Today’s song comes from the youngest artist to ever sign a contract with Sparrow Records. Connie Scott was 18 years old at the time and went on to become a popular Canadian Christian singer in North America. While Connie never reached the fame of Amy Grant or Twila Paris, her lyrics and voice has left behind her own music legacy with Forever Young.
Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and [for which] you confessed the good confession [of faith] before many witnesses, 1 Timothy 6:12.
The lyrics of Forever Young is like a closing benediction at the end of a church service. This tradition song reminds listeners that you’re only as old as you believe. If you allow self-fulfilled prophecies to speak doubt, illness, and worry into existence, your life will be shortened. Yet, if you claim the power of God’s promises in the Bible, the abundant life of John 10:10 is in reach by spiritual discipline and faith.
Routines are like a comfort zone for people who thrive in a structured environment. Yet, my recent move to South Carolina has thrown me into a foreign land where I’m trying to figure out how everything works. At times, I feel like an undercover boss, seeing day to day details with fresh eyes. Unfortunately, this state is no different than Delaware with people saying one thing but failing to lead by example.
The instruments and methods of the fraudulent and greedy [for gain] are evil; he devises wicked devices to ruin the poor and the lowly with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is just and right, Isaiah 32:7.
Passing the buck and casting the blame are learned skills from adults on television. Whenever someone does take responsibility for their actions is a rare sight in America today. I was taught long ago that integrity is doing right when nobody’s watching. As a new employee, I see people change their work habits depending upon who’s around. I guess I’m just old school as work is work until it’s time to play.
But the noble, openhearted, and liberal man devises noble things; and he stands for what is noble, openhearted, and generous, Isaiah 32:8.
According to one Old Testament prophet, the noble lead by example. This isn’t done to get noticed or recognized. Rather it’s to please God by emulating the life of Jesus, Ephesians 4:1-3. I can’t waste my time worrying about what other people are doing or saying. As long as I strive to demonstrate the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, I’ll lead by example and let God take care of my future career.
Whenever you have a common name, doing an internet search takes time to find the real person. Such is the case for Jeff Moody who released two albums over a 10-year career. I discovered Jeff at a local radio based upon the title of his second album, First Priority. At this time, 1999, I wanted to follow Jesus’ advice in Matthew 6:33-34 so making the Lord my first priority became my goal in life for the 2000’s.
And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you, Philippians 1:6.
While I have stumbled and fallen over the past 23 years like Adam and Eve, the apostle Paul shares advice about how to stay focused. If success is the process of arriving, the journey of faith, this was made possible on Jesus’ road to Calvary, Romans 5:8. Jesus didn’t die by accident. Rather, he laid down his own life so that we could live life abundantly, John 10:10. May today’s song remind you of this spiritual process.
Jesus saw potential in a first century fisherman. According to Matthew 4:18-20, Peter and his brother Andrew were the first two disciples called by Jesus. While asking his twelve disciples a question, Peter is the first to answer correctly in Matthew 16:15-16. Jesus goes on to refer to Peter as a spiritual rock in Matthew 16:18. Yet, when a crisis arrived, Peter fell just like Adam and Eve in Matthew 16:22-23, a foreshadowing of Peter’s future denial of Jesus in Matthew 26:69-75.
[You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, 7 So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed, 1 Peter 1:6-7.
Peter writes about his failure in the today’s passage. These words appear to come from a humbler and mature man of God. Whether Peter learned this from his conversation with Jesus in John 21 following the resurrection or time reflecting upon past mistakes, trials are necessary in order for Christians to grow spiritually. Likewise, Jesus’ earthly brother who doubted his older sibling also speaks to the role that temptations play in your life. This determines where you run when a crisis arrives.
Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. 3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. 4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing, James 1:2-4.
While attending college at the University of Delaware, I met many Christians who used the phrase “Jesus in my crutch.” As someone who has broken my ankle and leg, I know the uncomfortable feeling of relying on crutches to walk until I got my casts off. Then I abandoned these crutches into a closet until my next accident. Yet, Jesus should be my crutch whether I’m healthy or hurt. The moment my Bible collects dust, or my prayers cease, I’m trusting myself and not God. The next time a crisis arises, may you run to God.
Today’s song comes from an alternative rock band from Seattle, Washington. Once a popular group breaks up, you usually have some sort of reunion tour decades later. However, Grammatrain did some of their best work after disbanding in 1998. Eleven years later, Grammatrain released their third album Imperium. Led by singer Pete Stewart, I Believe is one of my favorite songs from this band.
Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind, James 1:6.
The attached You Tube video uses images of fishing and a rowboat which makes me think of the time when Jesus approaches his disciples’ boat by walking on the water. Initially, these 12 men thought Jesus was a ghost. Yet, at some point, Peter believed enough to get out of this boat and join Jesus by walking on the water too. However, it’s when you take your eyes off of Jesus when doubt starts to creep in.
The term empty nest began in the middle of the 1900’s. When parents aren’t able to move on after their children start college or move out on their own, doctors refer to this condition as the “empty nest syndrome.” When children are born, parents make a series of sacrifices to raise their offspring to the best of their abilities. However, once a home is vacant, it’s hard to transition to your next phase in life.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children, Hosea 4:6.
One Old Testament prophet blames a lack of vision for an individual who begins to self-destruct. One of the reasons Jesus left his followers with a great commission in Acts 1:8-9 was to provide a sense of direction in life. Rather than guess or speculate, the Great Commission continues to be fulfilled today through missionaries sent to the ends of the earth.
Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. 13 I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward, Philippians 3:12-14.
As for empty nesters, my home is quiet for the first time in 24 years. With my two youngest children now off at college, I need to spend time in prayer to figure out what God wants me and my wife to do next. Once you complete honey do lists at home, parents with empty nests must learn to keep in step with the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:25, so that God’s will for your life will be fulfilled.
Today’s song comes from across the globe in Australia. Noisy Little Sunbeams combine an Aussie feel with pop, rock and in their song Bad Attitude, rap. Imagine an outspoken preacher who doesn’t beat around the bush. Then place this personality into a modern-day unfiltered hip hop group and you’ll find the DNA of Noisy Little Sunbeams.
Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [[l]against God] and [m]questioning and doubting [among yourselves], 15 That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world, Philippians 2:14-15.
While some of their songs make a former Bible teacher cringe, Bad Attitude confronts a topic that needs to be addressed. Whether you’re in school, at work or attending a family gathering, it only takes one bad attitude to bring down an entire room. The apostle Paul wrote about the complaining and grumbling of Christians in the passage above. May Bad Attitude inspire you to be transformed and become more like Jesus.
Most of my dreams come from stress or things that I watched recently. When I’m really tired, I usually collapse without a thought. Yet, experts claim dreams are created by the unconscious mind, which is a part of the brain that is not bound to reality. As I continued my study of Revelation, I tried to visualize what I was reading like a strange dream, but what I discovered was a locust from hell.
He opened the [b]long shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit), and smoke like the smoke of a huge furnace puffed out of the [c]long shaft, so that the sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the long shaft. 3 Then out of the smoke locusts came forth on the earth, and such power was granted them as the power the earth’s scorpions have, Revelation 9:2-3.
Of all the films inspired by the Book of Revelation, I’m surprised no one has written about the Locusts from hell. While I do enjoy some of the End Time movies on the Sci-Fi Channel, this hybrid creature described by John seems too unreal. Revelation 9:7-10 suggests these locusts have human faces, hair like women, teeth as sharp as a lion, an iron breastplate, scorpion tails and super propelled wings.
They were told not to injure the herbage of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only [to attack] such human beings as do not have the seal (mark) of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not permitted to kill them, but to torment (distress, vex) them for five months; and the pain caused them was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will yearn to die, but death evades and flees from them, Revelation 9:4-6.
Some of the best written screenplays have a scene so vivid you think it’s real until this person wakes up from their dream. Other people experience something so bizarre that they think they’re dreaming, but it’s a living nightmare. Once I’ve reached 50 years of age, I wish I could go back in time to change the person that I’ve become. Yet, the camera is still rolling, as you have time to adjust. May this blog inspire you keep dreaming big as you strive to fulfill the promise of an abundant life in Christ, John 10:10.
Today’s featured song comes from a band that formed after Jonathan Paganno’s current group was disintegrating. Drummer in Adam Gibson was his girlfriend’s brother and Jon Spinolla stood out in an audition to complete Novella. In 1991 this Jersey band released their debut album One Big Sky, but it was their second one entitled A Liquid Earth which put Novella in the national spotlight.
You were running the race nobly. Who has interfered in (hindered and stopped you from) your heeding and following the Truth? 8 This [evil] persuasion is not from Him Who called you [Who invited you to freedom in Christ], Galatians 3:7-8.
One of the hit songs from Novella which means story in Latin was Don’t You Run. The lyrics remind me of a similar message that the apostle Paul shared with the Church at Galatia. As a Jewish sect known as the Judaizes stunted the spiritual growth of many believers, God doesn’t want us to run away from conflict. Rather, as Christian’s experience trials, these events refine and test our faith to mature over time. I hope you enjoy Novella’s classic 1990’s rock and roll sound.
The expression “guilt by association” comes from Medieval Latin. Sometime between 1525-1535, stereotypes were made based upon the people you hung around. If any of these individuals developed a questionable reputation, other groups would cast a shadow of judgement upon you as guilty by association. One of the Psalmists speaks to this in the passage below as does the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:33 which serves as a warning to gullible Christians.
Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. 2 But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night, Psalm 1:1-2.
The earliest social media can be traced back to the1970s with Compuserve and the Bulletin Board System. In the past decade, Google, Facebook and Twitter have ushered in a new age of guilt by political association. Congress tried to address this issue several years ago through hearings as executives testified about the power that Big Tech companies possess. One member of congress shared the negative results that he received after searching for his name: guilt by political association.
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and [h][especially wicked] sinners came and sat (reclined) with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and those [preeminently] sinful? 12 But when Jesus heard it, He replied, Those who are strong and well (healthy) have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick, Matthew 9:10-12.
Today, this guilt by political association continues, fueled by Cancel Culture and the Woke Movement. In the past 6 years, Trump aides, staff members and supporters have been targeted. While America’s justice system was built upon the motto “innocent until proven guilty,” social media is erasing this from the minds of Americans. All it takes is one blog, tweet or video to go viral on social media for reputations to be ruined. I pray that somehow and someway God will end this trend of guilt by political association.
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