Hey…..listen, before you plant those seeds, consider (ponder to resolve) carefully if it is going to be a harvest you’re willing for? Really? There is no such thing as an “unsend” button for email, there is no such thing as an “unsay” button for our words. There is no “undo” or “do overs” for our actions. Before you plant those seeds, carefully consider, is it a harvest you’re willing for? Really? Is it a betrayal of your conscience you’re willing to live with?
If you plant those seeds, short of God’s intervention, they will grow. When they grow, short of God’s intervention, they will mature. And when they mature, short of God’s intervention, they will bear fruit. Before you plant those seeds, consider if it is a harvest you’re willing to gather? Trust me, if you plant it, the fruit of your begatting will find you like lost children who have gone in search of and have found their parents, and the fruit of your sowings will be in your front yard, in your kitchen making food, sitting on your couch watching your TV, laying in your bed, refusing to leave. It will be like pouring paint through a running fan and there is no “undo” button. Is it a betrayal of your righteous conscience that your willing to live with? Really? Play the movie, or Selah.

In our lives, at every crossroad, at every intersection where we must choose either the Lord or the world, the potential for divine intervention is astounding. In the Hebrew word for “purity” the letters themselves carry the idea of choosing, meaning purity is more about how you came to your decision to not wound your conscience, rather than just doing the right thing.

In our American, English speaking culture we think of a crossroads where two roads cross paths, the physical roads are primary and what to do there is secondary. With the Hebrew words used to describe a crossroads, the decision that must be made is primary, and the physical intersection itself is secondary. That says to me that how we come to our conclusions, how we decide our everyday actions is more primary to God than what we actually do. Of course what we do is important to the Lord, but i believe He’s more interested in our decision making machine and what fuels it.

At that, i want to encourage everyone to never ever take someone else’s word for what the Bible says or what God means …. you look it up, you find out for yourself, it is your responsibility to know for yourself. Look beyond the pastor, look beyond the pulpit in your church, and look far and above to hear the Lord above all. No man ever set you free. No man ever healed you. No man understands you like Jesus.

Who is at the root of your decision making process? What is important to you, the drugs/alcohol/sex/self-indulgence or your peace with God? When at the crossroads of making a decision to go partying and living a life of violence or to keep your peace with Jesus, which will it be? These are the days that if you will ask God, He will answer. You may have to be patient and wait, but He WILL answer. i can assure you, the Lord stands ready at all our crossroads to help and to bring us where we need to be. An’ right there is a big “think about it.”

When i was growing up my sister had an old Brownie camera, and then one Christmas she got a Polaroid. You know, the one which, after you take a picture, it slides out the film that develops right in front of your eyes. i think i’ve got thousands and thousands of Polaroid pictures in my head – the time the neighbor boys, myself and my brother played football all afternoon. In my head is a snap shot of us all laughing, dirty, skinned up, but laughing – forever in my mind as a good time. Or my son’s favorite hunting dog when it tree’d his first raccoon. i’ve got a snap shot in my head of that moment! i can still see the pleasure on my son’s face and the dog’s face. Or my wife’s eyes reflecting in the stripe of sun light coming through the shades in the morning.

Leviticus 23:40 has a Polaroid picture in it of a bright accent. “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook;” Hmmmm….beautiful trees. Does just saying that inspire the vision in your mind? It’s as if the Lord is pointing out beauty. He calls them “beautiful trees”. Do we notice? Do you remember the big old tree in the park, or behind your house? The bark, the leaves, the shade? Remember how it looked and when you played near it or in it? Can you see it?

All through the Bible God speaks of beautiful things, like He’s pointing them out for us to notice also. God does not tell us things or point things out to us just so we can know. “Seeing” is very different than “purposefully taking note of”, and then there is the idea of “seeing” meaning “to look with eyes wide open in amazement”. Can you see?

Take note of beautiful words like in Gen 49:21, beautiful cities in Deuteronomy 6:10, beautiful houses in Deuteronomy 8:12, beautiful children, women, or men, Queen Vashti in Esther 1:11, “was beautiful to behold”. Psalms says the city of our God is beautiful the way it is positioned, that praise is beautiful, that holiness not only is beautiful but make us beautiful, and that God makes all things beautiful in it’s time. God points out to us that Moses was a beautiful child. 1 Peter 3:5 speaks of a beauty not necessarily seen with our eyes, it speaks of an inner beauty that was gentle and gracious. Colossians 3:11-12 reveals to us that the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, 12 thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.”

What is beautiful in your life? All through out the Bible, God is pointing out these types of things that we would take notice of the beautiful, the bright, the accented, His highlights. Star filled skies, sun rise, sun set, little girls eyes, seasons – like winter and spring, holidays, eating together, good companionship, the smell of the forest and the flowers, fresh cut lawns, evenings on the front porch. Do we notice that God is highlighting those things to us, or are we so neck deep in the mire of the world we constantly miss the bright and beautiful around us?

His name is Jesus. He is the tree planted in living water, He is the one who yields fruit in season and out and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does … prospers. Can there be any seed God plants which does not grow? Can there be any dream He gives which He does not frame, build, and bears much fruit? He is the completetion of redemption and the balance of reconciliation.

He is the One who gives us images to familiarize us with Himself. He is God who whispers us to sleep when we are restless, then stirs His God-fingers against the earth until it rains love in our lives, making wet parched hearts to sing again, even in the moments when we would have preferred to stop living.

Jesus is the one who knows your stories before you were born, who draws you into the truth to meet your self, to resolve your self, and to love Him without fear. He is God who walks without moving, He dreams without sleeping and calls us, each to Himself without speaking. Psalm32:8 says He guides us with His eyes. He is the One who has been speaking to you before you knew it was Him speaking to you, long before you knew Him as you know Him now. Remember. His intent was calling you, even when you were a child. He is there. It was Jesus all along.

Every time we bump the life of another, Christ is spoken in our moment of connection, He is the One who overcomes our inertia , our “indisposition to change”, our resistance to a change in direction. He is the picture that is beyond the frame – He knows no limitations of righteousness and is the unfailing brightness of reality which no eye can hear and more than words can see.

i am like a blank page, and He is the letters, like blue water touching white shores by the Tree of Life at the Crystal Sea. He is like a shining hand writing shimmering words upon my heart, writing emerald and sapphire thoughts, God thoughts shining. He is God who sparks ideas in me, and God who dreams His dreams upon creation like an open hand offering His hope and salvation. Jesus is the All in All, abundant, and beyond our beyond – The One King and Ever Lord.

According to God, accomplishment is not good character, accomplishment does not make us “a good person”. Being measurably productive does not constitute high character or being “a good person”. It is not in how many houses we build, how many people we feed, how many ministries we start or how well we do the one we’ve got. Character is not created by the mighty empire we built/build/didn’t build. Character should drive our works, not our works driving our character. Even a serial killer can accomplish good things, consistently, so having good, measurable accomplishments is not a sign of “being a good person”. Always measuring whether we are “a good person” inspires us to lower our eyes below the Lord to man’s weights and scales which influence us to be someone we’re not, re-evaluating ourselves based on measurable production, according to corporate standards.

Godly character, personal holiness in balance with our activated-God-given-gifting re-enforces God’s work of expanding our persistence, competence, and confidence in Christ, empowering through Christ our inner fortitude, developing our social skills, which we are so desperately in need of. Character brings us upgraded self-esteem and a sense of being anchored, all taking us beyond our perceived sense of limitations, limitations which the world and the devil are both so busy re-enforcing.

When we worship the Lord in spirit and truth, there comes the lack of a quantifiable result that allows us to tap a more meaningful place that satisfies core needs and reveals the authentic person behind the masks of job and accomplishment …. Godly conception gives birth to Godly perception! Righteous imagination gives birth to righteous understanding.

Sometimes i feel like this dance we do with God is like a giant waltz, three feet off the ground and it’s a clear, starry sky’d night….stepping and spinning with the Lord, His eyes looking courage into us to follow more closely. Our feet step high over the top of fields of wild flowers, we dance over tree tops, spin under clouds, dip and drop to the rivers edge. There is a warm rain on our faces, the eyes of my Jesus smiling in the ecstasy of dancing with His most beloved, over the hills and far away. It’s going to rain!

i am honored to stand with you, barefaced, looking up to Heaven waiting for the refreshing from the Hand of our God, who will come to us like the rain, watering the earth. In our lives there is the “slip” and “grip” of life. We grip to ourselves, gather to ourselves light and hope, God’s love and peace…. we also let slip from our grasp the seeds of faith and wisdom, kindness and blessing to be planted in righteousness. It is like the rain on the windshield of your car, we start at the top, run down, get a little, give a little, planting, sharing, recieving, doing our part in weeping joy and singing obedience.

Pretense. People seem to love, i say, love personal titles. We love qualifiers and titles which, hopefully, cause the world around us to highly esteem us and think we are worthy of being listened to – maybe even so we will believe we are worthy to be heard in our own ears. We need to hear God more than men. What if God asked you to lose your title and quit telling people your name? Would you still be willing to do what He called you to? Or would the need for the dirty water of men’s praise and being validated in the eyes of other people prevent you from continuing? Let us weigh that one well within our own hearts. When privilege becomes entitlement, when we make the assumption we are more than we are because we “deserve” glory and recognition, then pretense is revealed and our God-given-privilege becomes an aberration. Do we think God owes us something and we deserve favor because we have “the right kind of history”? John 5:31, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.” Isn’t it enough that God has given us the privilege of exercising His gifts, which are supposed to be used to glorify Him and bring forth the Kingdom of God? His spiritual gifts are a privilege, not used in pretension to create a facade of greatness for ourselves. Where do we get the idea that we deserve benefits and favor because we have the “right kind of history”, as if God somehow owes us power, blessing, honor, wealth, or life with a lack of conflict?

Privilege. God gives us life through His Son Jesus. Life, real life, not life according to the world. It is an exclusive privilege afforded us by God.

Peace is a privilege from God, and we can’t get it because we have declared ourselves or set ourselves up on a podium. Galatians 1:3 (NIV) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Wisdom is a privilege God gives to all who ask. James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Faith is a privilege. It’s a something that is real and without it we can’t please God. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please God.” Is the faith in me something i drummed up? No. We can’t go to the store and buy faith.

Justification is a privilege. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Being holy because He is holy is a privilege not to be taken lightly.

Grace is a privilege – it isn’t something we demand from God or manipulate Him into giving. The privilege of grace was not available under the law, but by Jesus Christ as it is written in John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Salvation, Redemption and mercy are a privilege; We are afforded the privilege of reconciliation – which means God balanced our books; and probably the highest privilege is the Love of God which abides with us forever.

It isn’t that we have taken, but more that He has given. Psalm 116:12 “What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?” Let us be glad and thankful we get the privilege of all His benefits and not stretch our privilege into presumption and pretense. And there’s a big “Selah” right there at the end.