Coffee With The Lord

As a young man preparing for the ministry, I believe I was led by the Holy Spirit to a very important life-verse… 1 Corinthians 9:27 (I read it again today during “coffee with the Lord).  It has served me well and has assumed a pivotal role in my life.  In fact, after I realized the importance of staying in shape physically in order to function at a maximum level daily, the surrounding verses near my life-verse even became more special to me.  This is not to say, I’ve never had a failure or stumbled from the principle and truth my life-verse expresses, but regardless of those failures it has continued to be a central, guiding principle in my life.  It expresses my life-quest and desire in service for the Lord.

Here it the passage with my life-verse in all caps…

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it!  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  But I DISCIPLINE MY BODY AND KEEP IT UNDER CONTROL, LEST AFTER PREACHING TO OTHERS I MYSELF SHOULD BE DISQUALIFIED!” (1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV)

 I think we’ve all seen it at some time or other… A person with great promise in public life disgraced by a moral or ethical lapse or pattern of living.  A young talented entertainer self-destruct through an undisciplined lifestyle.  An athlete shooting for a world record or championship season disqualified for violating the rules.  A high profile pastor disgraced and disqualified for ministry because of a tragic “moral failure.”

I don’t want to be that kind of person!  With God’s help I want to listen to the warning of Apostle Paul in this passage and exercise Spiritual self-discipline… “The fruit of the spirit is … self-discipline.” (Galatians 5:22-23).  And if you’ve fallen, acknowledge it, ask God and others to forgive you, and allow His grace to restore you and enable you to rebuild what sin has destroyed.  It can happen!!!

As I read my Bible today I was reminded that the choices we make have consequences!  If we go on living by them without repenting (i.e. changing our mind, heart and actions and turning to the Lord) we must bear the outcome of our choices…  Bad choices – bad outcomes!  Good choices – blessed outcomes.  Here’s what Isaiah 65:13-14 says…

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God…

“‘Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry;

“Behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty;

“Behold my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;

“Behold my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of hear and shall wail for breaking of Spirit.’”

Jesus said it another way… “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  But the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

I want to chose wisely… I want to choose the way God blesses, don’t you?!

Just a word of caution today about an item of spiritual health… beware of “the Judas Syndrome!”

This spiritual dysfunction begins to develop when material things and self-seeking begin to occupy a persons heart.  A symptom of this dysfunction often appears when person sees a random heart-felt act of generosity or kindness and they find themselves questioning its motives or being critical of the person who shared it.  Another expression of the syndrome appears when a small slight or disillusioning experience occurs and there is no spiritual energy to resist the bitterness that begins to arise within the heart.  Given time the “Judas Syndrome is spiritually destructive and deadly!  I just read about it again today in the Bible… Actually the account from which syndrome received its name…

“Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver Him [Jesus] over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.  And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.  (Matthew 26:14–16 ESV)

 I’m personally convinced that the “Judas Syndrome” is one of the reasons the Bible warns… “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it!”  (Proverbs 4:23 NIV) and in another place tell us… “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:16 NIV)