Steve Simms's Blog, page 207
October 19, 2020
The load not taken — “choicequences” & inner peace
The load not taken can’t weigh you down. Choices create consequences. We’re free to pick the ones we want. Our wishes are weak, but our choices create our future. I made up a new word–choi/ce/quen/ces–the consequences of your choices.
The choices you make, make and shape you. If you trace your pain backwards, you discover that it’s often tied to your own choices. Choice + choice + choice . . . = your state of mind.
You’re future will mostly look like the choices you make each year. You can deny reality or you can face it, but you can’t outrun it. If you fact check your feelings, you’ll find that many of them don’t align with reality.
Choices can cover you with scars or inspire you like stars. How ya doin’ thus far? If we don’t choose to control our thoughts, mental chaos becomes our norm. The less we choose to control our desires, the more we become their slave. You don’t choose many of the thoughts that cross your mind, but you can choose which ones that you allow to stay there.
It’s hard to make and stick with positive choices. It’s easy to flow with negativity. Every thought you allow in your mind, for better or worse, is a mental health choice. Thoughts that bully their way into your brain, aren’t your choice, unless you allow them to stay there unresisted.
Every thought that enters your mind presents you with a choice. Do you accept it or reject it? When haughtiness is chosen instead of humility, naughtiness soon follows. Choose to de-escalate your anger and you’ll feel much better.
You can’t avoid choices. Ignoring or delaying a decision, is itself a choice.
To justify wrong behavior is to choose guilt. Choose to confess and be forgiven instead. Destructive things you’ve chosen aren’t frozen in place. You can repent (re-choose). Confession, repentance, and being forgiven, are much better than feeling guilty. You often can’t undo your past mistakes, but you can always choose to move beyond them.
We can’t change what is true, but we can choose to believe lies. Facts that you choose not to face are behind you, so you can’t see them. (But they’re still there.) By refusing to live beyond your comfort zone, you choose to let life be defined by feelings. You can’t choose your feelings, but you can choose your thoughts and behaviors. (They will shape your feelings.)
A habit or addiction is a choice that was repeated until it became automatic. When bad choices become habitual, they’re made automatically. Bad choices that you allow to remain as habit, can crush you. The pain of wrong choices teach the wise not to repeat them.
Following the living Jesus isn’t “once and done.” It’s a continual choice. It’s not easy to obey Jesus. I persistently have to fight my own thoughts and feelings, so I can do what He tells me.
Courtesy matters — try it and see!
No mater what
People say,
You can choose
To respond
In a courteous way.
The failure to be courteous and kind isn’t a minor failure.
Courtesy only costs a little kindness and humility, but it cultivates peace and community. Courtesy handles disagreement with respect, and avoids bullying or calling disagreement hate.
Too much power curtails curtesy and creates an authoritarian attitude. You can try to encourage people or control them, but you can’t do both at once.
Hostility is contagious. So is courtesy. Which are you spreading? Appearance, behavior, beliefs, or life-stage, never make a human life non-human. Show respect to the office every person holds — a human being made in God’s image.
Christianity isn’t a set of values to be forcefully imposed on people. It’s the risen Jesus living His life, in and thru His surrendered followers.
October 15, 2020
Remedies for enemies
Is very hard to see,
Because I don't like to admit,
That my enemy is often me.
The person most responsible my your problems, isn’t someone else. One of our greatest enemies is our own arrogance. However, if you look closely enough, you can find what you don’t like in others, right inside of you.
Friends don’t reject friends when they disagree. If you don’t let yourself get angry, it’s hard to see someone as your enemy.
When you treat someone as an enemy, it goes both ways. You make yourself his enemy. Anger might feed your ego, but it won’t convince someone that you’re right.
Where there are enemies, there is a famine of friendliness. People always feel like they’re better people than their enemies.
Unkind words are enemy-making, not peacemaking. If you get to know an enemy’s heart, you’ll find him to be a fellow human, like you. Kindness (the fruit of the Spirit) is a powerful spiritual weapon. Fight with it!
It’s easy to call someone an enemy, but it’s better to make them a friend. People who hate are missing out on a most amazing feeling–love for all people! If you treat others better than they treat you, amazing heart-changes will occur. If you’ve ever been forgiven, pass it on. We all need forgiveness!
Perhaps the worst enemy in any society is the lack of self-control. Hate is a choice. It’s a decision to fill your life with bitterness. A lack of love for people indicates a lack of love for God.
The more you trust in the living God, the less you feel threatened by human enemies. Christ’s love, when it’s working in you, is strong enough to love, not just your friends, but also your enemies.
When you’re being your own enemy, surrender to the living Jesus will heal the breach. Ignoring your conscience, welcomes guilt; repentance and forgiveness remove it.
Blind spots dot the psyche (bet you’ve got some)
When I’m wrong and don’t know it, that’s a blind spot. All humans have them–even you. If you get mad because people disagree with you, your blind spots are showing.
When I don’t see something that I’m wrong about, that’s a blind spot. If I think I’m never wrong, that’s total blindness. People who don’t want to know where they’re wrong, are choosing proud blindness.
Without the desire to discover you’re blind spots, it’s easy to call wrong right. Other people’s blind spots are so obvious to me; mine, not so much.
Some people seem to be proud of their blind spots–glad about what they don’t see. In fact, pride produces blind spots. Honesty, and the living Jesus, remove them. Blind spots grow where self-reflection and humility are rare.
If you can’t find something to love in every person, you’re blind to the image of God. I often need to be brainwashed — mentally scrubbed by the living Jesus.
When you love Jesus, you want Him to show you where your life is off His track. We’re willing to pray this courageous prayer: “Jesus, I see where I believe other people are wrong. Now show me where I’m wrong.”
Jesus prayed that His followers be one. Christians have greatly resisted His prayer.
Deception can be appealing
Deception is often appealing. That’s why it’s so easy to fall into it.
Your view on the truth isn’t the whole story. Neither is mine. Things often aren’t the way they seem. If we don’t look deeper we can be deceived. When “my truth” doesn’t match “the truth,” I’m deceived.
Truth is often camouflaged and not easily noticeable at first glance. It’s good to fact check.
If you’ve ever been wrong when you thought that you knew you were right, you’ve experienced the reality of self-deception. Being sincere and passionate about your views, doesn’t make them correct.
When we think we’re completely right and others are completely wrong, we’re deceived. Our emotions, fears, hopes, and dreams, can all manipulate us and make truth hard to find. Even the best facade doesn’t tell the whole story, but hides more than it reveals.
We often try to get people to believe what we want them to, rather than to seek truth. When I read the Bible, the Holy Spirit often shows me where my opinions are wrong.
It’s hard to feel secure in life when you’re hiding truth that you don’t want known. Inner security isn’t automatic. Some behaviors produce it; some destroy it. Honesty requires much more strength, courage, & heroism than lying.
The words, attitudes, and behaviors, flowing from within you, show who you are. We live in a time when people seem to be more shocked by honesty than by lies. When we intentionally lie, we know it, and we choose deception over reality.
The living Jesus wants to direct your life from within you, not just thru outward rules and religion. God’s government isn’t rule keeping. It’s Spirit-empowered, right living, inner peace, and joy. It’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer, discernment, truth, and humility.
Your national citizenship doesn’t last beyond the grave, but God’s kingdom’s eternal! For a Christ-follower Jesus is first. He’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
We’ll understand history better when we handle the truth honestly, not selectively. Search for: Off the RACE Track–From Color-Blind to Color-Kind.
October 12, 2020
The atmosphere of Heaven is needed today, not just in the future
Live like Heaven now. (Don’t just hope to go there someday.) The atmosphere of Heaven is needed today, not just in the future. Too many Christians nowadays are spreading the attitude of Hell instead of the atmosphere of Heaven.
People need to see Christians living a heavenly lifestyle now, not just having a ambition to go to Heaven later. When Jesus gets ahold of you, you love Him so much, you strive to obey Him daily. When the living Jesus gets ahold of you, the affairs of the world fade in comparison.
The risen Jesus gives His followers the power, desire, and courage to live like Heaven. When we all live like Heaven (here on earth), what a day of rejoicing that will be. When Christians begin to live like Heaven, the kingdom (government) of God will become very noticeable .
To many Christians see Heaven as a distant destination, instead of a daily lifestyle. If you have a ticket to Heaven, cash it in now, so your friends can see Heaven in you! The closer you live to the risen Jesus, the closer you live to Heaven.
An old Christian song says: “”Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.” That happens to me almost every day! It’s wonderful to experience Heaven daily, and not just hope for it in the future.
If you don’t want to live like Heaven now, why do you want to go there when you die? A lifestyle that contradicts Heaven would ruin it, if it entered there. Too many people want to slip into Heaven without letting Heaven get into them.
Here is a warning about Heaven. It is full of passionate, sold-out worship of the risen Jesus.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” not in the future when you die. He sent His disciples “to proclaim the kingdom (government) of God.” The government (kingdom) of God is here now. Will you let the living Jesus govern (rule) you from within? When two people are both governed from within by the risen Jesus, they will be in harmony.
October 11, 2020
Happiness lies beyond self-focus
If you’re discouraged, get out of your self-focus and do something to encourage others. Self-focused decisions often cause more problems than they solve.
When minor things get an emotional hold on you, life becomes consumed with triviality. Much, that clamors for your attention in life, is nothing but distractions that are trying to misdirect your life. Detach yourself from meaningless activities so you can be enthralled by purpose. Your heart will become focused on whatever you continually feed it.
Some attractions are distractions; some are infractions; and some are healing actions. It’s good to know the difference.
Self-detachment enables you to listen to others’ opinions without taking offense. The more you let go of self-deception, the better hold you get on reality. The more you detach from self-interest, the better you can understand other people.
Human nature, like gravity, tries to hold us down in self-focus. The risen Jesus wants to help us soar beyond it. Let Jesus release joy within you and you’ll have no need to hunt or hype up happiness. When I’m being myself, I mess things up. When I obey Christ in me, I experience glory.
The more I focus on the living Jesus, the happier I am. I’ve discovered that less self-focus and more Jesus focus makes life an amazing adventure!
When our focus is distracted from Jesus, Christianity is off track. Follow Him. When distractions disrupt Spirit-led actions, we quench the Holy Spirit. The focus of biblical Christianity is the living Jesus — not self, or anything else.
I’ve disappointed myself too much to have faith in myself. My faith is in the living Jesus. There’s a way to escape from the reality of guilt. The risen Jesus offers forgiveness.
Jesus can free you from the caverns of mistakes and disappointments you carry within. Dare to go beyond self-focus and be pure in heart like the living God wants you to be. Search for: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.
Jesus, help me stay focused on You today. Don’t let my mind and heart wander away.
Since kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, Christians should be unconditionally kind. The Bible calls Satan the accuser, but a lot of people who call themselves Christians seem to be doing his job today.
October 9, 2020
Beyond self-care & self-love, we can find self-reality
Even with great eyesight, people with blind hearts won’t see clearly. When truth threatens their ego, people often call it a lie. Usually the hardest lies to spot are the ones hiding in your heart.
The most important evil for you to overcome, is the evil in your own heart. A major flaw in human nature, is the tendency to sanitize self, while demonizing those who disagree with us. ‘
Believing that conservative and liberal are the only two approaches to politics, is narrow minded. I’d like to see a candidate speak from the heart, instead of from hostility or programming. Conservatives and liberals who won’t hear and obey their conscience are very dangerous.
Any thought or feeling that causes you to want to harm (or insult) people because of their beliefs, is wrong. A democracy settles disagreements by voting, not by insulting and/or fighting with their fellow citizens.
Self-orbiting Christianity never escapes the gravity of human nature. When human nature is given over to its own desires, it can say and do terrible things. When we allow the risen Jesus to rule within us, He gives us power to resist our rebellious human nature.
I like thinking. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. If you can see the colorful leaves of Fall as beautiful, you can also see humanity’s colors as beautiful.
In the 2020, USA, Vice Presidential Debate, the candidates were ask their view of abortion. Here’s my answer: Abortion, like suicide, is a tragic and wasteful loss of human life. When human life is disrespected in any of its stages, it will eventually be disrespected in all of them.
October 8, 2020
Idols of the heart, church, & Christians
Idolatry isn’t just an ancient thing. It’s all around us today. Modern idols are hard to detect. Most go unnoticed.
Anytime I choose my will instead of God’s, I’m making a idol. When beliefs about God, become a substitute for God’s presence, that’s idolatry.
When people get hostile and call other people evil, it usually means that their idols feel threatened. However, it’s hard to see people as a threat if you let your heart connect with them.
Idols are often good things that override the ultimate thing in life–God’s love! They are sneaky. They can secretly set up in your heart and control you. Anything that causes God’s love for people, to leave your heart, is an idol. The more we surrender to the risen Jesus, the more we love everybody.
Modern Christianity has embraced and supported many substitutes for the risen Jesus. When you close your heart to people who disagree with you, you deny the love of Jesus. Idols in a stony heart distort Christian spirituality more than idols made of stone.
Anything that blocks your view of the living Jesus, is an idol. Open our eyes, Jesus, so we can continually see Your presence and reality.
We are made in God’s image. To try to make Him in our image is idolatry.
Pride uses idols to prop itself up. Humility surrenders to God for help and strength. Pride is the worst idol because it enthrones self as the ultimate ruler.
It’s hard to think outside society’s cultural, entertainment, and political idols. Political power, too often, becomes a substitute for God’s kingdom and power.
When any human leader is seen as a godlike figure, a nation is in trouble. To maintain democracy, we need to avoid making an idol out of any politician.
Jesus introduced the kingdom of God. Let no human government replace it in your heart. Our idols (religious and nonreligious) are poor substitutes for the living Jesus.
Following a church system and following the living Jesus, are not the same thing. Church lectures people. Early Christianity cultivated an environment where the living Jesus changed people from within. Titles, religious lectures, and rituals are poor substitutes for the risen Jesus. The slightest encounter with the living Jesus is more powerful than the best sermon.
People don’t need weekly lectures about their best friend. Jesus is my best friend. It’s liberating and exhilarating to connect with the living Jesus un-institutionally.
I’m continually astonished by the living Jesus. When I look at how Jesus died, I’m cross-examined and deeply humbled by His love for me.
October 6, 2020
Avoid heart-stench
Jammed shut hearts are never happy. They keep joy out.
More harm is being spread by the neglect of heart sanitizer than by the neglect of hand sanitizer. Like the body, the human heart needs to be continually cleaned. True sanity comes from a sanitized heart.
Few people walk around with pungent body odor, but carrying around heart-stench seems to be becoming common. Bodywash is good; mouthwash is too, but heart-wash is far more important. Open up to humility, honesty, kindness, repentance, and forgiveness.
If words harden your heart or enrage you, choose not to hear, read, or repeat them. I search for books filled with heart-nourishing words and read them with joy, passion, and awe.
I fill my mind with heart-softening words and hear (or read) them with delight, but turn away from heart-hardening words. There are too many heart-hardening words, but far too few heart-nourishing words.
The living Jesus specializes in cleaning hearts, but you have to bring Him your dirty laundry. Like a dog, I can’t scrub myself clean, so I let my Master, the living Jesus, regularly wash my heart.
