How to Maintain a Blameless Record

How can a young person live a pure life? By obeying your word  

– Psalm 119:9 (NCV)

It is generally accepted that a good reputation is better than possessions. Although, some may not agree with this notion, the fact that God Himself thinks so underscores the importance of having a good name (Proverbs 22:1). In this jet age, it is even more expedient to maintain a good reputation, because information can be accessed on anyone at the click of the mouse; thus, making the name to precede the person.

Imagine how you would feel to be called for an interview in your dreamed organisation, or to come sign a business deal you’ve long pursued, only to be denied at the last minute or even have your offer later withdrawn after your benefactor read the content of an email you sent sometime ago or your comment on the social media. It can be very distressing. But that is one of the dynamics of the age we live in. Your name precedes you most of the times.

A good reputation is good, but it does not just come to anyone. Being born of reputable parents or coming from a family with a good name does not automatically confers good reputation on anyone either. It takes series of personal discipline, wise choices and decisions to earn a good name. It doesn’t jump on anyone. If it does, there is likelihood it will soon jump off in no time when the real person behind the name is revealed.

The passage above tells us how to maintain a blameless personal record. The Psalmist asks a seemingly rhetorical question about how one can live a pure life, and then proffers an answer almost immediately, saying, the only way one can do this is to obey the word of God. That is the tip to having a name that you will be proud to answer both on earth and in heaven.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

To Keep God’s Word, You Need to Do this First

I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word.
– Psalm 119:101

We’ve seen that there are multiple rewards for keeping the word of God both for now and the hereafter. Just like any parent, God is most pleased with the people who abide by His rules. They are His favourite and they have His ear first compared to those who use Him – who beseech Him when they need His help and dash off to live as they wish once their prayers are answered.

It takes personal effort on the part of each individual to keep the word of God. The precursor for keeping God’s word, as seen in the passage above, is first to restrain from doing evil. That means to have the moral fibre needed to keep the word of God, you must adhere to the age long tenet of

“see no evil, say no evil, hear no evil and do no evil.”

The Psalmist says he restrained himself from evil in every way, as this is the best way he could muster the strength to keep God’s word.

In most things in life, God’s factor is always constant. For instance, He blesses all living souls with 24 hours a day; He makes the same rain and sunshine fall on the good and the bad. But individual factors are variable and not fixed, that is why two or more different persons aspiring the same objective, using the same method, will not always get the same result, because each of them wouldn’t have done what they did the same way or with the same intensity.

To enjoy the full benefits of God, you must demonstrate obedience to His precepts. And to keep His precepts, you must first sanctify yourself – that is keeping away from all forms of evil in every conceivable way.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

It Should Not Get to This

A man in Scotland calls his son in London the day before Christmas Eve and says, “I hate to ruin your day but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 45 years of misery is enough.”

“Dad, what are you talking about?” the son screams.

“We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says. “We’re sick of each other and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Leeds and tell her.”

Frantically, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. “Like h..l they’re getting divorced!” she shouts, “I’ll take care of this!”

She calls Scotland immediately, and screams at her father, “You are NOT getting divorced! Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?!” She hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone at the other end and turns to his wife. “Sorted! They’re both coming for Christmas and they’re paying their own way.”

While this anecdote may sound amusing, it also calls for sober reflection particularly in term of how we relate to our parents. Imagine how many times they must have patiently attended to our calls even for the most trivial of things. They should not be denied our attention now that we are on our own and can take care of ourselves.

Meditation: He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. – Matthew 15:3-6

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Juggling Your Life

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air.

You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit, and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls: family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same.

You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. How?

Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we’re different that each of us is special.

Don’t set your goals too high by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

Don’t take for granted things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living life only one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.

Don’t give up when you have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us and hold us together.

Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn to be brave.

Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.

Don’t forget that a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.

Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way.

Meditation: And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. – Daniel 11:32

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

PUSH

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room was filled with light and the Saviour appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day.

For many years, he toiled from sun up to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind: “You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. “Why kill myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough.”

And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

“Lord,” he said, “I have laboured long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimetre. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My son, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push, and now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?

“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition, you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my son, will now move the rock.”

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves the mountains.

Author Unknown

Meditation: But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40:31

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

The Alchemy of God

by D. James Kennedy

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

Have you ever had a rock and wished you could change it into a diamond?

Years ago, before the advent of chemistry, a science called alchemy existed, and alchemists had a similar passion: Finding a way to transform worthless metals into gold. Of course, they never succeeded. But God is the master alchemist. He has a passion for taking all things and working them for good.

Charles Spurgeon tells about one man who had complete faith that God would work everything for his good. During the reign of Queen Mary I of England, this man was captured for preaching the gospel.

He received the sentence of being burned alive at the stake in London. When he heard the sentence, he said, “Well, never mind. God will work all things together for my good. I don’t know how, but He will.”

On his way to London, the guards treated the man roughly. In fact, they even threw him down to the ground, and in doing so, they broke his leg. Then they mocked the man, saying, “Well, tell us how this will work together for your good.”

He said, “I don’t know, but it will.”

Before they could continue their trip, the guards had to take time to put the man’s leg into a splint. Because of this delay, the group arrived in London a day later than the guards had planned. But the night before they arrived, Queen Mary died, and Elizabeth had taken the throne.

Instead of burning the man at the stake, Elizabeth pardoned him. So, although his broken leg was a bad thing, God used it for his good, saving his life through the delay it caused.

Do circumstances often seem to work in opposition to your expectations? Do you sometimes despair of any good coming from your situation? Remember that God is in charge. He sees the big picture; He knows the future. He controls all things, and He loves you more than you can imagine.

Through your experiences, He’ll shape you, transforming you into the best person you can be. Trust Him and even thank Him for situations that seem bad, because He works all things together for your good.

May God, the mighty Alchemist, transform the lead of our lives into gold.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

The Perfect Mistake

My Mother’s father worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to orphanages in China. On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what had happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China!

The Great Depression was at its height and Grandpa had six children. He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair. “It’s not fair,” he told God as he drove home in frustration. “I’ve been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and now this.”

Months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China, so he came to speak one Sunday at my grandfather’s small church in Chicago.

The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage. “But most of all,” he said, “I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my co-workers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top!”

The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued: “Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that.”

The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas. But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.

There are times we want to blame God instead of thanking him! Perhaps it is something we ought to try more often, “Thank you God for not allowing my car to start this morning.” He may have been saving your life from a car accident. “Lord Jesus, thank you for letting me lose my glasses; I’m sure they’ll be put to good use or there is a lesson to be learned.”

— Author Unknown

Meditation: In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. – 1 Thessalonians 

You will succeed in Jesus Name!