The Demands on a Christian

Unto Thine Own Self Be True? What does this mean?

2011-06-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare said it many years ago. Unto thine own self be true. What does it mean? Truth is the ultimate concern of Christianity. When you are truthful about all aspects of your life you can live without fear. You can eliminate lots of other negative emotions also. Honesty is the key to living a truthful life. When you are honest and open, you can really live the life you want. You can find congruence. You can find joy. Congruence is the agreement between who you want to be and how others see you. Honesty is necessary to find congruence. If a person is spending a lot of energy trying to hide a lie, he/she is not living an honest, productive life. When the lies are eliminated, all the wasted time and energy is put into joyful matters. You must decide how much you will suffer for others, draw a line and then honor your decision. When others ask you to do for them, you will have a set guideline on how much you will sacrifice for them. You can be honest and accept things you are willing to do and refuse when your limit is reached so that you will not cause pain to yourself. You can remain honest and true to yourself. It is good to help others but not to the extent where you are overly taxed from it. Learn to say that you are not able to help this time, but try again next time. If there is an emergency where you are needed, push yourself. But for routine matters, don't be timid about refusing when your limit has been reached. This will save you from pain and guilt that comes from doing things for others but feeling animosity toward the people asking for help. When you have a limit set, you can avoid the negative feelings and only help when it comes from inner goodness. This limit may change from time to time, like when you are feeling worn out or stressed out, you can't do as much as when you are well rested and feeling top notch.
When you are honest with yourself, you will be a much more effective person. You will enjoy life again. You can find your niche in the world. You can find congruence. You will live in truth. You can have inner peace.

What happened to the I in CHRIST?

2010-07-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Are you in the body of Christ? The Bible says the congregation is a Holy member of the body of Christ. Are you in Christ? I am. Say it for yourself and truly believe. When you believe, you will start to feel and when you start to feel, you start to act and when you start to act, things get better for everyone. Everyone--say I am in Christ.

The Bible for Inspiration

2010-07-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

It seems that the best way to solve a problem is to think about what you're facing and open up the Bible. God, I beleive, will lead us to read and contemplate various passages of the Bible that will help us work through the problem and help us find a solution. Sometimes you'll have to read a little and if that's not your spot, move on to another chapter and verse and read and so on. I believe that by the end of your devotion, you will be able to meditate a while and get some very good insight on fixing your situation. If it takes a while, it may be God letting you know that you're too stressed about the problem and need to relax and read a little bit to sooth yourself.

I have always preferred the King James Version of the Holy Bible because I understand the language and can get the meaning out of it, but if you have trouble comprehending the older English, try a new translation.

God and Jesus do want us to overcome the power of evil and find our way to his Holy Kingdom. He wants us to work through the trials and tribulations set before us on this earth so that we will become worthy of receiving the Holy reward of eternal life. Trust in His Holy Word and use it to find the answers to your life's concerns and demands. It's in there.

I need to enter here more often for my own good.

2010-06-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

There's a cold, hard world out there just waiting to destroy us. There are mean people who delight in hurting us as much as possible without us knowing or any way not being able to do any thing about it. There are mean people who will take anything belonging to us--even people we are supposed to trust and respect--if they can do it without raising questions or without getting caught. They especially enjoy taking our things in the guise of a business transaction. Most noteworthy are auto mechanics, people who repair our houses and the like. They will basically steal a good person's life blood if they can get away with it. I am a Christian and I am often a target of these people. I have especially a lot of trouble with cars--I get robbed by car dealers and car repair persons. These people seem to have no remorse from stealing from car buyers and owners as long as they can make it look legitimate. I am a Christian and I feel badly about being robbed by these people and others in legitimate jobs who take advantage of their position to steal from us. What do I do? How do I deal with this? All I can do is accept the fact that we share this world with evil intentioned persons who have no idea that God and Jesus will provide for us even if we don't grab and claw and steal our daily bread and other less necessary items involved in our daily life. They obviously have no concept of the afterlife and what the things they are doing to those of us who care enough to follow live our lives for Jesus. The mark of the Devil is real. I am one of the Christians who is not going to succeed in life because no one will support my efforts to have a good prosperous life. No one will buy the things I make, no one will hire me for a good paying job, no one will take me as a friend. I am extending my hand in need and friendship to any Christians who might want to get to know me.

There is an afterlife with Jesus.

Praise Him From Whom All Blessings Flow

2010-01-31T05:42:00.000-08:00

Praise Him From Whom All Blessings Flow

If you're Episcopalian as I am, you'll immediately put a tune to these words. Praise him all creatures here below. These are wonderful sentiments. They are not just sentiments though. They are instructions. They are directions to be exact. Directions on how to please our Creator. We have the joyous responsibility to praise our Creator to let Him know that we are thankful for what He has bestowed on us. Be honest, sometimes you feel like you ought to get more of the good things. God gives us what He deems we deserve and no more. If we don't appreciate what we are receiving and demonstrate praise, we probably won't get much more. Praise is our joyful and bounden duty. We must give thanks daily to show our Lord that we are truly appreciative.

Carol Satterfield

My Death

2010-01-12T02:35:00.000-08:00

I believe in Jesus Christ and I have been promised eternal life. If there is an end to my earthly life, I want to share in Timothy's immortal words. I proclaim 2 Timothy 4:1-8 which includes in verse 7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

I pray that each of you will proclaim a like statement at your last or should I say beginning.

We will find the reward promised in The Holy Bible. Have faith.

Can You Imagine?

2010-01-08T03:04:00.000-08:00

IMAGINE

You are dogpaddling in the Okeefenokee Swamp at midnight.

IMAGINE
You are stuck on the spire(outside) of the Empire State Building and no one knows or cares that you are there.

IMAGINE
You are in the middle of the Sahara Desert with nothing more than what you can carry in your hands.

IMAGINE
You are in the rain forest in Central America and a couple of poisonous snakes are right there. One hanging from the tree and the other coiled at your left foot.

IMAGINE
You are at the top of a German Alp in the winter with nothing but shorts and a tee shirt on.

IMAGINE
You are living the life you are living, and Jesus did not exist.

Do you scoff and say, "I'll never find myself in situations like those."?

Do you scoff and say, "I'll never have to pay for my transgressions against others and find myself in Hell for all eternity to be tortured mercilessly by The Devil."?

Are you positive Jesus does not exist?

Are you positive Hell & The Devil do not exist?

Do you really believe there is something special about you that exempts you from consequences of your actions?

There are many people who believe & have faith in Jesus. Are you sure He does not exist?

When Revelation comes to pass, you will see things happen that you have never seen before and unless you believe Revelation, things happen that you could not imagine being possible.

God can do anything.

Why do you believe you're a better Christian than somebody else is? If you persecute another Christian for a transgression they have committed and asked forgiveness for, are you not committing a sin also?

A sin is a sin. Just because you feel particularly strongly about a particular sin, it does not make it more important than the sin you're committing by persecuting the forgiven sinner. If you feel strongly enough about the sin to ostracize an individual and damn yourself in the process, you are missing the point of being a Christian. The New Testament teaches Jesus' words of forgiveness and treating others like you would like to be treated. When we use religion as a weapon against another person, things are very wrong indeed. Christianity is meant to help others overcome sin and live the life Jesus and God intended for them to live, not to be a weapon to hurt or blame another person. Christanity is not a tool of punishment. It is a tool of forgiveness and rebirth into goodness. It is God's gift to humanity. Please don't misuse this precious gift. Think about what you're doing before you treat someone badly for sinning. If they are repentant, Jesus will forgive them. If not, Jesus will deal with them on Judgement Day. Either way, you are not helping yourself or the sinner by making yourself a sinner when you condemn the sinner.

Don't think I'm saying there should be no jails. I'm not. They keep unrepentant sinners away from hurting other people. Some repentant sinners are in jail due to the fact that the system is not perfect. We are only human. In this instance, the prisoner must know how to forgive in order to save his life.

In summation, no sin is greater than another. All must be forgiven.

Ground Rules of Christianity

2009-12-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

While pride builds walls, humility builds bridges. Humility is the catalyst in strong, healthy relationships. Bible says, "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another" (1 Peter 5:5 NIV). Humility = Thinking of yourself less, not thinking less of yourself. People focused on serving others are humble; they don't have time to dwell on themselves.

Frankness is not rudeness. It is not a license to say anything you want, whenever you want. The Bible lets us know there is a time and season for every action.

When conflict erupts, we grow closer by handling it correctly, in essence facing and resolving our differences. The Bible says, "In the end, people appreciate frankness more than flattery" (Proverbs 28:23 NLT).

The Bible instructs us to speak "the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15 NIV) because we can't have fellowship without candor. Solomon said, "An honest answer is a sign of true friendship: (Proverbs 24-26 TEV). Sometimes this means caring enough to lovingly confront one who is sinning or is being tempted to sin.

Honesty is required in order to help the good of all. Speaking the truth is required when a problem presents itself. you might want to ignore what's happening, but others need the clarity and guidance to effectively get through the crisis. If you just say, "That's OK," but silently fume about a problem, like a volcano, pressure will build up and the top will blow. Get problems out in the open, if it's an especially touchy or volatile problem, seek a mediator, either a pastor, priest, or counsellor.

Fellowship requires commitment. Both God's power and our efforts are required to produce a loving Christian community. Getting along with each other is accomplished through treating others with dignity and honor. James 3:18 The Message says, "You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor."

Forgiveness must be immediate. Trust must be rebuilt over time. It cannot be rebuilt instantly, when distrust has been caused by repeated attacks on a person. Do not trust them again instantly and do not trust them immediately and do not allow them to continue hurting you. You will know if they have changed. We must forgive, but we don't have to stay in the situation to be hurt again.

The willingness to forgive must be in the hearts of all in the group. We are warned to never hold grudges, because bitterness and resentment always destroy fellowship. Being the sinful, imperfect people we are, we inevitably end up hurting another's feelings or worse, if we're together long enough. Sometimes the hurting is done intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, but either way it takes massive amounts of mercy and grace to forgive. But forgiveness is what is required to create and maintain fellowship.

Because we all stumble and fall into sin, time and time again, we need God's mercy to help us stand and face the world again. We need to offer mercy as well as be willing to receive it from God and our fellow man. (2 Corinthians 2:7 CEV) "When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won't give up in despair."

These are some of the ground rules of Christianity. More will be added later as well as other bits of Christian philosophy.