Numbering Our Days

January 2, 2017 / Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Teach us to number our days so that we may truly live and achieve wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 VOICE)

If 2016 taught us anything, I think the takeaway is to appreciate each and every day, and to cherish your loved ones and not take any of them for granted.

Too many famous people died last year. Too many people died, period. I keep thinking about the people in Gatlinburg who lost their lives during the blazing inferno that swept through Sevier County around Thanksgiving.

You never get a second chance to tell that special someone what they mean to you once they’re gone. There is no redo button on life.

That’s why it’s vitally important not to assume that your spouse, your kids, your parents, and your family know that you love them. You need to say the words and keep saying them as long as you have days.

Your team will win some games and lose some. Your jobs may or may not come and go and you may or may not go through at least one career change. You will find that no bank account is big enough to fill the void inside your soul.

But those people God has put in your life are what really matter. Your job is to speak life and wisdom and healing into their lives, just as they will speak those things into yours. Hopefully at the end of it all, they will all be better people who are more like Jesus from having known you, and visa versa.

Not everyone will appreciate God’s gifts and calling on your life. Some won’t want to get to know you and will choose not to like you, regardless. That’s when you remember that your true identity and validation come from Christ and only Christ, not your spouse or kids. Not your parents.

Still, it’s important to speak those words into the lives of those in your life, especially those three little words that can mean so much: I love you.

Blog #1,845

August 9, 2015 / Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone” (Ephesians 1:11-12, The Message).

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but bear with me. Sometimes, you can read a passage out of a familiar translation so many times that you stop seeing it. You stop really taking in the meaning of the words and merely recite words.

It’s good to take a different (unusual, quirky, eccentric) translation like The Message to bring a freshness to what the Apostle Paul is saying. Like I’ve said before, The Message doesn’t always get it right, but sometimes it really does. Like here.

What is my identity? Is it my paycheck? Is it my occupation? Is it my bank account? Is it the initials after my last name (or perhaps the initials in front of it)? Is it how many responses my social media posts get? Is it how many views my blogs get?

No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

My identity is in Jesus. Who I am is solely based on Whose I am. My purpose is based on Whose I am.

I’m part of something much bigger than me and my little problems. I’m part of what God has been doing since before time began up until after it ends. God is about redeeming His creation and I get to be a part of it.

Oh, and I get to be a part of the “creation getting redeemed” part. I get redeemed. I have supreme value, not because of how talented or witty or handsome or charming I am, but because Jesus thought I was worth dying for. That and that alone determines my worth, my identity, and my purpose.

That’s who I am and what I’m here for.

A True Legacy

October 9, 2012 / Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do. The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful. . . . We can do no great things; only small things with great love” (Mother Teresa).

We’ve been force-fed a view of success that is numbers oriented. Like how many zeros are in your salary or your bank account. Or how many sales you’ve completed. Or how many followers you have on your Facebook or twitter account.

But I think that real success, the kind that God looks at as success, comes on a much smaller scale.

It’s about showing up every single day with a teachable spirit, an open heart, and willing hands. It’s about figuring out how you want to be remembered after you die and living that way now.

Real success is about people who are better because they knew you. It’s not so much that your name is engraved on a plaque on a building or on a street sign, but on peoples’ hearts.

I keep thinking about a lady named Jestine, after whom the restaurant Jestine’s Kitchen is named. She never made millions of dollars or had a #1 bestseller, but she left a mark on the people who knew her. Even now, 15 years after she passed away at age 112, she is still missed by so many.

Ultimately, the success I want is not so much that people will remember my name fondly, but that because of me, people will understand a little bit better who God is and how much he really does love them. That people will know that they are specially and uniquely made by their Creator.

I’m reminded of the saying from the Talmud that if you change one person, you change the world. I know because I’ve been that one person.

One of Those Days

March 28, 2012March 28, 2012 / Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

Some days, you have a spiritual breakthrough. You take major steps toward realizing a dream of yours and step out in faith. You can hear God speaking to you and you have a heart to obey. The Word of God comes alive to you.

Then you have one of those days.

You go to check your bank account and the balance has one of those ominous negative signs next to the number.

You break yet another diet after so much hope that this one would be different.

You give in to a moment of weakness and have a drink or a cigarette after doing so well for so long.

You open your mouth and the absolute wrong thing comes out and someone leaves your life for good.

You get called into your boss’ office and the news is not good.

You find yourself putting your happiness into someone else’s pocket and your dreams of a new relationship bringing you that longed-for fulfillment come crashing down when that someone chooses someone other than you.

You feel like you are so far away from where you want to be, you might as well not even try. It feels hopeless.

Take heart. You still have an Advocate who fights for you in Jesus. You still have a Father who is crazy about you and longs to gather you under His everlasting Wings.

You are no accident. You have a purpose. No matter how long it takes, Jesus will see you through to that purpose and see you become who you were meant to become.

It will happen.

The setback of circumstances don’t change the fact that the final outcome is a victorious one for those whose hope is in the Risen Savior.

Keep believing. Keep praying. Keep connected with fellow believers. Keep dreaming. Keep hoping.

As bad as this day seems, it is just one day and it will end. They always do.

May the peace of Christ guard you from the lie that nothing will ever change or get better. May that peace remind you that God has and does and will always continue to work all things together for your good.

May this peace be yours tonight and in the days to come.

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Numbering Our Days

A True Legacy

One of Those Days