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So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:30

God always finishes what He begins

(Phil. 1:6). God never speaks a word without ensuring that it comes to pass (Isa. 55:11). Christ is both the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8, 17). Christ is as much at the end of His work as He is at its beginning.

Jesus was given an enormous mandate. He was to live a sinless life, remaining absolutely obedient to His Father. Even the manner of His death was to fulfill numerous prophecies that had been foretold in Scripture (Matt. 26:24, 31, 54, 56; 27:9, 35; 46; John 19:28, 36-37). Yet, despite the extremely complex assignment Jesus received from His Father, He could shout triumphantly from the cross, “It is finished!”

Christ now resides within each believer. His assignment today is to complete God’s will in each Christian. He is just as determined to do this in us as He was to complete God’s will for Himself. You will have to resist Christ in order to remain out of the will of God. What is it God wants to do in you? Have you allowed Him to complete what He has begun? He will not force you to receive all that He has for your life. If God’s work has not been brought to fruition in you, it is not that Christ has not been diligently working toward that end. Rather, you may need to release areas of your life to Him and be as determined to see God’s work in you completed as Christ is. Review the things God has said to you over this last year. Are these promises God has made to you that you have refused to allow Him to complete? If so, commit to yield your will to God today.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

Though not scripture as far as I have been able to tell; the phrase "be in the world, but not of the world" has been a personal approach and benefit in keeping focus on my relationship with Christ. Just something I keep floating around in the gray matter to help avoid running the risk of getting caught up in secular concerns as well as the confusing and contradictory world of religious rigidity and "church" matters.

Not to imply that we should shun everything that doesn’t have the "Christian" brand on it. Nor should we readily jump on the bandwagon of any and everything that does have a "Christian" label. That being the case, the "church" is often assumed to be operating on Spiritual guidance, Christian principles and values. We obviously know this not to be true. Sometimes the "church" is falsely accused of hypocrisy, attacked or ridiculed; then again the "church" often provides reason to be criticized. A few reasons for skepticism and doubt, hinge on the misconduct and outright malicious, self-serving ways of so called "Christians" and supposed spiritual leaders in the"church". Their conduct mars the name of Christianity, fortunately for us it’s not the title that we choose to be identified by that saves us from ourselves but rather Christ.

In the tradition of Jeff Foxxworthy’s "You might be a Redneck" routine; I’ve provided some indicators that you might be practicing religion in your "church" instead of practicing following Christ.

You might be practicing religion if:

• Your organization is spreading and selling their spin on Jesus. Matthew 28:16-20, 1st Corinthians 15, 2nd John 7
• Your Sunday Sermon is based on how convenient it is, or how it will profit something/someone other than God’s agenda. 2nd Corinthians 2:17

• Your new religion, organization or doctrine presents some new revelation to "What God really meant." 2nd Timothy 3:16
• Your name and the word "clique" are synonymous. Philippians 2: 19-22
• You know what it is to be elite, but not humble. Philippians 2:6-8
• Your Bible is littered with side-notes that say: "Not Applicable". Romans 6:1

• You are, or belong to a politically motivated, Christ neutered denomination. 2nd Timothy 2:3-7
• Your "church" organization requires a W-2 for membership.
• You’re idea of attending church is only for baptisms,weddings, funerals, and Christmas Candle light services. Revelation 3:16

• Christ is an afterthought to the business of your organization. Matthew 22:34-40
• You’re a self-professed mouth-piece for God. 2nd John 7
• You think that fruits of the Spirit is a new brand of underwear. Galations 5:22-25

• "To God be the glory" is foreign to you. James 3:9, Philippians 2: 19-22
• God is the final authority.. as long as it doesn’t conflict with what the pastor says. Romans 13:1

1st John2:15-17 (NIV)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of

God lives forever.

“I’m not religious, just a Christian”

Luke 17:6 was the topical verse for this evening’s devotional/Bible study time; and has been for the past 3 days or so. What leads up to verse 6 of Luke 17 is Jesus warning

the apostles that it will be impossible to go through life without being offended,trespassed or sinned against. The warning as understood by your’s truly is not for Christians to be put on guard to avoid being offended; so much as it is a forewarning to the apostles and to us on what attitude we are to have or take on after the fact.

Jesus gives instruction that we’re to be ready to forgive the repentant offender readily, He stresses this in verse 4 of Luke 17:"And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying I repent: thou shalt forgive him."Now the apostles having heard this; and probably feeling as though it was too much to repeatedly forgive someone looked at Jesus’ proclamation and responded to the Lord in verse 5 "Increase our faith!". In Luke 17:6, Jesus illustrates to the apostles what; a little faith can accomplish.

Luke 17:6 (KJV)
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

At the "heart" of Luke 17:6 is the idea of expelling bitterness from one’s life. I recall coming across Luke 17:6 several months ago, and only giving it a passing thought back then. Not much digging into it’s meaning or it’s context was given; most likely meaning none of the verses before nor after it were read. At the time it may have simply been a verse that caught my eye while searching for some other scripture.

As Rick Renner, author of "Sparkling Gems" notes; Jesus used the Sycamine tree to illustrate His message to the apostles,on the destructive nature of harboring bitterness . The Sycamine tree had the following characteristics; which bitterness mimics figuratively …

• The root structure of the Sycamine tree ran very deep,and the tree itself was large considering it grew in the Middle East’s climate. It was difficult to eradicate the tree because of it’s roots being buried so deep into the ground. The tree could be cut down to the stump, and eventually because of the roots being so deep, the tree would recover in time. Similar to bitterness being deeply embedded in the heart.

• The wood of the Sycamine tree was the preferred wood for building caskets, perhaps an example by Jesus to show how bitterness if left unattended will spiritually kill a person.

• The Sycamine tree thrived in the arid conditions of the Middle East, much the same as bitterness can thrive in the life of a spiritually dry Christian.

• The fruit of the Sycamine tree was similar in appearance to that of the Mulberry, however; where the fruit of the Mulberry was sweet, that of the Sycamine was bitter. The fruit of the Mulberry was also more expensive; so people without much money ate of the Sycamine, but did so by nibbling at the fruit. This picture is similar to mentally nibbling at issues and situations that bitterness has arisen from; constantly revisiting or opening old wounds.

• The Sycamine tree was pollinated only by wasps. In order to be pollinated, a wasp stuck it’s stinger into the heart of the Sycamine tree’s fruit. Similar to bitterness being a by-product of someone being "stung" by another person (hurt emotionally, wounded, trespassed).

As Jesus illustrated in Luke 17:6, to rid one’s self of the destructive power of bitterness requires not only a little faith, but an attitude of actively pursuing the desire to remove bitterness from one’s heart. As study time was winding to a close, a movie from 2004 came to mind. Jim Carey and Kate Winslet starred together in a movie titled "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"; my recollection of the movie is that it was a bit bizarre at times, yet now presents a thought worth bringing up.

The synopsis of the movie is of a man named Joel Barish (Carey) whom is heartbroken and distraught over the fact that his girlfriend Clementine (Winslet), underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory after the two had a falling out. Upset and bitter, Joel opts for the same procedure to "get over" his loss. During the p

rocedure however; as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realizes that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

What stuck as a common idea between Luke 17:6 and the movie, is the way in which we choose to deal with

bitterness. In both cases, it’s a matter of whether one chooses to let go or to hold onto the life consuming bitterness. Letting go requires one becoming the authority of the flesh, holding on to bitterness however; is allowing the flesh to be in authority of one’s life. Hollywood presents a fantasy solution to a real life issue and that’s Ok, it’s just a movie. Scripture however presents a real life solution to a real life issue.

Grace and peace be with you.

C.A. Stallworth

Here’s another follow-up to the November 26, 2007 post, titled: “A Renewed And Undistracted Mind“, my own rambling on the dangers of Christians becoming overly involved or obsessed with politics.

The link at the end of this post is by Columnist David Sanders of the Arkansas News Bureau. I think he does a much better job of expressing the views that I attempted to relate to readers of my original post, of course he should do better as he is a Columnist. The blog post/column is here: http://sbcoutpost.com/2007/12/26/david-sanders-latest-column/#comment-8707.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5

Attitudes do not just happen; we choose them. Paul urged believers to have the same attitude that Jesus had. Jesus was the Son of God. His place was at the right hand of His Father, ruling the universe. No position could be more glorious or honorable than the right hand of the heavenly Father. Jesus’ relationship with the Father gave Him the right to this honor.

Jesus chose not to hold on to this right. Nothing, not even His position in heaven, was so precious to Him that He could not give it up if His Father asked Him. His love for His Father compelled Him to make any sacrifice necessary in order to be obedient to Him. When the Father required a spotless sacrifice for the redemption of humanity, Jesus did not cling to His rights, nor did He argue that He should not have to suffer for the sins of rebellious creatures of dust (Isa. 53:7). Rather, He relinquished the glory of His heavenly existence in order to become a man. He was born in a cattle shed; he slept in a feeding trough. His life was spent preparing for the day when He would suffer an excruciating execution. All of this, He did willingly.

We are tempted to hold tightly to things God has given us. We say, “I would be willing to give up anything God asked of me, but I just don’t think He would ask me to give anything up!” The Father asked His Son to make radical adjustments in His life. Can we not expect that He will ask us to sacrifice privileges and comforts as well?

If you find yourself resisting every time God seeks to adjust your life to His will, ask the Spirit to give you the same selfless attitude that Jesus demonstrated.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day