Stop the excuses. Inappropriate behavior isn’t God’s fault. God never makes anyone commit sin. God is good. He gives all the power to choose good and reject evil.

Okay, maybe God does make us with certain inclinations toward certain inappropriate behaviors. Yet, he still gives us the power to choose to obey or reject those inclinations. Dogs have no choice. They follow their base instincts. We, however, are not animals. We can obey or reject our instincts.

Drinking is not evil. Drunkenness and excess are evil. Admiring a beautiful woman is not evil. Lusting after her and committing adultery with her is evil. Brotherly love is not evil. Sex between those of the same sex is evil.

Although I may be born with an inclination toward homosexuality, I can reject that inclination and not choose the homosexual lifestyle. Just as I reject my urges to steal and kill!

Evil inclinations force us to choose. Even if I have not the will power to choose good over my evil inclinations, as a child of God, I have the power of God living in me (through the Holy Spirit) to defeat every evil inclination that rises up within me!

He that is in me (God) is greater than he that is in the world (Satan). All I have to do is stop listening to sin and start listening to God.

It's a matter of whom I choose to serve. Obey God and live. Follow my lustful desires and die.

As for me and my house, we choose to serve the Lord.

In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, black nor white, clergy nor laity. We are all one IN CHRIST.

Creating disciples, baptizing disciples, and nurturing disciples is the mutual responsibility of all believers. We are a "kingdom of priests". There is no elite class of Christians. Clergy and laity distinctions are inventions of men intended to elevate one group of believers over another group.

Although these ideas are revolutionary in this day they are as old as the New Testament. It's what first Christians did when they came together. Worship was "mutual edification". They had no elites among them. Even The Twelve never claimed such distinction. When the brethren tried to elevate apostles or other men over the rest, Paul condemns it! See I Corinthians 1. That's elitism and it has no place among God's family. Even Jesus said, “It shall not be so among you!”

Men brought the idea of clergy/laity in the church. It is not biblical. It must be done away with before it destroys the whole church.

Public worship is to be done by all. Not just a select few. Each member is expected to come to public assembly with something to share: a verse, a song, a message from God, a word of encouragement or praise. This should be done as the Spirit leads and without chaos.

There are two requirements for true worship. It is to be done in spirit and in truth. Truth-speaking is to be given preference. Truth is to be spoken to one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Each one takes his turn bringing a word of encouragement or message from God. See the instructions in I Corinthians 14.

One group should never "lord it over" the rest. God lives in each of us. We move as he directs. There is no man on earth with his authority. We move and act according to the measure of faith and gifts he gives each of us.

Unfortunately, our cultural Christianity promotes a few superstars among us each Sunday. These actors are placed on raised podiums while the average Christian is told to sit down and shut up! They are asked to accept only what the elite class is capable of delivering. Sometimes these superstars have little or no proven Christian character. Some even lack spiritual maturity. Yet, they are lifted up as role models. By so doing, we teach the rest that character does not matter. We teach that what matters most is being a great singer, an excellent speaker, or an accomplished performer! Among the body of Christ it should never be so!

The body of Christ is where each member plays a part necessary for growing the whole body.

We need true Christian community. We need believers acting as a family that nurtures and protects each member. We need mentors who actually listen and follow the Spirit. We need leaders who can lead as servants to teach how to listen more closely to the Spirit. We need real leaders who actually let the Spirit lead. These leaders will walk among us and beside us. Certainly not walk over us!

As true Christian community, we will hold each other accountable. We will promote only the original form of Christianity. We will emphasize relationships without hypocrisy. We will enjoy true heart-felt, honest, and spontaneous praise in worship to our Lord Jesus Christ.

No Christian is above another Christian. No member of Christ’s body should ever be given absolute power and sole authority over other believers.

In Christ, there is one Lord and Master. His name is Jesus.

I still love you. I love you even in your current sinful state. Why? Because God loves me and accepts me in my current sinful state! How can he do that? How can he love me? How can anyone love me? How can he remain a perfect God and love me an imperfect being? Why does he not instead condemn me? I deserve condemnation, not love and acceptance! How can he give me love and approval when I justly deserve disapproval?

Because he knows how much I hate my sin! He knows my heart and he knows I hate my sin even before I commit it. So he forgives my sin even before I commit it.

It's like when we were babies and soiled our diapers! We were old enough by that time to know better. But, we would occasionally have an accident. We couldn't help it. We didn't yet have full control of our bladder or bowels. We weren't content to sit there in our soiled stated and pit of shame, which we justly deserved. We ran to Mother. Mom didn't scold us. She didn't tell us how ashamed she was of us! She cleaned us up! Why?

Because one day she knew we'd do better. Also, she knew we were not content in our soiled condition. We'd one day mature. One day we would do all she asked. The power of her love and forgiveness brought us to full maturity. We then acted like adults because we were adults.

Right now, we aren't full-grown. But God is growing us. He is shaping us into the image of Christ. We aren't there yet. But, God accepts us when we soil our diapers. If we are willing to go to him each time. And allow him to clean us up. And do not grow content with our soiled condition. He make us brand new every time we mess up!

With his love and forgiveness, and Holy Spirit, one day we will be mature and look more like him than we do today.

Thank you, Jesus. For your grace. And, for a mother's love.

We all have a finite amount of time, energy, and money. With limited resources, we must invest wisely in what is top priority! Also, we must realize that what we often tend to spend our time, energy, and money on does not truly matter in the end.

What we spend our time, energy, and money on speaks volumes to those closest to us. Thus, we should take inventory constantly to make certain we are investing our limited resources in what will last and what matters most.

Never waste time. It is a precious commodity. Spend energy on things other than the pursuit of what is empty and vain. Invest hard-earned dollars on what brings lasting reward rather than fleeting pleasure. Many things perish with using.

Take time today for family. Spend effort on serving others, meditation, and prayer. Seek the things above. Not things beneath that rust corrodes, moths eat, and thieves can steal. Seek things that last. The eternal and intangible should always take priority over the material. Laugh and love hard. Spend time in the pleasurable company of sober friends who encourage you to good works and meritorious deeds.

Life is too precious to waste on things that do not ultimately matter. Or, on persons who care little about anything but themselves!

Some people really stuggle with low self-esteem. Some are born with horrible assumptions about themselves. They believe they do not deserve to be loved. They believe they will never find true love. They reject others before they are rejected by them. They constantly search the environment for reasons to believe what they already know: they are worthless.

The slightest rejection experienced by such a person is traumatic because it affirms what they already believe. Their lives become self-fulfilling prophecies. They end up where they fear most--alone.

Such persons need to learn that not everything that happens around them is their fault, or even about them! (They tend to own every event.) This is a form of self-centeredness. The world does not revolve around us. Not everything that happens to us or others around us is our fault or about us! We should only accept appropriate guilt and let God and others own the rest.

If we struggle with low self-esteem, we should also see rejection as an event and not about us. Rejection is a normal part of life. It is an important part of the dating process and finding the correct mate for life. We should not allow the dating process to change us into a person we are not simply so others will accept us!

We need to learn that loving another person is always risky business because they can choose at anytime to reject us. And, it may not having anything to do with us. We should own the guilt that is appropriate, lick our wounds, grieve through the process, and move on to love again. Aloneness and cold-heartedness are not viable options. We MUST love again in spite of the risks. We must love genuinely and whole-heartedly, regardless the risk.

We must learn to love as love is defined in I Corinthians 13. We must open ourselves up to rejection as a normal part of living and especially dating. We must be honest with ourselves about our real faults. We must accept only others into a deep relationship with us that support us as we truly are and appreciate us for who we are.

Lastly, we must discover God. The God in scripture that can smooth out our rough edges and give us the proper perspective of ourselves as we exist in him--loved and forgiven because of what Christ did on the cross.

This is easy to say and teach. It is tough to live out every day. Especially in a world that does not act lovingly but selfishly. We must not allow the world to make us into its image but allow Christ to make us over into His image.

That's why we all need God's help. And, the support of God's family in true Christian community.