This is the famous bigest loser traininer Jillian Michaels, who recently told Women’s Health Magazine that she will never get pregnant because, “I can’t handle doing that to my body.”  Jillian does go on to say that she would prefer to adopt and says her reasoning is because she was an over weight teen tipping the scales at 175 pounds.

Then on the internet site popeater, they polled women to ask their opinions.  I was shocked at the number of women that agreed with Jillian, saying, its a personal choice and I don’t want to do that to my body either. One 24 year old woman says, her family chastises her and tells her she is selfish and will regret her decision not to have children, but she doesn’t agree.

Now whether these women are being selfish or not, all I can say is ”if it walks like a duck, then…..” But lets look at the deeper issue here.  Our society is now starting to place a higher value on looks than on life.  We have become so focused on the way that we look on the outside, its as if what’s on the inside no longer matters.

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him.  the Lord doesn’t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.” (NLT)

I wonder how God will judge us as a society based on our thoughts and intentions?

Have you ever found yourself at a point in your life where you were standing at a cross in the road?  You have to make a decision that is going to drastically effect the rest of your life.  That is the position I am in right now.  I have a decision to make and the two choices are as different as night and day.  I am praying and God seems to be silent.  One day I think left is the right choice then I go to bed and wake up the next morning thinking no right is definitely the right one.  How do you know?

Moses was at a crossroads in his life in Exodus 33.  And I was meditating on his prayer to God in v.13.  He says, “I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.”  Then in v.18 he says, “Please, show me Your glory.”  Then God answers Moses prayer with these words in v.21-23 “Stand on the rock, while My glory passes by, and I will cover you with My hand.”

If you are like me and are at a crossroads, and you don’t know which way is right, then we have to stand on Christ the solid rock.  Then we must do the hardest thing in the world, wait for God to lead.  Too often we move out in front of God and tell Him to catch up to where we are going.  He told Moses, “No man can see my face and live.”  I think when we get out ahead of God that is when our lives are a mess.  But oh, if we learn to wait and follow, how sweet the fellowship becomes.  May God bless you as you continue to follow Him.

One bad choice, one foolish mistake, one time you can try or do something and it can cost you more than you are willing to pay.  Such was the case with high school football All-American Matt James.  James had signed a letter of intent to play football next year for the Fighting Irish of Nortre Dame.  Last week,  seventeen year old James who is from Ohio was vacationing in Florida for his spring break when he fell from the fifth floor of his hotel balcony.  Sources say that he was drunk and belligerent while engaging in a conversation with someone on another floor before his tragic fall. 

When you hear stories like this your heart just aches for the family members involved.  So much potential, so many possiblities only to be cut short by one foolish decision.  None of us are immune to the consequences that come from foolish behavior.  So we must learn to gain valuable wisdom from other peoples mistakes.

Tragically many of us have an Esau complex.  What is an Esau complex you ask?  In Genesis 25:29-34 we read of two brothers Jacob and Esau sons to Issac and Rebekah.  Esau was a hunter and the older son, so he was in line to inherit most of the family fortune.  One day Esau comes in from hunting and Jacob is cooking stew.  Esau is hungry and demands that Jacob give him some food.  Jacob tells Esau he will trade him food for his birthright.  In the end Esau sells his birthright for the stew.

An Esau complex is one that is focused only on the present and never on the future.  Don’t be like Esau and trade away future blessings for temporary pleasures.

This weekend many will be exposed to the greatest love story in the world.  That story is that Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God was crucified for our sins.  He voluntarily gave up His Spirit and died on a cross.  The devil thought he had won, but three days later on Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead.  He defeated death, hell and the grave and we can now have access to the Father because of what Jesus has done.

Now many will hear that message this weekend and there will be four different types of people with four different types of hearts and Jesus told us this parable before He died.  In Matthew 13:1-23 Jesus says there are four different types of soils and the soils represent different types of hearts. 

The first type is the hard heart which is the one that Satan keeps from understanding.  The second is the shallow heart which is one that receives the word, but as soon as problems come they turn away.  The third is the crowded heart.  This is the one that has too many things in their lives that are choking out the word.  Finally there is the fertile heart.  This is one that is open to all that God the Father has to teach. Jesus said, this is the one that will produce a good crop “some hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

So what type of heart do you have?  I must warn you to be careful, because the devil is crafty and can have us thinking we are something that we really aren’t.  I pray that the word sown in your heart will produce tons of fruit that will last into eternity.