Ed Christian's World

The Nose Of The Pig…

As a ring of gold in a pig’s nose, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. Proverbs 11:22. Picture a pig walking around with earrings and a necklace. It just doesn’t go, it’s wasted. Something precious isn’t made to be dragged through the mud.

We see a sinful person and think they’re wretched, but God see’s someone who’s precious attached to what’s degrading. Your life and your salvation is something precious, too precious to be dragged through the mud or put on a pig.

When you give yourself to sin, you’re taking something precious, like a beautiful gold ring, and you’re dragging it into a pig sty. When you give yourself to that low thing, you’re taking a beautiful ring and throwing it in the mud.

We have to start realizing our life in God, our salvation, is something worth more than the Mona Lisa, worth more than the entire world put together.

Treasure it, protect it, cherish it, and guard it because you have this treasure in earthen vessels. Treasure the treasure and don’t let it end up on a pig or in the mud.

In him, our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Psalm 33:21

Today, think about the value Jesus put on your life by giving His life. And because of that, choose to stay out of the mud.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Show and Tell

Our first big school assignment was “Show and Tell.” My friend brought in a Gumby doll, with a leg missing; a stump with a wire sticking out. It felt troubling to see Gumby as an amputee. The teacher asked what happened to Gumby’s leg, and Bobby answered, “I ate it because it tastes like gum.”

It’s etched in my mind to this day. It caused me to avoid Show and Tell for the rest of my life. Jesus told the lepers to not only tell but show themselves to the priests.

The Bible isn’t simply words about God, it’s God Himself; not just words of truth, it’s Truth itself, God showing, manifesting, revealing Himself, so we can be saved.

In the same way, sharing the gospel is Show and Tell. Don’t just tell them about love or the good news, show them. Show them the joy, the new birth, the victory of God in your life.

You can spend the rest of your life having nothing to do with Gumby whatsoever, but you have to do Show and Tell. Tell them, yes. But don’t only tell them, show them.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. James2:18

Focus on ways to show those around you the truth of God in your life today. Let your light show.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Heavenly Gaps…

In Jewish life, during the Feast of Sukkot, Tabernacles, the people dwell in a temporary dwelling called a sukkah. When you build your sukkah, you leave gaps so that when you sit underneath it, you can see the sky, clouds, the moon, and stars at night.

In life there are gaps. Some of these gaps in your life are actually heavenly. When you look at what’s missing: money, comfort, success, strength, abilities, friends, family, marriage, health, youth, whatever it is, it’s not always bad.

If you had everything you wanted, if your life was a complete dwelling on earth, you wouldn’t need God and you wouldn’t see heaven. But the very gaps you want closed are often there for your own good.

They’re the gaps in the roof of your sukkah, so you don’t forget the most important things. They’re there so you might see through the earthly things which pass away, beyond to the skies, to the stars, to the heavens, to the face of God.

So rejoice in what you have and rejoice in what you don’t. For in the absences and the gaps of your sukkah… there’s heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Matthew 13:44

Take time today to reflect on how temporary life is in comparison to your eternal home in heaven. Dwell in the heavenlies.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Reptile Phase…

Jesus said “If your son asks for a fish you won’t give him a snake, will you?” But what if he asks for a snake? When I was 8 years old, I went through a reptile phase and asked my parents for an iguana. They bought me a goldfish.

As God’s children, we might be asking for serpents without realizing it, asking for what’s harmful, poisonous or something that’s wrong for us, because we think we need it. Maybe you’ve asked for a marriage, a job or position that would be the worst thing in the world and would destroy you.

God has to say no because He’s your Father. When God says no, it’s a gift. It’s to keep you from harm. Be blessed when God says no; it’s as much a gift as when He says yes. Because if God doesn’t give you what you want,

He’ll give you what He wants, and you can be sure that what He wants is a whole lot better than what you wanted, as a fish is to a snake.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11

Take time today to give God thanks for all the no’s He’s given you and for protecting you from the wrong path.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Kohain and Kodosh…

Kohain means ‘priest,’ and Kadosh means ‘holy.’ 1 Peter 2:9 says “You are a royal priesthood.” You are a priest. The high priest of Israel wore a mitre or turban on his head, with an engraved gold plate attached, that read “Kadosh L’Adonai,'” “Holy to the Lord.”

Kadosh also means separated, “set apart” and “consecrated” to God. The quality of a priest is someone who is holy and separated to the Lord. If you’re God’s priest, your life must be separated from the world, set apart to Him.

A kohain, a priest must be holy with regard to his or her home life, finances, temper, relationships, sexuality, in treating one’s parents, wife, husband, and children… holy in what one does in one’s private life, entertainment and pleasures.

If you are a priest of the living God, and the Scripture says you are, then above all, your life must be characterized by “kadosh,” the quality of holiness and separateness to God.

Put away unholy things and be kadosh as your Father in heaven is Kadosh. For that’s the crown of your priesthood.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love. Ephesians 1:4

Envision the words “Holy to the Lord” on your forehead today. And live accordingly – as a priest of God.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Mt. Of Olives Goat…

On the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the year, the High Priest stood with the scapegoat, pronouncing the sins of Israel over the goat. Symbolically placing them on it. He turned to the multitudes and said, “You shall be cleansed.”

A priest then led the goat out of the temple, through the Eastern Gate, and up to the Mount of Olives. The people watched as their sins ascended the mountain, then disappeared, taken into the wilderness.

The Mount of Olives was the vanishing point for the scapegoat and their sins, which it carried. Jesus is our scapegoat. He took our sins upon Himself. And then, just as the scapegoat, He went to the Mount of Olives, and there He vanished. The scapegoat disappeared into the wilderness, but Jesus disappeared into Heaven. It means there’s no way on earth.

Literally, you can find your sins in Jesus. He’s taken them out of the world and into the sky. Let them go already. Let them vanish from your heart as they’ve vanished from the earth. Let them go forever with your Holy Scapegoat… into the sky.

But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 1 John 3:5

Let go of the shame from your past today. Jesus’s blood has made you clean. Confess it and believe it.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Sound Of Silence 2…

God told Zechariah that because of his disbelief, he was going to be silent until the birth of his son Yochanan; John. The silence was a sign. The prophet Ezekiel was told he would be silent yet he was God’s mouthpiece.

It was a prophetic silence and a sign. God was speaking through the silence. Have you sought to hear from God and it seems He’s quiet; not speaking? Realize that He is, because He speaks eloquently in silence.

He might be saying, “I’ll take care of it,” or “You already know the answer,” or “Do what I told you to do, what I’ve already revealed to you and I’ll lead you further,” or “I want you to seek Me more; come nearer than you ever have,” or “I want you to persevere,” or “I don’t want you to go by signs.”

The Lord spoke to Israel not just by speaking, but by not speaking, by speaking in the silence of the prophet. The Lord will answer you as well, but sometimes the most powerful thing you can ever hear from God is nothing.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

If it seems God has been silent, today is the time to trust the Word He has already given you. Rest in His faithfulness.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Getting Out Of Judgement…

A very simple truth, judgement and judgment are the same word. Now that doesn’t seem to mean anything, but there are two kinds. The judgment of God against you, your sins, and the judgment you pass on other people. You can’t have one without the other.

Luke 6:37 says, “Don’t judge and you won’t be judged; don’t condemn and you won’t be condemned; pardon and you’ll be pardoned.” If you want to have nothing to do with the judgment of God against your sins, then you have to have nothing to do with judgment against other people’s sins.

Jesus died so that He would have nothing to do with judgment, not only the judgment of God against our sins, but our own judgments against others. Both are crucial. Becoming a person who has nothing to do with judgment means you are someone who doesn’t judge, you don’t condemn, you don’t gossip, you don’t slander, you don’t revile.

Overcome judgment with mercy. As you forgive, you shall be forgiven. Have nothing to do with judgment on earth and you will have nothing to do with it in eternity.

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. Psalm 19:9

Have you been holding a judgment against someone? Let it go today. Turn it over to God who is the only Judge and be free.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

On The Sidelines..

A man needing healing planned to get into the Pools of Bethesda, but was unable. There, Jesus met him on the sidelines. Not exactly how he planned it, but he got what he needed. In Israel, at the Pools of Bethesda, I shared about God’s mercy. I walked away feeling as if my sharing wasn’t complete.

At our next stop, a missionary from Africa came up to me and told me he had been there to pray for the sick he works with. “I heard you, a believer like the Apostles, share about the Hebrews and God’s mercy. I was so ministered to. Thank you.”

Then it hit me – that’s what the Pool of Bethesda is about. We have our ideas and plans, a way we think God is going to do something, but He doesn’t often use our plan. It’s in the closed doors and detours that God blesses us in another way.

So don’t be so caught up in your plans, routines, and ideas that you miss the plan of God. And the miracle that’s waiting for you on the sidelines of the Pools of Bethesda.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

Let God orchestrate your day today. Go with His plan, even if it isn’t your plan.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Counseling At The Market…

I was walking in a mall once, about noon. As I passed the payphone, it rang. I had nothing to lose so I picked it up and said hello. She said, “Is this the counseling center?” I replied, “No, this is Ed, but maybe I can help.”

She started sharing with me, and I was able to counsel her to trust Jesus. Scripture teaches us to make the most of every opportunity. There’s people who need salvation everywhere. Be ready to be interrupted and do His will.

When you’re busy doing your own thing, look for opportunities to do His thing; to be about His business. Be ready for any opportunity to serve Him, to share, to witness, to proclaim Him. Make the most of your time. You’ll find opportunities, because there’s a world that needs Him.

There will be divine appointments waiting for you, even today. There’ll be good works prepared for you beforehand so that you might enter into them. Who knows? You might end up doing a counseling session at the mall.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

Look for divine appointments today to be used by God. Take every opportunity He brings.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed