Struggle and Overcome

We hate change. We despise, fear, and avoid it at all costs. But change is not only inevitable, it is a mandatory part of our relationship with Christ. We must change in order to follow him. We must be continually changing to follow him. It is not a one-time event. Real change lasts.

In Genesis 32, Jacob has quite a life-changing encounter with…someone. God himself…angel…we don’t really know for sure. What we do know is that Jacob was changed forever. Jacob wrestles with this man through the night, loses, and then says he will not let go unless this man blesses him. Then we get this in 32:28: Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” In 29, the man blesses Jacob.

The first condition for change that we see in Jacob is that he wanted it. He begged the man for a blessing and was willing to fight for it. He wanted to be changed, he wanted to be blessed. Next, the man tells him that his name will be changed, which was an extremely significant event in biblical times. It signified not only a change in name, but a change in character and personality. The man tells him he will be changed because he has struggled with God and with humans and he has overcome. Jacob struggled with God. He struggled with his faith. He wrestled with God. He also struggled with humans. He struggled in his relationships. Then comes the key part: he overcame. He overcame his struggles.

In order to be changed and blessed, you have to want it. You have to fight for it. You have to search for it. You will struggle with God and you will struggle with men. It will not be easy and will not be without pain, lets not forget that Jacob got his hip snapped. Then, in the end, you must overcome. You must overcome your struggles with God and with men. Only then can you be changed, and only then will you be blessed. True change doesn’t come easy, but it lasts forever and is worth fighting for.  

What does it mean to be a Christian?

         Over and over again I see pastors preaching and teachers teaching about what it means to be a Christian. They say “These are the things you do” and “These are the things you say” and “This is how you respond in this situation”. We hear these things all the time, which are by no means bad things. But these statements should prompt the Christian thinker (which we all should be) to wonder "what does it really mean to be a Christian?" Another thing that I hear over and over again is that it is your sin, or lack there of, that defines your Christianity and spirituality. 

       
 Really church? My lack of sin makes me a Christian? No person has ever lived without a lack of sin except Jesus. Everyone around you has done worse things than you’ll ever know. We have ALL sinned and ALL fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). In this world we cannot escape sin , even as followers of Christ. Until the day we die, we will be tempted and we will fail. We will sin and we will deserve death for it. It is not your sin that defines who you are or your Christianity; it is your repentance. All men sin, not all repent. Repentance is the defining factor. Genuine repentance comes from a realization of your sin and a confessing of your sin before God. After that, you pray to God to give you the strength to turn from your sin.

It is an absurd notion that if you don’t sin that makes you a good Christian. No Christian avoids sinning and no amount of good deeds or lack of bad deeds will buy you a ticket to the Kingdom of God. Repentance defines your Christianity.  

Women in Ministry

           The topic of the role of women in ministry, specifically pastoral jobs, is one of the most debated today that creates divides in Christianity. There are three primary views taken when it comes to this topic: conventionalists, dependents, and equivalents. 

           Conventionalists believe that women ought to be valued and loved just as men are. Women can and should play important roles in the church. Women can lead one another and teach one another. Yet women must also submit to their husbands that love them. God created men first and then created women from men. Women should not teach or have authority over men in the church. Women must dress modestly and submit as they would to God. Women are called to love God and serve him with all of who they are.

            Dependents also believe that women ought to be love and valued. Women are essential to the growth of the church. There are times when women are permitted to lead and have authority over men. Some dependents lean more toward conventional views while others lean more toward equivalent views. The common denominator that dependents own is that under the right circumstances, women can lead just as effectively and biblically as men.

            Equivalents believe that there is neither male nor female in Christ. Men and women are one together and ought to have authority as one. History and biblical evidence show that women can and have led effectively in the name of Jesus. God created both men and women in the image of God, therefore both have equal dominion over creation. Women should be encouraged to become pastors and missionaries, because that is what God has called humanity to do, not just men.

            Despite the vastly differing opinions when it comes to this issue, the church must not let such disagreements get in the way of the call of Christ. Paul addresses the issue of unity in the church far more than he discusses the role of women in ministry. If it was not a major concern for Paul, then why should it be today? Paul was concerned with the lost and the least of these. Paul wrote to almost all of the churches that he was related to about unity within the church. The church today is perhaps less unified than it has ever been. There are hundreds, even thousands of denominations in the United States alone. Christians let their views on topics such as homosexuality and women in the church distract them from what really matters, Christ’s redeeming death and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. While it is good and perhaps necessary to have differing opinions on this topic of the role of women in the church, we must not become so divided that we are hurting Christ’s cause. One thing is certain, that both men and women are made in the image of God and that they both are to play vital roles in the story that Christ has written for humanity.

Question Authority

What is your first reaction when you hear the word “obedience”? What about “authority”? Most likely your first thought went to some person who has had authority over you and you hate their guts and everything that they said, did, and stood for. While that may be harsh…maybe…we have all had to deal with that leader at some point in our lives. We have all had to submit to authorities that we can’t stand; yet we must obey them.

People of authority in church have wronged many of us. There are many leaders in our churches today who are not Godly figures of authority. There are many leaders who are not even real leaders by God’s standard. Maybe your pastor is one of them. Maybe your teacher or professors are one of them. Maybe you are one of them.

If the word “authority” ticked you off and made you immediately angry, then you have most likely let a worldly view of authority conquer your Godly view of authority. What we as a church have forgotten is that God and Scripture are our ultimate authority. They do not seek to bind us or limit us, but set us free. Jesus came to set us free, not hold us down. The problem with our postmodern society today is that we believe that authority can’t mesh with freedom. Instead of holding a traditional view of authority, we have given ourselves authority. We say, “Whatever we believe is right, whatever they believe is right.” We don’t want to listen to other people because we assume they are like us, self centered and corrupt.

Proper, truthful authority in the church is rare. So often, pastors become God’s replacement. People listen to the pastor and not God. They follow the pastor and not God. Pastors are intended to be God’s transparent voice, his vehicle, and his truth. Good pastors do not speak their own words, but God’s. Jesus demonstrated servant leadership. He told his disciples that whoever is last will be first. True authority comes from a dispossession of power, not a longing to possess it. True authority points away from itself and toward God. True authority does not require obedience to its own will, but to God’s. True authority claims no power, but disperses it. True authority has no desire for authority.

Obey those who have authority over you. Listen for the voice of God through those leaders. But…be discerning, be wise, and be a Godly follower. Listen to what you are being told and listen to see if it is the pastor’s voice or God’s. Look at your leaders. Do they claim authority and desire power? Or do they exhibit God’s authority and give power, rather than take it? True, Godly leaders are rare. Find them. 

Dear Sin, You Don't Own me

Listen to this song by Disciple and then continue reading. This song conveys powerful truth that we all need to hear.

Romans 6:6 says: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” 

As Christians, our old selves have been crucified with Christ on the cross. Sin has been overcome and destroyed. And the best part of it…we are no longer slaves to sin. Sin no longer owns us. Pain, shame, hate, and anger have no control over us anymore. Though sin is not far and it is crouching at our door, we are no longer subject to its power. Having been crucified with Christ, we are no longer slaves to the former power that controlled us. Christ death has set us free to run straight into his arms. Laugh at sin and boldly proclaim that it does not own you anymore and that Jesus Christ is the ruler of your life. 

Face the Challenge

Something that we often forget as Christians is that God has empowered us to do great things. He has provided us with the only true source of power, himself. Throughout the story that the Bible tells, God uses weak, scared, trembling people to accomplish his will. He uses flimsy little people and molds them into warriors, leaders, and kings. Time and time again, God uses the underdog, the little guy, and the longshot to change history. Philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard said this:

There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.

This quote could not ring truer. The longshots that God chose to use always argued. Gideon argued that he was not cut out to lead and even tested God. Moses argued that he was not cut out for leading or public speaking. The list goes on and on. Now here is what we need to hear. God is calling us for something great. If you are a true believer, then God has a plan for your life. He has a plan to mold flimsy little underdog you into a leader and warrior for Christ. The problem is that we are scared to death. We are weak, trembling people that are afraid of what it might mean to be a warrior for Christ. We are afraid of how enormously much we are capable of doing and becoming with Jesus. And our fear holds us down, and keeps us chained to mediocrity.

Trust God and let your trust conquer your fear. If you are a believer, God has a plan to use you for greatness, but you have to say yes. You have to accept your role and let go of your fear. Give up your weak, trembling self and stop arguing with God. Trust in the Him and allow him to guide you. We are enormously capable of becoming great through Jesus Christ. God will use us to further his Kingdom beyond our wildest imagination if we are willing to let go of our fear and face the challenge. 

Lost in Faithlessness

Have you ever prayed that God would show you what you are supposed to do? Where to go to college? What to major in? Where to live when you graduate? What you’re supposed to be doing with your life? We are constantly asking God for directions to the places that we are supposed to go. What we seem to forget is that God is not a big fan of telling us exactly what we want to hear.

In Genesis 12, God commands Abram to leave his country and his home. To leave everything he knows to depart for a foreign land that he knows nothing about. God does not tell him why he must go, simply that he must. He does not even tell him where exactly his going. All God tells Abram is that he is to pack his things and move to a land he will show him. Without hesitation, Abram takes up everything he has and obeys God.

When we ask God for directions or what we are supposed to do, he most likely isn’t going give them to us like we want him to. It is a process. God did not tell Abram where he was going right away. He waited to see Abram’s faith and trust demonstrated in his willingness to depart toward the unknown. Sometimes God will tell us that we need to move, and then wait to see if we trust him faithfully before he tells us where. If you are seeking direction and have not been given any, perhaps you aren’t responding faithfully.

So very often, God tells exactly where we are supposed to go and we refuse to let ourselves see it because of this lack of faith. We don’t see what we don’t want to and we use excuses and lame reasoning to say, “Nah…God I think I want to do something else…” Stop listening to yourself and listen for the voice of God. When you hear it, act faithfully. Then, and only then will he give you directions. 

The Blink of an Eye

I was sitting around doing some bible reading today and something really hit me. I am approximately 1/4 of the way through my life, probably more than that. For most of you, it is probably the same thing, or perhaps even more. We have only a very brief amount of time on this earth. While this is our temporary home, it is still our home, filled with people we love who are going not going to be in heaven if they die right now. We have been given the gift of time. The gift of Jesus' love and power. The gift of being able to share it. And how often do we do it? What does your life mean if you don't help anyone else in their walk with Christ? What can you take with you when you die? You graduate high school, get into college, graduate, get a job, have a family, retire, and die. All of those are great things. But if you aren't sharing the extraordinary gift that you have been given, what are you really doing? Your life will be gone in the blink of an eye. Once it's gone, you don't get it back. Use it wisely. Remember why you are here and what you are supposed to do. Remember that many people you love don't have the gift that you have. Go and share it with them. Is their soul not worth your time? Is their eternal life no worth the chance that they might reject you? Come on guys. Stop worrying about stupid things like what people think about you. If you love them, you would do everything in your power to save them, and that starts with telling them about Jesus.

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

This song preaches the Gospel of Jesus as well as any song I have ever heard. Listen to the words and reflect on the meaning behind them. His wounds have paid your ransom, take a minute to thank Jesus for paying your ransom. We don't sit down and thank God for the sacrifice he made for us often enough. Take some time today to do that.

Wanted: Dead or Alive?

What is the devil’s goal? What is he trying to accomplish? It is a common misconception that the devil’s goal is to kill you, to take away your life, to ruin your life on earth. While these might be part of the devil’s attack, these are not his primary goals. His primary goal is to steal you from Jesus. The devil’s primary goal is to do whatever it takes to make you lose sight of Jesus, where all you can see is yourself. He may want to kill you, but if your soul belongs to Jesus, then what good are you to him dead? If you already serve the Master of the universe, he cannot make you his slave. Maybe making your earthly life difficult is part of that attack, but it is just as likely that the devil will make your life “good”. He will give you want you want. He will make you think you’ve got it right.

Sometimes getting what we want is just enough to distract us from Jesus. Sometimes having money, success, even people that we love, can be our downfall if Christ is not the center. The devil may trick you into thinking that your Christianity is real Christianity. He may trick you into thinking that you are worshipping God when you are really worshipping yourself. 1 John tells us to examine our faith, and ourselves and to put it to test. Don’t let the devil tell you what Christianity is. Look in the bible and examine yourself. 

Even as Christians, we can be tricked by the devil, and he can use us. He can use our actions and our choices to affect other people. He can use your one little slip up to get inside the soul of a lost person. We are called to a higher standard as Christians. Do not be fooled by the devil’s lie that because you have been saved, you cannot be touched. 

You are no good to the devil dead. He is not trying to kill you unless you are so on fire for God that he cannot twist your life and actions into sin. We ought to strive for this state. We ought to strive to be so in tune with the voice of God and truth that we cannot be corrupted. We ought to want the devil to want us dead. If he wants us dead, then we are no good to him. Live for Christ, and do not let the devil trick you. Do not let him use you.  

The Devil is Busy

God is in control. God rules over everything. He is all-powerful. He has a plan and his plan is being carried out. His plan for redemption and salvation can be thwarted by nothing, not even Satan. Does that mean that Satan has no power? Not at all. John 12:31 refers Satan as “the prince of this world”. In Luke 4, Satan offers Jesus authority and power and Jesus does not challenge him when he claims the world has been given to him. The devil is busy. He is out to steal, kill and destroy.

In The Screwtape Letters, through the mind of a demon, CS Lewis says, “It will be quite impossible to remove spirituality from his life. Very well then, we must corrupt it.” Romans 8:38-39 tells us that if we are true Christians, we cannot be separated from the love of God. The devil knows that. He knows that once we have grown to a certain level of Christianity, he cannot remove the spirituality from our lives. But what he can do and does, is corrupt it. And we make it extremely easy for him.

If you are a Christian that is struggling in your relationship with God or that does not feel connected to the Vine, then your spirituality may have been corrupted. The devil is busy and he will stop at nothing to corrupt your walk with God. He will infect your spirituality. He will contaminate it. He will defile, degrade, and depreciate it. He will tear it down until you come to a point where you don’t walk with God at all anymore.

But know this, Jesus is stronger. Jesus is more powerful. Jesus is mightier. Jesus has already won the battle. All you have to do is pick yourself up and fight back. If you are alive, you can resist the devil. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” If your Christianity has been corrupted, resubmit yourself to God. Resist the devil and his infectious poisonous corruption, and he will flee from you. Submit to God, and you will be rescued from corruption.  

Christianity And

“The real trouble about the set your patient is living in is that it is merely Christian. They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity. What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call ‘Christianity And’”.
- CS Lewis


It is very interesting to me that Lewis uses the phrase “mere Christianity” considering that is the title of what is most likely his most famous work. This really hit home with me because it talks about belittling Christianity as something that the devil does. He attempts to combine Christianity with other things so that it no longer becomes true Christianity or purely Christianity. It becomes “Christianity and”. Christianity and anti-abortion. Christianity and healthcare. Christianity and good causes. I think this happens way too often today. There are so many causes and things going on that are so closely related to Christianity, that sometimes they even cease to be Christianity and simply turn into a “good cause”. This is very important for the church to recognize because “good causes” are not Gospel centered causes. Good causes are not necessarily tied with Christianity. Satan is seeking to make Christianity nothing more than a “good cause”. He wants you to think what you are doing is a good thing for Christ, when in fact, it is nothing more than a good thing. 

Good Cause ≠ Christian Cause

As Christians and churchgoers, we must make sure that our Christianity is true Christianity, not just a good cause, not “Christianity and”. 

Roadblocks

If you know anything about business and charting growth on a graph then you know that, very simply put, it should look like this:

If your growth chart looks like this ^…then your business is growing steadily. Sure there will be ups and downs, but it should be a steady rise. If your business growth chart is stagnant, like the line below, then your business has ceased to function properly. You are no longer serving your purpose as a business.

          __________________________________________________________________________ 

If I asked you to chart your growth with God, what would it look like? Would it look like the successful, growing business, or the stagnant business? It might even be going negative, losing ground. The one/two question/s that have for you are this: 1) Are you closer to God than you have ever been in your life? If the answer is no…why not? Why are you not closer to God than you have ever been before? Just like the stagnant business, if your walk with God is stagnant, then you have ceased to function properly and you are no longer serving the purpose that God has intended.

Chart your growth. Just grab a scrap piece of paper. On the left side, start with your choice to follow Jesus. Form there on, what factors and events in your life have either helped you grow spiritually or brought you down? Move your line up and down. Chart your growth and be honest with yourself. What has shaped your walk with God? When were you closest to him? What’s stopping you now? What’s getting in your way now? What are your roadblocks? What’s preventing you from growing closer to God now? We all have something that is holding us back. We may have 2 somethings or 10 somethings. Just like with a business, you need to identify the roadblocks and get rid of them. We are created to grow toward God, and if we stop growing toward Him, we will cease to function properly. 

Between You and Jesus

A long time ago…in a country far, far away…there was a wealthy young guy. He had everything that he could ever want; all the stuff that anyone could ever want and more. He followed the rules and was a good guy. He didn’t sleep with his neighbor’s wife, he didn’t kill anyone, he never stole anything, he wasn’t a liar, and he honored and respected his mom and dad. He was a wealthy man and followed the rules.

In case you didn’t catch on to the story…this was a brief retelling of the first half of the story of the rich young man from Luke 18. The man came to Jesus and asked him what he had to do to have eternal life. Jesus told him to keep all of commandments, to which the young man responded, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” I can picture Jesus in my head smiling and nodding and then quietly saying, “Yea…but you have this one thing standing between you and Me. Your stuff.” Jesus told the man to sell all of his stuff and give to the poor. Then he could follow Jesus. He made it very clear what needed to be done, and yet the man walked away from Jesus with sorrow. Jesus didn’t turn his back, the man walked away from Jesus.

The problem with the man was that he didn’t really want Jesus. He wanted eternal life. He probably came to Jesus expecting to hear, “Hey good job, you’ve kept the commandments, you’re in good shape!” But instead Jesus challenged him and said, “Hey…what’s consuming your life? Your stuff? Okay, now get rid of it and follow me.”

Jesus knew this man’s heart. He knew that his stuff consumed his life. If you aren’t willing to give up what’s most important to you in order to follow Jesus, will you enter the Kingdom of Heaven? This man let his stuff keep out of the Kingdom of Heaven. He let his stuff get between him and Jesus. What stuff are you letting get between you and Jesus? What’s consuming your life that isn’t Jesus? If it were you that came to Jesus, what would he tell you to give up? Would you give it up…or would you walk away filled with sorrow?

Somewhere Else

Yogi Berra was a baseball player for the New York Yankees; one of the greatest players in the history of the game. However, he is perhaps more widely known for his witty and sometimes ridiculous quotes. While some of his quotes are nothing more than confusing and goofy, some of them are extremely truthful and deep. One of these quotes is this: “If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.”

The best way to end up where you don’t want to be is to begin by not knowing where you want to go. This can be applied to all areas of our lives. If we do not have a plan for our lives, then we might not end up where we intended to. If you unpack Yogi’s quote, the problem begins with not knowing where you want to go and it ends with you winding up somewhere other than where you planned to be.

Satan is so good at distracting us Christians from where we want to be. He forces us off the path where we lose sight of Jesus, who should be our ultimate goal. We get so caught up in our problems, sins, and enjoyments that we forget where we are going, and end up somewhere else. Our tendency to focus on our own problems and ourselves rather than on Christ, is forcing us down the path to somewhere else. It doesn’t really matter where somewhere else is to Satan as long as it isn’t Jesus.

We should make a conscious effort to know where Jesus is so that we can follow him. To know what we are striving for and who we are chasing after. To focus on Christ rather than ourselves. And to know where we are going so that we don’t end up somewhere else.

Falling to Walk

When was the last time you totally wiped out while you were walking somewhere? Don’t kid yourself, you know it has happened, probably this month, maybe even this week. You were walking down the hall or the sidewalk or in the yard and you completely biffed it. Ate the dust. Punished the ground. As much as it hurts to fall physically, it hurts even more to become aware of the fact that you have been walking for decades and still have not mastered it. The emotional pain of tripping outweighs the physical pain many times. Your friends all laughed….and THEN offered to help you up…maybe…or they just kept laughing. They caught it on video and now you’re an internet sensation.

 The point is, we were all taught to walk at some point in our lives. When our parents were teaching us to walk, it was a grueling process. We fell. And we fell. And we fell again. And we cried. And every time they helped us up, wiped away our tears, and set us back on our feet. They let us hold their hand and when they thought we were ready, they let go. The glory and splendor of successfully taking those 3 steps prior to the next wipe out made the next try worth it.

Our walk with God is the same way. We have to learn how to do it and we have to be taught how by our Father. It is a grueling process. We will fall and fall and fall again. We will weep and cry. And every time God will be there to pick us up, wipe away our tears, and set us back on our feet. He holds our hand until we have regained our confidence and strength and then he lets us go.

The key is the letting go. He wants us to learn to walk on our own without him doing it for us. He loves us enough to let us fall and he loves us enough to pick us up every single time. If he never allowed us to fall, we would never learn to walk. 

Shallow Christianity

Do you remember the moment that you “became a Christian”? I put that in quotes because it has lost its real meaning. What I mean is, do you remember the moment that you gave your life to Jesus in order to follow him? The moment where a person chooses to go from self-focused to Christ-focused is where the change occurs. The problem is that few “Christians” ever make it past the shallowest level of Christianity.

(Absolutely worth buying)

Churches today are teaching people about God. They teach his names, his attributes, his characteristics, and even stories about what he has done. What is not being taught is how to develop a relationship with God. While he does want us to know about him, what he wants more than anything in the world is to know him. To know his person. To know him intimately.

When you first decided to follow Jesus, you were probably doing it to avoid hell or because you were afraid of death. If your faith and understanding of God never grows deeper than that, you have a problem. In CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape writes this of a new Christian to Wormwood: “What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At the bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in the Enemy’s ledger by allowing himself to be converted.” The “Enemy” here, because it is written from demon to demon, is referring to God. Lewis points out the reality of the early life of new Christians. Until a certain point, it is all “parrot talk” no matter how sincere a person comes across to other people. We believe that the good things we do and our choice to follow Jesus, is earning us points. Like we are doing God a favor by fake following him.

This is not where Christ following ends. It is a lifelong process of growth. The more time we spend with God, in conversation and in community with believers, the closer to him we will grow. The more we will know God, rather than know things about him. Just a few pages later, Screwtape writes: “You will be helped by the fact that the humans themselves do not desire it [God’s presence] as much as they suppose.” If you don’t know God and don’t have a real relationship with him, then you don’t want it bad enough. You have to want it. You have to truly desire it. And you have to give your life to follow him in humble service. Only then will you break free of the bonds of shallow faith in a God who you don’t really care about. 

Altars

Beginning in Genesis, people throughout the Bible built altars to God. Altars are built to worship God. They symbolize holiness and reverence toward an awesome God. An Altar can be inside a building or part of a room. Outside or inside. They are built to commemorate what God has done for us, to connect with God during times of trouble. Altars were also built to perform sacrifices for the atonement of sins in the Old Testament.

Because of Jesus’ redeeming death on the cross, we do not need to perform sacrifices today like the Old Testament biblical characters did. In fact there are several verses in the Old Testament warning about building altars. The guidelines for building altars have been set by God so that we do not turn the altar into self-worship as opposed to God worship. Biblical characters built altars out of uncut stones in order to prevent them from being proud or boastful of their own handiwork, which might result in self-worship.

The purpose of altars is to connect us with God in holy worship. Whether that worship consists of thanking God, commemorating what God has done, or simply praising God for who he is. The art of connecting with God through real, reverent worship has been lost. The solution is not to physically build an altar to God. It is not necessarily the practice that has been lost, but the principle and the purpose. We get so busy and so focused on ourselves and we have stopped giving credit where it is due. We have stopped worshipping God simply because he is God. We might briefly sputter a “Thank you God” when something good happens to us. We serve a living and powerful God who is worthy of worship. Altars are reminders of what God has done and who God is. Sometimes we get so busy with ourselves and we have done and what we are doing that we completely forget about who God is and what has done and what he is doing.

Break free of the chains that are holding you back and run straight into the arms of Christ. Thank him for who he is. Remember everything that he has done. Thank him for what he has done. Connect with him like you think you have forgotten how, and worship him simply for who he is. There is nothing greater on this earth than to experience and connect with God. Stop focusing on yourself and fix your eyes upon Jesus. 

Here Is Our King

This song is called “Here is Our King” by the David Crowder Band. Listen to the lyrics.

All of lyrics are phenomenal but I want to focus on the chorus. As I was driving back I came to a point of tears when I actually thought about what the lyrics were saying. “Here is our King”. Those lyrics are so special because they are pure truth. He is our King and he rules over us. It is recognition of position and power. It’s a reverent way of addressing the powerful King that God is. We so often think of God as our friend. Our “homeboy”. Or our father. He can be and is all of those things…but he is also the ruler of the universe. The King of the world. He holds the world in his palm. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He is everything and everywhere. He is the King, and it is important for us to recognize him for what he is with reverence.

“Here is our Love”. Not only is he the King of everything, he loves us more than anything in the world. The Creator of the universe and King of the world actually loves every single one of us! He knows each of us and every hair on our heads and wants us to know him. He desires a relationship with us. We would all freak out if our favorite celebrity wanted a relationship with us. He is our Love, our King, desiring a relationship with us and pursuing us in the midst of our sin. These two statements together make an even more powerful statement, he is our King and he loves us more than anything.

And finally, “Here is our God who’s come, to bring us back to him.” Our King, our Love, our God has come to bring us back to him. When we stray from the path of righteousness he chases after us to bring us back to him. He pursues and follows and lovingly persists to bring us back to him. This is where I got choked up… That my King, my Love, and the ruler of the universe has come to bring me back to him. Out of everyone and everything in the world, he cares enough about me to focus on me bring me back to him. Not just me, but us. He loves you just as much and has come to bring us back to him. 

Shut In

Yesterday I was watching the TV guide channel because I could not find a single high quality television program to watch…imagine that. The movie that was playing was Panic Room. Long story short, a mom and her daughter have their house broken into by criminals and are forced into their panic room in order to protect themselves. They were stuck in the room. There was very little food, very little space, and they were completely surrounded by danger. But it was necessary to keep them safe.

God provides his followers with, for lack of a better word, panic rooms. In the story of Noah and the flood, God provided a safe place for Noah and his family while he was destroying the rest of earth and all living things apart from those on the ark. Genesis 7:16 says: “The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.” Earlier verses in chapter 7 say that Noah was the only righteous man left and that is why God chose to deliver him while the wicked were destroyed.

God protects those who love him. Psalm 18:2 says: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” God is a rock, a fortress, a deliverer, and a stronghold. In times of trouble and times of panic, God is a stronghold. He provides refuge. In Noah’s case it was the ark. Though it was cramped, smelly, and surrounded by danger, it was also safe from destruction.

God protects the upright and the righteous. He is a refuge for his people in times of trouble and a stronghold in times of danger. Sometimes we may not be aware of the flood around us. Sometimes it may seem like God has shut us in a smelly, cramped place for no reason. And yet we can always know God is protecting us. We can’t see it all, but God does. When God shuts you in, thank him for it.  

Will You Master It?

John Nash was a brilliant mathematician who won a Nobel Prize for his original work in mathematics. For those of you have seen the 2001 Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind, you know this story. (Spoiler Alert) Nash was plagued by a form schizophrenia that caused him to create images, theories, and people that were only real in his mind. He struggles with these delusions for the majority of his life. His behavior almost destroys his marriage, family, and job. He begins to take medication and the delusions go away, but so does his brilliance. He struggles for months whether or not it is worth it to continue the medication and have no delusions, but no brilliance. He eventually comes to a breaking point where he chooses to go off the medication. His intelligence returns along with the hallucinations. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know that he chooses to live the rest of his life this way. He learns to ignore the hallucinations, though they never really disappear. He no longer allows them to be the masters of his life.

Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” God is very clear of our options. If we follow him and give him our all, then we will be accepted. We will be looked upon with favor, just as Abel was.

But when we do not do what is right…

Sin is crouching at our doorstep. It wants nothing more than to devour us. We must master it. Every day we will sin. Every day we will fail. Every day sin will be crouching at our doorstep. Every day sin will desire nothing more than to devour you and steal you away from God. John Nash’s delusions and hallucinations were constantly crouching at his door. They constantly desired to ruin his life, and nearly did.

Sin can and will ruin your life if you do not master it. John Nash mastered his disease. He mastered his hallucinations. We must master sin in the same way. It is always there, always seeking to devour. We must learn to master it. We must learn to see temptation but to ignore it. We must learn to hear sin, but not listen to it. We must learn to be surrounded by sin, but not live by it. Sin is crouching at your door, will you master it? 

Complete Creation

Work ______. If I had to fill in that blank space, my first reaction would be to fill it in with the word “stinks”. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to be lazy and avoid work that I see as unnecessary. Ironically enough, one of my greatest satisfactions in life is completing something that I have begun. School started this week for many of us. Many of us have jobs as well. This is a perfect time for us to focus on work.

The Bible is very clear about the value and necessity of work. Proverbs itself has over 20 verses specifically addressing the importance of work. Ecclesiastes speaks a great deal about work as well and talks about how satisfying work can be. Ephesians 4:28 tells us to work so that we may have something to share with those who are less fortunate than us. My point is that there are hundreds of verses in the bible about work. Here we will focus on Genesis 2.

Genesis 2: 5 says, “Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground…” I gather two parts from this verse that are significant. 1) Without man, God’s creation is incomplete. We are valuable to him and the reason he made this earth.  2) Without man working, God’s creation is incomplete. No shrub or plant had appeared because there was no one to work the earth. God intends us to be workers of the land, an essential component of his creation.

A second verse, Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” This verse is more to the point and straightforward. God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden so that he could work it and take care of it. Adam’s job was to commune with God and to work the land. We are the same way. We are to commune with God and to work. Those are essential pieces to the puzzle that is discovering man’s purpose on earth. We are God’s prized creation, and without us and our work, the rest is incomplete. 

Starry Night

I was recently sitting in a restaurant that had dozens of children’s artwork hanging on the walls. Some of them were significantly better than I could ever have done. One of them in particular stood out to me. It was an 8^th grader named Michael’s best attempt at a replica of Vincent Van Gough’s Starry Night. While I recognized what it was supposed to be, the painting was clearly not a replica. This particular painting was not famous or valuable or legendary. It was merely a boy’s best attempt to replicate what some would call the perfect painting.

Despite our endless attempts to imitate Jesus and his life on earth, we are always going to fail. We will never be able to create such a masterpiece of a life as Jesus did. Jesus was perfection and we are not. No matter how hard we try, our lives will never be an exact replica of Jesus. No matter how hard Michael tried, his painting could never be an exact replica of Van Gough’s. 

Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We are all created in the image of God. We are little people walking around on earth that resemble the Creator of the universe. Yet no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to replicate His image perfectly. The best we can do is to imitate the person and character of Jesus.

While we will never be able to mold ourselves into flawless masterpieces, we ought to be living in such a way that when people look at us, they can tell what and whom we are imitating. I could tell by looking at Michael’s painting that it was an imitation of Starry Night. I can also tell by looking at people what and whom they are imitating. As Christians, we ought to be living and making ourselves into people that, though we are not perfect replicas, are imitators of Christ. If someone hung your life on a wall, would they be able to look at it and say, “That person’s life was spent imitating Jesus?” 

What's Really Crazy About Love

Love is one of the most complex, unusual, confusing things in the world. Along with what trans fat is and whether or not Waldo actually wants to be found (I personally think he does). The simple fact is that none of us can survive on earth or beyond without love. I’m not going to delve into how important love is because I think most people value love more than anything in the world, whether they realize it or not. There are a lot of complex and crazy things about love. What else would cause someone to take a bullet for a man? Or run into a burning building to save a life? Or let bad things happen to good people? Aha…gotcha. 

It’s easy to see love in taking a bullet or running into a burning building. Where love isn’t so easy to see is in dark times. The less light there is, the harder it is to see love. Perhaps the single most asked and pondered question in religion today is “Why does he let bad things happen to people he loves”? I myself am not a parent. But I think Jesus-like unconditional love makes a little more sense once you have children and a family of your own. Even though I am not married or a father, I love my family and my friends greatly. I would die for them. 

What I have learned recently is that one of the craziest things about love doesn’t have anything to do with a mushy or gushy feeling. It doesn’t even have anything to do with taking a bullet. What’s crazy about love, is that it may not always seem like love. When our parents discipline us, it stinks at the time. It may always stink, but it was done out of love. When it comes to God’s love, it may not always be fun. It may hurt. It may stink at the time and it might even always stink. It might not ever make sense. Which is why it is so crazy! Because it doesn’t even seem like love! It may even seem like the opposite. 

The one who is doing the loving is the only one who knows the motive. God’s motive is for the good of those who love him. It takes a truly crazy person to realize that despite the bad things that are happening, God loves them like crazy. 

Evangelical Unity

One of the greatest frustrations with our generation today is the seeming lack of unity in the Christian Church. There are over 30,000 different denominations in Christianity today. How can that possibly show a unified body of believers? Surely if the Christian church were more unified and less divided, we could share the Gospel more effectively?

Bickering, brawling, and battling over theological differences is what has led to such a vast amount of denominations in the church today. With our fallen nature, is more unity in the church even plausible? If there were fewer denominations, wouldn’t the bickering brawling and battling continue anyway? In this hypothetical situation, unity = disunity. The more “unified” the church would become, the less unified it would be in reality. Without a doubt, unity in the church is important and not nearly where it should be today. Paul speaks about the unity of believers in the New Testament more than most other topics. When it boils down to it, should the denominational differences between our churches affect our effectiveness? The simple fact is that the church today is fallen and divided. Theological differences are important and should not be minimized for purely for the sake of unity.

However, in the end, all denominations, no matter what their theology, should be spreading the Gospel and sharing the unfailing love of Jesus Christ. Stop worrying about what the other church down street believes and focus on how you can help your church share the Good News with your city, state, country, and world. I will never argue that theological differences are not important to be aware of, particularly when it comes to working with and supporting one another. But in the end, every person must focus how to help his or her church spread the Gospel.

There is a difference between a good cause and evangelical cause. Obviously there are good people doing good things in our community and every community, but good things are not necessarily evangelical things. We should spend our time and money focusing on evangelical things, not just good things. Evangelism a huge part of why churches exist in the first place, so don’t forget about it. In conclusion, we ought to be focusing on how we as individuals and as a church can be purposefully evangelical. 

A Path For the Lost

"Reason is in fact the path to faith, and faith takes over when reason can say no more."

—   Thomas Merton

We all struggle with the fact that we have loved ones who are lost. Whether it is a family member or a close friend, we have all been there. It can be extremely frustrating sometimes because we have forgotten what it is like to be lost. Lost people don’t know they are lost or else they would choose to be found. People that are lost are living their lives based on reason and what they know and are familiar with. Reason can only carry a person so far before it runs out of strength. Familiarity is a dangerous thing for lost people. No one enjoys leaving behind the familiar and the comfortable, especially for a faith that involves putting yourself last. This quote should provide some comfort simply because it points out that reason is the path to faith. Lost people who are happy with their faithless lifestyle desire nothing more than remain that way. However, there comes a point in every person’s life where reason runs out of strength and they are forced to choose faith or reject faith. The role that we play as people who love the lost is important. It is our job to exhibit faith throughout our lives, so that when they reach a point where they must choose to accept or reject faith, our example will help nudge them toward faith rather than away from it. Walk by faith so that the lost can see your path and choose to follow you to Jesus. 

The Essence of Heaven

True salvation does not come from a fear of death or a fear of hell. Some people’s relationship with Christ was originally sparked by a fear of hell or a desire for paradise. A relationship with Jesus ought to change this. True salvation isn’t founded upon a fear of hell. True salvation is founded upon a desire, not just for heaven, but for what heaven is. The idea of heaven as human, earthly paradise is a shallow and absurd view of heaven. While heaven is paradise, it is not an earthly paradise. Palm trees and crystal clear waters? Maybe, I’ve never been to heaven. But I do believe that heaven closely resembles this earth that we live in today. A desire for heaven doesn’t lead to true salvation. We ought to have a desire for what heaven is. Heaven is the full presence and glory of Jesus Christ our Savior. Heaven is truth and light that is only found in His presence. The fear of hell, while an average beginning to a relationship with God, is a shallow start to Christianity. It ought to evolve into a desire for what heaven is, the full presence and glory of the One who saved us. 

Facing Who We Are

One of the hardest things in the world for some people is facing who they really are. We all have things about us that we hate or that we wish we could change. Maybe you wish you were taller or more athletic or smarter. Maybe you wish you had more friends or could finally find that special someone. Whatever it is, odds are that you have struggled in the past with facing who you really are. Well, the truth is that facing who you really are is an essential part of breaking down the most prominent barrier between God and you…yourself. If you are not willing to admit that you are nothing but an insignificant, puny, weak, and disgraceful creature without God, then you are blindfolding yourself from a glorious reality. Only when we are aware of and readily acknowledge the irrelevant nothing that we are can we really understand the sacrifice that the Creator of the universe has made for us. If you are afraid to face what you are and what you have become, then you can never come to point of realization where everything clicks and you discover that you are so vile and broken and that there is nothing that you can do to save yourself. The longer that we can trick ourselves into believing the illusion that we are good people, the harder it will be for us to truly believe that we need a savior. Look yourself in the mirror and reflect upon who you are and what you have become. You will come to a point where you realize how filthy you are without the cleansing compassion of Jesus’ redeeming death. 

Why would a loving God send people to hell?

The lack of a satisfying answer to this question is perhaps the single most popular reason for people who choose to reject God. God’s justice, God’s love, who knows, we’ll find out one day. Answers like this provide no depth. While some of them are certainly relevant components of the equation, they are not entirely sufficient. The question that people should be asking is “why doesn’t a Holy God send everyone to hell?”

First of all you are not a good person. No matter what you have done or think you have done, you are nowhere near good enough for God. R.C. Sproul said, “Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He volunteered.” The only unfair thing that has happened to an authentically good person was Jesus on the cross, and he volunteered. We are all sinners and we all deserve the worst. Anything other than the worst is God’s mercy revealed. This world is so broken and so filled with pain and so evil and so destructive. No man is good enough without the blood of Jesus washing him clean. We are sinful people and God cannot tolerate sin. God is separate from sin and he will not allow it into his Kingdom.

Second of all, God’s mercy has allowed humanity to choose for themselves their own path. What is unfair about letting someone choose which road they take? A person who rejects God chooses hell. No one is sent to hell without choosing it. Romans 1 tells us that creation itself is evidence enough in a Holy Creator that ought to be worshipped. Every human being makes the eternal choice. Luckily for us, God is merciful enough and loving enough to let us choose Him.

Third of all, just to emphasize the key issue, we all deserve hell and need a Savior. Faith and faith alone is the key to receiving salvation from the King of Kings. He died on the cross so that life would be unfair. If life were fair, every human being would end up in hell. Death died and Jesus saved us. 

The Unknown

Fear of the unknown is one thing that every human being can relate to. We long for comfort and things that are familiar. The unknown scares us because there is no assurance of safety that everything or anything will be just as good or better than it was before. Fear of the unknown brings people to a point where they choose to chase illusions and delusions of a distorted reality instead of facing the reality that they shudder at. Taking a leap into the unknown is jumping out of a plane knowing that your parachute only has a 50% chance of opening. With those odds, no one would take that jump. We fear the unknown because have no faith. We have no faith in anything. If you claim to be a Christian, yet fear the unknown, then you lack faith that God has a plan and a purpose. If you claim to be a Christian, yet are scared of what will happen to you after you die, then your faith isn’t strong enough. Thanatophobia. The fear of death. Some people are afraid of being dead while others are afraid of actually dying. The fear of death in general is rooted in the fear of what comes after the life that we are living today. Paul says in Philippians 1:21 that his death is gain. For all true Christians, death is gain. Without death there could be no life.  Life after death is the greatest unknown. Don’t fear the unknown. Faith is the opposite fear. If you trust the Creator of the universe then you’ll realize that to Him, nothing is unknown. Trust God. Don’t fear the unknown. 

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

-   Romans 8:28

This verse in Romans is perhaps one of the most comforting verses in the New Testament to the average reader. You have probably heard sermons and lessons on this verse before, all explaining how even in rough times, God is still working things out for your good. There are 3 important things to note about this verse. The first is perhaps the most obvious. In all things God works for the good of those who love him. God works through good things and he redeems things intended for evil and transforms them into good things. So many things we go through in our daily grind seem to have no significant spiritual value, and it takes a true Christian with true faith to believe and have faith that God is completely in control.

The second part is where things tend to break away from what you’ve heard before. For whom does God work for the good of? Those who love him! All of the sudden this verse just got enormously exclusive. If you don’t love God more than yourself then you don’t really love God. Loving God is the #1 thing we are called to do as Christians, and most people that call themselves Christians don’t even really love God. If you don’t truly love God, then this verse no longer applies to you.

The third part narrows it down even further. Those who have been called according to his purpose. Have you been called according to God’s purpose? Is your life a sacrifice to God? Have you volunteered your life for God’s purpose? If you haven’t, then this verse no longer applies to you.

It is important to remember that the good that this verse speaks of is eternal, spiritual good, not necessarily earthly good. God promises future glory to those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. If you don’t love God and haven’t truly given your life for his purpose, then all things might not be working out for your spiritual good.  

Is it wrong to be glad Osama Bin Laden is dead?

If you are a human being that lives in America and wants justice for the thousands dead because of Osama Bin Laden, then it is probable that you, at the very least, feel some sort of joy that Osama has been killed. Is this joy righteous joy or sinful joy? Is it wrong to find joy in the death of someone who has the blood of thousands on his hands? The Bible makes it very clear in both the Old and New Testaments that we are to love and pray for our enemies. God himself said that the death of his enemies is not what he takes pleasure in, but he takes pleasure in their repentance (Ezekiel 33:11). Yet God knows that some people will never repent. There are also a plethora of verses indicating that the death of an enemy is something to rejoice over.

The difference between an enemy of God and anyone's personal enemy is huge. Many of the passages that appear to be relevant are speaking of personal enemies and have been taken out of context. These enemies being as simple as people we don't get along with or people who cause us to stumble. Isn't there a difference in that kind of enemy and an enemy of the God who has killed thousands of innocent people?

One could argue that God is not willing enemies to death and that their sin has brought it about, but there are dozens of places in the Old Testament and even New Testament where God strikes people or dead or wipes out entire cities such as Sodom and Gomorrah. God is love.  But God's being love makes him a God of wrath as well. He is a God of eternal justice. While, to some, death may seem even too good for Osama Bin Laden, he will receive his due punishment from God.

My conclusion is that God provides justice. Do I think it is wrong for Americans and the rest of the world feel more at ease and safe in their own homes because this man is dead? No. Do I think it is wrong for the world to wish someone were dead? Yes. Has God's justice stepped in and ridded the world of a psychopathic mass murderer? Maybe. God is just. And whether or not that includes the earthly dead (like it does in the Old Testament), I do not think that it is wrong to rejoice in the death of an enemy of God. Was Bin Laden an enemy of God?

With that said, we must also mourn the death of a non-believer, for another soul has been won by the devil. It is not wrong to feel relieved. It is also not wrong to rejoice in God's justice and love.

Dear Church, Seek the Lost

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

            Luke 5:31-32

Look at the people in your church.  How many of them have been there for less than a month? How many new people are entering your churches? How many new kids are showing up at youth group? If your church or youth group aren’t experiencing internal or external growth then something is wrong. Jesus came for the lost people. Is your church aiming for the lost people? Are you inviting lost people to your church…or your friends from another church? The reason people do that is because its easy to invite people to church who you know are open to it. But here’s the deal, those aren’t the people that need to be invited. Invite the lost people to church. If a church is proclaiming the true Gospel then how could anyone resist the power of the truth that every human desires? Stagnant churches are useless churches. Sure, Christians worshipping God together is great and we are absolutely called to do that. But if a church is not reaching the lost and spiritually sick people of their community, then they are not obeying Jesus. Jesus lived for the lost and dying, not the living. Seek the lost. 

He Is Everything

To a real Christian, Christ is everything, and everything that is not Christ is nothing. Is Christ your everything? Of course not, that’s insane right? How could he be everything? I have my family, my friends, my job, my school, my pets, my facebook, and my cell phone. Sure God is #1…but is he everything? If you think this is too extreme, too radical…then you are wrong. It is not too extreme or too radical. It is 100% extreme and radical because real Christianity is 100% extreme and radical. Jesus was radical. He taught salvation by faith alone, separate from the law. In his day that was radical! It’s still radical today! Christianity is the only religion where you don’t earn your way into heaven or paradise. Christianity is the only religion that recognizes that humanity stinks too much to be able to earn God’s favor by obeying him. Is Christ your everything? Is Christ more important in your life than anything else? How often do you talk to your best friends or significant other? For hours per day right? Because you love them and desire a relationship with them! If you truly love God and desire a relationship with him then you will talk to him on a consistent basis. He is not just “the big man upstairs”. He is the ruler of the universe who sent his Son to die on the cross to save you from your sin and he wants you to know him personally. He already knows you, so the only thing left to do is make him your everything and talk to him.