This past weekend we celebrated what we call Palm Sunday — Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Hail Jesus:

The people were hailing Him as King as He rode a donkey into Jerusalem — celebrating Him, shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” The reason they were celebrating Him is they believed He was coming as a military conqueror — one who would cleanse the temple of Romans — one who would defeat the Roman Empire.

Crucify Him: 

When they realized He was going to set up His kingdom here on earth, when He cleansed the temple of the priests and money changers instead of ridding the Romans, they began to scream, “Crucify Him!” Isn’t this true for many today?

Suffering setbacks:

As long as Jesus does what we want, what we expect, we are hailing Him as King. But once something goes wrong in our life, as soon as we experience pain or a setback, then we start screaming, “It’s unfair,” “God doesn’t love me,” “God, you could have prevented [this thing or that thing].” How sad that we believe things God never said and expect Him to do for us what He never promised. We need to serve Him on our best day and on our worst.

Don’t be part of a fickle crowd. Stand out from the crowd and hail Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords regardless of the circumstances you are experiencing.

Just a thought,

PSS,

A traitor is defined as: a person who betrays a friend, country; one who is not loyal or true to a friend, duty, cause, or belief.

Betrayal for benefit: 

Hopefully, we have never been this person to others and especially not to our Lord. But in this day and age of “me first — it’s all about me,” so many will betray those they call Lord, friend to get what they want or what they believe they deserve.

Betrayal causes pain:

If you have ever experienced the pain of a traitor — someone who has betrayed you, been disloyal to you — you know it doesn’t feel good; it hurts; it’s painful. What to do? Not too long ago I was meditating on different people who I believed betrayed me, were very disloyal — people whom I had helped, gone to bat for, even helped them succeed, was kind to and very patient with; and they began to attack and say things that weren’t true.

Do the right thing: 

As I was thinking about it, I believe the Lord gave me a thought in the form of a question. This is what I heard. The thought was: “If you had known those people were going to act that way or treat you badly, would you still have helped them?” Well, I had to think about that for a couple of days. Finally, I came up with this — that I still would have helped them. Then the thought came to mind, “Let them go then. Don’t worry about them. Release them from your life.” So, I have.

We have a responsibility to do the right thing regardless of what anyone else does — to honor the Lord’s word — that is why God can bless us.

Just a thought,

PSS

Growth is a part of life. Either you are growing or you are not.

Growth is a choice:

It’s your choice, and only your choice, if you want to change your life or some part of it. Here is a thought: O. A. Battista said, “An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.”

Growth is hard work:

We all need to work on some areas of our lives. Sometimes it can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. There are always areas we can improve. The reason so many do not is that it is hard work. People will say, “It’s no fun — it is hard.” Changing your thinking can be a tough process. In our culture today, it seems as if hard work is a disease, and we have built up an immunity to it. We want everything right now and we expect achieving, growing, and developing will be easy.

Growth is an investment:

Anything worth having will take work. When we work for something, we tend to appreciate it more. When it is given, and requires no effort on our part, we tend not to appreciate or value it as much. Our investment into our own lives helps us to respect the process. I believe there is an area, or areas, in our lives that we need to work on.

Let’s do the Lord’s work and watch the good things that will happen in our lives. Do better. Be better. Live better. You are worth the work!

Just a thought,

PSS

We should all strive to be helpful: 

Whether it is at our work, play, home, or church, we should work at being helpful toward others and organizations.

Tom Knox, V.P. of Ace Hardware, said: “We don’t want to be known for having the nicest people. We want to be known for having the most helpful people.” You will hear people often say, or justify their actions, of being faithful: “I’ve been faithful to this company [or church], and they let me go.” But were they helpful? Some think just because they show up every day and have been at a place for many years, that should count for something. I’m sure it does.

Productivity yields results:

At some point, people are going to want to see some production, productivity results. If we are not careful, we will quit producing, get lazy, and take things for granted. But if we are faithful and helpful, we will be rewarded, promoted, and given raises. See, it’s not enough to show up — we must produce.

So, let’s purpose to be helpful to those around us, take initiative. That’s when we will make a difference in the lives of others.

Just a thought,

PSS

Your level of disappointment is directly proportional to your level of expectation.

Managing our expectations:

We need to have expectations of ourselves and others. But unrealistic expectations, or unspoken expectations, can cause incredible disappointments in our lives. Managing our expectations will limit our disappointments in life. Managing our expectations doesn’t mean we don’t dream or pursue things in our lives. What it does mean is that we don’t allow our expectations to cause us to become discouraged and offended when things don’t work out.

Being willing to pay the price: 

An unrealistic expectation could be if you’re 5’10” and want to play in the NBA. Chances are that’s not going to happen. It could, but the probability is very, very low. So, our expectations of ourselves must be in line with are you willing to pay the price to realize your expectations coming to pass? Are you willing to work hard and sacrifice, or are your expectations based on a whim?

Voicing our expectations: 

We get disappointed in others at times because we expect something from someone that has never been spoken or discussed. You may hear people say, “Well, I just expected that [he or she] would [do such and such].” This only creates great disappointment. We need to voice our expectations, especially of others. It doesn’t mean they will do what we ask or expect, but at least we can know that up front.

Let’s manage our expectations realistically with wisdom and lessen our disappointments. 

Just a thought,

PSS