Dr. Victor Frankl,, the bold, courageous Jew who became a prisoner during the Holocaust, endured years of indignity and humiliation by the Nazis before he was finally liberated. During his ordeal, everything that he had that identified him was taken from him, he was a destitute, helpless pawn in the hands of brutal, prejudiced, sadistic men. He had nothing . . . Then He suddenly realized there was one thing no one could ever take from him. Dr. Frankl realized that he still had the power to choose his own attitude!!! No matter what anyone would ever do to him regardless of what the future held for him, the attitude choice was his to make. The single most significant decision we can make on a day to day basis is our choice of attitude! As we approach Thanksgiving may our attitude choice be one of gratitude. Philippians 4:8 tells us, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”… READ MORE

Why is it that we struggle with idols of the heart? Often we pursue the lusts of our hearts instead of desiring to know God in a deeper richer way. In James 4:1-3 we see three reasons that we struggle with our desires: First, in verse one we see that we do what we do because of our desires. The chief among those desires is the desire to bring pleasure into our lives. Second in verse 2 we see that envy and jealousy (covetousness) become the motive for our behavior. We want what we want, and because of this we will sacrifice what we know to be right, for what we want. And third, in verse 3 we struggle with selfishness. Life is not about “ME” it is about service. Unfortunately, the desires of our hearts cause me to want what I want! We must learn to evaluate our heart as we come before God.  … READ MORE

Until we are able to examine our hearts, we are not able to understand the struggle that is in our hearts. We look back at the Old Testament and see that they served many gods, as idols were spread throughout the land. We feel a sense of pride that we do not have statues in our homes that illustrate our worship of other religions. However, our struggle is that our idols are much more insidious, and dangerous, because they are idols of the heart. They are things that we have placed in our lives that motivate us to do what we do. It can be a simple as the “idol of peace” which is the idol that a husband craves when he does not take the leadership role he should in his house, or the idol a mother may choose to worship when she refuses to deal with the behavior of the sinning child. We do what we do, because we want what we want. Our choices reveal what we are truly worshipping. James 4:1-10 gives us a call to examine our hearts, we need to take time to evaluate our heart motivation and what we are truly worshipping.… READ MORE