Emotionally Bankrupt

All us of walk around with a emotional bank account. For every neutral to positive encounter we have with someone a credit gets deposited into our emotional bank account for that individual.



But for every negative encounter we have with someone, 20 credits get deducted from our account for every negative encounter.



That's the reason why relationships that took years to build can be destroyed by one negative conversation or negative encounter. Imagine that - hundreds and thousands of positive and neutral encounters can be swept away by one negative encounter.



And when it comes to our relationships, most of us carry a negative balance with others. And that means most of us walk around emotionally bankrupt and wounded.



Church, by no means, is immune to this deficit.



So I am asking Christ-followers to watch what we say, be kind and gentle in how we treat others, create an environment where people can have their emotional bank accounts filled so they can be ready for the week. That's what the church should be.



That's my hope.



Get to church and filler' up!

James <><

Check out what God is doing @

www.trinitypresbyterian.us



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Do You Resemble Him?

As far as everyone else is concerned how much you love Jesus, or how well you know the Bible, or how long you've been going to church, what titles you might hold, how fervently you pray, or anything else that has to do with your personal relationship with Jesus Christ just doesn't matter.

The only thing that matters to the people around you is whether you resemble Jesus Christ in the way you relate with them - in how you respect and honor them, how you care for them, how you love them.

So the question is does our life resemble Jesus Christ or does our life betray Jesus Christ?
James <><
Check out what God is doing @
www.trinitypresbyterian.us

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Keeping Things Simple

We like to make things more complicated then they are.

One of the questions I get asked a lot is "What is God's vision or purpose for my life?"

And when people ask this question, I've never met anyone who thinks God's vision and purpose for their life is mediocre or mundane. Every Christ-follower I know believes that God has grand visions for their life.

And the thing is I believe that's true. I believe God has great plans for every single person who calls Him Lord and Savior.

But before we get to any of the big things, before God can entrust us with the great things in life, we need to first take care of the little things.

Here's what I mean.

There are three primary spheres in our lives we must first steward excellently in order that God can entrust with grander things. For if we fail in these primary things, we will not be ready to steward greater things.

The three spheres which we must manage first are: our relationship with God, our relationship with our family, and our relationship with others.

Whatever God's plan for our grand future, it must include our right relationship with God - our daily relationship with God through daily intake of God's word, keeping the Lord's day the Lord's way, serving others, stewarding God's resources of time, talents, and treasures through tithing, etc.

Secondly, whatever God may have in store for our grand future, it has to include right relationships with our family. Because I am a husband and a father to four, whatever God's plan for my future is, it must include me being a faithful and loving husband, a dad who lives with integrity and character, a son and brother who loves and honors my parents and sister. If my future doesn't include these things, it will not be God's plan.

Finally, I must steward my relationships with others excellently. If I cannot manage relationships with others in my life in a way that honors and glorifies God, God cannot entrust me with greater responsibilities.

Jesus said, those who can be trusted with little with be entrusted with much. It's when I can demonstrate that I can be a faithful steward in these primary spheres, that I become ready to take on more.

And when I start stewarding these areas excellently, other responsibilities and opportunities open up.

So keep it simple. Get busy stewarding your primary spheres of relationships so that you can grow into God's grand future for your life.

Birthday reflection

I am not really in to birthdays. Haven't been excited about my birthday since I was a kid.

But as I turn 41, this one is very different.

I am so incredibly thankful. I thank God for my wife, for my four children, mt extended family, my church, my friends, my health, for everything God has given me - I am thankful.

For all intents and purposes, I should not be alive. I could have easily died. Had it not been for the doctors and the open heart surgery, I should be dead.

So here I find myself a day before my birthday incredibly grateful - not so much to be alive, but because God has so incredibly blessed my life. Thank you God. Thank you for everything.

And the greatest news is that because of what God has done, the blessings are for eternity.

And friends, whether you've had a life and death experience, isn't this true of each of our lives?

Remember how blessed we all are.

Have a blessed day.
James <><
Check out what God is doing @
www.trinitypresbyterian.us

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In Essentials - Unity, In non-Essentials - Liberty, in All Things - Charity

In Essentials - Unity
In non-Essentials - Liberty
In all things - Charity

Attributed to Saint Augustine

What an important reminder for the life of the church today.

The devil loves it when the church doesn't know how to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials.

Essentials are worth dying over, let alone splitting over. Essentials - that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that the Bible is authoritative, that Jesus died for us and rose again from the grave - are worth dying for. We need unity in the essentials.

However, there are many areas in which people of good faith differ. These are best described as family squabbles. They may be about how we set the table, or how we celebrate holidays, etc. but these are internal disagreements. And they show up in the life of the church in disagreements of all sorts - worship style preferences, who is welcome to receive communion, infant baptism, role of women, how to tackle tough issues like pornography, addictions, drugs, and alcohol - do we address them head on or skirt around them - etc.

In these areas of non-essentials, the church must practice liberty. Because when the church fights to the death and splits over these issues, it totally undermines the ministry and the mission of the church of Jesus Christ in the world.

And when this happens, the devil has a field day with the impotence of the church.

Because what we are to demonstrate in all things is the spirit of Christ in how we handle disagreements. We are to demonstrate charity in all things.

More than ever, as the church finds herself at the crossroads in many different areas, we need to recover how to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials, and listen once again to one of the giants of the faith.