Impress Me!

You've seen it in the movies. The hero asks what they are supposed to do for some important critic, client or employer. "Impress me!" Most of the time it seems to me that the person saying "Impress me" is really not expecting to get too impressed. They think too highly of themselves and their abilities and sort of hope the hero will at least try to get close.

There are other times, though, that they really do want and expect the hero to truly impress them. When that happens, if I were the hero, then I'd really want to do my best. It would be a pleasure! I guess I really like to be impressive! ha! Maybe it's low self-esteem, maybe it's because I got positive feedback from my parents and teachers when I did something good.

Yeah, I really like to impress people, even though I'm not so good at it. I like to blame it on being human, but I might just be more human than others since I often offend people trying to impress them. They don't really want to be impressed by me. I think maybe they are thinking about how much they can impress me, instead. Or maybe they are actually just really that humble and nice and not impressed by my impression. Oh well.

Anyway, I've got boys. Some are getting a little old now and are actually men and not boys. But they are still and will always be my sons. They will always have my love and my desire to be loved by them. And I was thinking that they are actually the few people that I don't really want to impress that much. What I want is for them to know that they've impressed me!  Kind of strange for me, I know! But it's true. I really want them to enjoy that fulfillment and personal worth. I think contentment has those ingredients in a big measure.

Of course, they don't really have to impress me with anything. I'm already impressed by them, by them being themselves. They amaze me sometimes and I mean in a good way. They've amazed me in some not so good ways a few times, but that's just part of growing up. They're human, too. But they still impress me, so, actually, I'm not really looking for and hoping that they will do something outstanding and suddenly impress me with their greatness. What I'm really looking for is for them to know and realize that I'm already impressed. That their worthiness to me is already integrated into the love that I have for them. I want them to know that I think they are great!

So, I guess I just need to keep telling them that, right? I'm going to keep trying to remember to tell them as much as possible - without sounding too crazy, of course.

Then I got to thinking (can be dangerous at times). I got to thinking that maybe that's how God feels with us, His children. Maybe He's not really trying to test us to see if we'll stay faithful to Him and keep all the rules and whatever else He can think of so that we can get into Heaven. Maybe He is, but, maybe, just maybe, He's really trying to get across to us how much we already impress Him. How much He really loves us and enjoys us the way we are.

Of course, I know for my part, I've got a lot weaknesses and failings and have really messed things up a lot! Could He really still be impressed with me? Could His love really cover all my mistakes? Could He really be more interested in me growing into a fulfilled person, knowing that He loves me without condition?

That does sound like a Mighty Loving God to me! He really did go way out of His way to prove it! He came to earth as a small child, loved everyone and finally went to the cross for each and everyone of us! It doesn't seem that far-fetched that He would really just want us to love Him and to enjoy His love for us.

What about all my mistakes and the things I've messed up so much? Well, He can fix those things easily! He's God! I know if one of my boys breaks a glass while doing the dishes, I'm much more interested in his safety than in the broken glass. Makes sense. But even if my boys have a fight and hurt each other, I'm more interested in helping each to resolve the conflict and to learn from it than I am in punishing them or negating their worth to me. I mean I do get angry, but ultimately I'm interested in them growing and maturing from any situation.

So, maybe God really is more interested in letting us know that He's already impressed by us. It would definitely make it more of a pleasure to, in turn, please Him more.

And maybe He's not trying to impress us so much with His greatness. It would help explain why the world is such a mess. Why He doesn't just come in, fix everything, make everything right and really really impress us all!  I'd say there are a lot of people in this world who are not so impressed with God. Some are even angry at Him. And some refuse to believe in Him, because they just haven't been impressed by Him yet!

Maybe it really is all about us! Maybe God is much more interested in us and our world than in Himself and His greatness. He left the Halls of Heaven and all that to die for us! I think it should be pretty clear!!

When Jesus was first baptized by John the baptist, God said from the heavens, "My Son, in Whom I am well pleased!" Now, it's true that Jesus had been pretty great up to this point in His life, but really, it wasn't until after this that He did the greatest things. Healing so many people, doing miracles, teaching us about God's love for us and finally proving it by dying on the cross as payment for our sins. God, the father, points out that before even doing any of those greatest things that He was already impressed with His Son.

And when we get to Heaven we are all hoping to hear the Lord say, "Well done, faithful one. I'm impressed! Enter now into this joy of knowing that I love you!" Maybe we shouldn't wait! Maybe we should enter it now and take pleasure in pleasing Him more!

Maybe He's saying to you right now: "Impress Me!" but with a smile and a twinkle in His eye, you know that He has already been impressed and just wants you to know how much He loves you! Really loves you!

And how do we continue to impress Him? Well, just help everyone else to know how much God is impressed with them.  And then let them know how much you are impressed with them!

Impress me?  You already have!

Legos are cool

I really like Legos. They are cool. You can spend hours building things and creating the latest greatest super cool 7 wheeled interspace dune buggie shuttle. And then play with it as your own very specialized toy that no one else in the whole wide world has - just you. Now that's cool. Of course, my kids like them even better than I do. It's a shame that I don't play with them as often as I would like - adults just don't get as much time as kids do. I don't know why. It looks like the same 24 hours, but for some reason it doesn't last as long for big people. Oh well.

Anyway, I was praying the other day and the Lord showed me how studying the Bible and memorizing important verses and promises was like playing with Legos. Ya, really! Okay, well, actually it wasn't about playing with the Legos so much as to the fact that you don't just use Legos for a day and then throw them away. You keep them so you can use them again another day. At least you should. If you've been throwing them away you're really missing out on the best part: the fact that the same Legos can be used over and over, day after day, and still seem just like new toys! Stop throwing them away, okay?

Now what does that have to do with the Bible? Well, you can read a passage from the Bible and be spiritually uplifted. It feeds your spirit and you actually grow spiritually. Often as you read, a particular verse or two will stand out as being especially meaningful and helpful. Just what you needed! Like a key that unlocks that door you've been banging your head on for days trying to get through. The Bible works! God's Word and Guidance have all the answers! So you read them and apply them once and then just forget them, right? I hope not! You really don't want to lose those important keys. It's amazing how many times we have to go through the same door that always seems to lock itself. We need those keys again and again.

Also, often when you pray the Lord will remind you of what you have read in the Bible and other spiritually uplifting reading. And as you go through you day, you'll often remember these lessons learned and they help you make it to the next step. They will be the keys to unlock that door again and many times will even unlock other doors that looked different but apparently were very similiar.

And the Legos? Well we keep all our Legos in big boxes under the kids' beds. And when we need them we just pull out those boxes and dig in to find just the piece we need to add in that extra doorway or window on the three story super duper space galactic dune buggie garage and repair shop. That's what we need to do with our special key Bible verses. We need to store them in big boxes under the bed - no, I mean, we need to memorize them and keep them in the big box that sits on our shoulders. That way they will always be there to help us when we need them.

You do have to take them out often and dust them off or else you will forget them. So be sure to spend time both memorizing verses and reviewing verses that you've already memorized. Don't want all that work spent memorizing to go down the drain.

Also, please don't just wait until you find key verses and promises as you read and study God's Word. You can find lists of very special verses that others have already tried and proven to be effective. You can check out this site, https://www.gotpromise.com/promises.  It has a whole lot of verses.

So, how many Legos do you have?

You can Believe without Seeing, but you cannot Believe without Knowing

I've been thinking about how the meaning of words often change with time. Cool, hot, bad, super, dynamite, wicked, groovy (anyone remember groovy?) - those words are the kind that change a lot and we expect that. If you're an adult then you're not supposed to understand teenagers. And if you're a teenager then you must never get caught sounding like an adult. That's pretty basic. We know that. 

The problem arises when words that "are not supposed to change meaning" do. Words like Faith, Believe, Love.

Love is way too complex for me to deal with right now, and faith is another really deep word. Let's try "believe" - that seems simple enough. I believe this and you believe that and they believe whatever... That should be pretty clear what we mean. But in reality it isn't. You just believe it's clear - ha!

The problem is that often in today's world the word "believe" means something like: "I consider that it may be true, and most likely it is, at least as far as I understand the various facts and proofs that I have available. (but I think I could be wrong... maybe...)" - And for some it's more like: "I heard it on the news and everyone else believes it, so it must be true." ah - yeah - hmmm.

But believing should really run along the lines of "Knowing" - of being positive and basing your life and actions on the "fact" of what you believe. You may be wrong, but as far as you are concerned, you "know the facts" and you accept the belief as not requiring proof.

Ouch! Did I just say that believing could involve not requiring proof! That's unheard of in this scientific age. Everything has to be proven true or else it's a lie! (Except, of course, evolution - that's absolutely impossible to prove true and yet it's taught as a fact - a very strange situation...) Only children would ever believe without evidence!

Well - that's my point. Children believe. Adults often just consider the possibility of the veracity of some doctrine. Big difference.

Now don't get me wrong. Evidence and facts have real value. In fact, it's human nature to accept as true the first side of any argument that one learns and then defend it against all odds and evidence to the contrary. That can have disastrous results like believing that the world is flat or that low-fat food is healthy and dietetic even if it's loaded with sugars and preservatives. So there is a time to consider the evidence. Just be sure it's real evidence and not some contrived facts and figures. And that it's enough evidence to support or maybe counter what you believe.

Actually, the most important thing is to find the evidence of what you do believe. Is there any? You should be able to find some. If not, then maybe it's time to consider the alternatives.

Well all that to say that believing is knowing. It's not just a consideration of the facts or even just hoping something's true. That's the point - don't say you believe if you just "think" it's true. Say you believe if you "know" it's true. Children believe.

Now why is that important to distinguish between considering the truth and believing the truth? Well if you just consider something true it will never really change you! You will always have some part of your mind and heart in reserve, just in case you were wrong. You need to believe to be changed by the truth! To truly know. Then you start living your life based on that knowledge.

So search for the truth and study it until you truly believe it as unquestionable fact. The truth will then set you free from all the other alternatives.

The Apostle Paul once wrote to a young Christian named Timothy and told him, "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

And Jesus, Himself, said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." That's a promise.

Let's get started

There's always so much to talk about, but since I don't really have any idea who might be reading this, I figure I ought to talk about something worthwhile. I know I hate to read through posts that just ramble... uhh... okay then.

I hope you've "got promise" since for me I can't imagine living without it. What promise? I'm talking about the promise of Heaven and eternal life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I know almost everyone has some concept of Heaven and the 'other place' and some concept of eternal life (or not). Most of the different ideas and beliefs about the 'afterlife' and the spirit world are really hard to deal with and even accept unless you believe that somehow you will win out in the end. The alternative is just way too scary to even think about, never mind believe in.

The greatest thing you could ever discover is that you don't even need to worry about Hell, Hades, (New York?) or any other place. (Okay, New Yorkers, I've lived in New York, and, no, it was not really all that much like Hell - I just thought it was a cute joke - please forgive me...)

If you've "got Promise" then a promise is a promise, especially if it's someone as faithful and honest as God making the promise to you! I couldn't possibly list all the verses and other references to God's promise in just one blog post, so I'm not going to bother. The fact is that you really don't need to know them all - but they do help to make the promise more 'alive' as you study them.

And how do you, personally, your own self, get this promise? - "For God so loved the world (that includes you!) that He gave His only Son, Jesus, (to pay for our sins and mistakes) that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) would not perish but have everlasting life." - There now you have it - well sort of. The promise is conditional on believing in Jesus, but that's the easy part. Even atheists believe that Jesus was a real person. You just need to believe that He is the Savior of the world, sent by God.

Now most Christians believe that you need to say a prayer of salvation to get the promise and I won't really argue against that in any way. But I believe that if you really "admit to yourself" that you believe that Jesus is the Savior and that you want that salvation then you have already prayed! That personal admission is heard by God - He knows all your thoughts! How could He not hear that? I mean if you really do believe in Him, then you realize that He can hear your thoughts, so that admission of belief was also to Him. For your own faith, though, I do recommend that everyone say a prayer of Salvation. That way you never have to worry whether or not you did what you were supposed to do or not. So here's one you can pray right now:

Dear Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God, and that You took my punishment and died for me. Please forgive me for all of my sins. I now invite you into my heart. Jesus, I know that I can never be good enough to save myself, so I ask You to please come in and give me Your free gift of Eternal Live! In Jesus name I ask, amen.

Wow! That was it! If you prayed that prayer then you've "got Promise" - you've got eternal life and have a guaranteed ticket to Heaven. Better start thinking about the trip and your new life - there's so much to look forward to. The best person to ask about it is Jesus Himself. He can tell you exactly what to expect and what to pack, ha! Just ask Him - He does answer! He would never ever let you down. That's a promise.