“In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters and he lives in all of us.” Colossians 3:11 (NLT)

We all like to be treated like someone special. I guess it’s a natural human trait. Maybe we like a little extra care, or perhaps we want to impress others and create the image that we are just a little bit better.

In the past few years it seemed that I was in the air more than I was on the ground. It seemed like I was traveling somewhere nearly every week, often internationally and I began to really rack up the miles. First I became a silver, then a gold and finally a platinum flyer. With that came prior boarding, complimentary upgrades and lots of other perks.

I must admit that I got spoiled. Flying first class over the Pacific or the Atlantic is a nice experience, especially when you are going for a one or two day meeting and heading right back home.

Now, my schedule has changed and I rarely fly internationally and not nearly as much domestically either. Recently I was on a flight and when they called for pre-boarding for the “elite” flyers, I naturally walked to the gate only to find out that I was in “Zone 4.” By the time I got on board and settled in my narrow coach seat, the overhead space was gone and no came to ask me to step up to first class. I was lucky to get a bag of peanuts and a glass of bottled water. What a shock.

I had to realize that my elite status was but for a season and when all was said and done, I was just one of the crowd.

Have you ever met a self proclaimed “elite” Christian. They are the ones who think that because of the office they hold in the church or the class they teach, they are better than everyone else. Many devotedly religious people who think they are saved aren’t. Their elitism exudes spiritual deception. They fail to examine themselves or think they are “in” because their good deeds outweigh their bad ones.

The church at Colossi apparently had some of these elite problems because Paul wrote to them saying it matters not what you are but rather whose you are. He said Christ is all that matters and He lives in all of us.

Ever think you are better than others …… consider yourself as an “elite” Christian? Remember that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
(a thought on life from John Grant)
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2010/07/25/jg_elite-christianity/

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“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end shall come.” Matthew 24:14

If they all lived together within one contiguous border, it would be the world’s third largest nation, with a population of nearly a half billion people. It all started when a Harvard undergraduate student developed the ability for Ivy League students to keep tabs on one another. Microsoft made computers easy for people to use. Google helps us search out data. YouTube keeps us entertained, but Facebook adds the ability for social networking.

Hardly a place on earth doesn’t claim people who e-mail one another and browse the Internet and nearly one in four have a Facebook page, which provides electronic face to face networking. I even get Facebook postings on my cell phone. Facebook has changed our social DNA and represents a significant cultural shift. The fastest growing demographic is among people older than thirty four years of age.

Posting news or opinions on a Facebook page can spread gossip faster than a ladies bridge club. I found out recently when someone contacted me through their Facebook and asked my opinion on a political matter. Not thinking of the public notice aspect of posting on someone’s page, I answered with my opinion on a political race and within hours received the political wrath from those who disagreed with my stand. I quickly realized that a personal answer to a personal question isn’t necessarily personal. I guess I have a lot to learn about social networking.

I couldn’t help but think about social media like Facebook could revolutionize evangelism and spread of the Gospel. Perhaps it is an indication of the coming of end times. Jesus said in Matthew. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end shall come.”

Could this prophesy be electronically fulfilled in cyberspace? I am not sure, but one thing I am sure of is that social networking can be used for Christian networking, expanse of the kingdom and an incredible medium for spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Want to be a foreign missionary? Well you can and not have to leave the comfort of your home. Just electronically outreach with God’s Word to Facebooks around the world. What a way to fulfill the great commission.       (a thought on life from John Grant)

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2010/07/16/jg_gods-facebook/

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

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“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Galatians 1:6-9

When a friend first stated the phrase, it immediately got my attention. He said that what we are seeing in the world is not so much a turning from God, but a secularization of spirituality. He is so right.

People still say “God bless you,” and organizations still have generic invocations and benedictions. It makes us feel good to know that we are invoking God’s blessings, but society says to be very careful in quoting scripture, if you do it at all and certainly don’t mention or talk about Jesus, as it might offend someone, or be considered politically incorrect. People identify with the Christian faith though not having a clue of what goes on in a church or much less having attended in person.

Many people in contemporary society say that God is dead, but they are not quite ready to conduct the funeral. Instead, they want a designer faith that makes them feel good. Most people in every society that has been studied are born with a thirst for religion. It was Voltaire who said that if God didn’t exist, man would have to invent him.

The Bible says that it was God who invented man in His own image, not the other way around. Yet in a rapidly growing post modern era, more and more people want to re-create God in their image and with Him have a sense of spirituality that accommodates their need for belief for a superior being without interfering with the life style they want to lead.

Paul was clear in speaking to the church at Galatia when he said that a “different” gospel is no gospel at all. The Gospel is not like computer software with its continual updates. Can you imagine Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 2.0? We cannot keep adding patches that make it better or tweak it to make it more user friendly. It is not ours, but Gods, and any attempt on our part to make it more to our own liking is wrong.

The Bible is the inerrant and holy Word of God. May we always remember to honor and obey it and to keep it Holy. May we alter our lifestyle to live a holy life and not adulterate God’s Word to accommodate our own lifestyle wishes.
(a thought on life from John Grant)
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2010/06/15/jg_secularization/
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“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.“  Hebrews 2:1

Recently, I heard a presentation from a former field artillery officer. He said that when on the training or battlefield, the first order at the dawn of a new day was to re-set the cross hairs on the site, as they have a tendency to “drift” overnight and that without a re-set, it could cause them to miss their target and maybe even fire into friendly territory.

Later that evening as our plane taxied out and turned onto the active runway, I saw a placard that said: “Re-Check compass to runway heading 135.2.” Again, it served as a reminder that without constant monitoring, mechanical devices can drift off course.

The same is true with our spiritual life as well. Unless we are attendant and constantly adjusting our spiritual sites, then we too can drift off course and the results can be disastrous. What do we have to do to drift off course? The answer is: “nothing.” We get there by not paying close attention, the same thing the readers of the letter to the Hebrews were doing.

Protecting our relationship with God is possible, but it required purposeful attention to our spiritual life. It requires more than daily quiet time, church attendance and the like. Here are some suggestions to protect against spiritual drift:

•    Surround yourself with godly friends and be open to accountability.
•    Be careful when reaching out to godless people lest they convert you.
•    Purposefully befriend strong believers.
•    Set clear goals for yourself, spiritual and otherwise and stick to them.
•    Ask God for direction in your life and be open to listen to Him.
•    Don’t let grief or hard times cool or sour your relationship with God.
•    Search for encouraging scriptures, record them and frequently read them.
•    Remind yourself that God can bring good out of every heartache.
•    Avoid tempting situations, lest you cave to the arm of flesh.

Remember to re-set your spiritual sites daily. It is a habit we all have to work at to build, but if we consider it a daily priority at the dawn of each new day, we will stay on the right spiritual course and not drift away.
(a thought on life from John Grant)
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2010/06/10/jg_are-you-drifting/
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“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Colossians 3:2

It is one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time and the total damage may not be known for years. It started with an oil drilling platform that had sunk a well nearly a mile below the surface. To protect from disaster, it was equipped with a blowout preventer, but something went terribly wrong when a backfire exploded on the platform instantly killing eleven people in a huge and explosive fire that ultimately took the platform to the bottom of the sea.

Subsequent investigations determined that among other things, the “fail-safe” device had a dead battery. As I read the press clips, I was amazed that for want of a charged battery, a billion dollar rig could have been saved, the lives taken spared and the environment saved. All of this happened because of a dead battery.

I could not help but think of a spiritual parallel. How many Christians get a spiritual “buzz” and get involved in everything Christian in their church and community and after a while it wears off and becomes less exciting and downright boring? It is so easy to get to burdened down with doing Christian things that we lose our glow and the spirit within us becomes weak.

Boredom kills intimacy. In my pursuit of God I have found that with a structured and disciplined Christian life comes the potential for routine and boredom. As my daily spiritual disciplines become mere routine, before long, they can degenerate into empty ritual, and empty ritual into boredom.

What can you and I do to keep our relationship with God fresh, vital, and charged up? Doing things for God may be good for the kingdom, but when we get overloaded, we get into a spiritual rut.

To keep our spiritual batteries fully charged, we need to pull away and spend sufficient alone time with God. We do that in our daily quiet time, by reading and studying God’s Word and by praying, not so much with our petitions to God, but in our listening to Him. We should pray continually, share daily and become aware of God’s work within us and around us. We tend to become what we think about all day long. Are we thinking of things above or are we thinking of things of this earth. Are we living under the arm of flesh or the arm of faith.

Remember to keep your spiritual batteries fully charged and no matter what comes your way, your spiritual fail safe mechanism will be with you in all the ways of life.
(a thought on life from John Grant )
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2010/06/04/jg_spiritual-battery/
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