justin spoke again at church. a couple of the things that he talked about were wisdom and making the most of every opportunity.

i was reading today in my Bible and in the explanation part of James (i have a life application bible which i think is great) it read,

"In the christian life there are trials and temptations. successfully overcoming these adversities produces maturity and strong character"

so if we dont go through trouble then we arent going to grow. it seems silly to wish life were easy then, i dont see how we would gain anything if life was that way. so many times we complain when we are going through something frustrating, but once we get through it we know we will see clearly, so why do we fight it? the old testament is full of people who went through trial after trial, i am just thankful we dont live till we are 800 years old!

then in james i was reading...

"if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

if we need wisdom and dont know what to do in life all we need to do is seek him and ask for it. who else would have better wisdom than God? he gave us this book to gain knowledge from but then sometimes we think we can get wisdom from tv or something far less holy. we can learn from all kinds of people and booksof course, but God says if we ask him he will give us wisdom.  looking for it other places isnt the key to success in life.

i have always liked ephesians, well most of the new testament anyhow. but in ephesians 5:15 it says

"be very careful how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." 

just because we have Jesus doesnt mean we can live flippantly and carelessly live for ourselves. he isnt our free ticket into heaven, there is more to it. he calls us to be holy and wise and to keep our standards high and to act wisely. there is no time for foolishness and careless living. every day we have to evaluate our lives and priorities and make sure it lines up with the Bible. sometimes it seems like we have so much time on earth but we really dont. we arent guaranteed another day even, we are called to be holy and live our lives for his glory..... he could take me tomorrow and i would have to give an account of every wasted moment to him.

i dont want to do activities or service acts just to chalk another one up for me, i want my heart to be right and not to procrastinate with this small amount of time that i have to make a difference.loving God and loving people is what is important.

many times at funerals we evaluate our lives and what we are doing and it makes us think about what people will say when we die. but are we really concerned about what Jesus will say when we come to heaven? or are we more concerned with having the most flowers on our tombstone or the largest funeral and the most tears shed? or getting on oprah because you gave the most money or free stuff to the poor. is all of this in vain? are we serving for Jesus and Jesus alone? do we love people because we want them to love us or are we loving them because jesus loves them?

we are called to be wise and holy and make the most of our lives, i encourage us who call ourselves christ followers to truly follow Jesus by loving and serving others for his glory.