Driving the Highway of Life

A man was driving down Highway 190 and was stopped for speeding.  The officer pointed to a large sign that said, “Speed Limit 55.” 

 “I have you on radar going 85 in a 55 mph zone," he said.  "I’m going to write you a ticket and you will have to go to court and appear before the judge.  Court date is July 16th.”

 

When July 16 came around the man went to the county seat and appeared in court.  The judge looked at the facts and said, “You are charged with going 85 mph in a 55 mph zone.  How do you plead?”

 

“Not guilty,” the man said.

 

“You are guilty,” the District Attorney said.  “We have the radar evidence right here.

The Judge looked at all the evidence and said, “The court finds you guilty and the fine is $300.  Pay the clerk.”

I was going down the Highway of Life and was stopped for sinning.  The officer pointed to a large sign that said, “Sin Limit 0.”

 

“I have you on radar doing 10,000 sins in a 0 sin zone.  I’m going to write you a ticket and you will have to go to court and appear before the judge.  Court date is the day you die.”

 

When I died I went to heaven and appeared in court.  The judge was God and, after looking at the facts, he looked at me and said, “I see in the book you were doing 10,000 sins in a 0 sin zone.  How do you plead?”

 

“Not guilty,” I said.

 

“You are guilty!” the District Attorney, Satan, yelled.  “I’ve watched you your entire life and kept a very careful record.  You committed every one of those 10,000 sins.”

 

“Your Honor,” I said, “I would like an attorney.”

 

“There are no lawyers in heaven,” God replied.  “But I will appoint a public defender to handle your case.”

 

I looked up and saw Jesus coming around the bar toward me.  I had met him on earth and gotten to know him pretty well.  He took his place beside me, winked and said, “Don’t worry, I have it all under control.”

 

“Good afternoon, Son,” the Judge said.

 

“Hello, Dad,” Jesus responded.

“Okay.  Now, Your client has been charged with doing 10,000 sins in a 0 sin zone.  How does your client plead?”

I looked at Jesus and he winked.  Then he said to the Judge, “My client is guilty as charged.”

“Wait a minute,” I yelled.  “I thought you were going to take care of this!”

“Don’t worry,” Jesus said.  “Your Honor, my client is guilty as charged; however, I have paid his fine.”

Then Jesus looked at me, leaned over and whispered, “If that’s okay with you.”

 

In the book of Romans we read that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “the wages of sin is death.”  We have fallen short of God’s requirements and deserve to die.  But Jesus has paid the penalty for us by giving his life on the cross.  He is willing to stand with us during judgment and offer his life for ours.  But we must be willing to accept his gift.  Have you?  Just asking...

Take Up Your Cross and What?

As long as I have been a Christian I have been in discussions about, "Take up your cross and follow me."  The other night it came up again, but this time I had a different thought about how to interpret it.
Every other discussion I have participated in seemed to agree that it implied "your burden."  I would have a picture in my mind of Jesus struggling down the road with his cross across his back, and we were to take up our burden and carry it as Jesus carried his.  But this time I began to think, what was the cross to Jesus besides the physical object he was forced to carry?  And I came up with this: the cross was the means by which Jesus accomplished God's will for his life.  The burden Jesus carried to the cross was the sins of the world and only by dying on the cross could he accomplish his ultimate task.  So, how does this relate to us?

Our cross must be the means by which God will accomplish his will for our lives.  Perhaps the burden then is to discover what God's will is and how it is we are to accomplish it.  Certainly we can agree that God's general will is that we come to know him as Lord and Savior and to share him with others.  Outside of that, we can pretty well do what we want.  But each of us still wrestles with the specific thing God would have us do to accomplish his will in this world.  In my case, it seems that using my skill as an entertainer is the means by which I am pursuing God's will for my life.  What about you?  Take some time to pray and consider your cross.  When we each discover our cross, the means through which God will use us, it is then easier to take it up and bear it for him.

Be Filled With the Holy Spirit

So, just what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?  I hear people pray, "Lord fill me with your spirit," but I kinda thought that a believer is already filled.  Consider this, maybe we are like a container of Gatorade on the sidelines of a football game.  You know, the one that gets dumped on the coach at the end of a big win.

You've all seen it.  What if we are like that?  The container is sitting on the sideline completely full.  But how much liquid comes out?  None, until someone dumps it out.  Now, if we are the container and the Holy Spirit is in us, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe we can know this by what the Bible says in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."  A true Christian should certainly hunger and thirst for righteousness and so, if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, how much comes out?  None, until we release it.

Consider the ramifications of this.  If John 1 is correct, then the Holy Spirit IS God; the same God that spoke all of creation into existence from nothing!  If that is what we are filled with, that is a lot of power!  So, if you are having problems and you need some help, the implication is that the full power of God is within you just waiting to be released.  The question is, what are you doing to release his power?  Just like the container of Gatorade, are you going to just let it sit there or will you walk over and do something?  And when you do are you going to let it drip, drip, drip?  Or are you going to open the spout and let it run?  Or will you take the top off and pour the full power of God all over the situation you are struggling with?

I think it is like salvation.  Salvation is a free gift, but we must take an active part in receiving it.  If we expect the power of God to work in our life, we must take an active part in releasing his power by prayer, faith and active participation.  What do you think?

(Thanks to my friend Joe McKeever for the illustration).

If It Ain't King James...

You’ve all seen the bumper sticker, “If it ain’t King James it ain’t the Bible.”  Ever think, “If you can’t spell ‘isn’t’ you shouldn’t be writing bumper stickers.”  I was in a King James only church some time ago and was directly challenged that if I quoted from any Bible other than King James I would be asked to leave.  I assured the pastor that in my program I didn’t quote the Bible, I only alluded to it.  But two days later I was to preach at a local church and, at 4:30 in the morning, it occurred to me that I did not know if THEY had a particular Bible preference.

I got up and researched my verse, Romans 8:28, in 5 different translations and, as you might expect, it read differently in each.  I even looked the verse up in the Reina Valera Actualizada (Spanish).  Then, for some reason, I turned to John 1:1 and read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Then it hit me; King James, NASB, NIV, Reina Valera are all Bibles but they are NOT the Word!  The Word was with God and the Word IS GOD!  So I looked up  John 1:1  in each of the five translations I had before me and guess what?  They all read exactly the same!  Even in Spanish it read the same, word for word, which is highly unusual when translating from one language to another.

So consider this, whatever translation you may have is only the Bible; it guides you to the Word of God, but the true Word IS GOD.  So it becomes irrelevant which Bible you use as long as it leads you to the true Word which is God.  Hmmmm.