Guilty Pleasures

Well its been three months or so since my last post.  The things that keep me from posting here have been numerous and one of those things leads me to the topic at hand.  I was thinking this morning (I do that on occasion) and it struck me how every now and then a believer will use the term "guilty pleasure".  I think I heard it in Sunday school recently and it stirred in me this thought of how often do what we allow our guilty pleaures to get in the way of our whole hearted devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.  If you are not a follower of the Lord then this sounds silly to you and you may even be thinking thats one good reason I won't follow.  Because it seems hypocritical to say I follow Christ who calls us to a full, wholehearted surrender and yet love to take part in "worldly" things.  "Take up your cross and follow me" is one thing He tells His followers.  Yet, how often do I and so many other believers take up our cross only to set it down in those moments of adhering to those guilty pleasures we choose to take part in.  Now don't be mistaken I am as guilty as anyone and more besides of taking time to indulge myself in those things I love that I don't need.  I read once that Jonathan Edwards a great father of faith spent an average of 13 hours a day in the Word of God and in prayer as he walked with the Father.  That doesn't leave much time for "guilty pleasure".  I read also that he would spend the rest of his waking time then with his children and family.  I do good to spend that many hours a week sometimes in the Word and prayer.  Lord I pray that the next time I indulge in a pleasure that it is you in which I indulge.  For in indulging myself in Him I will find much more peace than can be found in the television, internet, or any other "guilty pleasure" I may desire.  In Christ there is no guilt and indulging in Him there is only pleasure.  God bless

In Christ,
Phillip James Gilmore

Never more of a man

Its been a while since I've posted. I guess once I got the credit for the course I lost a bit of motivation though life has been worth writing on at times.  Today I came to an point where I learned something that I feel would benefit some.  Particularly those "men" who consider themselves so on account of certain "manly" traits that define them.  What am I talking about?  I am in particular refering to the concept that a real man doesn't cry.  I am sure that there has been no shortage of articles or books written with reference to this topic, but today I experienced a moment where I realized that I had indeed shed more than a tear.  Let me explain.  I get the opportunity to pray at my local church and it entails going into a designated room with a book laid out on a small table that has in it quite a few requests that have been called in over the weeks and months up to the very day.  Also there is a phone that may ring on which they call in thier specific requests.  Perhaps you don't care one lick about prayer or God well by all means stop reading, but you may still benefit from finishing. I took down four new messages and I did so without the eyes watering but as I began reading the requests I was hit by life upon life of hurt, pain, loss, and destitution because of economic downturn.  Poor were losing homes, mothers were in need of prayer for thier addicted sons, young men and women dying or already gone.  Cancer and heart problems were leaving families seeking hope here in this small room where I come to spend an hour once a week on their behalf to a God they may or may not acknowledge otherwise.  It was at this moment that I cried.  I think how very often I complain and whine whether verbally or not about some miniscule detail in my life that is not going the way I had hoped.  Now make no mistake about it I have lived a tough life and have suffered loss that breaks me to my core to think about it, but how easy it is to forget that many suffer pain of which my present circumstances do not hold  candle to.  I realized in that moment of recongnition of my hard heart, that at the point of tears that I had come to, I had never been more of a man than I was today at that moment.  The moment where I realized that whether we can explain God's purposes in the pain He allows in the lives of men and women I will never meet, one thing is for sure.  That my heart breaks for them and when I get there in my heart and allow myself a 29 year old man to let it touch me at a heart level, well Praise be to God that in that moment I promise you the hurting on my heart and mind at that moment got a prayer heard by God Almighty.  And they also got more than a few tears shed to God on their behalf for I am blessed more than I deserve.  I wish with all my heart I could trade in my blessings to see those hurting recieve peace and comfort that would lead to the more than peace, but to the salvation of their very souls.  For in salvation, whether life gets better or not one thing is assured.  That is the guarantee of spending eternal life with the Creator of the universe.  God doesn't need more "men" that our culture defines as men, He would very much like to see more Gody men who are willing to set aside the idea that loving others with tears and genuine heartfelt compassion is for women and adopt an attitude that a real man would not, and should not be without the ability to cry with and for others in their need.  (God teach us to love like you love, to cry like you cry, to learn from Jesus and you that it is ok to be a man and cry for those we love) AMEN.

IN Christ,
Phillip James Gilmore