But we look good

Looking out my back window this morning I was watching a group of women golfers teeing it up on the par 3 behind our house. One gal in particular caught my attention. She had the standard golf attire with the visor, shoes, blouse and golf skirt. She teed the ball up and then stood behind it to get her line of where she wanted to hit it. She took a few nice looking practice swings and then approached the ball to hit. She took a mighty swing at the ball and it flew about 40 yards into the pond. You could tell she had no idea what the problem was.

It seems our Christian life so often is like that. We have our Bible, we attend church, we join a small group, we may even serve in some other way on the side. From the outside we look like a functioning Christian but then something goes wrong. We stumble or our kids get into trouble or our marriage falls apart. How could that happen, we were doing all the right things?

Like our golfer, there is more to Christianity then how we look. Christianity is not about how much we serve (although that is important), it's not about the Bible we have or how many times we make it to church. Christianity is about what Jesus has placed in our hearts. It's not rules and appearance it's surrender, sacrifice and becoming Christ-like. It's what we do when only God will know. It's taking what we have learned from the Bible and actually putting it into practice.

Our golfers problem was not her appearance, her swing or her golf knowledge. Her problem was a head problem. She couldn't transfer her book knowledge into actual practice. There are so many that know scripture but fail to put that knowledge into practice. Jesus looks at our heart not our Bible version. He looks at our walk and not our talk.

Building your Marriage Ark

Thousands of years ago Noah began building an ark for an impending flood. Never mind that he had never seen the rain or that it would take decades to complete. He was ridiculed, mocked and was probably considered a nut. He was preparing for a catastrophe even though he had no reason to believe one would occur except that God told him it would.

We should take the same preparation in our marriages. Even if you've never had an argument or slight misunderstanding (really?) we all know a marriage catastrophe is coming. Listen to those who have been down the road a bit and they will tell you storm clouds are on the horizon.

Take heed, listen and prepare. Have a mentor couple that you can go to in time of crisis. Take classes and attend marriage seminars. Read books or join a marriage small group. All these can build your marriage ark to keep you and your family safe from the ravages of a storm.

Serving God while losing Him?

I am guilty, as I think many are, of trying to serve God but not growing in Him. We keep ourselves busy helping others, serving in ministry and fellowshipping with fellow believers. But while we are serving the Kingdom we forget about our quiet time with Him. What good does it do us to help others but lose our relationship with the One that makes it all possible? God never placed ministry above our relationship with Him or our families. Get back to basics and place God first and your spouse next. Everything else will fall in place.