Fear of Man is Dangerous

 Proverbs 29:25

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be kept safe.

The fear of man is a great roadblock for many people.  Worrying about what others will say, what they might think, or if they will approve keeps people living in fear and is an obstacle to accomplishment.  When you have a big decision to make in life, one that requires serious deliberation, what are the factors you consider as you think through your decision?  I am willing to bet that at some point you come to, "What will so-and-so say if I do this?", or "How will so-and-so react if I decide to make this change?"

There is nothing wrong with considering other people when making big life decisions, but fear of what they might say or do cannot stop you from making the right decision for you and your family.  No matter what decision you make someone will criticize you.  No matter what you accomplish in life someone will criticize you.  Guess what, criticism is the byproduct of doing something with your life.  That's why Solomon writes in the Proverb above that it's dangerous to let "fear of man" run your life.  It all comes down to one decision: Are you living for God, or are you living for your critics?

If you're living for God the only question that needs to be answered is, "How can I best serve Christ and his Church?"  This is what the second half of the verse is talking about.  When you have a big decision to make seek first to honor God and his will, and he will bless your decision however he sees fit.  It often ends up being even better than what you had envisioned.  Submitting to God's will is always the safe choice because he loves you more than anyone else can.  Submitting to man's will is dangerous and puts you at risk of living a meaningless life or doing something stupid that will ruin your life and possibly even lead you to hell.  Which option sounds better?

I understand that most decisions in life aren't that cut and dry.  We don't know the mind of God and it's futile to try to guess it.  The best strategy for making big decisions is to read God's Word everyday and pray about it.  Then after taking a reasonable amount of time to consider all the known aspects of the situation, make a decision.  Choose whichever option you feel allows you to serve Jesus best and you are confident is in line with God's will based on what you have been reading in Scripture.  The most important thing is to let God's Word be your guide, not the fear of man.

God bless

Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week: Building Your Mate's Self-Esteem

 Neglect Is Dangerous

When a spouse feels neglected and bored at home, he or she may seek excitement elsewhere.  One of the chief ingredients in extra-marital affairs is the fresh interest that two people express in each other.  Consequently, both become good listeners, and the competition is on again.

Too often people ignore those closest to them.  With the "prize" secured, they don't think of maintaining the strength of their relationships in order to keep the competition at bay.  Frequently they neglect their mates because they are selfish and it's the easiest thing to do.  But they are still competitive for their mates, or at least they should be.  If they do not focus on their mates, they leave the door wide open for others to come in and look around.  They lose by default.

(Dennis & Barbara Rainey, Building Your Mate's Self-Esteem, pp. 142-143)

Who Are the Pharisees of Today?

 Mark 2:27-28

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

In Jesus' day, the Pharisees had some problems.  They could quote the Scriptures, but they didn't understand what any of it meant.  They thought they could earn their way into heaven with their works, by obeying the Law.  There is one big problem with this approach to eternal salvation: Nobody can perfectly obey God's Law.  The only person who could, and did, was Jesus because he is both true God and true man.  God's standard and expectation is pretty straight forward: Be perfect.  That is why the Pharisees hated Jesus so much.  He constantly exposed their hypocrisy publicly.  These men wanted to believe that they were perfectly obeying the Law of Moses.  They wanted everyone else to believe that as well.  When Jesus came teaching what the Old Testament Scriptures actually said and meant his teaching automatically exposed the arrogance and hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

That is where the passage from Mark comes in.  The Pharisees had added a bunch of extra rules to observing the Sabbath.  Rules that were not part of God's command to Moses and the Israelites.  The rules and traditions of men had become more important to the Pharisees than what Scripture actually said.  This is the big problem with work-righteousness: it always defaults into self-righteousness because the person who falls into this trap is looking to themself for salvation which means they have turned away from Jesus.  This was exactly the problem the Pharisees had.  They had their own perfection and salvation already worked out (in their minds), so they were only looking for a Messiah who would be an earthly king and end the Roman tyranny.  Sadly, by missing the point they missed everything.  Jesus, the Messiah, is so much more than just some earthly king ruling an earthly kingdom.  He is the King of kings, Lord of lords.  His Kingdom is eternal and all who dwell in it receive the gift of eternal life.

With that in mind, where do we see the Pharisees still practicing today?  

The Roman Catholic church for sure.  There the pope's decrees supersede anything the Bible says.  The pope is the god of Roman Catholicism.

We also see it in the Protestant church.  Any church that teaches Arminian and Calvinist theology (Pentecostal, Reformed, Baptist, etc.) are doing the exact same thing as the Roman Catholic church.  They give more authority to man's word than God's Word.  They reject the clear teaching of Scripture regarding important Christian doctrines and instead give more value to the false teachings of men like John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius.

What this teaches us is that Satan works hard on the church.  He does everything in his power to corrupt God's Word and lead people astray.  Every church body has to fight this battle.  Some just do a much better job of standing on the authority of God's Word over man's word.  Any teaching that contradicts what Scripture clearly says is man's own ideas, or more accurately, man's ideas influenced by Satan's lies.  Satan still uses the same approach with God's people that worked so well for him in the Garden of Eden.

The only way to combat this is to study God's Word everyday.  Read your Bible so you can recognize when someone is teaching falsely.  Read your Bible so you can grow in faith and understanding.  God has given us the precious gift of his Holy Word, read it.  Take God at his word and don't fall into the trap of trying to tell God what he meant to say, or should have said.  Listen to what he has to say and let him tell you what he means by it.  God is much wiser than any human being, regardless of last name or title.

God loves us so much that he has given us his Word.  Listen to him!

God bless

Jason Fredrick

Thinking & Preparing: How Often Do You Do It?

 Acts 8:1

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Why do you think it took these drastic events to get the early to church to start living out its Great Commission calling?  Jesus had told all the disciples, not just the apostles, to "go into all the world and preach the good news."  But they hadn't yet. It took the murder of Stephen and the persecution of the church in Jerusalem to motivate the disciples to leave Jerusalem and get out into the world.

Sometimes our situation needs to change drastically to motivate us to do the things we know we are supposed to do.  These events come in all different forms: a significant health scare, the loss of a job, the death of a family member, etc.  Why do so many of us wait for these big events to finally do what we know we should have been doing all along?  

Why do we wait for our health to fail before we get serious about our physical fitness?

Why do we wait to lose our job before we start pursuing our passion and calling in life?

Why do we wait for the death of a loved one before we get serious about our relationships?

Much like the early church in Jerusalem, the answer for us too, is Comfort and Familiarity.  We get into the groove of life and we just do what we do, day in and day out.  We don't need to stop and think all that often because we are dialed in.  We know how to do what we do and we have put life on cruise control.  So, just like that church in Jerusalem we need big events to wake us up.  We need a strong enough slap in the face to wake us up from our years-long slumber.

What have been some of your big life events?  What are some lessons you learned from them?  How have they helped to get you where you are today?

While there are some big lessons to learn from major life events, we don't have to wait for them before we take stock of our lives.  It is actually better to do something every day to prepare yourself for those events.  Even if they don't come, you'll be better off just for going through the exercise of thinking and preparing.  That is really the point of all of this: Thinking and Preparing.

I encourage you to take time every day to think through your life.  Think through your day and learn something from your experience.  Evaluate your life often.  Are you living your purpose, or are you just chasing a paycheck and health insurance?  This is ultimately how you prepare yourself for the storms of life.  Start preparing financially for financial chaos.  Start intentionally investing in your most important relationships.  Start exercising and eating better.  Today is the day to start doing all those things you keep telling yourself, "I really need to..."

The best way to start doing this is by developing the habit of reading.  Reading every day will help you to start thinking every day.  Reading is the easiest and, maybe, the most important place to start.  So get started.  Don't wait for the next storm to expose how much time you have wasted.

God bless

Jason Fredrick

How Do You Measure Up?

 Psalm 119:1,5-6

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,

who walk according to the law of the LORD.

Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!

Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.

Unfortunately, too many of us believe that our ways are blameless, but in reality, we all know that's just not true.  We try our best.  We do what we can.  But no matter how hard we try we constantly fall short.  There isn't  a single person among us whose ways are blameless.  This is true even for Christians.  

This struggle is even greater for Christians.  As Christians, we want to obey God's laws.  We study his Word and try to walk in accord with his commands, but daily we fall short.  Christians see this gap because they understand God demands perfection and none of us obey him perfectly.  While the unbeliever goes about his day not even thinking about this.  He actually believes he is just fine because "he's certainly better than most."

Sadly, people who want to believe this will know the truth one day, no matter how much they try to deny it now.  On the Day of Judgment, everyone will know the truth of God's Word.  Everyone will know that Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Life.  On that day it will be too late for people to change their mind.

Thankfully, God has graciously given everyone the gift of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ (though many reject it).  Faith in Jesus is the motivation for the Psalm above.  It is faith in Jesus that makes us rejoice in God's decrees.  It is faith in Jesus that brings joy to our hearts, giving us the assurance that our sins are forgiven and we are saved by his blood.  It is faith in Jesus that motivates us to want to walk according to the law of the Lord.

This Christmas season I am thankful for two gifts that I received a long time ago: Jesus Christ, the One who died and rose again to redeem all people from the power of sin, death, and the devil; and the faith to believe it.

God bless

Jason Fredrick