Make Your Life Count Forever

Let me share with you why you need to take Paul's advice in Philippians 3:13-14 seriously. Replaying failures or just bad experiences from your past is the most effective way to siphon off emotional and then physical energy.   It's also one of Satan's most destructive traps. We all do stupid stuff, we all sin, and we all have experienced the stupid stuff and sin of others directed at us.  Why do we rehash it over and then over again and again? If you did something stupid, if you offended someone---go ask them to forgive you. It's not rocket science.  Just say, "I was wrong to be so _____", fill in the blank:  selfish, mean, uncaring, whatever you did, give it a name.  Then, ask, "Will you forgive me?" Now---what if you were on the receiving end of someone else's sin? I've spent years grappling with a situation where I was treated badly.  I don't know how many mornings I've awakened to hurtful memories.  I lie there and rep

Do you watch HGTV Design shows? I tape shows and FF through to the end. I'm only interested in the BIG REVEAL. You know they take the couple down the hall and into their new Master Bedroom & Bathroom. The woman covers her mouth and then keeps repeating, "I don't believe it, I don't believe it". The husband says it's all great and thanks the designer for including a huge plasma TV.  The BIG REVEAL always makes me think of 1 Corinthians 3:14. 1Cr 3:14 If anyone's work which he has built on [it] endures, he will receive a reward. Are you ready for the BIG REVEAL? Do you want your life to count forever? We all do. But from time to time we forget and start focusing on more immediate goals. When that happens it's good to remember the fire. What fire you ask?  Here's a passage from 1 Corinthians 3 that explains what we are all suppose to be doing---as Christians. The apostle Paul uses a division currently happening in the church to

Contented Sheep in a Vermont Meadow Psalms 95:6 & 7 O come let us worship and bow down:  let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Whenever I come to this verse while reading the Psalms I find myself singing the song as written by Dave Doherty in 1980.  Several weeks ago I came to Psalms 95 in my Bible reading.  I made myself stop and read it in context. Psalms 95 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!  Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD [is] the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand [are] the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills [are] His also. The sea [is] His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry [land]. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He [is] our God, And

Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.  1 Corinthians 10:24 Do you watch NBC Nightly News? There's a segment toward the end called 'Making a Difference'. Your life can make a difference.  That's reassuring to know.  But will anything we do count 5 years from now?  10?  How about 50?  How about forever? Do you want your life to count forever?  Make the good of others your goal.  A life that counts for eternity is a life that mattered to others.  Your life can bring joy, peace, and love to everyone around you.  That's actually God's will for your life.  He wants to fill you with His Spirit, with wisdom, and with His love.  Are you willing to receive and turn around and give out what you received?   My husband began a Bible Training Center in Ghana West Africa over 10 years ago.  A story he tells from his travels to remote villages made the truth of 1 Cor. 10:24 come alive.  He had taken packages of Skittles with him and when t