Randy

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Archives for the ‘Meaning’ Category

What I committed to God tonight

Tuesday, May 3, 2016, 9:48 pm | Randy Thomasson

baby-shopping-cart
This evening I didn’t watch any painful political news. Instead, I went to Costco and bought some organic, God-made food that we needed.

As I waited in the check-out line, I looked at the marquee above the food court. All processed, even fake “food.”

Then I looked at three young children sitting in three different shopping carts facing their parents. The two oldest, who had to be around 4 years old, had android phones in their hands. One girl was even tapping at it. The third girl was younger and had no electronic device but was gazing around with big eyes.

And I committed three things to God:

1. I pledged myself to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to love and serve Him and live for Him despite the world following the flesh and power and the pleasure of sin instead of following Creator God and His holy word and enjoying His favor.

2. I pledged myself to seek godly things — including godly food — not the destructive, processed and fake “food” of the world that hurts the body.

3. And I pledged myself to think and pray how I could do more for children like the ones sitting in the shopping carts. Whether you consider them a blank slate or depraved from birth, they’ve been born into a culture that is more dark, pagan, and dangerous than ever in this nation. They need to be rescued!

If you want to encourage me and our Campaign for Children and Families team to keep going — and growing — to shine the light of God’s truth in courageous and practical, tangible ways in our culture, I would appreciate your vote of confidence at this time.

keep_the_faith_wooden_crossOn this night and in these sobering times, will you also recommit yourself to serve God and love people?

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Thank you for thinking about how to grow in faith and love!

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
The Revelation of Jesus Christ 6:9-10

 

Let Jesus’ resurrection give you confidence

Sunday, April 5, 2015, 2:15 pm | Randy Thomasson

resurrectedjesus

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most important events in history. It ranks right up there with the Creation and Jesus’ death on the Cross. And the Resurrection should give great confidence to true believers.

Consider that when Jesus died on the Cross in 30 A.D. to provide one-of-a-kind substitutionary atonement for believers’ sins, His disciples were afraid, sad, and scattered. They didn’t understand. Yet upon seeing the overwhelming evidence of Jesus’ amazing, physical resurrection, they became confident, glad, and united.

For Jesus’ resurrection confirmed that He was the God-Man, who had the ability to identify with (thus take the place of) sinful humans. And it convincingly demonstrated that He, as the One Who had created all things (John 1:3), had divine authority to forgive sins past, present, and future for all who confess and repent of their sins, ask for and receive Jesus’ forgiveness, and submit to Him as the new King of their lives.

Upon seeing that Jesus has resurrected Himself, just as He said He would, the formerly scared, hopeless, and defeated disciples were transformed in their minds, hearts, and souls. They now knew their identity and purpose. They now knew the meaning of life. And they knew the source of joy. And get this — they were willing to not only die for Jesus, but to live for Him and to suffer for Him as they produced great fruit, saw many lives changed, and turned their culture upside down.

Similarly, every believer today, who sincerely entrusts himself or herself to Jesus, should be glad and hopeful, not morose and hopeless. If you, like His disciples, will gaze at the resurrected Jesus, you’ll not only realize He is Who He said He was, and how much He loves you, but you’ll discover your exciting and fulfilling Reason for being, living, and working!

Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence. Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
Luke 24:36-44 NKJV

Ask yourself — is Love my main motive?

Friday, February 20, 2015, 12:50 pm | Randy Thomasson

redcarbumpersticker
I saw this car in a parking lot and just had to take a picture. The bumper sticker “Love God / Love People” can and should be the singular goal of people who claim (like on the cap behind the window) that “Christ is King.”

The older I get, the more I question my motivations. Am I here on earth to serve myself, or to serve my Maker and His created people?

For if my self-satisfaction relies on my own comfort and pleasure, isn’t this the very definition of selfish? And if my values are merely “traditional” and not my heart beating hard with love, how quickly my values can be ignored under pressure or diminish over time.

Think about. Every baby is born selfish. This is why each one of us must teach ourselves God’s principle of love, unless it was drummed into our heads by wise parents (which is exceptional).

I’ve tried to define love Biblically as “giving God’s goodness.” One of my favorite Bible commentators, Adam Clarke, who was a protégé of John Welsey, defined love as simply “pleasing God” (how different from the love definitions of Hollywood, the world, and our own flesh!).

What’s more, I’m remembering that “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) means a God-approved truth with a God-approved motive. And I remind myself that my act of love for others is not dependent on people recognizing it as love or even their reaction to my love. Most of all, I’m holding fast to the reality that God defines Truth, but I decide whether to love with the right motive followed by the right action.

So if, like me, you find yourself deficient in love, just sincerely confess and repent of it before God. Then you’ll bear fruit in life and get good things done because your mind is refocused to love people on God’s terms. Don’t think it’s too hard, because you were created for this!

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’’’
Matthew 22:37-39 NKJV

The love of our neighbor springs from the love of God as its source; is found in the love of God as its principle, pattern, and end; and the love of God is found in the love of our neighbor, as its effect, representation, and infallible mark. …This is the religion of Jesus! How happy would Society be, were these two plain, rational precepts properly observed! Love Me, and love thy Fellows! Be unutterably happy in me, and be in perfect peace, unanimity, and love, among yourselves. Great fountain and dispenser of love! fill thy creation with this sacred principle, for his sake who died for the salvation of mankind!
“Prince of Commentators” Adam Clarke on Matthew 22:39