The Only Real Choice

 

1 Kings 18:21 (NRSVue) - Elijah then came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word.

Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal.

Of course, he knew that God would triumph over those who followed false gods.

But before the contest took place, Elijah spoke those words to the people.

He knew the people had drifted from God.

These words were a caution that you cannot serve God and false gods.

In Matthew 6, Christ taught the disciples how to pray.

He also gave them cautionary instructions.

One of these concerned serving two masters, namely God and wealth.

Matthew 6:24 (NRSVue) - “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

God is, and always has been, supreme.

He expects to be first in our lives.

Moreover, He commanded this.

Exodus 20:2-4 (NRSVue) - “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.”

The simple fact is that anytime we place anyone or anything above God, we practice idolatry.

We rob God of His rightful place in our lives.

When that happens, God asks us to choose.

Choice is a part of life.

But correctly choosing Who has priority is crucial.

It requires commitment.

It requires loyalty.

People and things constantly vie for our attention and affection.

But we must choose to put God first.

Fortunately, God helps us choose wisely when we make ourselves open and available to Him.

 

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, February 2, 2024.

I will be back here on Friday, February 9, 2024

Words and Conduct

 

Leviticus 23:32a (NET) - You must not profane my holy name,

When we think about profanity, we immediately think in terms of careless language.

The Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 certainly warns of this.

We are commanded not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain.

But to be honest this warning from Leviticus goes beyond language.

Therefore, we must ask ourselves what the word “profane” really means.

Simply put, the verb “profane” means “treating the sacred with irreverence or disrespect”.

This certainly happens with a careless choice of words.

It also happens through a careless choice of conduct.

We must be as careful with our conduct as we are with our words.

Peter understood the importance of Christian conduct.

In fact, he pointed this out in his first letter.

1 Peter 1:15 (NET) - but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct,

Peter stated that our conduct helps make us holy.

Controlling our words can be difficult.

Controlling our conduct can be even harder.

That is why we need Christ in our lives.

He understands that love is the key to controlling both.

Love helps us choose our words.

Love also helps us determine our conduct.

In Matthew 22, an expert in the law tests Jesus by asking Him which commandment is the most important.

Jesus surprised him with a two-fold answer.

The first is to love God with all our being.

The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

When we fail to love God, we profane God.

When we fail to love our neighbor, we also profane God.

John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) put it this way:

“Whenever you encounter one of your neighbors, regard him as yourself in another form (which he is), or indeed as God in another form, for he is the image of God, and God will be watching to see how reverently you treat him.”

Like most worthwhile things in life, we can find loving others difficult.

But God can help us.

He can help us reflect his infinite love through our words and our conduct.

He can bolster our faith and guide our steps as we move among those whom He created.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, September 3, 2021.

I will be back here on Friday, September 10, 2021

 

In Harmony

 

Job 21:22 (NET) - Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high?

The book of Job can be puzzling.

It can and does raise several questions.

Why believe in God if there is no reward?

Why do good people suffer?

Why do the unjust get rewarded?

Job, in his misery and pain, began to question his faith and his very existence.

Even those closest to him were of no help.

Job’s wife suggested he “curse God and die.”

His friends were no better.

They inferred that Job must have been punished for his sin.

Job responded to one friend with the question: “Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high?”

Job realized that man cannot fully understand the triune God.

In the end, Job repented.

Although we cannot fully understand the triune God, we can glimpse certain aspects.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, grasped the harmony between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Romans 12:16 (NET) - Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.

The Father creates.

The Son redeems.

The Holy Spirit makes holy.

These aspects of God work together in harmony with each other.

Although beyond our complete understanding, God demonstrates this to us.

We should therefore work in harmony with each other.

Considering today’s headlines, the world could certainly benefit from our working harmoniously with one another.

True, we cannot fully understand God, but we can learn from our glimpses of Him.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 20, 2021.

I will be back here on Friday, August 27, 2021

Discipline

 

Proverbs 3:11 (NET) - My child, do not despise discipline from the Lord, and do not loathe his rebuke.

Children do not like to be disciplined.

As adults, we like it even less.

But discipline becomes necessary when we stop seeking wisdom.

It becomes necessary when we stray from the Lord.

The fact that this verse begins with “my child” speaks volumes.

When we are disciplined, we often act like children.

In fact, our initial response to discipline is often additional rebellion.

We may even view this as undue and unjust punishment.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The book of James reminds us of this.

James 3:17 (NET) - But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.

When God disciplines us, His motive is pure.

It is not derived from anger.

It is neither undue nor unjust.

It is simply a means of bringing us back to Him.

It is a means of bringing us to confession… both to ourselves as well as to God.

Granted, this is often not easy.

Then again, most worthwhile things in life rarely are.

On the bright side, we do not have to do this on our own.

We must first listen to His call to us and respond to it.

We must recognize our need for humility.

This leads us to confession and actual change.

Then we can walk harmoniously with God once again.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 6, 2021.

I will be back here on Friday, August 13, 2021

First Love

 

Psalm 79:9 (NET) - Help us, O God, our deliverer! For the sake of your glorious reputation, rescue us. Forgive our sins for the sake of your reputation.

The Psalmist speaks volumes in this one verse alone.

He recognizes God as the deliverer and rescuer.

He also recognizes God as the forgiver of sins.

But why would God forgive and rescue sinners? 

The answer is, of course, because God loves us.

We, in return, should love God.

But God’s love is the first and greatest love of all.

We find proof of this in the book of 1 John.

1 John 4:10 (NET) - In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

We may love God.

But we must remember that God loved us first.

God even loved us when we were at our worst.

God loved us when we were still mired in our sin.

In fact, He loved us so very much that he sacrificed His only Son to deliver us.

That is the greatest love of all.

God gave His all to demonstrate His love for us.

It is an unconditional love.

Therefore, we should love God in return.

As importantly, we must love others as well.

We must love them unconditionally.

We must love them even when they are at their worst.

We must be willing to say we love them.

We must also be willing to demonstrate our love for them.

After all, that is the way God first loved us.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, July 16, 2021.

I will be back here on Friday, July 23, 2021

With Kindness

 

Proverbs 11:17 (NET) - A kind person benefits himself, but a cruel person brings himself trouble.

The temperature here has been over 100 degrees for many days.

A very old cat recently found a relatively cool spot near my door behind a bush.

One day, I opened the door to check my mail and I startled the poor old feline.

It stood up, arched its back and hissed at me in a very menacing way.

To be honest, I was more than a bit startled myself.

But rather than chase the animal away, I spoke to it in a soothing voice.

This ritual repeated itself day after day.

I would open the door and, as expected, the cat would bare its teeth and hiss at me.

I continued speaking to it in a soothing voice.

Days later, my small act of kindness was rewarded.

Now, the old cat looks at me and just goes back to sleep.

Scripture reminds us to be kind… to others.

Ephesians 4:31-32 (NET) - You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk—indeed all malice. Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.

We are also to be kind to those less fortunate than ourselves,

Proverbs 14:31 (NET) - The one who oppresses the poor has insulted his Creator, but whoever honors him shows favor to the needy.

Christ stressed this point as well.

Matthew 25:40 (NET) - And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’

If you think about it, it really costs nothing to be kind.

The more you practice kindness, the easier it becomes.

Even being kind to the smallest of God’s creation becomes part of our character.

The world in which we now live needs kindness, perhaps now more than ever.

Many are frightened by violence and the pandemic.

Many have lost loved ones.

So, be kind.

The seeds we choose to plant today will bear fruit tomorrow.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 21, 2020.

I’ll be back here on Friday, August 28, 2020

 

Risky Business

The dictionary defines “risky” as “full of the possibility of danger, failure or loss.”

How true that is!

Type the word “risky” into a search engine and you will find pages devoted to the pandemic.

This is a good barometer as to the level of fear currently in the world.

Others, however, enjoy risk.

Some race motorcycles, some dive off cliffs and some climb huge rocks.

When asked why they do so, many of them admit to being “adrenaline junkies”.

They enjoy living on the edge where most of us would dare not tread.

But you do not have to partake in these activities or face a pandemic to be a risk taker.

Many take the biggest risk of all without realizing it.

They are the people who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

They are the biggest risk takers of all.

Many of them assume that this life is all that there is,

In their way of thinking, you are born, you live, you die… end of story.

But it is far from the end of the story.

Jesus had some cautionary words for those who live for this world only.

Mark 8:36 (NET) - For what benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his life?

Many put off seeking this relationship.

They rationalize this by thinking they have plenty of time in which to seek Him.

But unlike a timed sporting event, not one of us knows exactly how much time remains.

Unlike football, there is no two-minute warning.

The current pandemic bears that out.

Having a personal relationship with Jesus means knowing that it is not about us.

It is about Him.

This is a radical change in perspective.

Lives are changed and very important lessons are learned.

We learn the amount of time we have left is less important than what we choose to do with it.

We learn that we have nothing to fear; not even from the pandemic.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NET) - For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.

But be forewarned.

A relationship with Christ does not guarantee a life of safety.

Many have paid with their lives simply by following Christ.

It will not always be easy.

Like Peter, you just might have to step out of the boat.

Matthew 14:37 (NET) - So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.

A relationship with Jesus brings its own kinds of risk, but the rewards are worth it.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 7, 2020.

I’ll be back here on Friday, August 14, 2020

Promises, Promises

There are many passages of scripture which remind us that God keeps his promises.

Although true, it is important that we keep our promises as well.

We must keep our promises to God.

Matthew 5:33 (NET) - “Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’

We must also keep our word when we make promises to others.

Numbers 20:2 (NET) - If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath of binding obligation on himself, he must not break his word, but must do whatever he has promised.

Probably the easiest promises to break begin with the words: “If there is anything that I can do…”

Such promises are easily made because we do not expect the other person to take us up on it.

If this is the case, it is better that we do not make the promise at all.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, friends I knew well began a new ministry,

I was in contact with one individual by email when it began.

I responded: “If there is anything that I can do…”

As communications continued, there was no mention of my offer to help.

Time went by as did the emails.

In time, I forgot about my offer.

Recently, I was contacted by another friend associated with this new ministry.

Early into our telephone conversation he expressed their need for assistance.

My words to my other friend echoed back to me: “If there is anything that I can do…”

The fact that the promise I made was to a different friend made no difference.

My promise was to that ministry.

That promise I will keep.

Matthew 5:37 (NET) - Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, July 17, 2020.

I’ll be back here on Friday, July 24, 2020

Whose Will?

To say that we are in a mess right now is an understatement.

We are still coping with a pandemic.

Many want to proceed with caution while many want to return to normal right now.

We are painfully aware of the untimely and unjust death of George Floyd.

We are also aware that some want law enforcement completely disbanded.

We face other issues that have become equally divisive.

Meanwhile, our elected officials, regardless of party, do little to solve them.

If anything, their words and their actions contribute to the division.

But, to be fair, we must also be willing to accept our share of the blame.

We live in an age of microwave ovens, high speed Internet, instant messaging and Google.

We forget the Serenity Prayer.

Even if we pray for patience, we might unconsciously add “and give it to me now”.

We expect easy answers even when the answers aren’t easy at all.

To be frank, things will not get better if we insist on doing things our way.

C. S Lewis once said: “All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

Have we forgotten Christ’s instructions on how we should pray?

Matthew 6:9-10 (NET) - So pray this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Isn’t it time we stopped trying to enforce our will and accept God’s will?

Isn’t it past the time?

Today’s headlines prove that it is.

C. S. Lewis also had this to say - “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.'”

We must turn around and say to God “Your will be done!”

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, June 19, 2020.

I’ll be back here on Friday, June 26, 2020