Friday, February 1, 2019
Top 5 Reasons Christians Fall Off the Wagon
We most often associate the familiar term "Fall Off the Wagon" with a recovering alcoholic who has turned back to the bottle. I want to use the analogy of "The Wagon" as it applies to Christians demonstrating a safe place or haven where all our needs are met, namely Jesus. I've been trying to improve my diet since August 2018. Well, I've been trying to improve my food choices for years. Recently, I'm seeking to allow the Holy Spirit to guide my daily food selections toward good for me food and avoid bad for me food.
Yesterday, I didn't feel well. My stomach was a tad nauseous with an overall feeling of yuck. I'm strange. When I feel like this, I want a plain McDonald's burger with fries and one of their unparalleled, deliciously-filtered fountain Cokes. I went. I bought. I ate. Sometime during the afternoon, pondering why I ate it,(because I had been doing so well), God spoke these truths into my ear concerning the Top 5 Reasons Christians Fall Off the Wagon.
- REASON No. 1: This Christian has never gotten in the wagon. It's hard to fall off if you've never gotten in, right? But you are in. You've accepted Jesus as your Savior but you won't accept him as Lord of your life giving him full control. You've either walked behind or alongside the wagon feeling the pain in your feet and the burden on your knees with every step. You know him. You just can't seem to trust him with your whole heart. Get in the wagon.
- REASON No. 2: This Christian likes the easy life. It's easier off the wagon than inside of it. How can it be easier to walk alone than be carried? Jesus carries the people who believe, trust, obey, sacrifice, are patient, longsuffering and kind. I can name more Christ-like attributes but do you really want me to? Those ACTION verbs are hard. Walking singularly without anyone expecting anything from you. especially Jesus, is so much easier.
- REASON No. 3: This Christian relies on other people for their life example instead of Christ. We've all heard it before, "If they're a Christian, the woods are full of them." Just stop it. Stop trying to justify your wrongdoings by comparing yourself to the next best born-again sinner you know. Christians are supposed to be better people because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, but unfortunately, all Christians don't exercise those action verbs above and unfortunately, we still sin. Be like Him, not every Tom, Dick or Harry!
- REASON No. 4: This Christian wants his cake and eat it too. Eating causes crumbs in the wagon. What happens when we see morsels of bad food lying around? We eat it. Then, we want more! There's never been a Christian that dabbled with sin without wanting more. When you're on the wagon for Christ, you're off of entertaining temptation for Tammy (insert your name here). Perfect example of this for me is if I eat one Entenmann's Chocolate Doughnut, I'll not stop until I eat the entire pack. Little Bites, big bites, they're all sin to me because I can't practice moderation. This Reason No. 4 applies to any temptation you are apt to succumb to, certainly not limited to food.
- REASON No. 5: This Christian falls off the wagon because she doesn't get the results she's expecting or they are happening way too slow. Notice I said they ARE happening! We are a fast car, fast food, microwave, direct deposit, instant gratification society that wants Jesus under our thumb or fingertips instead of giving honor to his place of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We want to use him like a medicine: as needed. We get bored when we're not entertained. We lose interest if the thrill we seek requires too much effort on our part.
The wagon isn't full. Want to get in with others who are selfless, God-seeking, life-surrendered, saved by grace, mercy-showing followers of Christ? I do! It's gonna take an action verb...
Saturday, January 19, 2019
It's Not the Brownies Fault
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Monday, December 31, 2018
A Housewife's Perspective for 2019
Everyone wants something out of a new year. Here's a housewife's perspective for 2019. I wish someone would get to work inventing these things that will make my life easier.
- A hands-free mop. We have the roomba aka the vacuum cleaner that runs around the room cleaning the floor. We also have an automatic pool cleaner that works in water. Why oh why can't some genius merge those two to invent a hands-free mop?
- A self-cleaning refrigerator. We have the self-cleaning oven that works with heat. We need the self-cleaning refrigerator that evaporates spills and messes with cold vapor. Someone GET ON IT!
- An automatic laundry sorter. I don't want to take up my laundry room space with multiple bins for whites and colors. Who could hit the correct bin anyway when tossing one's clothes across the room? I'm sure someone can invent a sensor that screams at you like the chip reader in retail stores when asking to remove your credit or debit card. If you put your colors in the whites, there should be an arm that automatically moves your clothing into the correct place for washing.
- An automatic dust sucker. I'm thinking someone can invent a device that can be armed to work while no one is home. Set the timer. Go out your door and just like magic, the device would sit in the middle of your home and pull all the dust from all your rooms without sucking the pictures off your walls.
- A cardboard eater. I love to shop online. I hate to recycle the cardboard boxes. We already have the garbage disposal that lives in your drain to eat your unwanted and leftover food. We need a cardboard eater kinda like a chipper shredder but something less industrial for home use.
There you have it. A happy new year from a housewife's perspective for 2019! Someone can be a millionaire in 2019 if any of these problems are solved with a gadget. Please...cut me in on your earnings for thinking of such great ideas!
Always thinking 365,
Tammy
Sunday, December 16, 2018
The One Question You Need to Ask Yourself
The mantel is decorated. The fire is lit. The Christmas tree lights glow in hurried anticipation of soon-to-open gifts, upcoming festivities, good friends and oh yeah, family. The air is crisper than usual. People seem happier than normal. Christmastime, after all, is the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas is the most beloved holiday in American culture.
The season makes one giddy with memories of Christmases' past. Remembrances of that one great gift you can never forget. The one question you probably ask yourself most is "What can I get (you insert name here) for Christmas?". Gift-giving is a fun experience but gift-buying is a totally different aspect of Christmas, usually a dreaded one. Although that's probably the most asked question, it is not the one question you need to ask yourself.
There are so many legitimate questions to ask at Christmas:
- Should I buy that beautiful expensive wrapping paper?
- Wonder if I'll get a Christmas bonus at work?
- What date should I mail Christmas cards?
- How much should I spend on Christmas gifts?
- Will I cook for the pot luck or pick up something at the store?
- Where do I find a knock-out outfit for the office party?
- How will I take care of everything on time?
So many questions! But, these are still not the one question you need to ask yourself. So what is it?
When Jesus came into the coast of Phillipi, he asked his disciples, Who do men say that I am? The disciples told him some people say he is John the Baptist or Elias or Jeremias or another prophet. Then Jesus said, "WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?" The one question you need to ask yourself is who do you say Jesus is?
Simon Peter answered Jesus saying "Thou art the Christ! The Son of the Living God!" Is Jesus your Christ? Do you call him your Savior? Is he the Prince of Peace in your life? Is he your Counselor? Is he ordinary to you or extraordinary? If you don't get all your holiday season questions answered or maybe even skip one, please don't miss the one most important question that effects you forever. The one question you need to ask yourself effects your eternity, not just one month out of the year. This Christmas, please take a moment and concentrate on the one question you need to ask yourself...
What can you get me for Christmas this year? Answer the one question you need to ask yourself! Tell me in a comment who you say Jesus is!
Jesus is Lord 365,
Tammy
Jesus is Lord 365,
Tammy
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
I Don't Measure Up
I've spent my lifetime being less than, shorter than, feeling inadequate in a lot of ways. In America, if you're a woman, shoes ARE the most important part of your wardrobe. No, they're not an addition to or a compliment thereof, they are the MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLE of clothing a woman wears. The high heel has an interesting history dating back to the 1500's when Persian soldiers first wore heels to help their feet stay in their saddle stirrups during war. High heels were invented for men. The high heel waved and waned until the pin-ups girls of the 1950's. Around that time, the stiletto heel was invented concreting the relationship between women, sexuality and appearance. Today, cultural value dictates high heels are the "norm" for women in professional settings. Ironically, I was born in 1963 smack dab in the height (pun intended) of the high heel craze. I can't wear high heels. I don't measure up.
After a recent encounter of falling short of people's standards, my damaged ego appealed to God for an answer. Why don't I measure up? He showed me this comparison.
The world measures us by:
1. Appearance - Are you attractive and desirable?
2. Transportation - What kind of car do you drive?
3. Shelter - Do you live in a big house?
4. Occupation - Do you have a big job or big title?
5. Possessions - How much stuff do you own?
The world measures Jesus in the same ways. Here are the his results according to the Bible:
1. Appearance - Jesus is not physically attractive. Isaiah 53:2 states For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
2. Transportation - Jesus drove a donkey (could have been a Dodge colt, maybe). John 12:14-15 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. Jesus drove a donkey.
3. Shelter - Jesus was born in a stable. Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
4. Occupation - Jesus was a carpenter. Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
5. Possessions - Jesus had no need of material possessions. Matthew 19:21-23 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
God revived my heart with this age-old fact, according to many,
Jesus doesn't measure up.
Jesus doesn't measure up.
The moral of this story is compare yourself to Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. If you measure up by his standards, all is well. I'm pumped there's not a mention of "high heels" in the Bible and obviously Jesus loves short people. He went out of his way to visit a wee little man named Zacchaeus.
Measured 365,
Tammy
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