Before we had kids, Misty and I always joked about how our kids would have terrible competition streaks. Misty and I have always been competitive, even in the least little thing. As our boys have grown we've watched their competitive fires grow too. They compete to see who can get to the car first, who can hit the most shots on a basketball game, or who can win a board game.
Recently, I witnessed what is possibly the oddest competition ever between our sons. It was a week when our town picked up both the recycling and trash at the curb. As we pulled in that afternoon, I dropped the boys off at the end of the driveway and told them to roll both cans back to the house. And what did they do? You guessed it. They competed to see who could get back to the house quickest with their can in tow. That is either really ingenious or really sad. You choose. But regardless of your view of it, our boys had once again made everything into a competition.
When it comes to childhood games and other trivial matters, it is okay to be competitive. Competition is important in many ways in life. In technology and business it drives innovation. But when we start to let competition with others drive other areas of our life we run into trouble. When we try to compete with others, whether we admit we're competing or not, we find ourselves turning God's blessings into catalysts for sin. If we aren't happy that others are making more money than us, then greed sets up in our hearts. If our neighbors have newer cars or nicer toys, then we allow jealousy and covetousness to take hold of our mind. These sins, and many others, start to take root in our lives because we've allowed what should be seen as blessings to stoke the fires of sin. We should see the blessings God has placed in our life as exactly that, blessings. We shouldn't see them as something lesser than our neighbor's. We shouldn't allow the competition or comparison games to take our eyes off what God is doing in our lives. If anything, we should be thankful for what God has given to us and happy for the blessings He's given to our neighbor.
In Philippians 4:11 (NIV), the Apostle Paul tells us, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Paul new the secret to being content, whether giving to his missionary work was up or down, whether he had food or was hungry, and whether his sandals had holes or not. Whatever circumstance Paul found himself in, He had learned to be content. His secret to contentment was shared in verse 13. He said his secret was, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Paul was able to be content with every circumstance in life because of the strength he received from Christ. When his neighbor had a newer donkey or the latest in Roman fashion, Paul knew he could be content because of the strength Christ gave to him. Through that strength he could resist, envy, greed, jealousy, and coveting. We should take note of Paul's secret to contentment and put it to practice in our own lives. When we do we'll find ourselves less worried about what we have compared to our neighbors and more content with God's blessings in our own lives.
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About 6 years ago, me and the boys went hiking. We wanted to hike from the peak of Mount Mitchell to the peak of Mount Craig. Mount Craig is the 2nd highest peak in the Appalachian mountains and about 1 mile south of the summit of Mount Mitchell. For a 4 and 5 year old, the hike over rugged terrain was very taxing. Like many of our hikes, the boys didn't want any help and were capable of doing the hike on their own two legs. When we reached the peak of Mount Craig, we followed our normal hiking tradition. This tradition is this: dad breaks out snacks and a drink for the boys while they rest and dad takes pictures. These two fearless hikers plopped down on a big rock on the side of the trail, just opposite the marker for the summit of Mount Craig, and enjoyed their hard earned snacks and drinks. The rest and the refreshments helped sustain the boys for the return trip to the car over the same rugged terrain.
Last week I was reminded of this picturesque day as I prepared for this past Sunday's message. There was a good sermon example involved on the return trip from the summit of Mount Craig. So I went back to look at pictures I had of the hiking trip and saw the boys eating their snacks. I remembered how rejuvenating that break was for the two of them. Sometimes a break is exactly what we need.
Last week I spoke to a person who shared with me about their need to take a break from their church and participation in the work of the church. The person I spoke to had valid reasons for why they needed to stop serving in their church. Some were health related and others were personal in nature. As the person shared with me about their need to take a break from their church I agreed with them that sometimes we do need a break.
Sometimes when we find ourselves exhausted physically and spiritually the best thing we can do is take a break. If that means resting on the side of a trail to recoup for a few minutes, then do it. If it means stepping away from responsibilities at church to keep from being burnt out, then do it. If it means taking a few Sundays away from your regular church experience, then do it. The rest we receive from stepping away can do more than bring us refreshment, it can bring us clarity of mind. It can help us put in perspective the things that were causing our burn out. It can help us see what is really important in the grand scheme of things. It can show us where we need to dedicate our efforts in the work of the Kingdom and what we need to avoid doing. Through it all we see that God is able to work in our time of rest and refreshment to help sustain us for the long journey of faith ahead of us.
Let me close with this one warning. Yes you heard a pastor say it isn't a bad thing to take a break from your regular church experience for a few Sundays. This didn't mean not worshiping God. This means finding a different worship experience so you can gain some rest and perspective. The intention of rest is to continue down the path after being refreshed. Once you've gained your rest and perspective dig back in at your church and worship God with a rejuvenated spirit. Also be sure not to fall into the trap of getting out of the habit of going to worship God on Sundays. Because there are too many people in that trap already!
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A few years ago I saw on Facebook that a church planter I know up north had led his church in a day they called "Don't Go To Church" Sunday. The idea behind it was not to go to a church building on that Sunday but to go be the church. They went out into the large city their church resides in and gave out water and food. They also shared living water and bread from heaven. The concept of "not going to church" wasn't lost on me. I've heard Bible teachers and preachers over the years make the same kind of comment with a different perspective than the church planter mentioned above. But there is plenty of truth in the statement...you need to stop going to church.
You should stop going to church and start going to worship. Now that sounds a little picky in the language used but it's the truth. Too often believers see the hour between 11:00-12:00 on Sunday, or whatever hour the service may be, as their required church time to stay in God's good graces. God doesn't want you to go to church, He wants you to join other believers and worship Him. Our worship of God is all about Him and nothing about us. It's not about what I like. It's not about what I hope to get out of the service. It's about my heartfelt devotion to God being poured out as a sacrifice on the altar before a holy and righteous God who is worthy of my worship. So Sunday, stop going to church and start going to worship.
You should stop going to church for the preacher and start going for the message. It's a sad but true fact that when there is a change in church leadership some people stop attending church. It's also sad but true that when the pastor is gone on vacation or preaching at another church that some people don't attend church. It is impossible to completely separate our worship experience from the pastor God has placed in leadership over our church. But when we find ourselves not attending church because the pastor is not there, we find ourselves falling into the trap of idolatry. We are starting to worship the one who leads worship rather than the only One worthy of our worship. A few years ago our church had missionaries share during the message time on a Sunday morning. I advertised this with our congregation for a few weeks and was concerned that our attendance may drop because the pastor wasn't the one who would be preaching. To my surprise we tied our highest attendance to date that year and had several who were out sick. That is the mentality we have to have, that regardless of who is sharing the message we are coming to hear God's message. So Sunday, stop going to church for the preacher and start going for the message.
You should stop going to church for the style of music and start going for the praise of God. I've heard it said "I can't worship unless it's _____ kind of music" or "I can't worship God unless it's ______ type of a service." To those who would say that I would tell you that "Worship is not about you or what you like, it's about God." Yes, we should have our preferences in how we worship God and hear from Him. But when we limit our worship because we limit our mode of worship, then we limit our reception of God's message. Music is only one small part of the worship experience. Worship involves prayer, preaching, testimonies, giving and so much more. If you are only attending a church because of the style of music, I encourage you to stop going to church for the style of music and start going for the praise of God.
My intentions with today's post is not to ruffle feathers. My intentions are that we all really examine our motives for why we attend the church we attend. What we as believers should do is find a local body of believers where our family is ministered to and the truth of the Bible is taught. We should throw ourselves into the life of the church so we can truly worship God there. That way regardless of who is behind the pulpit or the song being sung we are connected in spirit with God, pouring our heartfelt devotion out to Him. So Sunday, you need to stop going to church!
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Sunday morning I ate a banana as I drove to church. When I finished the banana I thought what am I going to do with this banana peel because I don't want to hold on to it for the drive to church. Not wanting to litter or reenact a scene from Billy Madison, I knew I couldn't throw it out the window. But for a moment the idea to toss it in the weeds along a vacant piece of property did cross my mind. The next thought that caught me off guard was the fact that I thought to my self, "Just say, 'Plant a banana tree' and it will be okay." Now that sounds like an odd phrase to say and I admit it is, but I can't take credit for coming up with it. When I was a kid I had a cousin who was 10 years older than me and I remember riding with her in her car. On more than one occasion I remember not having a place to put some piece of trash or apple core or banana peel and she said if you toss it out the window and say "Plant a banana tree" then it's not really littering. In the mind of a kid it sounded legit, so out the window went my trash. My parents quickly fixed this bad habit, but I couldn't believe that after nearly 30 years this phrase came to mind when I thought about tossing something out the window of my truck. In any case, I laid the banana peel down in the truck and tossed it in the trash at church.
As a kid I thought that I could rationalize my littering by saying a simple phrase as I committed the act. The act of trying to rationalize actions that we shouldn't do, let's call them sins, has been around forever. Man has always found a way of rationalizing his sin so he doesn't feel so bad about it. We do it to make our sin more palatable to us and so we become desensitized to it and can move on with our lives without the guilt. The problem is sin is sin. Regardless of whether we try to justify or rationalize our sin, sin is still sin. The old phrase that comes to mind is "You can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig." Dress it up however you want, sin is still sin. Regulate it. Legislate it. Gain society's approval of it. Sweep it under your own spiritual rug and it doesn't change the fact that you're sinning. Pick the sin that you rationalize on a daily basis and realize that your rationalization doesn't hold water with God.
The problem with rationalizing our sin is not just that we become desensitized to something that should bring repentance. The problem is that as we justify and rationalize our sin, we don't seek forgiveness for that sin because we view it as acceptable. When we don't seek forgiveness for our sins, then a spiritual gap widens between us and God. We become less sensitive to His Holy Spirit's leading in our life. Our hearts harden towards God and it makes us more vulnerable and susceptible to more sin in our life. In the end, we end up distancing ourselves from the one who has the cure for our sin problem. We end up distancing ourselves from the one who loves us unconditionally. We distance ourselves from the victorious life He wants us to experience.
1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Right here God tells us in His Word that no matter what sin we commit, even the ones we rationalize and grow accustomed to committing, He will still forgive us. Choose today the sin you find yourself rationalizing and come to grips with the reality of what you're doing. See your sin the way God does, as something you ought to avoid at all costs. Seek His forgiveness for your sin and seek His help to rid your life of that sin. It won't be easy but in the end you'll be glad that you did.
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I recently spent time washing my truck after it saw the bad side of driving through a cow pasture. Dirt, dust, and cow manure can make for an unsightly truck. When I had finished washing it and had done a final inspection for any spots I'd missed, I put my cleaning supplies up. I walked around one more time to see if I had missed anything and low and behold I did. I found that in my rush to get done I had forgotten to wash the wheels. They weren't too dirty so I thought I'd wait until the next time to wash them. No harm, no foul, right? Wrong! By the time I washed my truck again the front wheels on my truck had accumulated a large amount of brake dust. As I was cleaning the wheels I noticed how thick the break dust was but also how shiny the wheel looked as I began to clean it. As I found myself nearly halfway done with one wheel, I drew a line down the middle of the wheel with my rag and snapped a picture. It was remarkable how bad the tire looked when I neglected cleaning it.
Our spiritual life faces the same type of problem when we neglect to seek forgiveness from God for our sins. You and I sin daily. This means we disobey some aspect of God's rules each and every day. We can't get around it because we are sinful beings with a natural bend towards sin. The fact that we sin every day is a constant reminder of the fact that, even after we become a Christian, we daily need God's grace and forgiveness.
Prayer is one spiritual discipline that we should practice every day. Yes, we should share our requests with God, praise Him, and thank Him for His provision. But in addition to that we ought to also daily seek His forgiveness. In my humble opinion, it ought to be the very first thing we do in prayer before we do anything else. Why? Because our sin separates us from God. If we are separated from God spiritually because of sin, then how are we able to lift up our prayers of praise, thanks, and request with an attitude of humility and holiness. We ought to seek out the forgiveness of God first and foremost in our times of prayer, as well as doing it daily. This practice will not only help keep us spiritually clean, but it will help draw us closer to God with each passing day. It will help us see more clearly the sins that trip us up on a daily basis and we can seek to avoid them.
If we don't see God's forgiveness on a daily basis we'll find ourselves like the tires on my truck. At first things don't look to bad, but before long we are covered up with unconfessed sin that separates us from God. This separation makes it harder for us to draw close to God and makes it harder for us to hear the Holy Spirit leading, guiding, and directing us.
Commit today to making prayer a daily habit (if you haven't already). Also commit to seeking God's forgiveness first and foremost in those times of prayer, so you can be drawn closer to Him and more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. In the end, you'll be glad that you did!
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With election day right around the corner, things seem to be just as contentious as they have ever been politically. The smear campaigns and negative advertisements are in full swing. Regardless of your political affiliation, take a few minutes to read the following post. It was written just prior to the 2016 presidential election. It will give you some insight into what type of candidate you should be voting for in the upcoming election.
There is one thing that every single person on earth cannot get past when it comes to new experiences. This one thing can be time consuming and even at times cause us to throw our hands up and quit. What is that one thing? It is called The Learning Curve. The Learning Curve is "the rate of a person's progress in gaining experience or new skills." Simply put, it is how quickly you pick something up. This morning I was reminded of the dreaded learning curve as I worked to get our church's sermons on to YouTube. We've been asked regularly about our messages being online. I finally bit the bullet and was able to record Sunday's services via my iPad and have now put them on YouTube (you can check them out here). The aggravating thing for me was it seemed to take longer than I expected to get everything finalized and in to a presentable format on YouTube. I had to set up an account, find usable images for the channel art, and then take audio files recorded on an iPad and get them into a format to be presented on YouTube. It was definitely time consuming, but if the end result challenges and changes lives for God's Kingdom then it is all worth it. The next time I go to upload messages to YouTube, it shouldn't be as time consuming because the learning curve will be less this time and I will have picked up on how to move through it faster.
When it comes to the church, we often times assume that new Christians can bypass the learning curve. We hear of someone's conversion, we baptize them, and then expect them to know everything we know about matters of faith. Unfortunately, conversion to Christianity doesn't automatically mean you know everything about faith, why the church does certain things, or even what God expects of you. Christians in the church need to be patient and understanding about new believers and their learning curve when it comes to the faith. It takes time for new believers to settle in to this new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) they have become and really start to mature in their faith. Also remember that none of us quit maturing in our faith in this life. We never reach a place where we know it all and live it out perfectly. So technically, we all deal with the learning curve from the moment of conversion to glorification (when we die).
Look for ways to help mentor and mature new believers. If you are further down the path of faith than they are, then come alongside a new believer and help them grow in their faith. It will not only help them but it will also help you grow in your faith as well. Then the both of you are able to get a little bit further over the learning curve of faith.
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"You only live once!" This was the answer given to me and my wife when we discussed the picture to the right with my aunt. Shortly after her diagnosis for pancreatic cancer, my aunt took my sons for a ride to McDonald's while we waited at the hospital for a family member to have surgery. When my aunt and my sons returned from McDonald's my wife happened to snap this picture as they pulled back in to the parking lot. Yes, that is my aunt's convertible VW Beetle with the top down and my, then 7 year old son standing up in the back seat. The only thing is this was December 27th and it was 40 degrees. We tried our best to scold my aunt when she came back in, but you know how that goes when it comes to scolding those who helped raise you. It basically falls on deaf ears. She looked at us and plainly told us it was fine because, "You only live once!"
This same fun-loving and vivacious aunt has come to the end of her time on earth. The pancreatic cancer has won the battle that started nearly 3 years ago. Even though cancer may have won the battle, my aunt's faith has won the war. During the last 3 years, she has packed plenty of life into every day. Even on the days she was beaten down by chemotherapy treatments, radiation, and side-effects from medicines, she continued to live life to the fullest. Why? Because you only live once.
It has been remarkable to see how her faith has been so strong through this entire journey. It was her faith that saw her through the difficult days of treatments designed to destroy your body. It was her faith that sustained her as the doctors offered different treatments and options. It was her faith that helped her endure these final days. Through all of this, her faith has seen her through it. She used every opportunity she had to share about the God who was strengthening her for this difficult time in her life. She witnessed about Him to family members, friends, doctors, nurses, and anyone who would listen. Why? Because you only live once.
If you are a believer in Christ, you should use every opportunity God gives you to share about Him. It shouldn't take a catastrophic loss or life-threatening health condition to get you to share about how good your God is. We should share with others about His love, grace, mercy, and salvation every day as if it were our last. Why? Because you only live once.
If you are not a believer in Christ, you should really consider the salvation God offers to you. He offers you forgiveness of your sins through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. He did this so you could experience a right relationship with Him and have eternal life when this life is over. But that offer is only good on this side of eternity. If you step into eternity without choosing to accept Christ's free gift of salvation, you won't have another chance. So I implore you to make a decision for Christ while you still have time. Why? Because you only live once.
I'll close with this. A verse that has meant so much to my aunt through this journey is Psalm 57:1. It speaks plainly to the faith she has placed in God during this journey. Psalm 57:1 says, "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by." Trust in Him, again or for the first time, and let Him be your refuge. Why? Because you only live once.
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One would think that after 10 or 11 years of life a kid would learn to eat without wearing more than they swallow. Not in our house. I can't tell you the number of times in a given week that we have to tell our sons "You have food on your face." Many times they'll eat and have food stretched past the corners of their mouths in something resembling Heath Ledger's Joker face. Recently we were eating a quick meal in the truck and I turned to one of my sons in the back seat and told him that over used phrase "You have food on your face." He looked back at me with an "I don't care" look and told me exactly that, "I don't care." I promptly told him that I did care how he looked and how when he steps out in public the way he presents himself not only reflects on him but me and his mom. He begrudgingly wiped his face off and finished his meal.
When it comes to living a Christian life, the way you present yourself matters more than you realize. Too many Christians in this world take the same view of their Christian witness that my son does about food on his face. They simply don't care because they don't see that it really matters to anyone. But that thought couldn't be farther from the truth. If you wear the name of a Christian, then you claim to be one who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ and are trying to live your life according to His standards of holiness and His Word. But if you claim the title of Christian, whether prominently or quietly, and then live like the rest of the world, why would people who aren't Christians think they need to be a Christian? They wouldn't. Why? Because if you live like they do, why do they need to seek forgiveness, be involved in the local church, serve God, or strive for holiness. To them this world is hard enough without the added pressures of a religion that hasn't really changed your life.
Like I told my food covered son, if you're a Christian, when you step out in public (or even at home) the way you present yourself not only reflects on you but on your Father. The way you dress, the way you speak, the relationships you have, the way you treat others, and the way you handle yourself all reflects on the life-changing power of a personal relationship with God. If you don't carry yourself as one who has been changed by Him, then others won't take seriously their need for Him.
Please understand I'm not advocating false pretenses and masks to hide who we really are to put on some kind of "Christian" show. Yes, you will have a bad day from time to time and it will show. Yes, you will say the wrong thing at the wrong time in front of the one person you've tried to witness to. We all mess up but we can't use that as an excuse to not live out a godly witness in front of everyone, every day, and in every way. When we mess up it makes a great case for us to explain the grace and forgiveness of God and hopefully others will start to see their need for the same grace and forgiveness.
If you're a Christian, make a commitment today to live out a Christian example in your life that represents well the life-changing relationship you have with God. If you're not a Christian, then I'd encourage you to read more here about how you can experience a life-changing relationship with God.
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I recently stopped in a store to pick up some supplies to work on a project at home. It was hot and I was thirsty, so I picked up a bottle of Gatorade to drink on the drive home. As I walked to my truck, I found myself doing something I have done for nearly 30 years when opening a bottle of Gatorade. Don't ask me why because I can't tell you why, but I took the lid off, placed the lid back on the Gatorade, shook it up, took the lid back off, and started to drink it. I'm not exactly sure why I have the habit of opening a Gatorade and then recapping it to shake it up, but I've done this most of my life. Most likely I heard from a friend when I was a kid that you need to shake up your Gatorade before drinking it, as if the ingredients settled to the bottom like a Yoo-hoo. Or maybe someone once told me you needed to let some fresh air into it, as if it needed to breathe. Regardless of why I have this odd habit, I stood their beside my truck staring at my bottle of Gatorade and thinking, "Why in the world did I just do that?" The answer is because it was an old habit and I did it without even thinking about it.
Some of the most difficult habits for us to break are those habits that have been ingrained in us for a long time. As the saying goes, "old habits die hard." It is definitely true because we see it everyday of our lives. Those habits that have been a part of who we are, they tend to take longer for us to break. But why would we want to break a habit? Generally because we don't want it to be a part of who we are. We want our self to be a better version of who we are and that requires us to get rid of the habits that we don't want in this better version.
When it comes to our spiritual life, breaking old habits isn't any easier. We want to "be" better or "do" better and so we pick out those spiritual habits that need to change. We decide to: "Go to church more." "Read my Bible more." "Pray more." Or even "Serve God more." Those are all noble spiritual habits to have as a part of your walk with Christ, but how do we break the old habits of not going to church, not reading my Bible, not praying, and not serving God?
The answer is discipline. Why do you think they call these things "spiritual disciplines"? Because it takes discipline to do them as a regular habit. Discipline has taken a backseat in today's world of instant gratification. We want everything and we want it now! We even want our habits to be instant and not have to work towards them. When we don't have the spiritual discipline to pray for 5 minutes, then we feel like a failure and we throw in the towel. What you must realize is that spiritual disciplines take time to develop. So as you work to develop spiritual disciplines in your life, it will take time. So don't get discouraged if you find yourself faltering after the first couple of weeks. Stick with it and you'll be glad you did. Also spiritual habits are like anything else in life, you'll make time for what is important. Don't you make time to get a cup of coffee if you can't make it through a day without a cup? Then won't you make time to read God's Word if you can't make it through a day without it? If developing spiritual disciplines are important to you, then you'll make time for them. You won't find other things to do on Sundays when you should be worshiping God. You'll adjust your daily routine to make time to read the Bible or pray. You'll look for opportunities to serve God and then make them a part of your schedule.
I've never met someone who was spiritually disciplined and regretted it. I encourage you to find those old spiritual habits that need to be changed and commit to being spiritually disciplined. In the long run, you'll be happy that you did.
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