It cost God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost him crucifixion.

C. S. Lewis

The finer things in life. . . Do a Google search for Christie’s, the world-famous auction house of “finer things”, and you will come across the most recent sales items. It turns out that the most recent sale listed was for four custom made handbags. The handbags were Passe-Guide bags. That may mean something to some of you. I know nothing about handbags or purses. However, I do know that one of these custom purses sold for more than $128,000 US dollars! I hate to think what the matching shoes would cost!
 
The most beautiful things God has made come to us for free. He is generous with His glorious sunrises and sunsets. The powerful beauty of the thunderstorm can be seen and heard on many a night. Fireflies in a glass jar are a wonder to behold. The priceless look of our child or loved one peacefully asleep comes for free.

 God, Himself, is willing to pay a great price to possess those things He holds most dear, those things which, honestly, He already has claim and power over. I am talking about that rebellious will mentioned above. Humanity’s greatest sin is not adultery, murder, or even genocide. It is the refusal to recognize our Creator as having any claim over our lives, our hearts, and our wills. We proudly fly our own flag from our heart, seeking to repel any others that would attempt to conquer that hill. Oh, yes, we give it to a loved one, but even then, only at an equal exchange rate. They must make us happy or we will tear down their flag and cast it aside. They must do as we expect and want or we will remain alone atop that mount.

 
God will not fight you for your own heart. You must give it to Him. He will fight anyone else who tries to claim it from Him once you have declared Him its conqueror and king, but he will not grapple with you. Yours must be an unconditional surrender.
 
Who owns your heart? Yes, it may have been abused by many in the past. It has probably been trampled on and run over. It has been treated unkindly and without compassion. The result is that we guard it very closely. We keep it behind locked gates. The drawbridge to it remains up and the moat that must be crossed to gain access to it is wide.

 Jesus Christ calls to you to lower the drawbridge to your heart and will, to let Him in and be King. He will treat your heart kindly. He recognizes the value it has. He has already been willing to pay a tremendous price in the hopes of getting your attention. Now, will you let down this last defense and be at peace?

 

Craig Krueger

Good Intentions

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.    (Romans 7:15)

We are all about good intentions. We want credit for trying, for giving our best effort. We intend to follow Jesus in all that we do. We really want to. When this doesn’t work, we intend to try harder. We really do. Well, when that doesn’t. . .Are you getting the picture?
 
We are up against the perfect law of God. Good intentions don’t matter, only results. Are you perfect yet? Me neither!

Until we come up against that perfect law of God, until the gravity of our own sinfulness becomes reality to us, until we recognize that our best efforts are not even fit to be put in God’s garbage can, we can’t truly experience God’s infinite mercy. You see, until we recognize just how short we have fallen, we can’t appreciate God’s love. We turn Jesus into a helper. Well, let me tell you right now – Jesus did not come to earth to help you be a batter person. Jesus came, died, and rose again that you might become someone totally different. Jesus doesn’t want a better you. He’ll start with that, but He will never leave you there. He won’t allow it. He is going to remake you from head to toe. Nothing is going to be the same.
Following Christ is not about a cessation of sinful activity and an initiation of righteous living. Our righteousness will never get us where we truly need to be. No, Christianity is about a living relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Much of Christian literature is about telling us what is wrong with us. Most of us already know that!

The gospel is about telling us what God has already done to take care of the problem. There is nothing for you to do, no multi-step program to begin, only to fail miserably like every other time we have tried to live up to our good intentions. Jesus Christ comes to us to live life together, in community, with us. He comes to us to proclaim in our lives as He did on the cross, “It is finished.” No, that won’t mean you’re always perfect from that point onward, but you will be whole!

Pastor Craig

C. S. Lewis (@CSLewisU) tweeted at 0:48 AM on Mon, Oct 08, 2012: If He who in Himself can lack nothing, chooses to need us, it is because we need to be needed. #CSLewis (https://twitter.com/CSLewisU/status/255182976147668993) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Treasure

Don’t let your happiness depend on something that you may lose.

C.S. Lewis 

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Matthew 6:19-21)

Where is your heart? It is so easy to long for this world. There are many things in this world that cause us joy, but there are many things that cause us frustration and heartache as well.

Remember, if you can, the story of Lot’s wife. If you need a refresher course go home and read Genesis 19 this afternoon. In the story, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are so wicked that God decides to destroy them completely. In the whole region Scripture only records one person that God warned prior to the event, Lot.

Angels came to warn Lot and his family of the coming destruction. The family did not seem to want to leave the city. Finally, the angels compelled them to leave with the warning to not look back and feel sorry for the city. The warning is not one against glancing back. Rather, it involves a sadness for the city or a sense of remorse over what lifestyle is gone. As the family fled the city, Genesis records that Lot’s wife stopped to look back, with the consequences that she was turned into a pillar of salt.

We do not know the thoughts that were in her mind. She may have thought of the place of importance Lot had among the men of the city. She may have thought of the parties or festivals. We do not know. We do know that part of her looking back was a desire to be back there in the midst of it. She chose that which did not last, that which God was going to destroy.

It’s OK to take pleasure in this world. God made it for his glory and our enjoyment. However, we need to pay attention as to where we invest our heart!

Pastor Craig

Mine!

They were Yours, You gave them to Me!

John 17:6

Jesus Christ takes possession of you from the Father. To have possession of another living thing is a big responsibility. That is one reason Tracy and I have had all our kids involved in agriculture at some time in their lives.

At times they whined and complained about it. They didn’t like the extra work, the feeding in the rain, the blanketing of horses in the cold, breaking the ice in the water trough on a frozen winter morning, checking the pasture for fencing an animal might get tangled in, getting up early on a school morning to do whatever needed to be done, or recognizing that your evening at the movies still had to be finished off with a feeding and haying of everything that needed it, even when you stayed for both ends of a double feature. Yes, when something living is yours, the care and attentiveness cannot be limited to the times it is convenient.

Jesus Christ does that for you. He does it for you in a VERY sacrificial way. He never complains, never questions if you are worth the effort, never tires of the high maintenance you require.

When we see our Christian life in this perspective, being a disciple is not about doing anything for Jesus, but of being a delight to Him. The easy part of that is that we are already a delight to Him. He has already proven that to us through His death and resurrection on our behalf.

This is the way we give ourselves to Jesus Christ. He has already posted a claim on your life. It is your job to recognize His claim as the one and only claim on your life. You sign away all rights and privileges to the One who bought you with His very own life and now takes responsibility for your care and life.

Today, be entirely His!

Pastor Craig

C. S. Lewis (@CSLewisU) tweeted at 6:16 PM on Sun, Sep 23, 2012: "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different" #CSLewis (https://twitter.com/CSLewisU/status/250010815221080064) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

A Simple Kindness

“You got any cans in there?!” That was the call I heard as I dumped a trash bag in the dumpster behind the church. I turned and saw a man I assumed to be a little older than myself. He was at another dumpster down the alley looking for aluminum to recycle. He was trying to get enough together so he could afford to do his laundry.

It was Sunday morning. I was running a little behind for the Men’s Prayer Breakfast. “No,” I said, "just trash."

“I like to get ‘em before they get buried and nasty if I can,” he said back. “I’m going to have to wait on laundry until Monday, maybe Tuesday, because I can’t get money for these until the recycling place opens up in the morning.”

“Have you eaten breakfast?” I asked. “We’re having a breakfast right here at the church. It should be just about ready. You are more than welcome. Come and join me.”

“I’d have to come like this. Everything else I have is dirtier than this, and I’ve been digging in the dumpsters this morning. I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.”

“You are fine. Jesus doesn’t have a dress code that I know of,” I replied.

“Well, that’s mighty nice of you,” he replied. “Most people are nice, or at least try to be. You know, there’s somebody in these apartments here who pulls out all their aluminum cans and hangs them on the corner of the dumpster here so I don’t have to crawl in here after ‘em. Now that’s nice; isn’t it? It’s like a little angel taking care of me, making life just a bit easier.”

“That is VERY thoughtful,” I replied.

Well, my new friend came and ate breakfast with the men of First Presbyterian Church. He finished his breakfast and went to complete his rounds so he could do his laundry with the money he found that we threw away. I have thought about him in the days since that morning, but I haven’t seen him around. I have thought about him and the world he is a part of, one that is so different from mine.

I have thought even more about the kind soul, anonymous still, who every week separates out their cans, not for their own benefit, but to make life just a little bit easier for my breakfast friend.

And so, whoever you are in the apartments across from the post office here in Ennis, if you are reading this, know that you are someone’s angel, that your kind gesture is noted and appreciated. I hope you are blessed, for God has certainly used you to bless someone else.

Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ's, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Mark 9:41 ASV

Pastor Craig