The best life is a God First life

Category: God First (Page 1 of 16)

Are God’s Standards Our Standards?

God’s Standards are fixed. By what standard do we define good and evil, right and wrong? We live in a society where the majority of people adopt whatever standard is proclaimed at the moment. It’s a variable floating standard with no foundation, a foundation of sand that is ever shifting.

God’s standards are God-breathed, absolute, and unchanging. His Word tells us how we obtain eternal life in Heaven with our creator, the creator of everything we know and understand. His Word gives us the pathway to eternity with the Father, the Son, & The Holy Spirit by following Jesus and keeping His commandments.

And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:7-12

Righteous understanding and discernment are found in God’s Word—the only true and absolute standard. IT’S GOD’S STANDARD

  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  • Isaiah 40:8
  • Hebrews 13:8
  • Psalm 119:160
  • Judges 21:25
  • Malachi 3:6

God First!

Our God is an Awesome God

Though this knockout rose bush is gone now, it has a story. It was given to us several years ago by our neighbors. I set it on the back porch, intending to plant it, then forgot about it for almost two years. At that point, it looked like sticks in a bucket; I almost threw it away. Instead, I made the effort and planted it. God provided it with incredible growth, turning what was seemingly dead into a beautiful, thriving bush full of roses that we enjoyed for several years.

I’ve seen and experienced God’s Word provide the same incredible increase in people.

It’s an amazing sight to see when someone, once consumed by their own desires, puts on Christ and puts God first in their lives. God then provides growth, and they blossom into beautiful, caring followers of Christ.

Our God is an Awesome God!

  • Psalm 92:12-14
  • Isaiah 55:10-11
  • Ephesians 2:4-5
  • 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17

God First!

IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE

Give What?

In part: • Time • Money • Food • Compassion • Love • Service

Give to whom?

• Spouses • Children • Family • Christians • Widows • Orphans • Elderly • Strangers • Those in need

All commandments are summed up in love.

Life Coach Recommendations

I want to highly recommend my “Life Coach.” We were introduced when I was young. Unfortunately, I moved far away and lost touch with Him for a very long time. Those years were chock-full of unnecessary hurt and struggle that my life coach would’ve helped me avoid had I not chosen to move so far away.

A few years ago, I reconnected with my “life coach,” and He has worked side by side with me ever since, helping me avoid many potentially harmful choices. He also sits with me, listens to me, reassures me, and holds my hand as I navigate through both enticing and difficult times. He has provided me comfort that surpasses any understanding. He is not only my life coach but my most reliable friend.

I highly recommend my “Life Coach,” His name: “Jesus.” He’s not the kind of coach you pay for; in fact, He loves all people so much that He actually gave His life through a horrible death for all of us, so we could choose to follow His lead and be with Him forever. He conquered death, raised by God, that we might have hope for eternal life in heaven. Jesus lives today! He is the King of all Kings; God’s only son who was with God from the beginning. The arms of Jesus are outstretched to anyone who chooses to “put on” Christ and follow Him. We find how to “put on” Christ through God-breathed scripture, the Bible, which is, as someone coined it, our…

Basic

Instruction

Before

Leaving

Earth

  • (John 1:1-5) from the beginning
  • (2 Timothy 3:16) God-breathed
  • (Galatians 3:27) put on Christ
  • (Romans 6:1-23) United in Christ

God First!

Seen by God, Rewarded by God

Have you ever gone out of your way to do good and help others, only to be overlooked or forgotten? Maybe at some later date, they mention the experience in front of you, and it becomes evident that your efforts or possibly even your presence were completely missing from their memory, maybe even credited to someone else? This type of thing happens, especially in high-stress situations, or maybe you’re so close to them that their minds simply categorize your presence, words, and efforts differently from others.

Does it matter whether our efforts, presence, words, or gifts in a situation are credited to us?  Is praise and credit why we do things for others?  

I don’t believe credit or reward is why followers of Christ strive to do good for others, or even because we are commanded to do good, but rather because we want to, it’s in our hearts to do good, because we love Others as Christ loves us.

 When we do good, it’s not about us. It’s about them!

While our efforts being credited to someone else can be discouraging, if it does happen, know this, it’s unintentional and can occur in both high- and low-stress situations.

One of my favorite Scriptures states:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”.  Galatians 6:9-10

  • Getting Credit doesn’t matter.
  • Being forgotten doesn’t matter.
  • Even a thank-you may be overlooked.

What does matter?

  • Sharing God’s Word by example
  • Continuing to do good
  • Showing love
  • To the glory of God, you were there for them

 God First!

FAKE NEWS

Fake news is nothing new to Christians. We have been bombarded with Fake News since the beginning of Christianity. Jesus’s disciples and apostles spread the Good News of our salvation through Christ by telling of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, and what we must do to be saved. They established congregations and provided examples of Church actions, worship, and leadership.

Many of the letters we find in the New Testament address “Fake News,” and it continues today. Our world is full of Fake News in Christianity, but there’s good news.

We don’t have to be gullible!

God gave us the means to discern the Truth from the Fake.

The Bible is 66 books of Inspired Words from God, which we can compare to the desires and teachings we hear from all sorts of well-intended, possibly agenda-driven people.

1 John 4:1
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

  • Galatians 1:6-9
  • 2 Peter 2:1
  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  • Acts 17:11
  • John 17:17
  • 2 Peter 1:20-21

God First!

Carried by the Angels

During COVID, I saw several posts and news stories of people separated from loved ones in care facilities because of quarantines; they were not allowed to be with loved ones during their final moments on earth. This saddened me, and I empathized with the pain in their hearts, knowing they wanted to be with their loved ones. So, I leave you this thought, which helped me when we lost my father.

Our family was not physically with Dad when his soul departed his failing mind and body for Paradise. Although we were not with him physically the morning of his passing, I’m confident Dad was not alone.

I believe that, just as in Jesus’s illustration of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, the angels of God were with Dad and carried him to paradise. How awesome will that be?

I believe this because Dad was a Christian, a man who lived as a true disciple of Christ, diligently following Jesus and striving to keep His commandments in accordance with scripture. I also expect we will see each other again in new heavenly bodies as we spend eternity with our Lord and Savior.

God is good; God is Love!

  • Luke 16:19-31 (Rich Man and Lazarus)
  • Philippians 3:20-21, 1 John 3:2, 1 Corinthians 15:44-49 (new body)
  • 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
  • Revelation 21:1-27

God First!

Understanding God’s Word

There are many misrepresentations of God’s word in the world today, and yes, scripture needs to be studied to be interpreted properly, not just read. If any scripture seems to contradict itself at any point, we are misinterpreting it and should study it more deeply to identify what we are missing.

Who it was written to, when it was written, and for what purpose can help us gain more insight than what we might get from scripture’s face value alone.  Sort of like the milk vs. solid-food scripture.

God, through His infinite wisdom and in His Word, has given us what we need for our understanding so that we can know what we must do to be saved. The whole Bible is from God, and no matter our educational level, if we have access to God’s word, we have access to God’s intent for us, without needing to know the background and history of every word we read.

Today, there are many translations of Scripture, written in multiple languages, some created with little scrutiny and sometimes with an agenda rather than strict interpretation. In contrast, others, such as the KJV, were completed using “rules of language” with strict interpretation and incredible scrutiny. Most later versions use the KJV as their base.

I have complete trust in God and don’t believe God would allow the translations from the languages of old to be included in the King James Bible if they did not convey His Words and intent properly, so I believe the correct interpretations from those old languages have been preserved. We don’t need to be Greek Scholars to understand God’s intent.

“Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”

Proverbs 30:5

Consider 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

While understanding the meat behind this scripture, such as who the letter was written to, Timothy’s history, and all the interesting additional information one can derive with deep study to gain deeper insight, the milk of this passage of Scripture stands on its own, pointing out that we need to study, to show ourselves, workmen, not ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

God’s Word is the whole of Scripture. God only needs to say something once for it to be true. That said, to understand what God says once correctly, one may also need to know more of Scripture; however, some attempt to change the face-value meaning of Scripture by using other possible Greek interpretations to claim the interpretation of all those past Scholars is wrong, in order to convey a message that tickles their ears and, sadly, misleads others.

As stated in Scripture, God did not give us a book of confusion, and no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation and provides understanding even to the simple. We all gain at different levels, but we all gain by studying scripture.

  • 2 Peter 1:20
  • 1 Corinthians 14:33
  • Psalm 119:30
  • 2 Timothy 3:16
  • 1 Corinthians 3:21
  • 1 Peter 2:2
  • Hebrews 5:12-13

God First!

Worldly Wealth Ends, Love Transcends

I read an article about a man who founded many U.S. companies. He amassed great wealth, created many jobs, and earned much respect. The man died in 1919. Today, few know much about him.

Jesus tells us:

  • ~ It’s not about this world.
  • ~ to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
  • ~ Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.
  • ~ if you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments.
  • ~ The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
  • ~ The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
  • ~ There is no greater commandment than these.

When we love as described in these commandments, we love asthe poor in spirit.” Although all are sinners and unworthy of God’s love, the poor in spirit recognize and appreciate the greatness of God’s love, God’s grace, and the sacrifice given in our stead. The poor in spirit realize that all good gifts come from above, that accomplishments are not ours alone but happen as blessings from God, with God’s help, so joyfully proclaim to God be the glory!

While there’s nothing wrong with amassing great wealth, the challenge is keeping our hearts focused on the treasures of heaven: keeping God First in our hearts; keeping His commandments; and doing His will through our actions of love for Him and towards others, remembering that our accomplishments are blessings, far from ours alone.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17

Thank you, God, for loving us. To God be the Glory!

  • John 18:36
  • Matthew 6:19-21
  • John 14:15
  • Mark 12: 30-31
  • Matthew 5: 3-12
  • Mark 16:16      

God First!

Pray and do – Draw closer to God

  • Rather than worry, draw closer to God (Philippians 4:6-7)
  • Rather than whine, pray (James 4:8)
  • Rather than following your desires, follow God’s for you (Titus 2:11-14)
  • God is waiting for you to follow His Word as He intended. (John 6:40)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16

“Then Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24 ESV

  • Romans 10:17 – The Word of Christ
  • John 8:32 – know the Truth
  • Hebrews 11:6– He rewards those who seek Him
  • John 20:30-31 – Written that we may believe
  • Luke 13:3 – we must repent
  • Acts 17:30 – Ignorance is no excuse
  • Romans 10:10 – believe in the heart and confess
  • Matthew 10:32 – Tit for tat
  • Galatians 3:27 – Baptism is to put on Christ
  • Mark 16:16 – Believe and be baptized equals being saved.
  • Acts 2:38 – For the forgiveness of your sins
  • Revelation 2:10 – The Crown of Life
  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is God’s word, Not Some of it!

God First!

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