I have heard about people being buried with special things they loved. I always thought that would be such a waste.  When we focus on storing up stuff for ourselves here on earth it becomes a lonely existence.  Matthew 6:19 tells us, “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and dust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”

It’s no surprise to know that we are here on earth for a very short time in the large scheme of things.  We should spend our time here on things that have eternal value.  Our relationship with God should be our number one priority.  When we have our relationship with God in order then we have our priorities in order.  God will be by our side in good times and in difficult times.

Last Sunday our pastor, Andy Stanley had a great illustration about this very topic.  Andy said when we are in a jam we don’t cry out to our stuff.  We don’t say, “Oh car please help me out of this problem”, or “Oh computer please help me get through this tough time in my life.”  We cry out to God, not to our stuff.

Matthew 6 goes on to tell us that our hearts are with what we treasure.  We need to be careful what our hearts treasure.  Are you treasuring something that does not have eternal value? Ask God to help you walk with Him.  Prioritize according to eternal value and not earthly value.  Pray for guidance and pray that God helps you focus on eternal rewards.

I was ready Psalm 13 and it really gave a voice to all these painful questions.  God is not surprised by our struggles with doubt.  God is ready to help us and comfort us in these times.  God is always faithful to us.  It’s ok with God for us to talk openly with Him about our true feelings.

There is no doubt we live in a broken world.  God is our only hope.  When we feel like struggles are raining down on our lives, we have someone who stands with us.  Psalm 13:6 reminds us of what we should do and remember, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.”

We all have times of doubt in our lives, but one thing we don’t ever need to doubt is God’s love for us.  God sent His son to die on the cross for us.  We did not deserve what He did for us, but God loved us so much He did this so we would not perish.  God wants to spend eternity with us, there is not doubt in my mind.

Pray and ask God to help you overcome your doubts.  God knows your struggles in this broken world.  Call to Him and He will comfort you and help you.  God wants us to know it’s ok to doubt for a time, but then we need to cling to Him for help and comfort through those times.

I was angry.  I had not been affected by this mans actions in any way and here I was upset.  I had to stop and pray about what I was feeling.  Why was I so angry at this man?  I searched my heart and came up with the answer, John 8:7.  I am not without sin.  I came to the conclusion that I was no better than Tiger Woods.

We have a tendency to categorize sins, we think some sins are small and some a bigger.  In the eyes of the Lord, they are all sins.  I think as I was sitting there listening to this statement from Tiger Woods my heart deceived me into thinking I was somehow better than him because I had not committed the sin he committed.

I read through more verses in the Bible and came across Matthew 7:3.  Jesus talks about this very issue in these verses.  He tells us that many times we get fixated on others sins  because we are trying to distract from our own sins.  The verse says, “why do you look to the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

I am one of four girls.  When my sisters did something wrong I did not help them hide it I would make sure they got what they deserved for disobeying.  As I grew older I realized this behavior was tantamount to playing God with my siblings.  I was not paying attention to the plank in my eye because I was too concerned with the speck of sawdust in their eye.

Let us be careful not to judge others for their sins, this is God’s job.  Tiger Woods did not owe us an apology, he only owed it to God and to his family.  He did not have to speak to the public at all about this matter.  Its time for a heart check.  Are you too concerned about the speck in others eyes?  Are you oblivious to the plank in your eye?  Time to turn to God and as Him to show you what you need to do.

Matthew 18 tells us who God considers to be the greatest in the kingdom.  We are to come to Him like little children.  Verse 4 explains, “therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I think many of us have problems with humbling ourselves like children.  Is our desire to be great in the eyes of the Lord or is our desire to be great in the eyes of those around us.

Being great in the eyes of the Lord requires much of us.  Do we want to make God smile?  When we humble ourselves and put others before ourselves we make God smile.  This requires sacrifice from us.  Are we willing to put others before us?  Are we willing to become the least?

If we want to be great in the eyes of the Lord then we need to decide if we are willing to put others before ourselves.  Put aside your selfish desires and serve others.  Are you prepared to love your enemies?  Greatness does not come easily, but God has a plan for us.  If we ask, God will help us.

We have all been given varying amounts of gifts and blessings in this world.  Some of us are like the servant who was only given one talent, some of us are given two talents and a few of us have been given five talents.  It is easy to look around and say, it’s not fair.

We can easily become discontent with what we have because it is not all we had hoped it would be.  One thing we must understand is that God’s judgment is always fair.  We could never even begin to understand the absolute knowledge our God has about each of us.

Just like in the parable God wants us to not only be faithful when we have five talents but he wants us to be faithful when we only have one talent.  It is easy to be upset about only having one talent but look at what people have done with one talent.  I have recently started reading the story of Scott Rigsby in Unthinkable.

In a freak 9 seconds of his life everything changes for Scott.  He ends up losing both his legs.  He struggles for years to make sense of the one talent he ended up with.  Scott decided one day that he could not be a patient for forever.  He wanted to do more than just be an angry man.  He trained and became the first double amputee to complete the world famous Hawaiian Ironman Triathalon.

Scott realized he could do a lot with the one talent.  He used it to bring glory to God.  God in turn showed Scott he could do more than he thought he could.  Scott is a wonderful example of how we can be faithful with little.  Just because we have little does not mean we could not do much with it.

I think this quote from Scott in the January 2008 Runner’s World magazine interview sums it all up, “I want to stay the course and show people that you can take the life that God gave you and use it to do something extraordinary.”  In other words, we can take our one talent, two talents or five talents and squander them or we can stay the course and do something extraordinary with what we have.

An idol is something that takes center stage in our lives.  We can’t live without this thing.  Do you have anything like that in your life?  I know I have things in my life I put on center stage in my life.  Idol worship says, if I have this, I will be happy.

Idols come in many different ways, money, health, power, education and relationship.  We know one thing about idols, they always take.  Idols don’t give.  People give up a lot for their idols.  Some end up giving up their lives for their idols.  I think it is very interesting that the very first commandment in the ten commandments is “You shall have no other gods before me”.

When we set up these idols in our hearts we crowd God out of our hearts.  We may not think we have an idol, but think about what you can not live without.  When that thing is taken away do you feel like you can’t go on?  This is an idol.  Think about what idol in your life is fighting God for room in your heart.

Are you worshiping money, power, education, health or relationships?  Pray and ask God to help you push these idols out of your heart.  Let God take control and be your one and only Idol.  Imagine what your life would be like if you made God your idol.  What if we put our thoughts, time and efforts into worshiping God?  Worshiping God will not take away from our lives it will give us life.

Deep down or on the surface we all have a superiority complex. There are times we turn our noses up at someone because of something we believe.

If we are going to show others about the love of Jesus we will have to overcome these thoughts. We need to realize we are not better than anyone else.

What does it mean to see others the way God sees them? We need to take a look at ourselves and realize the prejudices we have in our lives. Prejudices we have had all our loves.

We need to ask God to help us take a hard look at our lives and help us overcome any prejudices you have. God will help you see people the way He sees them.

I know I have struggled more with my own expectations than with those from others.  Which is it for you?  Do you struggle with the expectations others have for you or do you struggle with your expectations for yourself?  It’s important for us to remember that God is in control.

Sometimes the struggle is not the expectation but the level of expectation.  Are your expectations too high or are they too low?  One of the first things we think of in regard to expectation is whether it’s fair or not.  Are the expectations you have for yourself or someone has for you fair?

When we don’t meet the expectations set before us we tend to view ourselves as failures.  I think it matters to know where the expectation is coming from.  God expects something of us but the good news is that we are equipped to achieve those expectations.

God has put people in our lives who can help us and guide to achieve the only expectation that counts, God’s expectation.  If you are currently struggling with expectations ask God for help.  He is there for you and will strengthen you.  Ask God to help you figure out which expectations come from Him and which do not.  After you get direction from God, get to work.  Stop making excuses and do what God is asking of you.

We can certainly be easily swayed by the media’s depiction of love.  The Bible gives us the only depiction worth listening to.  God shows us love as He intended it to be.  Human passion only gives us a hint of God’s passion for us.  We are most like God’s love for us when we are truly moved in the presence of our beloved.

God has given us the gift of marriage so we can better understand His love for us.  Do you truly love your spouse?  It is important to pray together and ask God to be the head of your relationship.  Love and marriage are important together.

Do you love your spouse?  If you have to think about this question then you really need to spend some time with God and ask Him to help you love your spouse.  Therapy is always a good option but there are also some things you can do.  You may have heard of the Love Dare.  This book came out of the movie Fireproof.

My prayer is that everyone can experience love the way it should be.  I have truly been blessed to be married to a man I know loves me unconditionally.  I know Rob knows I love him the same.  Married love is our closest example of what God’s love for us is like.

I have been studying Ruth for an upcoming series I am working on.  Her story of courage and loyalty have really come to life for me recently.  She was given the opportunity to break away from all the sorrow and pain of her past but she chose to be loyal to her mother in law.  She stayed with Naomi even when it was most difficult for Ruth.  They were both poor and widows.

The Bible says Ruth clung to Naomi and told her she would never leave her.  Ruth was loyal not only to her mother in law but to her deceased husband.  She honored her husband by caring for his mother when she was alone and without protection.

This type of loyalty is not seen or heard of very often.  The amazing thing is that these people are out there we just don’t get to hear about it.  Those who are disloyal are the ones who get the press.  In recent months a college football coach left his current team to coach for another team after just weeks before he told the community and his team he was in this for the long haul.

Think about what motivates your loyalty.  What loyalties are important to you as a Christian, regardless of the cost?  Money tends to drive loyalty, but that is not the foundation of loyalty.  Loyalty takes courage.  Ask God to help you become a loyal person no matter the cost.