of life that kill our joy. In fact, our joy often flourishes during these times because we are more likely to draw close to the Lord and experience His presence at a new level. What kills our joy are the subtle temptations that draw us from walking in the presence of God.

If there is one thing we should model as Christians, and particularly as Christian leaders, it is the joy of the Lord. God designed the Christian life to be an abundant life. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. Although joy should be the norm for Christian ministry, we can go days, weeks, or months operating in “joyless mode”—diligent in going through the motions but empty inside.

One of the dangers to which spiritual leaders are particularly susceptible is that we would teach the truths of God’s Word while exempting ourselves from those very truths. Take, for instance, the lawyer in Luke 10 who asked Christ how to inherit eternal life. Contrary to face value, this question was not a “What must I do to be saved?” kind of question. It was a trap.

Ephesians 4:1-3 is one of the most convicting passages to me, because I am guilty of causing a stir more times than I am guilty of stirring the cause. And if I’m honest, it is often rooted in my pride. “Only by pride,” the Scriptures teach us, “cometh contention;” and most of the time, that pride comes from me.

I recently read the book Marion and His Men written by John De Morgan in 1802. It is the story of American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, who was also known as “The Swamp Fox.” Marion both made his mark on the Revolutionary War and earned his moniker by his fighting tactics.

Christian discipleship is a vital subject in the New Testament, and the book of Luke is a fine source of information about it. In chapter 9, the call to discipleship is given and explained in verses 23 and 24 (as it is also in Matthew 16:24–25 and Mark 8:34–35), but then, beginning in verse 37, several serious problems that true disciples of Jesus Christ have are discussed.

If there was ever a time that Christians and local churches needed to strive together for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27), it’s now! This is not the time for independent Baptists to divide and splinter; it is the time to reach out and turn the world upside down once again.

From time to time, I hear people criticizing Christianity as being too negative. They often point to the “legalistic” rules of the Bible, the “hell fire and brimstone” preaching, or the conservative lifestyle of its followers as reasons for rejecting the message of God. The very words Baptist, or fundamentalist, or even Christian scare them. They fear that an acceptance of Bible truth will make their lives miserable and lonely.

One of my favorite things about serving the Lord as a missionary in a country that does not have a Christian heritage is that virtually everything in the Bible is new to the people. Sadly, many Christians who grew up with the Bible eventually get bored with the Bible. I don’t think it has to be that way, but oftentimes it is.

The Apostle Paul took a bold, strong, uncompromising stand for the Lord Jesus and yet did so with a sweet and gracious spirit. In Acts 16, Timothy joined Paul and Silas on their missionary endeavor. He submitted to the rite of circumcision in order to be a good testimony to the Jews, to whom they would preach the Gospel.

Have you ever been disappointed as you learned the faults of great Christians? When you discover the flaws in a well-known Christian leader, are you tempted to discount the truths they have preached? I think all Christians go through struggles of this nature.