Freedom and You

03/05/2024

March 5

“And who is adequate for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:16b NASB)

We are the fragrance of Christ that smells like life to some and like death to others (2 Cor. 2:15-16a). We are NOT adequate for this task. We have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (Jn. 15:16). We are NOT capable of producing fruit. Nor, are we even able to bear fruit on our own. We must never think, “God will not ask me to do anything I can’t do.” Or, “God will never lay on me more than I can bear.”

The whole of the Christian life is a calling beyond our own capabilities. We are inadequate. God calls us beyond our own sufficiency, beyond our own ability or strength, beyond anything we can do without him. “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5).

But, in God’s strength, we can do all things (Phil. 4:13). When we recognize our inadequacy and choose to abide in Him, we find “confidence through Christ before God” (2 Cor. 3:5).

For, we discover that in complete dependence on Him in all things, we are competent, adequate, and equal for all that God calls us. We can claim along with the apostle, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God” (2 Cor. 3:5 NIV).

© Paul R Downing

02/27/2024

If you are set off easily, it’s because there is something going on underneath the surface.

Anger that leads you to sin or outward aggression, is founded in emotions that are far deeper.

Anger is the lava pouring out of the volcano and burning the village down with all the villagers in it.

What is bubbling up at the core?

Fear? Shame? Exhaustion? Helplessness? Pride?

Everyone gets mad, but we have to keep that anger from sending us to destructive behaviors.

P.S. Some of us are so angry that we shove it all down and self destruct with control, food, work, fitness, and many other self righteous behaviors that are killing us too.

02/27/2024

🙌🏼🙏🏼

02/18/2024

February 18
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73:25 NASB).

Disappointments are a fact of life. The more we accept this fact, the less disappointed by disappointments we will be. One of the major problems with the health and wealth prosperity gospel is that it makes us feel entitled to trouble-free lives. When troubles do happen, we feel let down and think God is treating us unfairly.

This is not a new thing. The psalmist had been going through some major disappointments in his life. He couldn’t understand why he was getting the short end of the stick when people who couldn’t give a rip about God seemed to be prospering. It troubled him so much that he contemplated giving up on God and punting his faith. Been there.

Then, he realized that no matter how good it gets for the non-believer down here, it’s as good as it’ll ever get. Further, no matter how bad it gets for the believer, this is as bad as it will ever get. We have heaven waiting!

And this is the value of disappointments. They help us realize that the thing that really makes heaven, well, heaven, is that God is there. They also help us prioritize our earthly pursuits.

We recognize that the things this world deems important – possessions, pleasure-seeking, and power – will all pass away with it (1 Jn. 2:15-17). So, we find ourselves increasingly desiring God until anything the world could offer us pales in comparison to gaining Him.

Oh, how we should celebrate our disappointments! They are his appointments to teach us to count all things as loss for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord! (Phil. 3:8)

© Paul R Downing

02/06/2024

02/01/2024

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01/29/2024

January 29

Matthew 7:5 NIV – You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

How do you deal with a hypocrite? Well, the place to start is with oneself. In other words, the best way to deal with a hypocrite is to not be one. Before we can take the speck of pretense out of other people’s eyes, we need to take the plank of duplicity out of our own eyes. Removing the planks from our eyes starts with a look in the mirror.

When you look into the mirror of God’s Word (Jms. 1:23), what do you see? Do you see the character of Christ reflected in your character, or do you see the reflection or worldliness (Jms. 4:1-4)? Do you see the Christ-like qualities of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Col. 3:12)? Or do you see anger, temper tantrums, malice, slander, and filthy language (Col. 3:8)?

The answers to those questions are important. The Christian life is not about living up to some code of conduct or abiding by a list of rules. The Pharisees did that and, according to Jesus, they were the epitome of hypocrisy. No, the Christian life is about being who you really are. It’s about being real and true to yourself.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, who you really are is a child of God (1 Jn. 3:1-3). God’s nature is in you (1 Jn. 3:9). You are a new creation in Christ – your old identity is gone – a new one has come (2 Cor. 5:17). So, the Christian life is embracing the new identity as a child of God, coming out of the darkness of worldly behavior, and living in the light of God’s Spirit and wisdom (Eph. 5:8-9).

When the light of God reveals something in our character that doesn’t look like Jesus, let’s remove it. Let’s get the plank out of our eye. Then, we will see clearly enough through the eyes of love to remove the speck of hypocrisy from our brother’s or sister’s eye. And when they look in the mirror, they, too, will see the character of Christ reflected in their character.

© Paul R Downing

01/25/2024

Conversations around mental health have never been more important.

We're excited to join Championship Health Partners to welcome the community to the PMAC on Monday, Jan. 29 for "Planting Seeds of Hope."

lsul.su/3SrScIS

01/25/2024

Jimmy and Robin Burrow are returning to campus on Monday, January 29 for Planting Seeds of Hope: A Conversation on Mental Health Awareness. The event is free to the public and co-sponsored by the Joe Burrow Foundation.

01/16/2024

January 16

Ephesians 4:32 NIV – Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

The process from resentment to forgiveness can be summed up in three phases: pay up, payout, and payoff. We are always in one or the other of these stages in our relationships with other people.

If we are harboring bitterness, resentment, anger, slander, or malice toward someone, it’s because we are stuck in the “pay up” phase. We feel wronged or robbed by the other person and our inward judge wants justice. We want the person to pay the penalty for the wrong. We want them to hurt like they have hurt us. Or, at the least, we want them to acknowledge how badly they hurt us. As long as we secretly want the person to “pay up” we will be unforgiving.

However, when we realize there has already been a “payout” for that person’s sins against us and for our sins against God and others, we can move toward forgiveness. The “wages of sin is death (Rm. 6:23),” and Jesus paid the full price for our sins against God and others by His death on the cross. Forgiving others is simply extending the forgiveness we received from God to them. We choose to accept Jesus’s payment for sin as sufficient for their sin as it is for ours (Eph. 6:32, Col. 3:13).

When we forgive others as God has forgiven us, there is a payoff. We are released from the shackles of negative emotions that bind us to the offending person. We are now free to experience the love, joy, and peace that come from the Holy Spirit. We are free to walk in the way of love, feeling the love of God for us, and expressing that love to others (Eph. 5:1-2). There is no greater feeling. There is also no greater freedom.

What about you? Tired of fretting over the pocket change someone owes you when you’ve already won the lottery? God has abundantly supplied grace upon grace to you in Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:16). And He has also freely given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Pt. 1:3). You simply need to claim your winnings. Release those who have wronged you to God. Then, receive the incredible abundance of God’s kindness, goodness, forgiveness, and love toward you. There is no better payoff!

© Paul R Downing

01/15/2024

New Year, New Season!

01/12/2024

Success is disguised as wealth, this is Success.