Leaving the Old You Behind

Today I came across a familiar passage in my reading.  I shutter to think how often I skim over “familiar” passages and take them for granted.  Thankfully the Holy Spirit prompted me to meditate on this one:

1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;

                        Genesis 12:1-4a

This is the famous call to Abram who would become the father of Israel and eventually, Abraham, the friend of God.  What an amazing journey!  I often go to the life of Abraham for inspiration in my own journey as a father, husband and man of God.  Abraham experienced great struggle, loss, failure, sacrifice and incredible victory.  All of which speak volumes about how everyman is able to do the same simply by trusting God.  His incredible account is found in Genesis chapters 12 – 25.

As I read over how it all started in Abram’s life it occurred to me what God was asking of Abram.  This father of Israel, and eventual friend of God started out just like you and I – just like everyman.  But before the great promise of blessing in vv. 2-3, God asks Abram to completely shed his identity.  Look at what God instructs him to do in verse 1:

#1 – “Get thee out of thy country.”

What’s in a country?  Here in the U.S., citizens proudly wave their banner year around for the old red, white and blue.  It happens in other countries too.  It’s natural and whether by favoring your country’s soldiers on the battlefield, or rooting every four years for your favorite national athlete in the Olympics, it’s just built in to a person – the country they come from.  It is predictable and at some level, safe, even for those in repressive regimes.  How important of a connection is a person’s country to their identity?  Apparently deeply important, as it is the first layer that God commands Abram to shed.  I wondered how willing we as men would be to completely shed our national identity to follow God?  Does my patriotism and reverence for the Constitution and Founding Fathers compare to my devotion to the cross of Christ?  God forbid, but I think sometimes it is much easier to embrace the nature of our heritage as countrymen then be willing to shed it if necessary for the cause of Christ.  Would I be willing to leave it behind to follow God to another part of the world?  What if it required giving up that part of my identity permanently?

#2 – Get thee out “from thy kindred.”

If a person’s country is important to their identity, then a person’s kindred, is even more intricately woven into the fabric of a person.  Many people associate kindred with family, but it means something slightly broader than that.  It contains the root word, “kind,” and essentially encompasses those things or people that are similar.  God was asking Abram to not only leave his national identity, but also leave behind everything similar in kind to those things and people who were kindred in his old spirit, old attitudes, old beliefs, old values, old feelings…  As God continues to peel the layers away from the old man, Abram, the challenge becomes more intense.  As you obey the Lord, have you noticed the people and things you surround yourself with changing?  Have you left behind that which was kindred to the old, pre-Christ you?

#3 – Get thee out “from thy father’s house.”

Finally, in this short, compact list we see God asking Abram to shed the most intimate layer of identity, his family.  This probably doesn’t need a lot of elaboration, but to say that it involves the foundational layer of a person is probably not a stretch.  I can think of no other connection so close as a person’s family.  God designed it this way for our good that we might be protected and provided for.  And that relationship you have with your mom, dad, aunt, grandparent, child, brother, sister, nephew, niece… is a powerful bond, sealed by shared experiences and sealed by the shared interest of preserving the all important family (and thereby yourself) that naturally exists when you share the same name.  I know that I would do anything for my family.  But am I as a man willing to shed my old  foundational identity for God’s?  As you read Abram’s story, you’ll find that he had to come face to face with that very question.

Before I moved on in my reading of Genesis 12, I had to ask myself whether or not I’ve turned over each part of my identity to God.  In Luke 14:26 Jesus lays out what it means to be a true follower of his by talking about what it means to turn over your identity,

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Fortunately the love that God gives you is unending so that there is exceeding more than enough to spread around between your country, kindred and family.  All the same, don’t diminish the fact that Jesus, here in the gospel of Luke, illustrates the nature of what your devotion to anything else in this world must be like compared to your devotion to the Lord.  Oh, that we as men might be that type of Disciple!  The road to this sort of life starts one way.  Abram believed and obeyed.  He may not have understood at that early moment of his journey the depth of what God was asking of him, but what he did understand he moved on:   

 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;

                        Genesis 12:4a

This week I want to encourage you to listen to the Word of the Lord to identify ways you might depart as the Lord speaks to you.   This week, be sensitive to what God would have you shed literally and comparatively so that Jesus might be magnified in you.

To deny the LORD

I've been studying Jude in our bible study when I came across this verse;

 Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our god into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now there is plenty of stuff going on in this verse and we could probably spend weeks alone in this verse.  But what really stood out to me was "denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."  As a godly man I instantly would say "Well I would never!!"  I could never deny my God and my Saviour, you might be saying that same thing right now.

Matt 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is in      heaven
So we all know better then that, and in our relationship with God we don't deny him we accept, love, and proclaim his name to the world.  What should we deny?

Matt 16:24  Then said Jesus uto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.
So we are to deny ourselves.  We are to deny the flesh.  We are to put away everything that this earthly body has an urge to do, everything this earthly body thinks is right we should deny.  Because the flesh is sin and to be IN the Lord is holy.  
So of course we wouldn't deny God that means eternal seperation from him, we learned that in Matt 10:33.
  
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 
There it is again deny yourself, but there is something else in this one.  Take up his cross DAILY.  
I was at a christian function a week or so ago and I heard one of those "that's what she said jokes".  It came out of a strong christian mans mouth.  I don't find them funny.  I don't appreciate them.  And I find them quite degrading to women and I'm sure God doesn't like the sexual connotations that it implies about a child of his.  So that got me thinking, how does something like that get into the vocabulary of a man of God, how does something as vile and degrading as that creep in unaware and become a part of our daily lives.  

2 Peter 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.  

DENYING THE LORD, that's how that slips into our world that's how it slowly creeps in and after a while it seems to be ok.  We already know we won't deny God, but how about your daily walk your daily cross bearing walk where are you denying Christ?  Everytime you sin, Everytime you let something into your life that you know you shouldn't you Deny Christ and take on that sin acceptingly and knowingly.  You watch that dirty movie, you are denying God and letting sin in your life.  You listen to vulger music, you deny Christ and let sin in.  You do, look, participate, listen, read and willfully sin against God's will, You DENY him.  And as you deny him in the small things you will eventually become numb to those and allow more and more into your life.  Until someday it's part of your life and it flows from your mouth and it flows through your mind and it's ok.  It's just ok, part of life and you have no conviction about the sin, the denial of God that you now participate in.   

So to wrap it up I earge you to get that conviction and when sin (denial) creeps up in your life you will have the knowledge of God and the eyes of Jesus to know and recognize it.  HOW?  Well by being IN the Lord thy GOD.  By being IN the word everyday, by being close to GOD by haveing an intimate relationship with him.  If your not taking some quiet time and drawing near to GOD praying reading his word then you have no defenses Ephesians 6:10-18.   
 

Get Up Man!

           Failure is a scary place for a man. Men love to win and to a man, most often losing is representative of one thing: FAILURE. After all, it has been said that, “Winning is not everything, it’s the only thing.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard men quote those words uttered by Vince Lombardi many years ago. I remember as a freshman in high school watching seniors on the varsity basketball team sob in the locker room after a tough loss in the state tournament. On campus, they had a bigger than life persona and seemed somewhat immortal to me as a freshman. They were popular, very talented, and even had their names in the newspaper. But in the locker room that night, they felt like losers as they failed to win it all.

                Failure can be defined as something that falls short of what is required or expected. Students of Scripture immediately hear bells ringing when considering that definition.  Romans 3:23 declares, “For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Tucked away in this gem of a passage we encounter a very necessary reality: EVERYBODY FAILS (Including men). Before we can ever learn how to properly manage failure we must embrace this reality. Failure to do so only intensifies failure.

                There’s a belief held by many pastors that it is too risky to expose their failures to people. Now, I do believe a pastor or Christian leader should maintain a right testimony (1 Timothy 3) however, if they are human, then failure is as much a part of their journey as it is with those they are privileged to lead. As a matter of fact, the great Apostle Paul admitted the following to billions:

             Romans 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

I have a suspicion that the Apostle Paul missed the memo advising pastors not to admit their failures.

                When all is said and done, I do not want to fail. I want to thrive and hit God’s standard each and every time. But Romans 7:19 and 1 Timothy 1:15 speak to my reality. In the seventeen years that I have walked with Jesus Christ, I have had to accept that not only is failure a part of the journey, it is NECESSARY. Though I hate to fail, one of the best things failure does for me is ground me.  Failure brings me face to face with my insufficiency and total inability to meet God’s standard in my flesh. I need this reality.

                Another blessing in failure is that it serves as a safeguard in ministry. Our brightest attributes are usually exposed in ministry. This is especially true for those who serve in a more public capacity. Public gift sets tend to attract compliments, respect, and immediate acceptance. If not careful, one can get inflated. Failure comes along and reinforces a Romans 7:19 and 1 Timothy 1:15 reality! As much as I hate to taste failure, there have been times where I’ve found myself caught up in my own press to only fall very hard days later and be brought back to reality. So I’m thankful for how the Lord uses failure.

                In conclusion, in the journey to becoming the man God would have you to be, failing is as much of the process as succeeding. As a matter of fact, it is through failure that we most often learn how to succeed.  Here’s the key though, embrace the lessons and move on. Too many men fail and instead of learning and moving on, they move into a paralyzing state of failure which leads to more failure and literally years can be wasted. The Bible says it perfectly:

Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

                I find great encouragement from the life of Peter who clearly has one of the darkest episodes of his life preserved in Scripture for all to see. But what a ministry God had for him after that! Peter fell but rose up again and so can you.

                Get Up Man!

               

Staking a Valid Claim on the Name of Christ

I was thinking the other day about the excuse that is often told when a person rejects Christ’s Lordship that goes something like this – ‘I would follow Christ, if it were not for all of the Christians and my fear of what it will turn me into.’ This is usually not meant to be flattering in a way that depicts a transformed life for good, but is instead a reference to the many vile and hypocritical behaviors that we Christians involve ourselves in, all while claiming the name of Christ. In fact, although the quote is typically taken out of context, it was Gandhi who stated something similar during an interview with a Christian missionary E. Stanley Jones.  Putting aside for a moment the problem of self righteousness that the quote creates, it did get me wondering about the validity of many people's claims on the name of Christ. Are there really that many messed up Christians?  Are they really Christians?

What does it mean to claim the name of Christ?

Back in the days of the settlers a claim was a way to ensure that a person was able to secure his property rights in a parcel of land.  It might start out with erecting a family flag or noticeable sign on a piece of land, and then progress with filing a legal claim back east, or at the courthouse so that the claim has authority and enforceability beyond just meaningless words.  Certain factual elements had to be in place for it to be valid.

You see a claim was not just a simple declaration that “this land is now mine.”  Can you imagine coming home to your house or apartment tonight and finding someone on your couch watching TV and as you ask what’s going on they reply, “This is now my house, I’ve claimed it.”  Just like in the days of the settlers, there has to be a way of proving that a claim is valid.  Many of the same elements of a legal claim still exist today – public notice, reasonable control, ability to exclude, ability to transfer ownership… The list goes on and on.  But if those elements aren’t met, then legally the claim on that property is not valid.  You don’t own that property any more then the next guy.

So how do I know my claim on Christ’s name is valid?  How do I know that I have rights in Christ’s identity so that I can call myself by his name?  It’s interesting how the law reflects God’s design for how things work.

According to John 15:19 a Christian’s property interests are “not of this world.”  That occurs when we stake a valid claim on the name of Jesus.  Just as a claim on property requires a valid claim with certain elements met to validate it, a claim on Christ also requires certain elements in order for a valid claim on the name of Christ to exist.  Here are the elements that Paul lays out in Romans 10:9-10 to “be saved” and “unto salvation”:

-          Law of the Spirit element #1:  Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus

The first element for a valid claim on the name of Christ is a declaration.  While a declaration alone doesn’t secure a claim, it is required. Notice what the declaration requires, in that you must declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.  That word Lord denotes ruler of all!  All, in case you didn’t catch it, includes you.  So a declaration of Christ’s Lordship implies that you are declaring that Jesus Christ is the ruler of your life.  You are declaring that you surrender absolute and perpetual control of your will to him in all things.

-          Law of the Spirit element #2:  believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead.

The second element for a valid claim on the name of Christ is a heart belief that God hath raised him from the dead.  This separates the pretenders who merely want to claim Jesus with their mouth from those with a real claim on the name of Jesus.  Only God knows what a person really believes in their heart, but consider this - real belief results in behavior based on what is believed. James 2:17.

Those are the two broad elements of a valid legal claim on the name of Christ.  But just like the elements of the law today, often it takes an unwrapping of a lot of the key terms to fully appreciate what your valid claim has given you.  In the secular legal system, judges use case law to find out how the codes and statutes are to be applied and defined.  As Christians we look to the cases and references found in the scripture.  What words are important here?  Well, all of them.  God’s Word contains no filler and to properly understand your claim on Christ means that every aspect of those elements must be applied.  The challenge however is not in their complexity, for God’s way is truly simple and not meant to confound.  The challenge then is knowing and believing the meaning of these words.

Let me challenge you to study out the meaning of your claim this week by reviewing what the scripture says about the words: Confess, Mouth, Lord, Believe, Heart, Raised and Dead.  Spend some time on these words and let them saturate your understanding.

Perhaps you’re not sure if the claim you thought you had on Jesus is valid.  You need to find out.  Make sure your claim to Christ isn’t an incomplete declaration.  Make sure that your claim to Christ is based on real belief.  Don’t assume because you said a few words or gave mental assent to an idea that you have a valid claim.  If you want more information, send us an E-mail.  If you need prayer, send us an E-mail.  We’d love to hear from you.

A Real Friend

I’ve never been crazy about statistics. Primarily because they can be used to lead others to a premeditated conclusion set by someone anxious to make a point. They have their place but should always be used with caution and honesty.

It has been reported that 90% of men do not have real friends.  I’m not sure how the research was conducted but based on my own day to day observations, I’m inclined to believe that there is a great measure of truth in that research.

It is critical to establish the definition of a “real friend” as it can mean different things to different people depending on their perspective. As with all things, the Word of God provides invaluable insight regarding all matters and the Bible has much to say about friendship. While we could look at several references, let’s consider Proverbs 17:17:

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.  

Immediately we’re thrust into a necessary reality when it comes to friendship. According to this verse, friendship carries a real affectionate tone similar to what husband and wife might experience sensually. For the record, the Bible is in no way advocating homosexuality here. That is sin and God has been unabashedly clear regarding that (Lev. 18:22, 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; Jude 1:7). The message here is that real friendship runs deep. It engages the head and the heart. This type of friendship propels us far beyond the shallow demonstrations that we’ve become so accustomed to.

Another observation we see is that friendship carries a rich unconditional undertone. The Scripture says a friend loveth at ALL times. In other words, a real friend is not someone who comes and goes and usually comes when things are good. One of the most painful realities to encounter is to realize that the real friendship you thought you had was not real at all. This always happens when the season changes for the worst and like the wind, they blow away. Job could tell you all about that one. A real friend is one who without hesitation, will climb into the foxhole of life with you regardless of the hardship involved. This is what is meant by a brother is born for adversity. It is in times of adversity that men become real friends. Men who have faced death together in war walk away from that experience with a bond that cannot be broken. This is true in other forms of adversity as well. I can say with confidence that the common denominator in every real friend I have has been seasons of war and adversity together. We’ve fought together and have demonstrated an unconditional commitment to friendship. For me, it is unlikely that one could be considered a real friend until we’ve bled together so to speak.

In closing, one of the greatest examples of real friendship preserved in the Scriptures is the relationship between David and Jonathan. When receiving the news that Jonathan had been killed in battle, observe the sobering words of David:

2 Samuel 1:26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

Again, there is nothing dark or sinful about this expression. These were two men who had gone to war together and their souls were knit. Their relationship was not cheap and shallow. They were real friends.

Men, who is your Jonathan? Who is your David? To properly answer those questions I believe you have to ask yourself, “Am I a Jonathan” or, “Am I a David?”

Where you find a David, you find a Jonathan. So, if there is no David or Jonathan in your life, it is probably because you’re not becoming a David or a Jonathan and this is cause for concern.

Gaining Perspective - A Glimpse of God's Power, Protection and Presence

On Wednesday, work at the office was interrupted by what on most counts would’ve been considered a routine mid-west thunderstorm.  Work stopped and about a dozen or so coworkers and guys from the office took to the parking lot, eyes skyward.  It was dark and clouds were spinning and crossing paths.  Sirens were blaring all over the city.  Those who weren’t in the parking lot were glued to weather websites at their desks.  A local news station later reported that during that 2-hour period on Wednesday afternoon their website traffic was the highest ever recorded as people linked up looking for a tornado, and hoping for just enough warning to prevent a scenario like Joplin, MO experienced a few days earlier.  Over this past week it’s been difficult to get the images from Joplin out of my mind.  Details are still coming in, but what can be pieced together is that in mere seconds, and without much warning a mega-tornado that spawned several vortices touched down and wiped out a large part of that city, killing 139 so far with over 100 people still unaccounted for.

As I stood there in the parking lot Wednesday, I was reminded of a famous reference to a tornado found in Job 38-42 where God visits the earth and has a conversation with Job and a few onlookers out of the whirlwind.  As a quick summary, Job had experienced excruciating Satanic attacks in his life on his career, family, marriage and even his physical and mental health, all at the same time!  From the onset several of his friends, in self-righteous grandeur begin “counseling” Job on how to fix his problems by acknowledging and repenting from what they perceived were hidden sins that brought on Job’s affliction.  Job, albeit firm in his piety and attempt at blamelessness, was just short of wearing down and began showing hints of his spiritual frailty in the face of the enemy.   Standing there just in awe of the weather, I wondered what Job and his critics must have been doing when God showed up!

I sat down later and wrote out a few things about the whirlwind and how God was often associated with the appearance of a whirlwind in scripture.  Here are some general thoughts

• Whirlwind appears numerous times in the Bible and is often associated with God’s power, protection and presence.
• God’s power is evident in his ability to control the environment seen by witnessing his command of a devastating storm as his personal chariot.
• I am reminded of Jesus’ famous words in Matthew 8, “Peace, be still” that calmed the stormy seas in a moment.
• In Job and Ezekiel the whirlwind is God’s instrument of protection as God judges in order to preserve life.  God even reveals that Elijah’s promotion to heaven was through a whirlwind via heavenly chariot in 2 Kings 2.  This got me thinking of the many lives that were spared by the storm in Joplin.  We are quick to think of the devastation, but were it not for God who wills that none perish, what other destruction would the god of this world (Satan - John 8) work against mankind?  To those that for some reason by the grace of God were spared, I wonder for what purpose do they now owe a Christ-centered life for their ability to still live?  What about my own ability to still live and walk after Christ?!?  God’s grace is good.

A meteorologist I listened to later in the week was explaining some of the physics that operate in a tornado.  Even though I was only ½ paying attention I remember looking up when he began talking about the low air pressure that occurs when a tornado takes place.  As the air particles become more and more unstable, the air is literally sucked towards a dynamic point in space causing a vortex that we know of to be a tornado.  It’s the same thing that occurs in a hurricane, but much more concentrated.  Literally a vacuum is created.

He went on to explain how a person caught inside a tornado (see Wizard of Oz) would most likely experience the same feeling as a drowning man with the air sucked right out of their vacuum imploded lungs and with no ability to inhale the needed breath of life.  Whoa!  That is take-your-breath-away power.  Literally.  It is no wonder we see men freeze, fall down dead and go speechless when God’s shows up in the Bible.

How powerful is God!  And how much do we need him to sustain life!  This week I purposed to walk in the thankfulness of his grace that I have life.  This week I purposed to remember the awe inspiring, take your breath away presence of God that we see many times in the Bible when men came in to His presence.  I encourage you to join me in those purposes. 

Consistency, who's got it?

     Consistency.  Easy to say, not so easy to follow.  I'm not talking about the consistency of your cooking of the consistency of your paycheck.  Those things pail in comparison to the consistency of our daily walk and our daily praise, love, thoughts, actions, and THANKFULNESS for GOD. 

     I've been haunted this whole week by my thoughts and attitude that I had earlier this week.  I was at work and not having a good day.  I started feeling sorry for myself.  I wasn't making money, the bar was slow (I work at a hotel, I'm a bartender, not the most encouraging job) and I was really starting to get down on myself.  I need a new job, the hours aren't good, business is slow, I just dumped my motorcycle, my knee hurts, my bike is hurt, me me me......   YUCK.
    I got away for a bit and just got on my knees in the middle of a hallway on the 12th floor of the hotel and had some quiet time with GOD.  It didn't take but a half second and I was thanking GOD.  Thank you God for the air I breath, and that's all it took.  Nothing else matters with every breath I take and every second I am here, to GOD be the glory and I have no right to get down about anything.  With that thanks it turned into about 20 others and I could of went on all night.  One of the thanks even turned into thanking GOD for my job, the very job I was just so frustrated with and that I was ready to quit.  GOD has given me so much and he has been so faithful to me.  He has pulled me out of a life that was immersed in sin and going no where but down.  GOD had that consistent attitude and never gave up on me in all those years of my failing to serve and love him.  Why, why in a small time when things that don't matter would I even think of not loving on GOD and giving him glory for that moment and all others.
CONSISTENCY, Who's GOT it?
Psalms 34. (take a minute to read it)
   I was reading it earlier in the week and I wrote it down so I would remember to go back and read it again and again.  It really spoke to me and encouraged me earlier in the week, but here I was feeling down and out so quick in my troubles.
Psalms 34: 1. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2.  My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
6.  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
9.  O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
10. The Young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
12. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? 
13.  Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
14. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
15. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 

Of course the whole chapter is great but those are just a few highlights.
CONSISTENCY who's got it?
    As you can read in Psalms 34 we are to strive and continually have GOD's praise in our mouth and GOD will continue to bless us and carry us through our troubles in life.  CONSISTENCY.  easy to say, not so easy to do. 
    On Saturday, in the Everyman meeting we talked about conviction.  How everyone has to have convictions and the absence of conviction always leads to the presence of compromise.  And might I suggest that you use baby-steps in this process of your life.  Sure everyone needs to have the big convictions in place in your life but I also think that the little things are often overlooked and they compound and make it easier to let bigger things slide, down the road.
    Big convictions like not denying that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.
Matt 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father is in heaven. 
That's kind of a big deal.  Don't wanna slip up on that one.
   Those are things that without question should be in place already.  I'm talking about the little things we let slide everyday.  Wait did I say little things.  GOD views them as big things and so should we.  From the movies we watch to the company we keep.  The things that you look at and see everyday.  Books we read, things hanging on our wall.  These are the things that will build and build in our lives until we are living in sin and finding it to be okay with us.  If you watch a distasteful movie today what's to say that a slightly more distasteful movie won't be okay tomorrow.  Just look at society in general.  Look at how the movies have gotten worse, the teenagers are dressing worse, the commercials have gotten worse.  I could go on and on but compare these things to 10, 20 yrs ago you'll see that they weren't around, and it has nowhere to go but worse.  Same with our lives, if we continue to be okay with these things and not hold strong to our Convictions and be Consistent about them, we too will be worse and worse off. 
SO CONVICTIONS and CONSISTENCY Who's got it?
   I'm not bragging, because I have absolutely nothing to brag about, but I just wanna show you how GOD has worked in my life in these area's.   I talked earlier how GOD was consistent and was always there for me even in my failings, so when it finally clicked for me and I realized I needed to do that proverbial 180 I instantly realized I need to take some things out of my life.  I need to have some convictions and never let them be broken.  Baby-steps.  First off I had to stop hanging out with my secular friends all the time.  That was hard.  But when you hang around people and all they wanna do is live in the world and destroy the temple that GOD has given to you, you realize you can't be immersed in that and stay strong in GOD.  So I had to give up on hanging out with these friends that I had know for years and years.  But GOD is good.  He has given me a new family and it is good.  I threw away all my alcohol related apparel and signage.  (working at the bars and restaurants all my life I had accrued quite a bit).  Too make a long story short, I started small and I continually work toward the end goal and that's Consistency in my walk with god, from attitude, to words, to the company I keep.
   Guys I know I'm rambling on here so I'm gonna wrap it up with this. 
Latch onto your convictions, hold strong and continue to grow from them.  Cause if your not growing, your dead, and no one wants to be dead in their walk with the Lord. 
And there is only one I know that is always consistent, and that is GOD.  So continue to strive to be Christ like and have comfort that GOD will consistently be there when we fail.
Love you all