It’s hard to deal with people sometimes. Let’s be honest; they can really get to us and stir up emotions of anger and discontent. People talk to us with disparaging words to hurt us or to make us angry. It seems to be a societal norm to do this, Christians and non-Christians alike. We live in a society that makes this seem normal, even if it means hurting others with words.

Yes, I’ve seen and you have seen other believers do this. They forget the first will be last and last will be first. They have no problem hurting and destroying others to get to the top, get ahead in life, or to just make themselves feel better about themselves by putting others down. They have forgotten that Jesus taught and lived otherwise. They put themselves first before others when it should be the opposite.

It’s a heart thing concerning how we treat others. Jesus wants our hearts, and if our hearts are blackened or sour, is there really a relationship with Christ? Is there really the love of Jesus in us? I don’t think so. Sure, at church, people act the role; but what about outside the walls of the sanctuary. I’m a greeter at church and an usher, and even at church there are people with sour looks on their faces. When I greet them, they don’t even acknowledge me; they just walk into the sanctuary. And when they leave, they are the ones who rush out the door to the safety of their cars, to go on with their day.

My daughter is a waitress, and she tells me that Sundays are her worse days. She tells of people coming from church (in their Sunday best) who are usually rude, complain a lot, and are the worst at giving tips. What does this say about us as lovers of Jesus? The condition of our hearts is reflected in our outward demeanor towards others. It’s these Christians that make the rest of us look bad and portray us as hypocrites in the eyes of nonbelievers.

1 Timothy 1:5, KJV says, “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” Do we really live this way? Do we have pure hearts to show others the love of Jesus? How can people proclaim their love for Christ when they can’t even show the love of Jesus to others? They are double-minded people, who speak out of both sides of their mouths. They want to portray themselves as lovers of Jesus to man, though they really don’t have Him in their hearts. I wonder if they even realize this? It begs the question as to whether they have really accepted Christ into their hearts.

I’m not saying us Christians are perfect, but sourness out of our hearts, and then our mouths, should be very few and far between. We all slip up, but when we do speak evil to others, we are quick to be convicted and immediately rectify ourselves by apologizing and by learning from our mistakes. Those who don’t do this are in a wrong place with their hearts, and need to really find and be changed by Jesus.

Romans 2:5 states, “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” This is a pretty clear-cut statement. Bad hearts translate into wrath. It makes me wonder why some Christians have such hard hearts? Or should we even call them Christians? I don’t know. Personally, I believe the heart equates the faith one has.

Hard hearts lead to destruction and open the door for Satan to occupy and use them for evil. They profess themselves as Christians, and yet, they spew forth hate and display evil tendencies towards others. This can be seen by such things as arrogance, judgment of others, and uncaring attitudes.

Do you ever see how some people at church show arrogance, because they own the newest and more expensive car? Or they avoid people who aren’t dressed as they are or who look a bit disheveled? I see it every Sunday as I observe people while serving as a greeter. It is sad. Instead of going out of their way to show love and concern for those who look downtrodden, they avoid them. They talk amongst others who are more like themselves about so and so looking this way or that way. What a shame! Don’t get me wrong; there are more that do the opposite, but it’s the ones who show discontent that are stuck in our minds.

As followers of Jesus, we need to have a heart for people regardless of what they look like or how they talk or act. Jesus showed love and concern for all people. He didn’t gravitate to the wealthy or healthy; he sought after those who were broken and poor. We need to emulate this in how we interact with others, with a true and pure heart. If we don’t have a pure heart, our actions are for nil, and people can see right through it. More so, God knows. Having a pure heart for others is not something to be forced, if we are in Christ, but will be a natural extension of ourselves, showing the love of Christ in us.

1 Samuel, 16:7 says, “But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

God looks at our hearts, not what we have, how nice our hair looks, how big our house is, or what we wear. No, He looks at our hearts. Our hearts show what we truly have inside of us, and our standing with Him. There is no gray area for what the heart reflects. There is either a pure heart or an evil heart. One cannot say they have a good heart most of the time. It is either all of the time, or it is fake.

People can try and pretend to others on the outside that they have a pure heart, but their true selves will show through eventually and will be on display for all to see. They will reap what they sow; and if it is a sour heart, their lives will mirror it; maybe not today or tomorrow, but God has a way of revealing the true nature of a person.

When we become a child of God through accepting Christ in our lives, our hearts will change. If hearts don’t change, one must question the honesty of a proclamation of conversion. At the acceptance of Christ, with the change of our hearts, and as we grow in Christ, so too will our hearts for others grow. Our pure hearts will be a motivator for the good works Christ desires for us to do. Our pure hearts will give us emotions for the well-being of others. Our hearts will drive us to help others.

Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Pretty clear statement. Flip this upside down – Those without a pure heart will not see God. Makes sense. Having a pure heart is key to walking with and being with Christ. Christ’s pure heart saved us all from damnation once we accepted Him in our hearts and lives. There is no wiggle room on this. Matthew 5:8 makes this clear: If you don’t have a pure heart, you won’t have God.

Luke 10:27 says to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength. Since God is the purest of pure, we cannot love Him with anything other than a loving heart. Jesus charges us to love with our heart. How can we love without a loving heart? We can’t. We may have empathy or sympathy, but these cannot be confused with having a loving heart. I may feel bad and sympathize with someone who is facing a hardship that I also endured, but if I don’t help them out of love, what kind of heart do I have?

Love is a blanket of comfort to those facing hardships. Those who have a loving heart will wrap others in a blanket of love.

If our hearts are closed and not filled with love, what good are we to God? Not good at all. No works or deeds will replace the need of love in the heart. Think about where your heart is, where it was, and where you want it to go. Your heart is capable of endless love for Jesus and for others. If you have a sour or hard heart because of a situation or a hurt, or you are just plain grumpy, it’s time to open your heart to love. Love grows into forgiveness, gives hope to others, and draws you nearer to Christ.

Johnflysaught@gmail.com

There are so many details to each of our lives.  We all face common “big” things like work troubles, financial burdens, etc., but there are details in our lives that make each of us and our situations unique from others.  It’s these little details that make us who we are and affect our relationship with Jesus.  The details of each one of us creates our own individual barriers in our relationship with Jesus; and, on the same token, show our strengths and gifts from Jesus.  The great thing is, the Bible addresses anything and everything we face and will face in our lives.

From the Book of Genesis through to the last word in the Book of Revelation, we can gather the nuggets of wisdom and gain the guidance we need to strengthen our walk with Jesus and help us with the challenges we face day in and day out. How do we find these nuggets of knowledge? Read, my friend; read the Bible.

In our uniqueness, the details of our lives contain an innumerable amount of challenges. It seems our lives face more trouble than successes. And even when we have successes, they’re short-lived because another challenge steps up and forces its way into the front of the line, causing us to be yet again absorbed in another pitfall. We wonder if it will ever end, if this downward spiral will ever hit the bottom, so we can just move up and up instead of up and down, up and down.

Sure, big occurrences take a lot of our time to tackle, but the little problems we face in summation will at times exceed the larger challenges.  The stacking of minute problems takes most of our energy and will likely cause the most stress we have daily.  We don’t go out and seek minor issues, but they come nonetheless.  It’s how we face them and rub them out of our lives that will show our fortitude in Christ’s love, grace and power.

I know I tend to ignore the minor troubles in lieu of the major problems. I think to myself that if I can resolve the big issues, then the little ones will either go away or resolve themselves. Never works.  I try to convince myself of this, but it just doesn’t happen.  If I ignore the little challenges, they either nip at my heels all the time or they morph into larger problems.  I tend to forget that Jesus is my strength for the bumps in my life and not just for the mountains I come upon.

The bumps in life will slow you down in your relationship with Jesus, just as a mountain will do.  We seek the level ground to keep our paths free of impediments so we can walk with Jesus more and more without interruption, but it just doesn’t happen that often. Satan is always ahead of us digging trenches and placing other obstacles in our way to try to stop us, and better yet, to try to get us to turn around and cease moving forward with Christ.

Satan, don’t forget, wants to “kill, steal and destroy.”  He wants to kill our relationship with Jesus; he wants to take us away from Him; and he wants to destroy our hope and joy in Jesus.  Yes, Satan does this by placing mountains in our way, but also smaller obstacles as well. Unbeknownst to us, these smaller obstacles can and do slow us down in our walk with Jesus.  We sometimes don’t notice or recognize these small obstacles for what they are. They are designed to destroy us and turn our relationship with Jesus on its head.

Satan will place booby traps through the field of our lives.  He wants us to step on them to kill us and have us turn from Jesus. For those who don’t have a relationship with Christ, he uses traps to keep them far from Christ.  We need to be able to recognize these traps in our lives, as well as others’ lives to help them steer clear and walk to Jesus, not away from Him.

Satan is wily in his efforts; he is not dumb.  He is keenly aware of what he faces. He has had millenniums of time to refine his craft and bring opposition into our lives, to have us turn from Christ.  He uses others and society to execute his plans, and never rests.  He has plenty of fallen angels and man to aid him in his attempts to kill our relationship with Jesus.

Satan condemns us at every possible opportunity.  He knows we are drawn to sin. He tempts us by taking advantage of our sinful natures. He knows we are easily persuaded creatures.  Look how easy it was for him to sway Eve in the Garden of Eden.  How much more, now that time is running short for him? Because time is running shorter for him as each day passes, Satan is doubling his efforts to tangle us up in his snares.

Satan has interwoven temptation and tribulations towards us through society.  These temptations and tribulations are not just huge hurdles, but are intertwined within the details of our lives.  We can’t escape them, but we can face and overcome them.

The ills of society seep into our lives each day and in every way possible.  We can’t avoid them unless we close ourselves in a deep cave, but we can surround ourselves with Jesus, so the details of our lives are protected from Satan.  Jesus will help us keep guard over the details that make us who we are and what we are.

Let’s look at false idols for a moment. Many are duped into believing false idols are things like the gods of ancient Rome or from the Greek culture.  True, but it also involves the subtler idols of today. Put plainly, anything that you worship other than Jesus is a false idol. False idols include the material world or people in life that take precedence over our love and focus of Jesus.  Would you miss church to watch your sports team play?  Would you rather have a beer or watch television than read your Bible?  How about that poster in your garage of the sports star or movie star?

See, false idols are everywhere around us. Anything society offers us to distract us and get us to focus on anything other than Jesus is false.  When we follow the lives of movie stars more than we follow the life of Jesus, whom are you worshiping?  You may not think so, but they are false idols.  In ancient times, there were gods for every facet of life. It is the same today; we just don’t physically bow down to the goddess or god of this or that. Don’t be deceived; the gods of ancient times are still worshiped today, just in different forms.

So how does this relate to troubles in the details of our lives.  They matter because they affect our relationship with Jesus. Each detail of what Satan throws at you through technology, media, societal belief systems, etc., play a role in the small details of our lives.  How we face these will affect our relationship with Jesus.

Jesus is our power and strength. He is in the big tribulations of life and the small troubles in life as well.  There are clear-cut things in life that we know are against the will of God, such as abortion; but there are smaller things in life that don’t get as much attention, such as being able to say something about our faith in public or at work.  We have been conditioned to be more “sensitive” to others in what we say or proclaim. Because of this, we have adapted how we talk in daily interactions with people, in the small things.  This should not be so.

Jesus did not come to conform to the world or want us to conform either. He came to set us free from the world.  He didn’t sacrifice Himself so we can do what we want, or bend to other belief systems or ideas; but He was our sacrifice so we can have eternal life with Him. He came to set us free from the small troubles, not just the big issues we face.

can’t tell you what the small things in your life are; it’s your life, not mine.  Only you and God know what the minor challenges are that you face. But Jesus came and died for us to live and also gave us the Holy Spirit for guidance and the strength to overcome both big and little challenges.

If you stop, think and pray, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you those minor details in life that are, or are becoming, obstacles in your life.  It could be the music you listen to or what you read for pleasure, or whatever.  There is a plethora of little things in life that trip us up and withhold our true potential in life for Christ. The Holy Spirit will show you what these are, if you ask and listen to Him.

Satan is ever changing in his efforts to destroy us. Society is ever changing in how we should live and act. But, you know what? God is steady and never changing. He is the same and will not change with whatever direction the wind is blowing.  He is perfect, and perfection does not change.  He is true and never false.  He is love and without evil.  His promises are never broken, and He will never forsake us.

When facing the bumps and trenches put before us in life, in both the major and minor details, remember that Satan is already defeated, and Jesus is victorious.  We need to kick through the small bumps in our walk with Jesus so that we stay on track and grow in Him, not turn from Him, or stop where we stand.  The God of the universe is on our side. The little things of life can affect our relationship with Jesus, but with the strength through Christ and the Holy Spirit’s help, we’ll find and stay on the straight path to heaven.

Johnflysaught@gmail.com