Miss judging, or a good deed at the expense of another.

What would you think if you have just a couple of items and you walk up to the express lane, that is for ten items or less and a person has a cart full of groceries?

Would you have bad thoughts about the person?

That happened to me, but I was the person with the cart full. I was in a long line waiting patently and no one was at the express lane, so the cashier motioned me over. I told her I had a lot more than ten items, but she said it didn’t matter no one was at her line. The moment the cashier started ringing up my groceries several more people showed up, with less than ten items. I doubt if any of them thought that the cashier was being nice and waved me over. Perhaps if I wouldn’t be such a large man one of them might have mentioned how it seemed I couldn’t count. As I pondered how the cashier being nice to me caused the purpose of her lane to be sacrificed, it was no longer an express lane as she checked all my groceries out.

Perhaps there were two lessons to learn from this. Judge the action not the person, and a nice deed at the expense of breaking the rules doesn’t qualify as a nice deed. If someone else is forced to sacrifice so another can do a nice deed, who is actually giving and who is actually taking? The cashier thought she was doing a nice deed for me, but the people it cost were those that came to the express lane that stood behind me.

It is in first discovering the value of forgiving that makes forgiving others more desirable. Forgive, and we shall be forgiven Luke_6:37, if that was our only reason then we would be as those that give just to receive. It is in knowing it is for our healing that we forgive others, and not just to obtain forgiveness.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and then to discover that prisoner was you.

Forgiveness and repentance run hand in hand, as we see with the woman that anointed Jesus’ feet, how she being forgiven of so much caused her to love more. Luke 7:47

But without the law/rules how would we know just how much we sin. Romans 7:9 Jesus said if you were blind you would have no sins, if one does not know it is wrong then how can it be counted unto them as sin? Joh_9:41How could it cause a need to repent without knowing an error was made?

It is in our spiritual growth we learn the law/rules, the commandments which allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of when we break them. This leads us to need to repent to remove the guilt which comes from the feeling of conviction. Joh_16:8

The more we grow the more we are able to be convicted of, causing the need to repent, feeling that forgiveness allows us to experience the love of God which allows us to be able to show that love to others, through our forgiving of them. As we show love to others our healing grows.

How can we give, what we do not have, the more we have of the feeling of forgiveness the more we are able to give it to others, with a desire to do so.

As I was meditating upon all the changes that have taken place in history I thought about the terrorist and how they can be related to.

The terrorist kills/killed because of their beliefs

Israel kills/killed because of their beliefs

Christians killed because of their beliefs

America kills/killed because of their beliefs

The terrorist kills the innocent

Israel kills/killed the innocent

Christians kills/killed the innocent

America kills/killed the innocent

The terrorist used/uses fear

Israel used/uses fear

Christians used/uses fear

America used/uses fear

We call them hero’s who is willing to kill and die for our beliefs, but yet we call those that are willing to kill and die for their beliefs terrorist.

The terrorist has declared war upon us because our beliefs are different than theirs.

America/Christians/Israel has all made peace with those whose beliefs are different than ours and Israel’s. We see how ours and Israel’s beliefs are being compromised away because of it, while yet the terrorist beliefs are growing in strength and number.

Terrorists are created in response to over whelming pressure against their beliefs.

We as Christians MUST always remember flesh and blood is not our enemy; our enemy is spiritual and fought in the spirit. We must love the sinner, and hate the sin, and let the world know that we hate sin by not being a partaker in it.

My vehicle for the most part is always clean, as I worked in construction I would get it very dirty, but yet I made time to clean it. People would always compliment me on how clean my auto always is, but that wasn’t the reason I kept it clean. I kept my auto clean because it is part of being faithful in the least, along with the house yard everything we own, but also I found others especially mechanics will treat a clean auto with more respect than a dirty one.

There were times us carpenters would do work on the interior of peoples houses, and what I saw was this, when the house was dirty we didn’t care about how we treated it, but the house that was clean we treated with more care. Want others to treat what you have with respect, be faithful with all that you have. Like that saying goes; if you act respectful people will respect you.

Perhaps the reason behind why our obedience is so important should be known.

As I walked the park the other day there was a person littering, as they set there in their car they discarded trash out their window. It showed one of two things, one no one cared enough to tell them that littering hurts others, two being they were selfish and just didn’t care.

Our obedience is important because it is the way we express love to others. God says if you love him you will keep his commandments, who does disobedience hurt, others. He also said if you don’t love those you can see, how can you love God who you don’t see? Sharing with others those things we have learnt to do and not to do is a blessing to others. If you learnt how to win the lottery would you not share that with at the very least your loved ones, so why wouldn’t we share rules that better our life and the lives of those around us?

(Not in support of any type of gambling just used lottery as an example)

Fear removes faith allowing doubt to enter. Peter saw Jesus walking on the stormy lake, and asked to join him. Jesus told Peter to come ahead, and at first Peter had the faith to stand upon the water. But seeing the stormy waves fear slipped in and Peter’s faith was replaced with doubt, allowing him to sink. We can also read in the book of Job, how Job claimed that which he feared the greatest came upon him.

Mat 14:28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Job_3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

The word tells us faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God. Or an easier way of saying it, doubt is removed when we understand God ways, which comes from reading and meditating upon the word of God.

There was a movie I watched years ago, it was about Russia and the hero they created. Russia at one time believed you motivated your soldiers to fight through fear; they would execute any of them that retreated or at times execute their family members. Fear only worked so far, the fear the soldiers had of their enemies at times out weighed the fear they had of their own officers so they would retreat.

A reporter came up with a new thought; create a hero for Russian solders to look up to, which would inspire the soldiers to become more heroic, it worked.

This principle has been around for thousands of years, you set up something or some one to cause others to covet to be like or to have. Or as the word of God calls it, you create covetousness which is idolatry.

Do you wonder why the carnal man desires the rich to get richer, or how sports players or entertainers are so encouraged to do more to obtain more? By creating idols it causes the carnal mind to start coveting, and that coveting results in fueling a persons passion to fulfill that which is coveted. (Commercials)

As a hunter I see this one a lot, there are many ads showing that those that have got the trophy animals use certain equipment, this causes most hunters to covet that equipment so they too can have a trophy animal.

As I went past a firearm dealer the other day I noticed how it was pact, it hadn’t been that pact for years. I then realized how decisions based upon fear actually cause more problems than it fixes.

Prior to Clinton being elected one of his points was to make assault weapons and clips that held a certain amount of bullets illegal. So prior to his election people rushed out and purchased those items. During his years many sought out those illegal weapons mags and the sales continued to be high, so too was the price profit margin sky rocketed.  During Bush’s terms those laws were removed and the sales of those items once again slowed.

Now once again fear has griped many calling to make those items illegal, and the sales of those items are sky rocketing again.

What I see is this, the more they try to stop those things from being bought the more are sold. There are more assault weapons out there today because they have tried to make them illegal than there was before. So because of fear the reverse has happened.

If you will please, share with me your definition of what it means to serve an idol. We must first understand what it means to serve an idol before we can ask our selves if we serve any idols.

National Affairs Reporter

By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News

Spending on immigration enforcement. (Migration Policy Institute)

The federal government spent $18 billion last year on immigration enforcement, more than the combined spending of the rest of the federal government's law enforcement agencies over the same period.

The $18 billion immigration price tag is larger than spending on the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives combined, according to the new report from the Migration Policy Institute think tank.

Spending on immigration enforcement, which includes everything from screening visitors to the United States to deportations, has increased 15-fold since 1986, when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law that legalized 3 million immigrants and for the first time required employers to verify their employees' immigration status. Though the law attempted to stop illegal immigration from the Southern border, the waves of migration continued, peaking in 2000 at 1.7 million border apprehensions. Since 2005, the number of Border Patrol agents has doubled, and deportations have increased.