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People perish for lack of vision.

Skillful Living Series – Message #9

The message today is Vision – seeing how things will unfold for you.

Many people fail to learn to live skillfully because they never learn to act today based on something inspiring they see in their future.  They are reapers more than they are sowers.  They wake up each day and go out looking for the manna they need to satisfy their current need.  They don’t see a time where they can live off all the land offers because they have no vision beyond today’s manna.

Remember, Purpose provides meaning and reason for our lives.  Vision then provides us with the inspiration we need to live out that Purpose and meaning in a skillful way.  Purpose is why we live; vision is how we live.

In the book of Habakkuk, God had a conversation with the prophet Habakkuk.  He gave Habakkuk a vision of many great things to come.  In chapter 2:2 Habakkuk asks what he should do with the vision.  God tells him this.  “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, it will not lie.”

God has a lot to say to us about the power of living by vision.  He knows we are not omniscient – or all knowing.  He knows that for us to live skillfully, we must be able to know more than what we can see.  Vision helps us to do that.  People who are more skillful at life understand the power of living by what cannot be seen.

Scripture tells us the just shall live by faith and not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5:2. Perhaps this is telling us we must learn to live by the reality of the things we do not see as much as live by what is seen. The most skillful people do not just react to what is seen, they respond and live for what is not seen.

So, what now?  Skillful living is found in living with Purpose and Vision.  How do we stop ourselves from living for the manna we gather each day, and learn to enjoy the feast that is there for us because we learned to sow the things that would give us a bountiful harvest later?

Proverbs 29:18 tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”  When we do not have a vision of where God is going with us, we will tend to go where we can take ourselves.  We will try many things – so many that sometimes we try and fail more than we succeed.  Vision helps us to restrain ourselves and to learn to wait on the Lord to provide what we cannot provide.

God has provided us with all that we need be skillful in how we live out who we are.  Here are a few things vision can do for us all in helping us learn to live more skillfully.

• Vision will help you see how your life will unfold.  When you can see the result of a decision today you may make a better decision.
• Vision helps you see the end before you begin.  If you can see how things will end it may change for the better how you choose to begin.
• Vision will help you make unseen connections that are critical to success.  You will learn to see what is visible but hard to see.
• Vision helps you live inspired by a journey more than living to take a vacation.
• Vision helps you see what can be possible.  You learn to live and to perform with excellence.
• Vision unites the hearts of people.  You learn to think together; dream together and to act together.
• Vision gives life to Purpose.  We learn to live fulfilling a shared Purpose.
• Vision helps different people see common ways to live and work together.  We see beyond what we saw before; we see more than we saw before, and we see what we didn’t see before.
• Vision helps us see where we belong.  It inspires how we should live so we live inspired lives.

If you are living without a vision, you are living without a sense of what the future can hold for you.  God wants us to believe the unbelievable; He wants us to imagine the unimaginable; and He wants us to believe the unbelievable and unimaginable things He has in store for us.

You cannot live skillfully tomorrow when you have no idea of what tomorrow will be like because you are so focused on making it through the day.  Discover a vision for your life and you will learn to skillfully live out that vision in all that you are today.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

This is the seventh message in the Skillful Living Series.

The message today is developing a Life of Discipline

The Lord says a lot to us about how we should live within ourselves.  We are not here to enjoy all that we set our hearts to enjoy.  Life is not supposed to be full of indulging pleasures as we may think or wish.  Instead, for most people the most enjoyable life is the life that finds a reason for hope in a hopeless situation.

This idea of not indulging ourselves is captured in the word temperate.  God wants us to learn to live temperate lives.  Temperate means we have control of our thoughts, of our feelings, of our desires and then ultimately of our actions so that we do not live wanting or needing to have all that we want.

Those who are skillful in how they live, learn to live disciplined lives.  They are temperate in all that they are.  They do not allow themselves to desire too much of anything.  The glass is neither half full nor is it half empty for them.  Whatever is in their glass is just right for them.  It is just what they needed.

Many of us find it impossible to think this way.  We see what is missing in our lives and we set about trying to find it.  Or we see what remains in our lives and we set about trying to keep what is there.  We complain either way about what is missing or about what little remains.  We can never be satisfied with what we have because we are undisciplined.

To those who live skillful lives, they are probably aware of the many scriptures that encourage us to live in a disciplined way.  Disciplined living leads to successful living.  The more you restrain yourself from living for everything, the more of the things you really need you will have.

The book of Titus, 2:1-10 encourages us in living disciplined lives in this way.  It says, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine; that older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience.”  Titus would go on to speak the same thing to older women and to you men and women.

Discipline says that in all things we are to show ourselves to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine, showing integrity, reverence, in sound living that cannot be condemned.”  This scripture says a lot to us.  But the key feature of this scripture is discipline.  You will know you are living a disciplined life because people will see what a life of discipline has done in you.

We cannot live a disciplined life unless we are trained to do that.  God didn’t forget this.  Grace is the teacher He uses to train us to discipline.  It is grace that will teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts so that we live soberly, righteously and Godly right where we are today. Disciplined living should exhort others.  It will never hinder the lives of others.

So if you want to be more skillful in how you live, learn to live a life of discipline.  You cannot have all the things you would like to have.  Stop wanting everything.  There is an old proverb that says if you chase two rabbits you will catch neither.  Discipline would tell you to focus on catching the one rabbit you need for food and you will not go hungry another day.

Here are six ways skillful disciplined people live that makes them more successful than you and I.  Learn these things and adapt them for yourself.

• They develop a sound life of Perspective.  Your life follows how you think.  Learn to think in a sound disciplined way and a sound disciplined life will follow.  You don’t have to have all you want to have all you need.  Learn to think that way.
• They develop a life of Preparation.  They are prepared to be successful at the things they have not had to do yet.  They don’t limit themselves by their skills, they prepare themselves by their wills.
• They develop a sound Way with People.  They learn that they need people more than people need them so they develop a Way with People that makes them easy to be with.
• They develop a life of Courage and Sound Decision-making.  They learn that their motivations are the main reason they try so many things that fail so they develop the courage to live in ways that keeps them temperate in all they are.  They make better decisions as a result.
• Teamwork and Teamplay.  They realize they cannot achieve much on their own, so they learn to discipline themselves to be great at teamwork and better as a team player.  Because of this they learn to have others as the focus of their lives rather than themselves.
• Excellence.  They learn to slow down and live lives of excellence so that excellent work can come from them.  Nothing is so small with them that it cannot be done well.  If excellence is not within you, excellence will not come from you.

So, if you want to be better and more skillful at life, learn to be more skillful and disciplined in the way you live.  Having much of what will pass away profits you nothing.  Disciplined living leads to discipline results.  A lazy person will produce lazy work, but a disciplined person will produce what will last.  The hand of a disciplined person will make them rich in many things, but the life of a slacker will lead them to poverty.

If your life isn’t going the way you want, perhaps its because you are undisciplined in the things you want.  Stop, look, and listen for a new direction.  Then set out to live in a disciplined way and you will find treasures of success along the paths you take. 

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

This is the sixth message in the Skillful Living Series.  The message today is developing Social Maturity.

So, what is social maturity?  Well, I don’t have a dictionary definition for you.  But when you ask the people around you, I think they would probably say it is the ability to stop living like you are a two-year old.  Socially mature people don’t just get older, they grow up.  Adult immaturity is not a natural phase of your development.

You cannot be skillful in how you live your life when you are unskilled at how you manage your life.  Exceptional people are skillful at being the best they can be and at being the best for others.  They are never selfish but always selfless towards others.  Your social maturity is the thing that has the greatest impact on how you are perceived by others.

Our immaturity is the place where we see how our worst behaviors and attitudes can control the best things about us.  God warns us of this constantly.  In 1 Corinthians 3:2, scripture says, “And brothers, I could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal people, as to babes in Christ.  I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.”

Paul is telling us that when we have all 32 teeth, we should not still live like we can only take milk from a bottle.  Unfortunately, many of us live just that way.  Social maturity shows up in us in these three areas.  We see it first in what we want, then in how we want things to be, and finally in what things we want to happen for us.

If you believe you are the most important thing in your life and in the life of others, you are probably still taking milk when everyone else is eating solid foods.  When you still live with envy, when you are prone to stirring up strife, when you are divisive because you cannot keep your mouth closed, when you prefer only those who prefer you, and when you must have all that you want, you are living an unskilled selfish and socially immature life.

What then shall we do?  How can we learn to grow up when we are already old?  How can we unlearn what we love so that we can come to love what we have not learned.  Well, I have the ten commandments of social maturity that will help you.  Those of us who are skillful routinely avoid living these ways:

• Number One:  Don’t just get older, grow up.  Even children must grow up.  You are no exception.
• Number Two:  Don’t get your feelings hurt when you don’t get your way.  Sometimes it’s better that you don’t have all that you want.
• Number Three:  Don’t be so driven that you drive others away.  There is a time to relax on every journey. 
• Number Four:  Don’t be hurt when you are not invited to the party.  Sometimes your absence is good for others.
• Number Five:  Don’t try to control everything that happens around you.  Sometimes the things you don’t control will make you better.
• Number Six:  Don’t act out your negative emotions and call it passion.  There are times when you may not be what is best for the situations you face.
• Number Seven:  Don’t live like you must be first in everything.  When you must be first, people will allow you to walk alone.
• Number Eight:  Don’t put your life in the middle of the social network.  People don’t always need to know everything you      want them to know about you.
• Number Nine:  Don’t get so close to your feelings that your feelings get hurt easily.  Others will stay away.  Many people control their feelings; they don’t want to have to control yours for you too.
• Number Ten:  Don’t lose control of yourself or people will make sure you have no control over them.

Ok, I said Ten but Twelve is the new Ten.

• Number Eleven:  Don’t act like you must be the center of attention.  When you are too much for others, they will have none of you.
• Number Twelve:  Remember, things will be ok even if you do not get your way. 

Now don’t go thinking these are not for me.  Towards the end of His life on earth, Jesus asked Peter to “follow Me.”  Peter felt special because the Lord chose him, but when Peter saw John following Jesus also, he asked Jesus, “What about this man?”  Peter was showing some selfishness there.

The Lord said to Peter in John 21:22, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?  You follow Me.”

Jesus was saying to Peter, just do what I ask you to do and don’t worry about others.   Grow up Peter!  There are enough special people in the world that I can add you to the list, and it will still not be complete.

Learn to develop your social maturity.  You are not the most important thing in your life.  Others are.  When you learn that, you will be close to a level of maturity that others will want to emulate.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Being a father is a special thing.  It is one of the ways others can see the love of God, for God is our Heavenly Father and the Father of all.  He wants us to know that being a father is special.  It is a big deal.

So, He chose to make Himself known not only as our God which can seem difficult to behold.  He also made Himself known as our Father because each of us has or has had an earthly father.  Being a Father makes Him more personal than just being our God.

So, to the fathers and men out there, you hold a special place in the lives of others and in the heart of God because on earth you are called to be towards your wives and your children the very way God wants to be toward us all.  Being a father is a personal thing.  It is not a title at all.  It is a state of being.

It is interesting that when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus used the word Father in His prayer.  In Matthew 6:8-9, Jesus gives us a lesson on prayer.  “Therefore, do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:  Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”

Jesus was saying to the disciples and to us that God is not an object to which we pray.  He is a person who lives and who loves us.  He is our first Father and so we can talk to Him like He is a person more than we believe He is just the thing we call God.

For you fathers out there, you are not just a thing in the lives of your children.  You are not just a thing in the life of your spouse.  Next to God, you are the most important person in their lives.  So then, fathers ought to be that way so that our children and our spouses can act that way.

But what way do I speak of?  Well, Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 6 when He tells the disciples not to be like the earthly people around them who want things for themselves.  Earthly people spend their lives providing things for themselves.  They are people who want to be seen and glorified by others.  Fathers are to be different than those.  They are to be providers, first of love and then of all other things, just as God the Father is a provider for us.

Men, husbands and fathers, we ought to be examples of what we have learned from God the Father.  Ephesians 6:4 says, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

God is not speaking to others about fathers.  He speaks directly to fathers about fathers.  He is speaking directly to us men and fathers.  When He says do not provoke your children to wrath, He is saying be patient and loving toward them.  They are learning just as you have learned.  Don’t push so hard to make them do right that you make them hate what you do to them.

If you are a father or husband, you should never say to yourself that God has never talked to or spoken directly to you because He has.  He is saying to fathers, “Raise your children the same way God the Father has raised you.”  As a father you must use the training and the encouragement you have received from God the father to raise your children.  This means as fathers we must live our lives under the watchful loving training and encouragement of the Lord.

We cannot train our children the way God wants us to train them when we have not gone through that same training ourselves.

Fathers, we have a special calling in life.  We are to be trained by the Lord so that we can train our children in the ways of the Lord. Men, I know none of us are perfect in any way, but let’s not use that that as an excuse to be lazy fathers.

Let’s commit this Father’s Day to be men who receive the Love and Admonition of the Lord in our own development so that we can share that same Love and admonition with our spouses and with our children.  The more special we are in how we allow the Lord to develop our lives, the more special we will be as fathers in the lives of our children.

Have a great Father’s Day.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

This is the fifth message in the Skillful Living Series.  The message today is developing Your way With People.

Which of these two statements is more you? 

• I get along with others.
• Others get along with me.

You might want to pick both statements, but if you had to choose only one, which would best describe you? 

One of the most difficult things for people to learn is how to develop an effective way with people. 

How well you get along with others will tell you everything about your way with people.

One of the reasons we find it difficult to get along with others is that we find it difficult to get along with ourselves.  Cain did this with Abel.  When we cannot get our way with the things we want, we can easily become frustrated with ourselves and with others.  People who are skillful at life learn to be the type of people who don’t fight with themselves about themselves.  They get along well with who they are.  

The poet Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you say and what you do but they will never forget how you make them feel.”  Do you see the truth in this statement?  But look a little deeper and you will see even more.  A great way with people is about relationship more than it is about what we do.

But relationships are difficult for us.  We want to build relationships based on the things we do, believing the more we do the more important we will be to a relationship.  But that is more selfish than it is true.  Look deeply at your relationship with the Lord.  Once you know Him, you will never forget how He makes you feel, and you will never forget the things He says to you or even the things He does for you.

Jesus has a way with us that covers who He is to us, how He is with us, and what He does with us.  He is our example of a great Way with People.  Jesus’s way with us isn’t determined by the circumstances we face today.  It is determined by the person He is to us each day.

Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”  There is no circumstance or situation that would demand we live towards others in anything other than a peaceable way.

So, it doesn’t matter your circumstance or your situation.  It doesn’t matter your role or your position.  It doesn’t matter what you want to do or what you must do.  You will live more skillfully when you develop a way with people that leaves them with feelings of appreciation about what you mean to them.

A skillful believer’s way with people will be seasoned with things like these:

• Believers will be love towards others.  So, love others and stay away from being the evil in their lives.

• Believers will always be hopeful for the thing that will be good in the lives of others while patient in the tough times that do not go as they would like.  Be good towards others, no matter how good they may be towards you.

• Believers are never the ones who have to have their way in all things.  Let others believe you care about them getting what they need as much as you want what you need.  

• Learn to tell others “You did a great job.” Learn to ask others “what do you think?” Learn to say to others “Could you please.” Learn to appreciate others by saying “thank you.” And learn to lift others up by saying “We more than I.”

• Give to others always, and always connect with them in a way that serves them with joy.  Let your way with others be a blessing to others, especially to those who would be a curse to you or who would persecute you.  Bless them and never curse them.  Learn to have a way with people that will win them rather than defeat them.

• Never be more hurt to people who are already hurting.  A skillful way with people will never be more disrespecting to those who are not respected, and it will never lack love and care towards those who lack love and care.

Not everyone is going to be for you.  You must accept that.  Sometimes the best way to respond to people who want to hurt you because of who you are or what you do is to humbly acknowledge to them how great of a blessing it must be to them that they are not like you.

The way you choose to relate to others can bring out the best in others or it can kill the best in others.  You don’t have to win at everything; learn to make winners of others.  That will make you of great value to them.

Jesus tries to teach us simple ways to skillfully live with others, but you have a choice.  Jesus is always looking to help us be our best.  He doesn’t use ways contrary to this.  When you learn to skillfully navigate the way you choose to be with yourself, you will have more successes as you learn to skillfully relate with others.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

This if the fourth message in the Skillful Living Series.  The message today is your purpose of life.

Do you know your purpose of life?  Do you feel like you have a purpose?  What do I mean by purpose?  Well, some would say Abraham’s purpose of life was to be the father of God’s covenant people.  Some would say Mary’s purpose of life was to be the mother of Jesus.  Some would say John the Baptist’s purpose of life was to be a proclamation of the coming of Christ.

Scripture says before John the Baptist was born, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and called to go before Jesus to preach His coming.  Luke 1:15 says, “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.  He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.  And He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.”

John indeed went before to preach the coming of Jesus to the people.  John’s purpose was to be a voice of the coming of Jesus.  John knew this.  His parents knew this.  And eventually the children of Israel came to know this.

Purpose is our realization of who we are, to know our reason for being, and to know why we are here at this moment in time.  Purpose speaks from inside each of us, reminding us of exactly who we are.  It is the reason we live where we live.  It is the reason we do the things we do.

When we come to know our purpose of life, we come to know how to live that life skillfully and successfully.  John had a spiritual calling and purpose.  He understood that.  But he had to learn to live out that spiritual calling and purpose in a carnal world.  John had to do the everyday things that every other person had to do.

It’s no different for you and me.  We may or may not have the spiritual call on our lives that John had, but we know what God has revealed to us about us.  Each of us has a thing inside of us that yearns to live through our lives daily.  It is what tells us this is not who we are or perhaps this is exactly who we should be.

Purpose is not just what you do; purpose is the reason for the things we do. When you discover your purpose, it becomes the reason you live skillfully in all you do.  Purpose is the reason for being.  Without purpose you may pursue many things you can never do or be skillfully.

When you know that your purpose of life is to be a positive influence on the people around you, you would never take a job that impacts people in a negative way.  When you know your purpose, you know how you should act and how you should behave.  You know who you are and, perhaps more importantly, you know who you are not.

Purpose of life helps you learn to start your life each day on a successful path so you can do successful things.  Purpose lives in your heart.  It will help you learn to connect your heart to your head and your hands so that all you do comes from a place of being more than from the skills and talents you may acquire.

Your purpose of life teaches you why you are alive.  It teaches you how you should live and it reveals to you what you should do daily.  Purpose keeps you from wasting your life on things that serve only you.

By now, some of you are probably saying your purpose of life is to love and to serve the Lord.  That may be true, but that is the same for each of us who are children of God.  God wants all His children to love and to serve Him, but the purpose of life I am talking about is more than that.  Each of us has a practical call on our lives that we must discover.  

Our individual purposes are different from each other. There was only one Abraham.  There was only one Mary.  There was only one John the Baptist.  There was only one Paul.  Each of these people had individual calls, yet each was expected to love and serve the Lord.

Like Abraham, Mary and John, you have an individual call of purpose on your life in addition to the call to live a spiritual life of love and service to the Lord.  Spend some time today in prayer.  Ask the Lord to help you discover your purpose of life.  He will do that for you if you ask Him.

Then learn to live a life of purpose as you live a life of love and service to the Lord.  You will learn to live more skillfully as you do this.  When you know your purpose of life is to be a listening ear to those who have things to say, you will learn to listen skillfully and better than others.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

This is the third message in the Skillful Living Series.  Today’s message is becoming self-aware of the person you are.

Do you tell yourself about yourself as much as you try to tell others about themselves?  Do you care about what you need to improve about yourself as much as you care that others change themselves?  Do you reflect on your own behaviors as much as you reflect on the behaviors of others?  Do you accept what others have to say about you as much as you want others to accept what you think of them?

Learning to live life skillfully starts when you learn to accurately see who you are and what your life means to the lives around you.  Becoming self-aware introduces you to the person who will control your life for your life.  It means we learn to live by what others actually see of us more than by what we want others to see of us.

In Roman 7, Paul explains what goes on inside each of us as we struggle to live our lives.  It is our lack of awareness about what is within each of us that keeps us from doing the good we desire to do.  There is a fight between what we want ourselves to be and our awareness of who we really are 

We are surprised when we do not do what we do not want to do.   We find ourselves doing the very things we hate to do.  Why is this so?  Why does this happen to us?  Well, it is because we lack awareness of ourselves and what goes on within us.

Scripture tells us about self-awareness.  Romans 7:18-19 says, “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells: for to want to do good is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I want to do, I do not do it, but the evil I want not to do, that is what I practice.”

Being self-aware helps you learn to interpret your actions, feelings and thoughts objectively so you learn to live the life you should live rather than allowing what you don’t want to be to have control of your life.

Living skillfully helps you learn to know who is in control of your life.  Many of us think someone or something other than ourselves are in control of our lives.  But this is not the case.  Becoming self-aware makes you become mindful of who it is inside you that is in control of you.  Become more aware of who you are.

Self-awareness helps you live with compassion.  Reflect on what you learn about yourself and what your life means to others. Compassion and reflection are skillful living behaviors that make you better around others.

Becoming more self-aware helps you learn to live from the insights you gain about yourself so that you can change your thoughts, actions and behaviors before others ask you to change.  Insightfulness helps you to live skillfully with yourself, so you live more successfully with others.

Becoming more self-aware helps you learn to depend more on the Lord for your life.  It helps you learn that things do not have to go your way for you to have your way.  It means things are going to be okay even when you don’t get your way.  It means you learn the greatest battle you will ever fight is the one you fight for who will control your life.

Living skillfully is made easier when you are more aware of who you are and when you see the implications of the things you do.  When you are more aware of yourself, you will become more aware of the needs of others.  When you are more aware of yourself, you will learn to become more aware of the greatness of the Lord.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

This is the second message in the Skillful Living Series.  Today’s topic is how to live your life as the best possible you.

Exodus 18:21 gives a description of the type of people that Moses should choose to help lead God’s people.  Scripture says, “Moreover, you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands.”

Moses was told to look for men who were already able to lead themselves, whose character was ready to get the most from themselves.  These were men who had a natural inclination to fear God and to place themselves under someone higher than themselves.  Because of that, they naturally sought the truth in all things, and they hated the idea of wanting more than what they needed.

Men such as these lived their best lives.  Those were times long before we had colleges and universities.  Long before we had formal education.  Long before we had books and historical leaders to study.  You don’t go to school to learn how to be your best self.  You don’t go to school to learn how to be truthful.  You don’t go to school to learn not to covet the things of others.

Where did the people who demonstrated these traits learn them?  I believe they learned what was already deep within them and within others.  I believe these same things are within each of us today. People decide they will live their lives against a standard of life that is objectively better than anything they can conceive for themselves.

The people Moses looked for decided to live contrary to the ways others lived.  Doing this helped them to live each day as the best possible person they could be.  As a result, they were recognized for the way they lived their lives.  If they struggled, they struggled with the idea of being better each day.

The scripture doesn’t say these men were not sinners.  We need to understand something about sin.  We are all sinners.  No one is any more or any less a sinner than anyone else.  But being a sinner doesn’t mean we cannot be good at the things we do.  Being a sinners should give us reason to want to be better than we are.

Moses was instructed to choose men who were God fearing.  That is a state of mind we have toward God.  Fearing God will help us learn to do God-fearing things.  Do this, and you will be a better person.

Being “men of truth” means you are taught by the Truth to learn to live in the Truth.  Live and accept the truth, and you will be a better person.

People who hating covetousness are satisfied with having their needs met more than by the need to satisfy all their desires.  Do this, and you will be a better person for it.

When we have these three qualities of life, we will have all that we need to live skillfully as the best possible person we can be.  When you learn to be the best possible, you don’t need to do something great to be seen as great.

When you are the best you can be, you will do the best that can be done.  God instructed Moses to look for people who were their best selves so they would not have problems helping others discover how to be better.

What about you?  Do you start each day as the best you possible?

Don’t think college or some other institution of instruction will make you a better you.  Listen to the Lord as He speaks to you.  He will help you learn to look within yourself to discover what keeps you from being a better person.

The Lord isn’t trying to teach the old you a new trick or to give you a new skill.  You should not want the old you, and the people around you probably do not want the old you either.  People who live skillfully at life listen to the Lord who tries to transform an old self into someone better by using new insights.

Start each day searching for the best you possible.  Each day is a new day. You should start each new day as the best you possible.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Today people all around us will take a moment to acknowledge and to honor the mothers and the women in their lives.  It’s Mother’s Day 2024.  This is the day it is fitting for us to take some time to reflect on the women among us because of how special they are to us.

In Luke 1:28-30 we find the scriptural account of the angel’s visit to Mary informing her that she would become the Mother of Jesus.  Scripture says, “And having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

Scripture goes on, “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God.”  Mary was special to God.  God was saying, “Mary, you are special to Me.  My plans for life include your life.”

So, as we acknowledge the value of Mothers and women today, let’s do that by showing them how our lives reflect their lives.

Let’s all make sure we live in such a way that the mothers around us will rejoice in gladness and happiness, knowing they were chosen to be the moms, the wives, and the women we all know and love.  Let’s be the angels in the lives of our mothers.

Often, we look at how the women around us live to decide if they are great moms and spouses.  But it shouldn’t be that way.  We ought to look at how we live as the way to show the value of what our mothers and women mean to life.  Let’s live in ways that our mothers and women are blessed because of us and through us.

Perhaps there is no greater way for us to honor our mothers and women than for each of us to live in ways that would be the indication to the world around us that God Himself is with our mothers, our wives, and our daughters.

The scripture says that when Jesus was just 12 years old, He became separated from His parents while they were in Jerusalem for a feast.  When Mary and Joseph found Him, the scripture says Jesus went with them back home to Nazareth, and there He lived under their parenting.

Jesus honored His parents by the way He lived before them.  I’m sure the people who saw how He lived with His parents thought to themselves how amazing His parents must have been.

We have some amazing Mothers with us today.  They are amazing, not because of how much they have much or how little they have, but because you and I are here living today as part of God’s plan for their lives.

So, as we honor our moms today, let’s make sure we do this because we have lived lives of honor, love, and sacrifice.  Let’s honor mothers with lives of submission and faithfulness before God.

Your life is more valuable to your mom than the flowers, the food, and even the time you set aside today to give them.

So, let’s step up today.  When the world sees us, it should exhaust itself by looking for the women who birthed us, because it will know those women must highly favored by God and by the people around.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.