The Truth About Right Living ----- A Personal Observation

146 Pages·2013·0.44 MB·English

by  Tom Lee

The Truth About

Right Living

-----

A Personal Observation

by

James Thomas Lee, Jr.
12/25/96 (1st Edition)
08/09/13 (2nd Edition)
Copyrighted 1995 by James Thomas Lee, Jr.
Copyright Number: TXu 636-561
ISBN 978-1491054338, 1491054336 (paper)
Table of Contents

Chapter Page Number

INTRODUCTION 9
PART I 11
CHAPTER 1. LIVING THIS LIFE RIGHTLY 13
A. PRINCIPLE ONE: HAVING THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS GOD 16
B. PRINCIPLES TWO AND THREE 16
C. LEARNING TO PLEASE GOD 18
CHAPTER 2. UNDERSTANDING THE CUNNING OF THE DEVIL 21
A. THE DEVIL'S ARSENAL - DECEPTION AND DISTRACTION 22
B. THE DEVIL'S USE OF DECEPTION 22
C. THE DEVIL IS VERY THOROUGH 24
D. THE DEVIL'S SECOND DEVICE 25
E. THE DEVIL'S USE OF DISTRACTION 26
F. THE DEVIL IS AT EVERY LEVEL OF OUR EXISTENCE 28
CHAPTER 3. FINDING THE TRUE FAITH 31
A. BECOMING A CHRISTIAN - SEEING YOURSELF AS A SINNER 32
B. BECOMING A CHRISTIAN - UNDERSTANDING THE PENALTY OF SIN 32
C. BECOMING A CHRISTIAN - SEEING JESUS AS SAVIOR 34
D. BECOMING A CHRISTIAN - ACCEPTING GOD’S PROVISION 35
E. PEOPLE STILL WALK AWAY 37
PART II 39
CHAPTER 4. CONCEPT 1: GETTING A HOLD OF GOD 41
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Chapter Page Number

A. MANY CHRISTIANS ARE TOO ENTANGLED 42
B. OUR FIRST CHURCH 43
C. OUR SECOND CHURCH 44
D. OUR THIRD CHURCH 46
E. FREE WILL VERSUS ELECTION 49
F. SPEAKING IN TONGUES 50
G. OUR FOURTH CHURCH 52
H. A COMPARISON OF OUR FOUR DIFFERENT CHURCHES 54
CHAPTER 5. HAVING THE RIGHT FOCUS 57
A. HEAD DEACONS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING SAVED 57
B. ANOTHER STRANGE OBSERVATION 58
C. THE TWO SITUATIONS DID NOT MAKE SENSE 59
D. FEELING SOME OF MY OWN DOUBTS 61
E. SEEING THE DEVIL AT WORK 62
F. THE DEVIL'S PERSUASIVENESS AT CHURCH NUMBER TWO 64
G. THE DEVIL'S CLEVERNESS AT CHURCH NUMBER THREE 66
H. THE DEVIL'S WORK IS NOT BY ACCIDENT 67
I. STAYING AWAY FROM UNPROVEN, MINOR ISSUES 69
CHAPTER 6. WHAT THE LORD WANTS FROM YOU AND ME 71
A. TAKING INVENTORY OF MYSELF 72
B. GOING TO THE SOURCE FOR MY ANSWER 74
C. GETTING THE LORD’S SIMPLE ANSWER 75
D. WHAT DOES GOD REALLY WANT FROM EACH OF US? 76
E. HOW WE FAIL HIM, PART I 77
F. HOW WE FAIL HIM, PART II 78
G. LET’S MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE GOTTEN IT. 79
PART III 81
CHAPTER 7. CONCEPT 2: THE RIGHT APPROACH TO LIFE 83
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Chapter Page Number

A. I HAVE NOT BEEN ALONE 83
B. TOO MUCH NEGATIVE PRESSURE 84
C. A BETTER APPROACH TO LIFE 85
D. LOOKING FOR THAT PERFECT BALANCE 86
E. THE SEEMINGLY PERFECT LIFE 87
CHAPTER 8. DEALING WITH THE REALITY OF LIFE AFTER DEATH89
A. A SIMPLE MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIP 91
B. THE PRESSURE AND STRESS ARE REAL 91
C. THERE IS A BETTER WAY 92
D. JESUS SIDESTEPPED THE TRAPS OF THIS LIFE 94
E. A MAJOR SOURCE OF STRESS 94
F. STRIVING TO LIVE EQUALLY WELL 96
G. RESISTING THE DEVIL 97
PART IV 99
CHAPTER 9. CONCEPT 3: BEING A FAITHFUL SERVANT 101
A. A QUICK REVIEW 101
B. WHAT THOSE TWO PRINCIPLES ARE NOT 103
C. WE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE 103
D. UNDERSTANDING STEWARDSHIP 104
E. WE ARE CALLED TO BE GOOD STEWARDS 105
CHAPTER 10. IDENTIFYING SOME AREAS OF STEWARDSHIP 107
A. CARE FOR SELF 109
B. THE SPIRITUAL HEART 111
C. THE MIND 112
D. THE SOUL 113
E. THE PHYSICAL BODY 115
F. CARE OF ONE’S FAMILY 117
G. TENDING TO THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF THE FAMILY 118
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Chapter Page Number

H. CARE FOR OTHERS 120
I. THE PHYSICAL SIDE 121
J. THE SPIRITUAL SIDE 122
K. ONLY WHEN WE LOVE AS WE SHOULD 123
L. CARE OF POSSESSIONS 124
M. THE VASTNESS OF STEWARDSHIP 126
PART V 129
CHAPTER 11. THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING 131
A. WE HAVE MUCH PERSONAL FREEDOM 132
B. CHOOSING NOT TO BE A GOOD STEWARD 133
C. CHOOSING TO BE WORLDLY-MINDED 134
D. CHOOSING NOT TO RECEIVE CHRIST 135
E. CHOOSING OTHER RELIGIONS 136
F. CHOOSING THE INFERIOR THEORIES OF SCIENCE 137
G. CHOOSING THE SUPERIOR EVIDENCE 138
INDEX 141
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 145
List of Tables

Table Page Number

TABLE 1. FIVE WORLD-LEVEL SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS ............................................15
TABLE 2. MY THREE PRINCIPLES FOR RIGHT SPIRITUAL LIVING............................18
TABLE 3. THE FOUR STEPS TO BECOMING A CHRISTIAN........................................35
TABLE 4. AN AREA OF STEWARDSHIP - CARE FOR SELF. .....................................111
TABLE 5. AN AREA OF STEWARDSHIP - CARE FOR ONE’S FAMILY.......................118
TABLE 6. AN AREA OF STEWARDSHIP - CARE FOR OTHERS..................................121
TABLE 7. AN AREA OF STEWARDSHIP - CARE FOR POSSESSIONS..........................126
The Truth About Right Living - A Personal Observation
Introduction

This book has been written to share what I discovered during a unique
experience in late 1989 and early 1990. While that experience was not very
pleasant, the discoveries that I made have more than made up for any of those
anxieties which I felt. After having been a Christian for a little over twenty-two
years, I suddenly and without warning lost my job. Since at that time I had been
faithful in the Lord's work for over fifteen years plus had also done very well
within my profession, being released from my employment did not seem logical.
Therefore, from the very beginning, I acknowledged my predicament as having
come from the Lord.
In all, I was out of work for almost five months from the end of November
in 1989 until the middle of the following April. As I faced each day, I had a very
sincere desire to understand what the Lord wanted me to do and also to determine
if He was trying to show or teach me something special. I did not realize it at the
time, but He was about to reveal to me what He truly desires from each of us. For
a number of years, I had not been completely clear about whether He simply
wanted us to be very good people, whether He just wanted our money, or just
exactly what He wanted. I must point out, though, that my confusion was not
related to my faith in Christ or to my dependence upon His finished work at
Calvary. Instead, it was related to how a devoted Christian should go about this
thing of Christian service.
What the Lord revealed to me through my ordeal of unemployment may
not seem so earth shattering to many. In fact, I would have to say that His special

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The Truth About Right Living - A Personal Observation

revelation was probably what we would all suspect anyway. Yet many Christian
people, in my opinion, have gotten this thing of Christian service all turned
around. God does want us to work on His behalf. However, He does not want
that until first we have given Him our heart, our whole heart. Lukewarm
Christianity, which is so commonplace in our time, is not honoring or pleasing to
Him. But merely working hard, without first giving Him the complete love and
devotion that He wants and deserves, is not either.
This book is not very complicated and hopefully should not be difficult to
read. In writing it, my desire has not been to eliminate the cart, but rather to
ensure that we as Christians are not getting the cart before the horse. Chapters
two and three present God's simple Plan of Salvation. After that, the rest of the
book is a presentation of the simple teachings of Matthews 22:37-39, Matthew
6:33, and Romans 14:10-13. My desire is that the reader will find this material
easy to understand and accept and that it will be beneficial to him or her in their
everyday walk.
The second edition of this book was written to clean up some of the poorly
worded statements in the first edition and to show important Bible verses rather
than just refer to them.

James Thomas Lee, Jr.
28 December 1996
09 August 2013

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