Romans 14:15 (NLT)
And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.
Yesterday we talked about the fact that we are selfish creatures. We talked about how we can get really bent out of shape when someone confronts us about something we don’t think is wrong. As examples, we looked at smoking, drinking, and gorging ourselves at the Chinese buffet.
There are some things in this life that the bible does not mention specifically. While the Bible says that you shouldn’t be a drunkard, it doesn’t mention having one or two drinks after work. While the Bible says that gluttony is a deadly sin, it doesn’t mention working hard and eating right for 6 days and rewarding one’s self with the Chinese buffet on Saturdays. You won’t, to my knowledge, find any mention of cigarettes in the Bible.
So you’re in the clear, right? Maybe not…
Even though you don’t feel like smoking is wrong, remember that someone sees it as a deadly habit and is trying to quit. Even though you don’t feel like drinking a beer in your easy chair after work is wrong, remember that someone is struggling with alcoholism. Even though you don’t feel like gorging yourself at the Chinese buffet every Saturday afternoon is wrong, remember that someone is struggling with their weight and the consequences it has on their health.
These things may seem meaningless and even a little bit silly to you but like we’ve discussed before, every decision we make has eternal ramifications. Every single decision.
That being said, we can see that Paul isn’t talking about food in this passage. Paul is talking about the call we find ingrained into every aspect of the Gospel story of Jesus Christ. A call to leave self out of every equation and love others more than we love ourselves.
In the words of Paul, let us not let our selfishness ruin someone for whom Christ died.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Don’t Ruin It – Part I
Romans 14:15 (NLT)
And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.
If we’re honest, we are well aware that we are selfish creatures. Rarely do we really put our own comforts on the backburner when making a decision. We also get really bent out of shape when someone confronts us about something we don’t think is wrong. Maybe you smoke cigarettes. Maybe you enjoy drinking a beer in your easy chair after work. Maybe you like to work out and eat right six days out of the week and gorge yourself at the Chinese buffet every Saturday afternoon. I don’t know what your thing is but I’m sure you have one.
In this instance, Paul is talking specifically about food. In his day, many people hadn’t yet embraced the new covenant that Jesus’ death on the cross signified and were still trying to earn salvation by obeying the law God gave to Israel through Moses in the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Among other things, there were many rules about food. There were many specific laws regarding the preparation of food and there were even some foods that could not be eaten at all.
What we find here is that even though Paul understood that doing his best to obey the law was no longer required to make himself right with God, being a jerk about it was not going to help the cause of Christ. He decided that instead of offending others by eating whatever he wanted (and expecting them to understand, accept, and conform), he would better minister to them by meeting them where they were.
We will continue this conversation tomorrow.
And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.
If we’re honest, we are well aware that we are selfish creatures. Rarely do we really put our own comforts on the backburner when making a decision. We also get really bent out of shape when someone confronts us about something we don’t think is wrong. Maybe you smoke cigarettes. Maybe you enjoy drinking a beer in your easy chair after work. Maybe you like to work out and eat right six days out of the week and gorge yourself at the Chinese buffet every Saturday afternoon. I don’t know what your thing is but I’m sure you have one.
In this instance, Paul is talking specifically about food. In his day, many people hadn’t yet embraced the new covenant that Jesus’ death on the cross signified and were still trying to earn salvation by obeying the law God gave to Israel through Moses in the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Among other things, there were many rules about food. There were many specific laws regarding the preparation of food and there were even some foods that could not be eaten at all.
What we find here is that even though Paul understood that doing his best to obey the law was no longer required to make himself right with God, being a jerk about it was not going to help the cause of Christ. He decided that instead of offending others by eating whatever he wanted (and expecting them to understand, accept, and conform), he would better minister to them by meeting them where they were.
We will continue this conversation tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Let’s Not Get Tired – Part III
Galatians 6:7-10 (NLT)
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Over the past couple of days, we’ve talked about the scars we carry with us on a daily basis. We’ve also talked about how God has made a way for us to overcome these things. The choice he gives us to live for ourselves or to live to please the Spirit. We’ve talked briefly about some of the tough things Jesus said and the cost of giving our lives wholly to him. We concluded yesterday’s devotion with this statement:
Paul knew that though the cost in this life would be great, the reward in the life to come would be greater.
Throughout his ministry on earth, Paul was a great encouragement to the many people he discipled and to the many church bodies that he planted. He knew what these young believers would be up against and took every opportunity to urge them to press on no matter what. What God knew as he inspired Paul to write these words is that we would need the same encouragement they did.
This is one of the many reasons the Bible has been on the best-seller list for thousands of years. It is timeless and alive and it speaks to us now just as it did to believers hundreds of years ago. Following Christ has always been a challenge. The road has always been and will always be very narrow. God calls us to be radically different. Not so we can be popular, comfortable, or healthy but that our lives would always glorify and point people to him.
So as we are faced with the many smaller choices that are a part of our daily lives, let us remember that they are all part of a greater choice that we must make when we get out of bed in the morning:
On this day, will I live for myself or will I live for Christ?
Let’s not get tired of living for Christ.
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Over the past couple of days, we’ve talked about the scars we carry with us on a daily basis. We’ve also talked about how God has made a way for us to overcome these things. The choice he gives us to live for ourselves or to live to please the Spirit. We’ve talked briefly about some of the tough things Jesus said and the cost of giving our lives wholly to him. We concluded yesterday’s devotion with this statement:
Paul knew that though the cost in this life would be great, the reward in the life to come would be greater.
Throughout his ministry on earth, Paul was a great encouragement to the many people he discipled and to the many church bodies that he planted. He knew what these young believers would be up against and took every opportunity to urge them to press on no matter what. What God knew as he inspired Paul to write these words is that we would need the same encouragement they did.
This is one of the many reasons the Bible has been on the best-seller list for thousands of years. It is timeless and alive and it speaks to us now just as it did to believers hundreds of years ago. Following Christ has always been a challenge. The road has always been and will always be very narrow. God calls us to be radically different. Not so we can be popular, comfortable, or healthy but that our lives would always glorify and point people to him.
So as we are faced with the many smaller choices that are a part of our daily lives, let us remember that they are all part of a greater choice that we must make when we get out of bed in the morning:
On this day, will I live for myself or will I live for Christ?
Let’s not get tired of living for Christ.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Let’s Not Get Tired – Part II
Galatians 6:7-10 (NLT)
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Yesterday, we talked about the scars we carry with us on a daily basis. We also talked about how God has made a way for us to overcome these things. He gives us a choice: We can either live only to satisfy our sinful nature or we can live to please the spirit.
Now, even though we would all agree that the outcome of living to please the Spirit far surpasses the outcome of living to satisfy ourselves, we still struggle with putting this choice into action.
Jesus spoke numerous times of laying down our lives for others and carrying our cross. Sacrificing our own desires for the good of those around us. Loving him so much that our love for anything else looks like hate in comparison. He even spoke of us eating his flesh and drinking his blood. These are tough things to hear. Jesus would teach multitudes of people about the cost of following him and would turn a 5,000 person event into a dozen men sitting on a hill wondering what just happened.
Because of this, Paul knew that we would struggle (as I’m sure he had). He knew that our first impulse would be to run away. He knew that because his first impulse must have been to run away as well. But he also saw the entire picture and not just part. He knew that though the cost in this life would be great, the reward in the life to come would be greater.
We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow.
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Yesterday, we talked about the scars we carry with us on a daily basis. We also talked about how God has made a way for us to overcome these things. He gives us a choice: We can either live only to satisfy our sinful nature or we can live to please the spirit.
Now, even though we would all agree that the outcome of living to please the Spirit far surpasses the outcome of living to satisfy ourselves, we still struggle with putting this choice into action.
Jesus spoke numerous times of laying down our lives for others and carrying our cross. Sacrificing our own desires for the good of those around us. Loving him so much that our love for anything else looks like hate in comparison. He even spoke of us eating his flesh and drinking his blood. These are tough things to hear. Jesus would teach multitudes of people about the cost of following him and would turn a 5,000 person event into a dozen men sitting on a hill wondering what just happened.
Because of this, Paul knew that we would struggle (as I’m sure he had). He knew that our first impulse would be to run away. He knew that because his first impulse must have been to run away as well. But he also saw the entire picture and not just part. He knew that though the cost in this life would be great, the reward in the life to come would be greater.
We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Let’s Not Get Tired – Part I
Galatians 6:7-10 (NLT)
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
We’d like to believe that doing the right thing is always easy. We’d like to think that in any situation we would be able to take a look at the big picture and make the right decision. Alas, we fail daily and are constantly reminded of how evil we can be when left to our own devices. On top of the fact that we were born sinners, there are the scars, the hurts, and the hang-ups that we carry around with us. For most of us, these things have changed the course of our lives and have an impact on every decision that we make, small or large.
God knew of these struggles when he created us. He knew the many roads we would walk down and the pain that life would throw our way. Praise God that the story doesn’t end there! In his great love, he made a way for us to overcome these things.
As the above scripture states, he also gives us a choice: We can either live only to satisfy our sinful nature or we can live to please the spirit. Then we find that not only does he give us a choice, he tells us how each option is going to play out.
We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow.
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
We’d like to believe that doing the right thing is always easy. We’d like to think that in any situation we would be able to take a look at the big picture and make the right decision. Alas, we fail daily and are constantly reminded of how evil we can be when left to our own devices. On top of the fact that we were born sinners, there are the scars, the hurts, and the hang-ups that we carry around with us. For most of us, these things have changed the course of our lives and have an impact on every decision that we make, small or large.
God knew of these struggles when he created us. He knew the many roads we would walk down and the pain that life would throw our way. Praise God that the story doesn’t end there! In his great love, he made a way for us to overcome these things.
As the above scripture states, he also gives us a choice: We can either live only to satisfy our sinful nature or we can live to please the spirit. Then we find that not only does he give us a choice, he tells us how each option is going to play out.
We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
What is Worship?
Psalms 108:1-5 (NLT)
My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my soul! Wake up, O harp and lyre! I will waken the dawn with my song. I will thank you, LORD, in front of all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.
Mark 12:30 (NLT)
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
Worship is a lifestyle. Worship is not a style of music. It’s not a particular song. Worship is a way of living that a person gets to when everything that they do, they do to glorify Jesus Christ.
I heard a person say that singing is only worship when you don’t feel up to it and even when you don’t feel like singing, you do it anyway because you love and want to bring glory to Jesus. This is a remarkable statement considered the recent modern worship movement, in which worship has been used most often to describe a genre of music.
Worship in its most basic form is nothing more than glorifying and adoring something. Your world revolves around that thing. In the same way, when we worship Jesus, we are adoring Him and glorifying Him. When we are truly worshipping Him, our entire world is revolving around him!
I believe worship is simply giving up one’s self totally to God. Having said that, I don’t believe a person can go out and live any way they want to and then come to church on Sunday, sing some songs, and say that they had a worship experience. I believe it’s impossible to worship God in church if you haven’t been worshipping God in your daily life.
Worship is making yourself a living sacrifice unto God, unhindered by the things of this world and madly in love with Jesus Christ, your Savior. This love for Jesus will bring about a total change in the way you think, the way you talk, and will it will change your entire life.
In conclusion, I’ll leave you one phrase:
To love God is to live for God… Then you worship God!
My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my soul! Wake up, O harp and lyre! I will waken the dawn with my song. I will thank you, LORD, in front of all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.
Mark 12:30 (NLT)
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
Worship is a lifestyle. Worship is not a style of music. It’s not a particular song. Worship is a way of living that a person gets to when everything that they do, they do to glorify Jesus Christ.
I heard a person say that singing is only worship when you don’t feel up to it and even when you don’t feel like singing, you do it anyway because you love and want to bring glory to Jesus. This is a remarkable statement considered the recent modern worship movement, in which worship has been used most often to describe a genre of music.
Worship in its most basic form is nothing more than glorifying and adoring something. Your world revolves around that thing. In the same way, when we worship Jesus, we are adoring Him and glorifying Him. When we are truly worshipping Him, our entire world is revolving around him!
I believe worship is simply giving up one’s self totally to God. Having said that, I don’t believe a person can go out and live any way they want to and then come to church on Sunday, sing some songs, and say that they had a worship experience. I believe it’s impossible to worship God in church if you haven’t been worshipping God in your daily life.
Worship is making yourself a living sacrifice unto God, unhindered by the things of this world and madly in love with Jesus Christ, your Savior. This love for Jesus will bring about a total change in the way you think, the way you talk, and will it will change your entire life.
In conclusion, I’ll leave you one phrase:
To love God is to live for God… Then you worship God!
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Battles
Exodus 13:17-18 (NLT)
When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.
Admit it: Most of us don’t like fighting battles. Just like the Israelites that God had just delivered from slavery, we tend to change our minds when faced with a battle. I’m not just talking about a sword-and-spear kind of battle. I’m talking about those battles that hit a little closer to home. Things like loving the unlovable. Reaching out past our comfort zone to welcome in the very people that scare us the most. Exchanging our comfort and security for irritation and uncertainty. We’d rather walk for days in the wilderness “getting ours” than face those fears.
Make no mistake: Declaring as a church to reach out to the least, the lost, and the broken was not the easiest path we could have taken. We could have decided to just reach out with our own selfish comforts in mind. You know, find us a good, clean building in the nicest part of town. Show up. Take our shoes off before we walk in so we don’t scuff up the floor. Visit about nothing in particular. Eat breakfast. Sing some catchy songs. Sit and listen to the preacher. Go home. While lives can certainly be changed through fellowship and the worship service, God never called us to leave our faith in a building or pick and choose who we’re comfortable having in our midst.
As we begin our day knowing that we’re going to face battles and encounter situations and people that make us uncomfortable, we should always be mindful that nowhere in God’s word will you find a call to live as comfortable a lifestyle as you can manage while giving the least, the lost, and the broken your scraps and leftovers.
We are called to love, serve, and battle for God with everything that we’ve got. If we can choose to do that, maybe we can stop wasting so much time in the self-centered wilderness we sometimes find ourselves in.
When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.
Admit it: Most of us don’t like fighting battles. Just like the Israelites that God had just delivered from slavery, we tend to change our minds when faced with a battle. I’m not just talking about a sword-and-spear kind of battle. I’m talking about those battles that hit a little closer to home. Things like loving the unlovable. Reaching out past our comfort zone to welcome in the very people that scare us the most. Exchanging our comfort and security for irritation and uncertainty. We’d rather walk for days in the wilderness “getting ours” than face those fears.
Make no mistake: Declaring as a church to reach out to the least, the lost, and the broken was not the easiest path we could have taken. We could have decided to just reach out with our own selfish comforts in mind. You know, find us a good, clean building in the nicest part of town. Show up. Take our shoes off before we walk in so we don’t scuff up the floor. Visit about nothing in particular. Eat breakfast. Sing some catchy songs. Sit and listen to the preacher. Go home. While lives can certainly be changed through fellowship and the worship service, God never called us to leave our faith in a building or pick and choose who we’re comfortable having in our midst.
As we begin our day knowing that we’re going to face battles and encounter situations and people that make us uncomfortable, we should always be mindful that nowhere in God’s word will you find a call to live as comfortable a lifestyle as you can manage while giving the least, the lost, and the broken your scraps and leftovers.
We are called to love, serve, and battle for God with everything that we’ve got. If we can choose to do that, maybe we can stop wasting so much time in the self-centered wilderness we sometimes find ourselves in.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
God Loves You
James 1:18
He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
I want you to know something: God loves you.
I know what you’re thinking… Of course he does. God is love. Duh…
Even though you are absolutely correct, hear me out.
We believe that God breathed life into us. We also believe that God has created everything that we see, hear, and feel. Believing that, we can’t help but notice that God has a bigger imagination than we could ever comprehend. I’m serious. Look at a duck-billed platypus. No, seriously. Google it right now. This egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal (as Wikipedia describes it) is a mess. It’s like God was in the middle of creating every swamp beast that he could think of and decided things were getting too serious. All of a sudden, BOOM! Duck-billed platypus. God is just good like that. It’s like his imagination is out of control without being out of control. A creative paradox that knows no beginning or end.
It’s no exaggeration to say that we could keep pointing out weird plants and animals for the rest of time that speak to this fact but I want to get to the point, which is this:
That same God with that same imagination created me and you and looks at us just like a proud parent looks at their child. He calls us his prized possession. We are his masterpiece.
So the next time you feel like an unlovable egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammalian mess, stop what you’re doing and lift your hands in praise for YOU are a child of the most-high God and YOU are dearly loved.
He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
I want you to know something: God loves you.
I know what you’re thinking… Of course he does. God is love. Duh…
Even though you are absolutely correct, hear me out.
We believe that God breathed life into us. We also believe that God has created everything that we see, hear, and feel. Believing that, we can’t help but notice that God has a bigger imagination than we could ever comprehend. I’m serious. Look at a duck-billed platypus. No, seriously. Google it right now. This egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal (as Wikipedia describes it) is a mess. It’s like God was in the middle of creating every swamp beast that he could think of and decided things were getting too serious. All of a sudden, BOOM! Duck-billed platypus. God is just good like that. It’s like his imagination is out of control without being out of control. A creative paradox that knows no beginning or end.
It’s no exaggeration to say that we could keep pointing out weird plants and animals for the rest of time that speak to this fact but I want to get to the point, which is this:
That same God with that same imagination created me and you and looks at us just like a proud parent looks at their child. He calls us his prized possession. We are his masterpiece.
So the next time you feel like an unlovable egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammalian mess, stop what you’re doing and lift your hands in praise for YOU are a child of the most-high God and YOU are dearly loved.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Always Be Ready
1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
When we see a great movie or hear a great song, our first impulse is to share it with our friends. We watch or listen to it with them hoping to see them smile in amazement as we did the first time we saw or heard it. There’s nothing like sharing something amazing with someone and seeing them embrace it as you did.
In the same way, Peter urges us to share something that is much greater than any movie or song. As we read in the Gospels and in the book of Acts, he experienced many spectacular things: Walking daily with Jesus Christ. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension into Heaven. The day of Pentecost. The healing of the sick with Jesus and through Jesus. Miracle after miracle. Because of these experiences, he devoted his life to the Great Commission (Going and making disciples) that we talked about yesterday and was given opportunity after opportunity to share this faith and his hope in Christ.
In the same way, we will be given opportunity after opportunity to share this love and his grace with others. People will ask you how you handled a tough situation like you did. Why you let someone curse you and get the ever-powerful “last word.” Why you gave that cashier back that $5 of extra change she mistakenly handed you.
If you choose to “worship Christ as Lord of your life,” you will always have opportunities to share your faith. Always be ready!
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
When we see a great movie or hear a great song, our first impulse is to share it with our friends. We watch or listen to it with them hoping to see them smile in amazement as we did the first time we saw or heard it. There’s nothing like sharing something amazing with someone and seeing them embrace it as you did.
In the same way, Peter urges us to share something that is much greater than any movie or song. As we read in the Gospels and in the book of Acts, he experienced many spectacular things: Walking daily with Jesus Christ. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension into Heaven. The day of Pentecost. The healing of the sick with Jesus and through Jesus. Miracle after miracle. Because of these experiences, he devoted his life to the Great Commission (Going and making disciples) that we talked about yesterday and was given opportunity after opportunity to share this faith and his hope in Christ.
In the same way, we will be given opportunity after opportunity to share this love and his grace with others. People will ask you how you handled a tough situation like you did. Why you let someone curse you and get the ever-powerful “last word.” Why you gave that cashier back that $5 of extra change she mistakenly handed you.
If you choose to “worship Christ as Lord of your life,” you will always have opportunities to share your faith. Always be ready!
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Commissioned
Matthew 28:16-20 (NLT)
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
What do you do for a living? Some of us work with our hands. Some of us work with our brains. Some of us work with both. Many of us are caught up somewhere between working hard and hardly working. Either way, it’s very easy in the midst of our daily grind to forget about the larger calling that Christ has placed on our lives as believers.
When we give our lives to Christ and accept his forgiveness, we are called and commissioned to live for something greater than ourselves. Jesus commands us to “go and make disciples,” which means forsaking the self-centered temporary pleasures of this life for the eternal impact our lives can have on the people we interact with on a daily basis.
Furthermore, the moment we choose to take our faith seriously, every single aspect of our life begins to change. Conversations that used to seem meaningless begin to matter greatly. The music we listen to. The movies we watch. What we spend our Friday nights doing. All of these things take on greater significance.
When we begin to understand and live like everything we say and do has eternal ramifications, we are well on our way to pointing people AWAY from us and TO Christ, which is exactly what Christ has called us to do.
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
What do you do for a living? Some of us work with our hands. Some of us work with our brains. Some of us work with both. Many of us are caught up somewhere between working hard and hardly working. Either way, it’s very easy in the midst of our daily grind to forget about the larger calling that Christ has placed on our lives as believers.
When we give our lives to Christ and accept his forgiveness, we are called and commissioned to live for something greater than ourselves. Jesus commands us to “go and make disciples,” which means forsaking the self-centered temporary pleasures of this life for the eternal impact our lives can have on the people we interact with on a daily basis.
Furthermore, the moment we choose to take our faith seriously, every single aspect of our life begins to change. Conversations that used to seem meaningless begin to matter greatly. The music we listen to. The movies we watch. What we spend our Friday nights doing. All of these things take on greater significance.
When we begin to understand and live like everything we say and do has eternal ramifications, we are well on our way to pointing people AWAY from us and TO Christ, which is exactly what Christ has called us to do.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Reflection
One question to reflect on this week:
What motivates you to serve God- selfishness, attention, expectations of others, love?
If you look at yourself honestly and say that it's not out of agape love, ask the Lord to begin the process of changing you from the inside out.
What motivates you to serve God- selfishness, attention, expectations of others, love?
If you look at yourself honestly and say that it's not out of agape love, ask the Lord to begin the process of changing you from the inside out.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Questioning Motives #2 - The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Isaiah 64:6-8 (NLT)
We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.
The continuing saga of my selfish motives-
“My first spontaneous thought is to call Major, confess my unpardonable discretion, and avoid any further involvement with the street ministry. If I wasn't to be transparently sincere, I want to be as far away as possible, so as to no longer contaminate it with my greed and pride. But just as Jesus touched my eyes and allowed the scales to drop from them like rain, His words, spoken by a man after my own heart, caress me with forgiveness and hope. “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.”
Wave after wave of the Savior’s love pummels the shores of my heart. Like the devastating combination of wind, rain, and waves interwoven in a hurricane, so is His love for me. It left me strong, clean, acceptable. My innocuous thoughts retreat beneath the onslaught of grace and a peace settles in, not the momentary lapse of violence like the eye of the storm, but a peace experienced when the storm has dispensed its load and moved on. The stillness, the clarity, the survival, the gratitude. Upon further prodding by the Holy Spirit, I forgive myself for condemning the same and I’m counseled not to relinquish the ministry. Rather, to take upon myself the attitude of Christ that the letter to the Philippians instructs: “Though He was God …did not think equality with God as something to cling to…giving up divine privileges…taking the humble position of a servant…humbled Himself to obedience and death.”
Instantly, my heart lifts and I passionately, fervently, desperately desire a heart like that. Despite my past, my shortcomings, my character flaws, I want to love the Lord with all my heart, mind, and soul. I want to love others with the same urgency with which I love myself. I want to reach out to the lost and hurting not out of a necessity of personal validation but because they’re simply lost and hurting. And because I have a testimony of how I was once like that, lost and hurting, but now have a story of hope and healing, not through any hollow thing I have done, but because of Jesus Christ.
This revelation, of the obstructive dam that prevented the undeterred flow of living water in my life, is life changing to say the least. Unbeknownst to me, it’s the cause of my unfulfilling spiritual walk at the time. Admittedly, I’m going through the motions, faking it until I make it, saying all the religiously correct answers. But this realization, should I have to create a list of top “Jesus Experiences” is easily a “Top 5.” It’s as if after being born again and crawling and stumbling spiritually, I’m now able to get a firm footing and really begin to walk. Not only this, my perceptions are also transforming and growing into spiritual maturity. I see God for who He is, the Eternal Entity of love. One who shows the way by leading, helping not hurting, lighting our path through the darkness. And I also see how ministry, particularly the street ministry of Arms of Mercy, isn’t only revealing my depravity but is enlightening my soul to the eternal significance of genuine, impassioned, agape love. From now on, I know I won’t see the people on the streets as someone to pity or use for my own self aggrandizement or to be the poster child for the least of these. I will truly see them through the eyes of Jesus Christ.”
As you can read, my motives were distorted until I realized that ministry, that church in general, that EVERYTHING is NOT about ME! It's all about Jesus. Question, and do away with, any motive not about Him. Ask God to transform your motives to agape love.
Shout His love to the top of your lungs! Then live it out!
We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.
The continuing saga of my selfish motives-
“My first spontaneous thought is to call Major, confess my unpardonable discretion, and avoid any further involvement with the street ministry. If I wasn't to be transparently sincere, I want to be as far away as possible, so as to no longer contaminate it with my greed and pride. But just as Jesus touched my eyes and allowed the scales to drop from them like rain, His words, spoken by a man after my own heart, caress me with forgiveness and hope. “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.”
Wave after wave of the Savior’s love pummels the shores of my heart. Like the devastating combination of wind, rain, and waves interwoven in a hurricane, so is His love for me. It left me strong, clean, acceptable. My innocuous thoughts retreat beneath the onslaught of grace and a peace settles in, not the momentary lapse of violence like the eye of the storm, but a peace experienced when the storm has dispensed its load and moved on. The stillness, the clarity, the survival, the gratitude. Upon further prodding by the Holy Spirit, I forgive myself for condemning the same and I’m counseled not to relinquish the ministry. Rather, to take upon myself the attitude of Christ that the letter to the Philippians instructs: “Though He was God …did not think equality with God as something to cling to…giving up divine privileges…taking the humble position of a servant…humbled Himself to obedience and death.”
Instantly, my heart lifts and I passionately, fervently, desperately desire a heart like that. Despite my past, my shortcomings, my character flaws, I want to love the Lord with all my heart, mind, and soul. I want to love others with the same urgency with which I love myself. I want to reach out to the lost and hurting not out of a necessity of personal validation but because they’re simply lost and hurting. And because I have a testimony of how I was once like that, lost and hurting, but now have a story of hope and healing, not through any hollow thing I have done, but because of Jesus Christ.
This revelation, of the obstructive dam that prevented the undeterred flow of living water in my life, is life changing to say the least. Unbeknownst to me, it’s the cause of my unfulfilling spiritual walk at the time. Admittedly, I’m going through the motions, faking it until I make it, saying all the religiously correct answers. But this realization, should I have to create a list of top “Jesus Experiences” is easily a “Top 5.” It’s as if after being born again and crawling and stumbling spiritually, I’m now able to get a firm footing and really begin to walk. Not only this, my perceptions are also transforming and growing into spiritual maturity. I see God for who He is, the Eternal Entity of love. One who shows the way by leading, helping not hurting, lighting our path through the darkness. And I also see how ministry, particularly the street ministry of Arms of Mercy, isn’t only revealing my depravity but is enlightening my soul to the eternal significance of genuine, impassioned, agape love. From now on, I know I won’t see the people on the streets as someone to pity or use for my own self aggrandizement or to be the poster child for the least of these. I will truly see them through the eyes of Jesus Christ.”
As you can read, my motives were distorted until I realized that ministry, that church in general, that EVERYTHING is NOT about ME! It's all about Jesus. Question, and do away with, any motive not about Him. Ask God to transform your motives to agape love.
Shout His love to the top of your lungs! Then live it out!
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Questioning Motives #1 - The Sad Truth
Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT)
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
“Why do we pray for God to send us the least, lost, and hurting and then get angry or upset when He does it? What is your motive for loving people and being Christ’s church?”
As soon as John mentioned these questions, I thought back to my own “motive inventory” I took a few years ago. I include it here in the hope it helps you search your own motives and gives you the strength to be honest with yourself. Because of its length, I will split the excerpt from my book, less than the least, in two, finishing the devotional thought tomorrow. The following was written as I went through this process myself…
“…Because it’s nearest in my memory, I drift back to the street corner where we visited mere hours ago. Not long after, I concentrate on my motives, which have come to bother me more and more lately. If I’m completely honest with myself, I admit that ministry has become another addiction for me, something else to throw myself unflinchingly into, another fix to get, another way to seek and receive the comfort and attention I crave so blindly. Despite all my good intentions, the things which motivate me to ministry, particularly the Arms of Mercy, are so much more selfish than I realize. By the time Robert invited me to join with him in this endeavor, I’m already hooked on ministry. Like the cartoon character enveloped by a tornado, I erratically lurch and leap all over the ministerial landscape. I counsel and lead youth. Oversee worship and Bible study. Give sermons. Visit with my wheelchair patients when off duty, dragging my kids with me on numerous occasions. I go room to room at the nursing home with gifts and encouraging words. I relieve the sound man at church. I write novels and donate the proceeds to youth and missions funds. I sell some of my old musical equipment to beef up the church funds and give away more of it to those who need it to learn on. And on and on it goes. But something is missing in all this. And it’s the same thing that’s missing now in street ministry.
As I sit here, amongst the loving God and the peaceful pines and the sprinkling clouds, the Lord peels back the lids of my heart. It’s love I’m neglecting. Not love in the bland, watered-down, abused connotation it’s smeared with these days. But real love. God’s love. Agape, the pure love that gives and gives and gives and expects absolutely nothing in return. I’ve spent the vast majority of my life- ministry years included- longing for validation, attention, recognition, and reputation. My selfish, depraved flesh desperately flails for compliments about how great I am or how much good I am doing or what a unique individual I am. Granted, I don’t want to be this way. But I am nonetheless. Before finding the Lord, I yearned for people to witness and experience firsthand the pain and emptiness I felt, manipulate them into having pity on me, see me as the iconic image of tragedy and propel me into becoming the mouthpiece of my generation. I fed this voracious hunger with my literary and musical selections, both of which I was addicted to as much as, if not more than, drugs and alcohol. Much of my misguided motives, I’m realizing now, have continued on in the immaturity of my young walk with Christ. I simply substituted “ministry” for my previous “addiction.” These things I’m participating in for the Lord were disguised attempts for recapturing that fatal attention I need. In my heart, I need to be seen as a martyr, a demure picture of piety, the penitent making up for those wasted years. I seek the attention of people. I struggle with a Christ-complex.
I weep as the full extent of my sin and misunderstanding washes over me. How did I slip into such selfishness? How can I be sharing the love of Christ even as I reserved the glory of such a pronouncement for myself? How wretched I am and do I feel? I can’t believe my flesh has been able to lie so well and deceive my soul for so long.”
As difficult as it is to admit and share this once again, I was serving God to bring myself glory and affirmation, for applause and to feel good about myself. Thank God He opened my eyes and helped me realize that all of this- church, ministry, family, friends, everything is all about Him and His love for me. Have you endured a similar struggle? Can you take an honest inventory of your motives and now say that it's all about Christ?
We will complete these thoughts on the morrow.
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
“Why do we pray for God to send us the least, lost, and hurting and then get angry or upset when He does it? What is your motive for loving people and being Christ’s church?”
As soon as John mentioned these questions, I thought back to my own “motive inventory” I took a few years ago. I include it here in the hope it helps you search your own motives and gives you the strength to be honest with yourself. Because of its length, I will split the excerpt from my book, less than the least, in two, finishing the devotional thought tomorrow. The following was written as I went through this process myself…
“…Because it’s nearest in my memory, I drift back to the street corner where we visited mere hours ago. Not long after, I concentrate on my motives, which have come to bother me more and more lately. If I’m completely honest with myself, I admit that ministry has become another addiction for me, something else to throw myself unflinchingly into, another fix to get, another way to seek and receive the comfort and attention I crave so blindly. Despite all my good intentions, the things which motivate me to ministry, particularly the Arms of Mercy, are so much more selfish than I realize. By the time Robert invited me to join with him in this endeavor, I’m already hooked on ministry. Like the cartoon character enveloped by a tornado, I erratically lurch and leap all over the ministerial landscape. I counsel and lead youth. Oversee worship and Bible study. Give sermons. Visit with my wheelchair patients when off duty, dragging my kids with me on numerous occasions. I go room to room at the nursing home with gifts and encouraging words. I relieve the sound man at church. I write novels and donate the proceeds to youth and missions funds. I sell some of my old musical equipment to beef up the church funds and give away more of it to those who need it to learn on. And on and on it goes. But something is missing in all this. And it’s the same thing that’s missing now in street ministry.
As I sit here, amongst the loving God and the peaceful pines and the sprinkling clouds, the Lord peels back the lids of my heart. It’s love I’m neglecting. Not love in the bland, watered-down, abused connotation it’s smeared with these days. But real love. God’s love. Agape, the pure love that gives and gives and gives and expects absolutely nothing in return. I’ve spent the vast majority of my life- ministry years included- longing for validation, attention, recognition, and reputation. My selfish, depraved flesh desperately flails for compliments about how great I am or how much good I am doing or what a unique individual I am. Granted, I don’t want to be this way. But I am nonetheless. Before finding the Lord, I yearned for people to witness and experience firsthand the pain and emptiness I felt, manipulate them into having pity on me, see me as the iconic image of tragedy and propel me into becoming the mouthpiece of my generation. I fed this voracious hunger with my literary and musical selections, both of which I was addicted to as much as, if not more than, drugs and alcohol. Much of my misguided motives, I’m realizing now, have continued on in the immaturity of my young walk with Christ. I simply substituted “ministry” for my previous “addiction.” These things I’m participating in for the Lord were disguised attempts for recapturing that fatal attention I need. In my heart, I need to be seen as a martyr, a demure picture of piety, the penitent making up for those wasted years. I seek the attention of people. I struggle with a Christ-complex.
I weep as the full extent of my sin and misunderstanding washes over me. How did I slip into such selfishness? How can I be sharing the love of Christ even as I reserved the glory of such a pronouncement for myself? How wretched I am and do I feel? I can’t believe my flesh has been able to lie so well and deceive my soul for so long.”
As difficult as it is to admit and share this once again, I was serving God to bring myself glory and affirmation, for applause and to feel good about myself. Thank God He opened my eyes and helped me realize that all of this- church, ministry, family, friends, everything is all about Him and His love for me. Have you endured a similar struggle? Can you take an honest inventory of your motives and now say that it's all about Christ?
We will complete these thoughts on the morrow.
Monday, May 12, 2014
A Thought Crushed My Mind
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
I came across this not long ago. And it caused to stop reading and pray. May it do the same for you-
“You see, the secret is that we carry the unknown with us wherever we go. It comes up in the middle of a conversation with our mates, or when rappelling down a cliff, or a thousand other times during the day. If we avoid this edge and its unknown, our lives become filled with blind spots- times when we are anxiously waiting for the unknown to pass. Its then that we may turn on the television or drink alcohol or take drugs or read a book or do any one of a thousand things to avoid this unknown that makes up much of our lives…We can use anything to keep us out of the unknown, but if you want to know GOD fully, you must go there…Many religious people, evangelists, scholars, and mystics go to the edge, and then they use the Scriptures or their knowledge and concepts of GOD to keep them from going over the edge into the unknown GOD…But it is an act of faith, of true and deep love, to let go and fall into the face of GOD.”
-from Falling into the Face of God by William Elliott
Application: Fall…
Mindful meditation: Free yourself from all distractions and focus on GOD. Allow Him to love on you for a few minutes.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
I came across this not long ago. And it caused to stop reading and pray. May it do the same for you-
“You see, the secret is that we carry the unknown with us wherever we go. It comes up in the middle of a conversation with our mates, or when rappelling down a cliff, or a thousand other times during the day. If we avoid this edge and its unknown, our lives become filled with blind spots- times when we are anxiously waiting for the unknown to pass. Its then that we may turn on the television or drink alcohol or take drugs or read a book or do any one of a thousand things to avoid this unknown that makes up much of our lives…We can use anything to keep us out of the unknown, but if you want to know GOD fully, you must go there…Many religious people, evangelists, scholars, and mystics go to the edge, and then they use the Scriptures or their knowledge and concepts of GOD to keep them from going over the edge into the unknown GOD…But it is an act of faith, of true and deep love, to let go and fall into the face of GOD.”
-from Falling into the Face of God by William Elliott
Application: Fall…
Mindful meditation: Free yourself from all distractions and focus on GOD. Allow Him to love on you for a few minutes.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
The Be-Attitudes #10 - Year To Live
Matthew 5:3-12 (NLT)
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.
Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
The other day I spoke of a spiritual exercise where you imagine you have but one year to live. Today, begin your list of things you'd do or change. Then get about chipping away at them.
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.
Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
The other day I spoke of a spiritual exercise where you imagine you have but one year to live. Today, begin your list of things you'd do or change. Then get about chipping away at them.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Reflection
1. Scriptures:
Reread the Bible passages used in this week’s LifeTogether. Which one of these meant the most to you personally? Why?
2. Devotions:
List three things that stuck out to you during the week. Why did these grab your attention?
3. Applications:
Which of the applications are you having the easiest time with? The most difficult?
4. Mindful Meditations:
Which of your meditations meant the most to you? Why?
5. Prayer:
Communicate (talk and listen) to the Savior of your soul. Air out anything you need to share. Then praise him for who he is and all he’s done for you this week.
Reread the Bible passages used in this week’s LifeTogether. Which one of these meant the most to you personally? Why?
2. Devotions:
List three things that stuck out to you during the week. Why did these grab your attention?
3. Applications:
Which of the applications are you having the easiest time with? The most difficult?
4. Mindful Meditations:
Which of your meditations meant the most to you? Why?
5. Prayer:
Communicate (talk and listen) to the Savior of your soul. Air out anything you need to share. Then praise him for who he is and all he’s done for you this week.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
The Be-Attitudes #8 - Be Undeterred
Matthew 5:10 (NLT)
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Ever had a bad day? Maybe everything didn’t go according your plan and you got out of sorts? I had one of those days not too long ago. That was until I read this…
REAL PERSECUTION
There's a cartoon that puts persecution in perspective. In the four panels, we see people praying--first a New Testament Christian: "Lord, give me the courage to face this accusing mob." Then a Reformation Christian: "Lord, help me declare Your truth despite the cost." A 20th Century believer from Soviet Russia: "Lord may we persevere faithfully under these burdens." Then finally, today's American Christian: "Lord, the Audi's been running rough lately."
From Robert Leroe's Sermon "Walking Fearlessly"
Now you may not own an Audi (or even know what it is) but you get the message. I know its Valentine’s Day and all but think about it for a few minutes.
Application: Question yourself. Are you focused on the earthly…or the eternal?
Mindful Meditation: Check the mindset of your prayers and conversations with GOD. Are you mentioning things that really matter or focusing on materialistic things GOD can give you.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Ever had a bad day? Maybe everything didn’t go according your plan and you got out of sorts? I had one of those days not too long ago. That was until I read this…
REAL PERSECUTION
There's a cartoon that puts persecution in perspective. In the four panels, we see people praying--first a New Testament Christian: "Lord, give me the courage to face this accusing mob." Then a Reformation Christian: "Lord, help me declare Your truth despite the cost." A 20th Century believer from Soviet Russia: "Lord may we persevere faithfully under these burdens." Then finally, today's American Christian: "Lord, the Audi's been running rough lately."
From Robert Leroe's Sermon "Walking Fearlessly"
Now you may not own an Audi (or even know what it is) but you get the message. I know its Valentine’s Day and all but think about it for a few minutes.
Application: Question yourself. Are you focused on the earthly…or the eternal?
Mindful Meditation: Check the mindset of your prayers and conversations with GOD. Are you mentioning things that really matter or focusing on materialistic things GOD can give you.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
The Be-Attitudes #7 - Be Cooperative not Competitive
Matthew 5:9 (NLT)
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
In roughly ten seconds you will tune me out but I’m going there anyway. Real Madrid and FC Barcalona are two of the biggest soccer clubs in the world, competing yearly for global and Spanish titles. They are such bitter rivals that its not uncommon for riots to break out both on and off the pitch (field) when they meet. The bitter rift bled into the Spanish national team as well, where players from both clubs would come together to play in such competitions as the World Cup and Euros (take my word for it, they’re huge tournaments).For years, they lost match after match and tournament after tournament because they wouldn’t pass the ball to one another or work as one unit. World class athletes who looked like a JV squad at a losing high school. They’d rather lose than allow a player from the other club to get the glory of scoring a goal. After decades of this, the two were unified under a new coach, who preached teamwork, about how two horses hitched together can pull more than double what they can separately. The painstaking process took time but the players began to buy into the vision. Now Spain is widely regarded as one of the best teams in the history of soccer, winning Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, and Euro 2012, the first team ever to win three prestigious tournaments in a row.
If you were able to stay with me, think of how this applies to our lives and the lives of those at Refuge (or your home church). What are your motives? What is your mind set? Are you concerned with reaching the lost for Jesus despite whether or not you receive the credit? Do you serve the church out of a love for GOD and others…or for yourself? Would you rather see your brothers and sisters succeed …or do you secretly wish they’d fail to make you feel better about yourself? Do you gossip about weaknesses and tear down people…or work toward a total transformation by encouraging and leaning on them? Answer honestly and see if you’re developing the mind of Christ.
Application: Make up your mind (and follow through with action) to be cooperative rather than competitive
Mindful Meditation: Dwell on your motives for a few minutes. Release any selfish motives to GOD and ask for his merciful forgiveness. Fill the void with the Be-Attitudes.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
In roughly ten seconds you will tune me out but I’m going there anyway. Real Madrid and FC Barcalona are two of the biggest soccer clubs in the world, competing yearly for global and Spanish titles. They are such bitter rivals that its not uncommon for riots to break out both on and off the pitch (field) when they meet. The bitter rift bled into the Spanish national team as well, where players from both clubs would come together to play in such competitions as the World Cup and Euros (take my word for it, they’re huge tournaments).For years, they lost match after match and tournament after tournament because they wouldn’t pass the ball to one another or work as one unit. World class athletes who looked like a JV squad at a losing high school. They’d rather lose than allow a player from the other club to get the glory of scoring a goal. After decades of this, the two were unified under a new coach, who preached teamwork, about how two horses hitched together can pull more than double what they can separately. The painstaking process took time but the players began to buy into the vision. Now Spain is widely regarded as one of the best teams in the history of soccer, winning Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, and Euro 2012, the first team ever to win three prestigious tournaments in a row.
If you were able to stay with me, think of how this applies to our lives and the lives of those at Refuge (or your home church). What are your motives? What is your mind set? Are you concerned with reaching the lost for Jesus despite whether or not you receive the credit? Do you serve the church out of a love for GOD and others…or for yourself? Would you rather see your brothers and sisters succeed …or do you secretly wish they’d fail to make you feel better about yourself? Do you gossip about weaknesses and tear down people…or work toward a total transformation by encouraging and leaning on them? Answer honestly and see if you’re developing the mind of Christ.
Application: Make up your mind (and follow through with action) to be cooperative rather than competitive
Mindful Meditation: Dwell on your motives for a few minutes. Release any selfish motives to GOD and ask for his merciful forgiveness. Fill the void with the Be-Attitudes.
Monday, May 5, 2014
The Be-Attitudes #6 - Be Changed From the Inside Out
Matthew 5:8 (NLT)
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
The Message puts it this way:
You’re blessed when you get your inside world- your mind and heart- put right. Then you can see GOD in the outside world.
We all have four types of “sight”: physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental. Let’s call the mental, the mind’s eye. And our mind’s eyes are different as well, depending upon our level of understanding. Allow me to use Psalm 23 as an example. Some read this portion and get absolutely nothing. Some find it a catchy poem. Some draw comfort from it. Some realize the meaning of the images portrayed. But some, some see the message of the Good Shepherd and desire relationship like that.
How we “see” anything depends upon the condition of our heart and mind. To have a pure mind we must be radically changed by devoting our imagination, intelligence, and thinking to Jesus. We must be willing to put into practice the Be-Attitudes we’ve been discussing daily. If not, the mind’s eye needs to be plucked out (see Matthew 5:22-29). You see where I’m going with this (pun intended). Our inward vision must change before there is to be any sort of real change on the outside. It better to pluck out the disease of the inner eye before the physical eyes really get us in trouble and we’re acting out what’s in our minds.
Application: Guard your mind, knowing that the filth on the inside will come out unless we eradicate it quickly.
Mindful Meditation: Search your thoughts. When you find unpure thoughts, pray the Lord remove them from you. Replace those thoughts with prayer, Scripture verses, or ways to help others.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
The Message puts it this way:
You’re blessed when you get your inside world- your mind and heart- put right. Then you can see GOD in the outside world.
We all have four types of “sight”: physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental. Let’s call the mental, the mind’s eye. And our mind’s eyes are different as well, depending upon our level of understanding. Allow me to use Psalm 23 as an example. Some read this portion and get absolutely nothing. Some find it a catchy poem. Some draw comfort from it. Some realize the meaning of the images portrayed. But some, some see the message of the Good Shepherd and desire relationship like that.
How we “see” anything depends upon the condition of our heart and mind. To have a pure mind we must be radically changed by devoting our imagination, intelligence, and thinking to Jesus. We must be willing to put into practice the Be-Attitudes we’ve been discussing daily. If not, the mind’s eye needs to be plucked out (see Matthew 5:22-29). You see where I’m going with this (pun intended). Our inward vision must change before there is to be any sort of real change on the outside. It better to pluck out the disease of the inner eye before the physical eyes really get us in trouble and we’re acting out what’s in our minds.
Application: Guard your mind, knowing that the filth on the inside will come out unless we eradicate it quickly.
Mindful Meditation: Search your thoughts. When you find unpure thoughts, pray the Lord remove them from you. Replace those thoughts with prayer, Scripture verses, or ways to help others.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
The Be-Attitudes #5 - Be Compassionate
Matthew 5:7 (NLT)
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Years ago, I attended a Christian rock festival. On the third day (no pun intended), a speaker filled the silence between bands. He related an experience that shaped his life more than any other- meeting Mother Theresa. It wasn't at all the way he’d imagined it however.
His group flew to India and ventured into the slums of Calcutta, hoping to meet and be inspired by the seasoned saint. For several hours they stood on the sidelines, avoiding the broken bodies, poverty, and hopelessness there. Then finally, the iconic servant arrived. They swarmed her and offered their gratitude and praise for her work here and what an inspiration it had been for them. Angrily, Mother Theresa snapped and scolded them. “ I've looked in on you for several hours and you've done absolutely nothing! Learn compassion. Here is an endless supply of people to love, bodies to wash, spirits to mend, rags to change, water to distribute, wounds to clean, disease to fight. The best way you could serve is getting back on the plane and leaving.”
The point was made. Things changed. Over the remainder of the week, they learned compassion and what it was all about. They learned the difference between simply caring for someone and having compassion on them. The word compassion itself means caring for someone so much that you hurt for them in your gut. To continue our journey to the mind of Christ, we must inherit his compassion, this gut wrenching compassion, for people.
Be compassionate…
Application: As the opportunity presents itself today, be compassionate. To the stranger off the street, the irritating co-worker, the rebellious kid, or the spouse you take for granted.
Mindful Meditation: Visualize the compassionate acts of Jesus (both in the Bible and those you've seen). Pray and ask him for the transforming of your mind so you can practice such compassion.
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Years ago, I attended a Christian rock festival. On the third day (no pun intended), a speaker filled the silence between bands. He related an experience that shaped his life more than any other- meeting Mother Theresa. It wasn't at all the way he’d imagined it however.
His group flew to India and ventured into the slums of Calcutta, hoping to meet and be inspired by the seasoned saint. For several hours they stood on the sidelines, avoiding the broken bodies, poverty, and hopelessness there. Then finally, the iconic servant arrived. They swarmed her and offered their gratitude and praise for her work here and what an inspiration it had been for them. Angrily, Mother Theresa snapped and scolded them. “ I've looked in on you for several hours and you've done absolutely nothing! Learn compassion. Here is an endless supply of people to love, bodies to wash, spirits to mend, rags to change, water to distribute, wounds to clean, disease to fight. The best way you could serve is getting back on the plane and leaving.”
The point was made. Things changed. Over the remainder of the week, they learned compassion and what it was all about. They learned the difference between simply caring for someone and having compassion on them. The word compassion itself means caring for someone so much that you hurt for them in your gut. To continue our journey to the mind of Christ, we must inherit his compassion, this gut wrenching compassion, for people.
Be compassionate…
Application: As the opportunity presents itself today, be compassionate. To the stranger off the street, the irritating co-worker, the rebellious kid, or the spouse you take for granted.
Mindful Meditation: Visualize the compassionate acts of Jesus (both in the Bible and those you've seen). Pray and ask him for the transforming of your mind so you can practice such compassion.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Reflection
1. Scriptures:
Reread the Bible passages used in this week’s LifeTogether. Which one of these meant the most to you personally? Why?
2. Devotions:
List three things that stuck out to you during the week. Why did these grab your attention?
3. Applications:
Which of the applications are you having the easiest time with? The most difficult?
4. Mindful Meditations:
Which of your meditations meant the most to you? Why?
5. Prayer:
Communicate (talk and listen) to the Savior of your soul. Air out anything you need to share. Then praise him for who he is and all he’s done for you this week.
Reread the Bible passages used in this week’s LifeTogether. Which one of these meant the most to you personally? Why?
2. Devotions:
List three things that stuck out to you during the week. Why did these grab your attention?
3. Applications:
Which of the applications are you having the easiest time with? The most difficult?
4. Mindful Meditations:
Which of your meditations meant the most to you? Why?
5. Prayer:
Communicate (talk and listen) to the Savior of your soul. Air out anything you need to share. Then praise him for who he is and all he’s done for you this week.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
The Be-Attitudes #4 - Be Hungry and Thirsty
Matthew 5:6 (NLT)
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
The hunger and thirst of imagination.
Our mind is a powerful entity, conjuring up countless images. And these images eventually come true, at least those that we dwell the most on. I came across this in my quiet time not long ago and find it relevant to our study today.
“To imagine is to form mental images on the screen of our minds. It means to create in our thinking what we want created in our living. One’s time, talents, and all other resources become organized and dedicated to the purpose of making real the objects of his imagination.” (from "God’s Psychiatry" by Charles Allen)
By reading this excerpt (and our Bibles), we witness why its so important that our minds align with that of Christ. That what we hunger and thirst foor mentally are those things from the mind of Christ. (Friday’s devotion, Phil. 2:5-8).
As Jesus said when he roamed physically on the earth, “It’s not what goes into people that pollutes them, but what comes out.” We all struggle with keeping our hearts and minds on the things of GOD. Erotic fantasies, fairy tales, envious desires, vengeful plots, gossiping fodder, and many other things plague us. And if allow such things to make pour a foundation and start building a home, they will inevitably go from imagination into reality. Because its what we’re hungering and thirsting for.
If you get hungry, you find something to eat. If you get thirsty, you find something to drink. If something is on your mind, you will bring it to fruition. So what is your mind hungry and thirsty for?
Application: Guard your thoughts today. If one comes in that shouldn’t be there, waste no time in evicting it.
Mindful Meditation: After removing any unpure thoughts, dwell on the pure things of GOD- love, hope, faith-in-action. Think of ways to help others out, knowing that the more you think about something, the more likely it is to come to fruition.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
The hunger and thirst of imagination.
Our mind is a powerful entity, conjuring up countless images. And these images eventually come true, at least those that we dwell the most on. I came across this in my quiet time not long ago and find it relevant to our study today.
“To imagine is to form mental images on the screen of our minds. It means to create in our thinking what we want created in our living. One’s time, talents, and all other resources become organized and dedicated to the purpose of making real the objects of his imagination.” (from "God’s Psychiatry" by Charles Allen)
By reading this excerpt (and our Bibles), we witness why its so important that our minds align with that of Christ. That what we hunger and thirst foor mentally are those things from the mind of Christ. (Friday’s devotion, Phil. 2:5-8).
As Jesus said when he roamed physically on the earth, “It’s not what goes into people that pollutes them, but what comes out.” We all struggle with keeping our hearts and minds on the things of GOD. Erotic fantasies, fairy tales, envious desires, vengeful plots, gossiping fodder, and many other things plague us. And if allow such things to make pour a foundation and start building a home, they will inevitably go from imagination into reality. Because its what we’re hungering and thirsting for.
If you get hungry, you find something to eat. If you get thirsty, you find something to drink. If something is on your mind, you will bring it to fruition. So what is your mind hungry and thirsty for?
Application: Guard your thoughts today. If one comes in that shouldn’t be there, waste no time in evicting it.
Mindful Meditation: After removing any unpure thoughts, dwell on the pure things of GOD- love, hope, faith-in-action. Think of ways to help others out, knowing that the more you think about something, the more likely it is to come to fruition.
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