Righteous and the Wicked

          Today’s devotionals were in the books of Psalms 10 and Proverbs 10.  In Psalms 10 there is a cry out to God to avenge the righteous over the wicked and in Proverbs 10 there is a comparison between the righteous and the wicked.  As long as we live in this world there will always be the wicked, because sin exists.  As long as there are wicked and sin there are going to be times when things do not seem fair in our eyes.  We have to remember that things go way beyond this world though.  Even if things do not seem fair today there is coming a time when the Lord Himself will judge all.  On that day I would not want to be the wicked one that had all he ever wanted here on this earth, for his will be a harsher punishment then we would wish upon anyone.  Then in his eyes he will think things are not fair, but in the judgment of the Lord all is fair.

          That being said we have to trust in the Lord and make sure we walk the straight and narrow path.  We should not desire all the rewards in this world, but storing up our rewards in heaven for the glory of the Lord.  Proverbs 10 tells us how we should live our lives here in this world in stark contrast to how the wicked live their lives.  The end result of how you should choose to live you life are told to us in Proverbs 10:16

16 The wages of the righteous is life,
but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.

          So as we prepare to enter into a New Year of 2011 where do you plan to walk?  What is it going to take to walk that path?  It does mean some sacrifices, but in the end those sacrifices will seem oh so trivial compared to what you receive out of it.  My prayer for all is that they will see this good light that is the Lord and walk in it every day of their lives seeking only to glorify the One that created us and sacrificed far more then we will ever sacrifice for Him.  We do not deserve it, but it has been given to us all the same for those who choose to believe and accept this most wonderful gift that has been extended to us.  Let us choose to walk in the path of the righteous and not fall to the fate of the wicked.

Two houses

In today’s devotionals one passage that I read was Proverbs 9.  It talks about the house of wisdom and the house of folly.  Seems that there are those in this world that constantly seek knowledge.  Which can be a good thing, but where do you seek it and why?  The wisdom talked about in this passage talks of the wisdom of God.  Getting to know God and building a relationship with Him.  We are to have the wisdom of His Word etched upon our hearts.

        It goes on to talk about using this wisdom as well.  Sharing the Word of God with others.  In doing so it tells us in Proverbs 9:7 and part of 8, 

7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.

8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;…

          

              There are so many times when we really believe in something that we just want to tell everyone with a passion so that they too will see what it is that we believe in.  Problem is that there are those that have open minds and those that do not.  If you start arguing with someone that has a closed mind you are just spinning your wheels and getting nowhere with that person.  God will open their mind when the time is right then they will come to you.  Then the rest of verse 8 – 9

           

         8…rebuke the wise and they will love you.

9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

           

               Those that are open minded will listen to what you have to say.  I really think we should apply this to our own lives as well.  How many times have you been closed-minded just because you believe your way is the right way?  Now when it comes to scripture that is the baseline by which you follow and if someone comes to us and tells us something and it matches up to scripture in the full context of scripture we should be open to listen, but if it does not then we should gently guide them provided they are open minded.  This is why it is important for us to be in the Word daily and place it upon our hearts.

          I said there were two houses, one is wisdom, and the other is folly or foolishness.  This house also calls out to the simple minded, but this is a house of death for this is not the wisdom of God.  This again is the house of foolishness where one goes to enjoy the pleasures of their sinful natures and knows nothing of God or even refuses to know anything of God because they are happy where they are.  This is the house that the mockers and the wicked ones come from.

          So we need to be careful which house we choose.  Do we strive to gain wisdom for our own glory so everyone will look at you and say “they are really intelligent” or do we gain it for the glory of God and so that we may instruct others in the ways of our Lord and Savior?  I hope the latter, because we either choose to be of this world or of God, there is no middle ground here.  When Christ comes back will you be ready, will you have shown Him that He was the most important thing in your life or were there other things that took His place?  How will you want to give this testimony at that time?

Bread of Life

          Today’s reading in John 6 is very rich in content and I could spend several pages talking about this passage, but I again prefer to let my words be few and let the Words of God speak for themselves.

          The following passage is after the feeding of the 5000 from only two fish and five loafs of barley bread.  It is a statement made by some of the same people that witnessed this miracle in the first place and obviously still did not believe.

30 So they asked him, "What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

32 Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

          Jesus is telling them that the bread that their ancestors received with Moses in the desert only sustained the mortal life, but that He now brings a bread that will sustain their eternal life.

35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."

          Jesus goes on to tell them that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to have this eternal life.  Obviously this is not meant in a literal fashion, but that the world would condemn Him and put Him to death through flogging and the crucifixion upon the cross.  The world would devour His mortal body.

          Today we remember this event in our communion as we take the bread, which represents His body broken for us, and drink the wine, which represents His blood spilled for the forgiveness of our sins.  Jesus lays this same practice down in the last supper with His disciples.  Think about this next time you take communion.  Read over John 6 and reflect on all this.

Saved, but now our response

In today’s devotional I read John 5 among a few others.  In the opening of John 5 Jesus heals the man at the well that has been crippled for 38 years, but was unable to get to the pool by himself to be healed.  Jesus asked him “Do you want to get well?” John 5:6 and the man gave the excuse of not being able to get into the well to be healed.  Then Jesus told him, “Get up!  Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:8.  So he did it and walked away.

Later on Jesus met up with the man again and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."  John 5:14.  Why did Jesus have to tell him this on the second meeting and not the first?  Did he forget to give him that instruction?  Doubtful.  I think we all have a tendency to be very grateful at the time of rescue, but as time passes we start to fall back into our old ways because that is what we are comfortable with.  We soon forget what it was like in our suffering, but easily remember our pleasure in our sinful ways.

So how do we keep from falling back into those sinful ways once we are away from them?  We have to be in the Word of God and study it so that its wisdom would be written on our hearts and that we would be strengthened by it.  Although it takes more than just reading the words in the bible, it says this in John 5:38-40

38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

          So we need to understand who it is that the bible testifies about and believe in Him, because only through Jesus are we saved.  That is why we must remain in the Word daily, otherwise we will fade back into the sinful world in which we live.  Sure we can listen to sermons every Sunday at church, but they are soon forgotten and as we are back in the world for the rest of the week we forget.  We are just as the Jewish leaders that Jesus is talking to in John 5:33-35,

33 "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

          One of the key phrases that stuck out to me in these passages was that they chose for a TIME to enjoy the light.  I think we chose for a time to believe, when it is a time that we need it in our own minds.  Then we soon forget or put it off in the back of our minds until we need it again.  Bottom line is that we must live in that light on a daily basis and walk in it and not just when it suits our situation or when we are in church Sunday morning.  The world is ready to swallow us right back up if we even give it half a chance, but as long as we remain in the light darkness cannot touch us.

Place of Worship

          In my reading today of John 4 we come to the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.  One thing that stood out to me was what she had said in John 4:20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.  First you have to understand that the Jews hated the Samaritans and would actually travel around Samaria so they would not have to come in contact with the Samaritans.  So it was not normal for Jesus to travel the road He did through Samaria, actually it was not normal for any Jew to travel that road.  So the Samaritans could not go to Jerusalem to worship even if they had wanted to for the Jews would have ran them off.

          Jesus’ reply should be heard by all today as well as when the woman at the well heard it.
 
21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."  John 4:21-24

          Jesus is letting us know that true worship does not come from a particular place, but from the heart in truth.  This does not mean that we should not go to church because we are worshiping God in our hearts.  We still need to gather as a body of believers especially in a sinful world where we are worn down.  Gather together helps us regain our strength for the following week’s trials.  Getting back to worshiping in Spirit and truth there are still many who do come to church and do not worship this way.  So it is not the building of the church you attend, but your heart in which you worship.  Think about that the next time you are singing worship songs or listening to the message.  Where is you heart at in that moment?  Where are your thoughts, because that will tell you where your heart is.

          So as believers in Christ let us come together not only in our physical bodies, but in our Spirit and our hearts.  Can you imagine how glorifying this would be to God if we all gathered this way and the power of the Spirit in that gathering?  So let us keep our worship to God in our hearts on a regular basis and let every thought be on Him as we go throughout our day.  This is true worship.

Gaining Knowledge

In Genesis 3 we read the story of “The Fall” in which Eve is tempted by the serpent and eats from the Tree of Knowledge and shares it with Adam.  This is the very tree that God commanded them not to eat from.  The serpent’s argument was that they “would not surely die” but that they would gain knowledge and know the things that God knows.  So when they ate the fruit their eyes were opened and they saw good from evil.  So why does this become a bad thing, other then the fact that God told them not to eat from it?

            It was this knowledge of good and evil that opened the doorway to sinful desires.  Why were Adam and Eve so oblivious to the fact that both of them were naked before eating the fruit, but then so very aware of it after they ate the fruit?  So much so that they hid and covered themselves with leaves.  Their eyes were now opened to sinful desires.  Sure they were married and have nothing to be ashamed of with each other.  Face it even if we are married running around in our own house naked all day long would still feel awkward to say the least. 

            It is because of this knowledge of good and evil that we are now tempted to sin and this is not God’s fault or Adam and Eve’s fault lest we start blaming others just as they did when they were caught in sin.  We are now aware of evil and our sinful hearts desire that, but we are also aware of good and our sinful hearts do not desire that.  This is why we need a Savior in our lives, because even the strongest of us spiritually have sinned at least once in our lives, some of us even on a regular basis.  Paul struggles with this very issue in Romans 7:15 he says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

            So we are war within ourselves on a regular basis just as Paul describes here.  We know the good through the Spirit of God, but still evil lives in us all as the result of the fall the knowledge of evil.  The only way we will ever stay strong in this ongoing battle is to have a faithful relationship with our Lord and through the reading of His Word.  He will always be with us and we do not have to fight this alone, but there has to be an effort on our part and a desire to want to stay in the light of truth.

            John 3:19-21 shows us this truth. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Rejected

          Although I enjoyed my devotionals today, my heart and mind still race back to that day which we celebrate here at Christmas.  From the angel telling Mary she would conceive a baby, but not just any baby, God’s son that was coming to save us all. 

          9 months later as Joseph and Mary headed to Bethlehem for the census they could find nowhere to stay.  No one would take in this pregnant woman.  So they had to sleep with the animals in the stables.  Of course the town would have been filled with people for the census you still think that someone somewhere would have taken them in.  Had they known whom she was about to give birth to would they have taken her in then?  Probably, but then you never can tell.

          Today Jesus is still rejected by many even though they do know who He is.  They reject Him for many reasons.  Either they do not believe that He was who He claimed to be, or they do not want the commitment of believing and having to follow in His commands or suffer for not doing so.  There is a price to be paid by the people that are of this world if they believe.  It means giving up all the things that entertain their sinful pleasures, something they believe hold value to them. 

          As Christians we know there is a sacrifice that we pay for accepting Jesus, but we know that the payoff in the end far outweighs any sacrifice we could ever make.  After all Jesus is the one that made the ultimate sacrifice because of His love for the Father and His love for us.

          So on this day we should remember the fact that our Lord and Savior stepped down from the comfort and the glory of heaven to be among us here on this earth a sacrifice that would ultimately end in His crucifixion.  This sacrifice which would give us a chance to share in that same comfort and glory that He left behind on this day that we celebrate.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

The Most Valuable Things Are Free

Proverbs 3

          Today in reading this I find that the most valuable thing in life is not material things, but what we put into ourselves.  No it’s not all the food that we will be eating this Christmas season.  The most valuable thing is wisdom.  Not our own worldly knowledge for we would boast of our own accomplishments.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.  Proverbs 3:7

          So where does this wisdom come from then?  From the Word of God and trusting in Him with all our heart.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

          In all this we will gain wisdom, understanding, and peace in our lives even when it seems as though everything else is falling down around us the Lord is with us.

What Do You Desire?

Proverbs 2:1-5

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,

2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—

3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,

4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

We should have a desire in our hearts for the Word of God.  A burning desire to read it and have it become part of us.  Have you ever had a desire for something so powerful that it was the only thing on your mind every waking hour of the day?  A nice car, a home, how about your first love of a girl or boy?  Think back to how that felt.  You could not stand to be separated from them you had to be near them 24/7 and when you were apart you were counting the seconds that you would see them again.  This is the desire that the author is talking about in Proverbs 2.

What if we do not have this desire?  Then we need to search our hearts as to why.  Is it because of excuses?  I just do not have the time to do this, I have a ton of other things I need to get done first, I will do it later when I have time, I am too tired and I will do it tomorrow.  The problem with all of these excuses is that they all begin with “I”.  This is not about us it is about God.  I mentioned earlier about a desire as you had for your first love.  What would you have done to be with them?  Anything right.  Let’s reverse this situation then.  Have you ever had someone that desired you that much?  No not me that would never happen.  Really?  Why on earth or in Heaven then would God allow His Son to go through everything he did here on this earth and die for OUR sins?  Perhaps He desires to be together with us even more so then we ever desired to be with our first love.

So the question then becomes how to receive that kind of love and desire?  Do you accept that love with open arms?  The sad truth of it is we always put ourselves first in this relationship.  I can’t, I don’t have time, I will do that later.  Sound familiar.  So maybe we start putting others first beginning with God.

Week of Finals

     OK although I do not plan on posting much here this week since I need to concentrate on my finals for Friday this does not mean I am not getting into the Word of God each morning.  This is how we all need to start off the day so we can get our focus on what is really important.  If not some devotional time as least some quiet time and pray with our Creator.  Anyway I will catch up with this next week with a new bible reading plan I will be following off of YouVersion which will also help me with some accountability.  I pray for all of you if you are reading this and for all that do not.  It is not my words that are the important ones, it is His that we must impress upon our hearts.  This is my prayer for all.

Paul

Unjust Suffering

          There are times in our lives that we suffer unjustly and feel that this is so unfair and feel that we must strike out that it is part of our right as an individual to right the wrongs that have been dealt out to us.  In 1 Peter 2 & 3 this could not be further from the truth.  This is the verse that made it so clear to me.

²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. – 1 Peter 2:20

          So does that mean that we just lay there and take it all or do we stand up and do something about it?  Let me ask this, Who is the one that judges all things in this world?  Do you not think that He also suffers when you suffer?  Do you believe that He will deal with that injustice or do you feel that it is your job to judge and hand out the punishment?

          So when we suffer unjustly and God allows it the question then becomes, WHY?  1 Peter 2:20 above tells us that “…this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”  How on earth can that be?  The answer can be found in this next passage,

¹⁵ “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” – 1 Peter 3:15

          When we suffer, especially unjustly and show the world this steadfast confidence despite the situation we are currently going through, people are going to be scratching their heads.  This is not normal in society today, it is an eye for an eye.  When people see how we act or should be acting they are going to question what it is that gives us this strength and hope.  This is when we should be prepared to give them an answer and that answer is the love and hope that is in Jesus Christ.  He is our rock, one which has also suffered the greatest injustice in the beating and crucifixion for our sins when He was sinless.

⁴ As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

⁷ So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and

“A stone of stumbling,

and a rock of offense.”

          So in close I just wanted to add that as we suffer we should always do so in a way that reflects Jesus Christ our Savior and when people ask how we could be so strong despite what is going on in our lives we then have the opportunity to lead them to the same saving Christ that can do the same for them.

“O God, give us patience when the wicked hurt us. O how impatient and angry we are when we think ourselves unjustly slandered, reviled and hurt! Christ suffers strokes upon His cheek, the innocent for the guilty; yet we may not abide one rough word for His sake. O Lord, grant us virtue and patience, power and strength, that we may take all adversity with good will, and with a gentle mind overcome it. And if necessity and Your honor require us to speak, grant that we may do so with meekness and patience, that the truth and Your glory may be defended, and our patience and steadfast continuance perceived.” – Miles Coverdale

The Work of Suffering

“though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7

          As I read through 1 Peter 1 today in my devotional it is painfully brought to a clearer reality at this point in my life when I am suffering from back pain and the loss of a job.  Although compared to early Christians that were put to death for even admitting they were Christians this seems a very superficial suffering we have today.  Of course Christ provided the ultimate suffer in our place with His death on the cross, but more so with His separation from the Father at the time all our sins were placed upon Him.

          All this being said however suffering has its place for all Christians whether in the past, present.  We often ask God through prayer during our times of suffering, “Why God? Why me, what have I done to deserve this?”  We should be looking at what are to be the results of our current trials and know that God is not working against us, rather He is there for us.  Three things we should look at as we are going through trials.

          One is the time scale of our suffering in the whole scheme of things.  “…though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,” 1 Peter 1:6.  “For a little while”, “but I have been afflicted with this disease my entire life!”  We have to understand and should as Christians this is not the end all be all of our existence.  “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.  The grass withers, and the flower falls…” 1 Peter 1:24

          Two suffering reveals our genuineness of faith.  We are blessed to live in a country that we can openly proclaim our belief in Jesus Christ, without the threat of being put to death just for that simple little statement.  Obviously if you are about to be put to death and you are still proclaiming Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior your faith is fully tested and found genuine.  So in our suffering today are we comforted that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, or is our faith found to be lacking.  Do we wake up in a sweat in the middle of the night because of the horror our life have become without the job, or health we once had or do we sleep soundly through the night knowing that God is there with us every step of the way?  What is the genuineness of your faith as you are going through the trials in your life?

          Three it gives us the chance to see our own salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.  As we are going through the trials and take to heart the first two points we have this sense of joy and peace that go beyond that of this world and into the next.  We have a home where treasure will be stored up for us as we go through the trials of this life.  If however you had the perfect life here in this world with everything you have ever wanted then I would not be expecting much in the form of treasure in Heaven.

       Have you ever had even the slightest bit of doubt in your heart if you were truly saved?  You just might end up questioning it during times of trials and wonder if you are really a strong enough Christian.  Ask yourself this question, “What do people see when they look at you, is it a reflection of the selfish world, or do they see a reflection of a selfless and loving God?

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for

“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”  1 Peter 1:22-25

What Has Christmas Become?

As we look at Christmas approaching and I currently have lost my job and thus some financial security I am forced to stop and take a close harder look at Christmas.  We know as Christians its primary focus is the birth of our Savior into this world in which we are called to live in for now.  There is a problem though, especially in America today when it comes to celebrating Christmas.  This is a time of getting and giving gifts to each other.  Now do not get me wrong there is nothing wrong with giving gifts to others after all this is where the saying "It is better to give then receive."  This is unfortunate though in the fact that we are giving gifts for the most part to those that really do not need the gifts that we give.  For the most part it is about the kids who get up early Christmas morning to race downstairs to see what wonderful gifts that Santa has secretly delivered in the night as they slept, but that is another issue altogether.  All the electronic devices for the boys and dress up dolls for the girls that will consume most of their waking time until February when they get bored with them till the next new thing comes out and they just have to have it because they are bored with the old things.  So their birthday rolls around and we get them the next biggest and greatest item out there.  Who is really being glorified in all this?  It is not Christ it is the retail industry that reaps all the rewards and glory.  Christmas has become a materialistic commercialism holiday where the big companies such as Microsoft, Sony, Mattel, and all the retail stores such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Kohl’s, and Sears just to name a few, have been the ones that Christmas is all about.  Why do you think that everything these big companies do amount to the one big important day when a majority of their profits come?  They spend more time, effort, and money to this one holiday then any other throughout the year.

What as Christians are we to do?  Focus on Christ and not the world this and every Christmas.  This holiday is NOT about us or what we can get.  It is about the coming of a savior that gave up everything to come to a hostile world that would ultimately and viciously take His life through lies and treachery.  This Christmas lets ask ourselves "What are we willing to give up?"  Are we willing to give up a seat of power over all others?  Are we willing to leave our homes?  Are we willing to go into a world that we are not accepted for the most part and be ridiculed and despised?  Lets make it a little simpler.  Are we willing to leave our comfort zone if only for a day and reach out our hands to help the broken, knowing that at the end of the day we can return to that comfort zone?  If you cannot answer yes to that it is time to look at whom we have really become.  Are we conforming to Christ's likeness?  Shouldn't we be?  What have we become?  Why are we so selfish?  Is this what Christmas has become?

I challenge you to get up out of your comfort zone, reach out your hands to the broken and glorify the Christ that did that very thing for you so that you may have a life eternal.  How are you going to show your love for the very person that came to this world for you and gave His life for you?  How are you going to celebrate Christ this Christmas?  Are you going to celebrate Christ this Christmas or the world and your own selfishness?  The choice is yours.  I pray that you can glorify Christ in your decision.