In the Zone

Sometimes, we can get distracted by good things. A few years ago, I was at a Christian bookstore waiting in the check-out line to make a purchase. The lady in front of me was buying some Christian book and I overheard her conversation with the cashier.  It went something like this: “I just love this book series.  It’s helped me so much.  I probably shouldn't admit this, but I read this more than I read my Bible.  It’s got so many good scriptures in it, it’s just like reading my Bible.” Then she paid and walked off, with the cashier smiling politely and happy to make a sale. It left he shaking my head.   No book or book series, no matter how many times it quotes the Bible, is EVER a substitute for God’s word.  Neither will a good commentary or study notes from a study Bible.  Christian books are filled with really good life application and have a lot of godly wisdom, but they ARE NOT THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD.  Commentaries and study Bibles are full of great

I love the movie Christmas Vacation. During one of the scenes, Randy Quaid, who plays Cousin Eddie, makes a comment about a plate in his head.  They had replaced the metal plate with a plastic one to protect his skull after a war injury.  And in his words, "I don’t know if I oughta go sailin’ down no hill with nothin’ between the ground and my brains but a piece of government plastic." Cousin Eddie, as goofy as he was in the movie, realizes how important it is to protect the brain.  A head injury, no matter how light, can have major effects on cognitive thinking, mobility and vision.  A blow to the head can cripple a person, and often times can result in death. It's why soldiers, as they go into battle, wear helmets.  It protects their heads from bullets and other weapons. Baseball players wear helmets while batting.  Football and hockey players don't enter the game without a helmet on.  Helmet are important. It was the same during the New Testament times.

A few years ago, I heard the story of a college student who put scripture on the headboard of his bed. You see, this particular young man struggled with sexual sin.  Before he was saved, he often bedded many different women.  Even after he got saved, his sexual temptation would be great, and he often found himself giving into sexual temptation, even though he now knew it was not pleasing to God. So he devised a plan.  On his own, he could not resist sex, but with the help of Jesus, he could.  So he started printing out scriptures and taping them to the headboard of his bed.  His reasoning was simple. When he would lie down in bed, particularly with a woman, he would see that scripture and it would remind him to stop.  To paraphrase his words, "It's hard to have sex when you're looking at scripture from the Bible." He understood what Paul meant when he wrote about the shield of faith.  A shield is mobile and able to protect multiple vulnerable spots in the heat

It seems like everything is out of control. Last week, an earthquake rocked Nepal.  Riots broke out in Baltimore.  At the Supreme Court, arguments were heard for and against same-sex marriage.  Every time I turned on the news, there was another controversy or scene of violence and devastation.  It's at time like this that I must remember's Paul's advice in the Ephesians 6.  He talks about putting on the full armor of God, and specifically says we must wear the shoes of the gospel of peace.  Now, shoes secure my feet, but they also protect them from injury.  Cleats, like the shoes Roman warriors wore, even provide grip into the ground.  So when Paul talks about the shoes of the Gospel of peace, he says Jesus secures us and protects us.  With him, we can dig again against the dark forces of the universe. Make no mistake, Satan and his minions are agents of chaos.  Satan loves disorder and mayhem.  Satan likes to steal, kill and destroy - which is the ultimate by-produ