blog is moving

Just wanted to inform you that this blog is moving to worshipunrated.com. It's a ministry that I've begun. Right now it's still being developed and changed to fit my style. But it is already live for blog posts. Feel free to check it out! Know that this change is immediate though. I won't be posting things here anymore. Cheers!

bombs of encouragement

When is the last time you've read Romans 8? The family of God is plagued with people who desperately need encouragement in life, living, and leading. There's a huge number of people who are trying to identify their lives with Christ, and yet a majority of books and blogs that are out there are hurting the church instead of encouraging them, spurring them on toward love and good deeds. Sometimes it's important to know what's wrong and what's right, but again, we can tell what the wrong thing is when we're taught what right looks like.

I need to be reminded constantly, every day even, that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives within me. I need the reminder that the same One who orchestrated the events of Creation is in the process of orchestrating a life that pleasing to Him. I need to hear that the same One who authored the #1 best seller of all time is constantly authoring my faith in Him until He takes me home to be with Him, to live in the place I was made for, to have the body He intended me to have from my beginning, the eternal one that sees hope fulfilled. I need to be reminded that even though I may not know what to say to God, there are two intercessors on my side, the Holy Spirit groaning in God language and the Savior who sits next to Him.

What has happened to pastors? Are we pastoring or condemning? I read this verse that's changed the way I view the "church today," that common phrase that precedes a rebuke, the claim that we've been doing the wrong thing for years and won't change or have difficulty changing. So here's my rebuke for those who lob grenades into God's camp...

Shut up! Change your view of the church and your language! Learn from those who know how to preach a gospel message of mercy and grace without the manipulation of guilt. Guilt is good. It can train us to do the right thing. But sticking something bigger in the wound isn't going to help it heal.

Paul was the best at this and we can see it from his letters to the Roman church. Before the encouragement came, he identified himself with them, the same things they struggle with he did too. At the end of each letter he wrote, he gave them hope to stand firm even when it's tough.

There's a constant trend that we keep forgetting. People live in the world and until they've passed on it's going to be hard to live like Jesus. Paul knew this, identified himself with it, then he launched a grenade of encouragement and hope in the camp. I can imagine their reaction, "You mean I'm not alone? You mean this will keep on happening? You mean God is for me even when it seems like He's not? God's faithful to me too, even when everything's crashing down around me?"

8:12 and following, "I'm a son of God! His Spirit testifies with mine that I belong to Him! God has given me everything that belongs to Him! I'm an heir with Christ!" Paul states that even creation longs for redemption, to see the sons of God to be revealed! Why? Because it's falling apart and it knows it.

Do you see? The people of God need encouragement to hang on because it's hard to. They live with people who distress mercy, who distress grace because they don't believe there is any. And we're used to hurting them because of it without any help to lift them up beyond it.

Then verses 33-34 says that God justifies...who is he that condemns? Arrogant pastors. The ones God justified, the ones on whose side He's on, we spend time accusing and abusing. "The modern church..." then you fill it in. "The church today _______." We've got to stop!

This is the group of people whom God has chosen to proclaim His message of love to the world! If you don't love the church, stop being a pastor and learn how to be a follower! I submit that those who condemn the church of God without encouraging them aren't following Christ either. It has become for them an are of pride.

Love the church! Love this messy group of people who come to God with all kinds of problems seeking help from the One who selflessly and bountifully gives all things! God has an idea for a people whom He's called His own, a people for whom He died...a form of life that looks like what He originally intended. It's our glorious calling to proclaim freedom to them so they can!

an heir

How many believers understand that we are heirs to receive all that God has? God has made us heirs. He adopted us through the death and resurrection of His Son. All that God has we will receive. How does that make you feel?

I still struggle with some earning issues, as though I am some kind of slave to God. Not a good slave, but one who feels like love or appreciation must be earned. I do things to make God happy with me, to earn His favor. 

Did you notice that an attitude like that has no surrender attached to it? No gratitude? There's a sense of fear involved. And not the good kind of fear. It's a fear that's based in a misunderstanding of Who God really is and how He really feels about us. It distances His love to something kept at an arms reach instead of allowing ourselves to be held within His arms. It makes less of the love God displayed through the death of His only Son, Jesus.

My children are once again teaching me what it means to be a father, and in turn, shows me more of the character of God I want instilled in my life. My children don't have to do anything to earn my love. I've given it to them freely. They don't have to earn eating my food, sleeping in my house, or clothes or any basic provisions. Everything I've given them is exactly what they need. Anything above the needs they have they can live without. They don't present gifts to me in order to earn my favor, but because they love me. How come my attitude with God is different than that?

The question is, why do I feel like I have to earn anything from God when He has already given me everything He has in Christ? We fight for what we hope to become. We think we have to overcome sin and temptation on our own. When we mess up, we call it "being human," which a mistake. We aren't only human, we're the children of God with the presence of His Holy Spirit living within us. We've got a big Father. And being an heir means that all God has belongs to us.

Let me put it this way... In times of frustration, we can call on His patience. In moments of conflict, we can use His peace to get through. In times of need, we can recognize His provision as the Provider. When we've been wronged, we can find strength in Him to forgive. When we're tempted, we have His Word to pull us through. People are untrustworthy, but He is faithful. When we lack the ability to stand, we can call on the faith He's given us to be strong. 

Each moment of sorrow and pain is another moment in which God gives us more of Himself in order to overcome. Each time we face opposition is another opportunity to receive more of the inheritance of Jesus. Sure it may hurt. But being a child of His, an heir of God's Kingdom, means this world doesn't hold anything in comparison to what we're receiving from Him. 

miracles today

Something that keeps jumping out at me in Scripture is faith. It's everywhere. It seems to be very important. We downplay faith a lot in our lives and substitute the word "faith" in place of "religion" because it sounds better. We talk a lot about our own faith and its difference between the faith of others. We say our faith is important to us and is the reason why we live a certain way. When we look at Jesus' life and see the miracles He performed we because of faith.

Take a look with me at Galatians 3:5. The Galatian church had some kind of teaching running through it that messed up the teaching of the gospel which they received by faith. For some reason they thought that now it was necessary to perform the works of the Law as well.

It seems to be easier to follow a list of rules instead of develop a relationship with God based on faith. Believing and obeying the Lord is more difficult and requires a lot more trust than checking things off a list that we've made to describe our own version of righteousness. But the righteousness of God comes through faith and nothing else. Righteousness is given to those who live by faith.

Read a little further and we can get a glimpse of God's definition of faith. Faith is bigger than believing. It's believing and living accordingly. Abraham wouldn't have been considered righteous by God if he didn't live according to the belief that God would fulfill His promise to him. Living by faith develops a relationship with God that's based on trust that He knows what's best. When we follow His Word over what we think is best, we begin to live by faith.

What hurts is knowing that most of the time I don't. We don't as a church sometimes either. Instead of believing that what God has given us is enough to do what He's called us to do, we dig a deep hole of debt to have the state of the art stuff, a building that's beautiful, and a coffee shop.

Verse five says something to me about the way we live. How can God perform miracles when we simply don't allow Him to because of our lack of faith? We do do do and miss miss miss the lesson of faith. God's timing isn't our timing. His thoughts aren't our thoughts. His ways are much higher than ours, like the difference between the earth's surface and the sky (Isaiah 55:8-9). Yet we consistently bring God down to earth instead of us reaching up to Him. How long before we grasp the ways of the eternal? How long before we recognize our need for God? How long will it take us to learn to live by faith?

I believe we've lost the ability to see miracles as often as we could. He calls us to walk on water! To live differently than the world! And still Jesus turns to us like He did to the sinking Peter, "Where is your faith?" The moment we place it on ourselves the quicker and deeper we sink. We cannot rise above the water which drowns us unless we have faith, unless we believe and obey.

The miracles we long to see and to proclaim to the world can only happen if faith is present. God can still perform them. We all believe that He can. But the power of God being displayed through our lives gets stifled when we express a lack of faith, a lack of believing and obeying that God will be, like He always has been, true to His Word.

It begins with believing that He's saved us from sin. But God wants to take it further than that. He didn't just save us from sin, but also from the evil of this world (Galatians 1:4). It doesn't mean we won't have problems. It does mean that we can see things from His perspective now. I like what A. W. Tozer said in his book, "The Purpose of Man." He says that the higher up we go with God, the smaller the things of the world appear. But the closer we get to the world, the bigger the problems appear and further away God feels from us. If His ways are higher than ours, we need to soar with God. Those of faith are promised to rise above, God renews their strength to soar above it all.

I want miracles to happen in my life! Don't you? I want to see God work more and more. It takes me living like I believe God is true and will follow through. I just have to be patient for Him, be still and know that He is God.

tearing down the wall

We have a hard time keeping it real, don't we? We change our demeanor and message based on who's listening. We like a good image of ourselves too. That's a problem. It's a big problem. We're fake when we do it. 

I'm in Galatians 2 and Paul talks about going to the apostles to tell them about the message he's been preaching, the leaders agreed, and others disagreed. Paul seems to mention over and over again that God doesn't show favoritism, and that he didn't care who he was talking with. It didn't matter. The message stayed the same for all. Even when Peter decided that the message of the cross wasn't quite good enough for the audience that was coming, Paul didn't care. The message should remain the same regardless of the audience.

I'm sure that in those days anyone could say, "Yeah, but things are different in this case." Don't we use the same excuse? I bet it was difficult for any Jew to see other Jews not living the way they've been brought up. All those things that once mattered didn't matter anymore because Christ destroyed all those barriers through the cross. Now everyone has the chance to know God just like the Jews. I'm sure it was a hard thing to grasp for some of them. Not only that, the law had a bunch of things in it that took a different turn because of Christ. Now food was clean, all food was clean. Gentiles could become clean without having to offer any type of sacrifice or go through a ceremonial cleansing. The message of the gospel has no barriers, and God made that very clear. It can go anywhere. But the teachings of gospel changes lives. 

Let me ask you something. Have you put up barriers to the cross? Each barrier we make is declaring to new believers, long-time Christians, and the world that the cross isn't strong or powerful enough to save us. We must do something to help it. It's always easier to follow a step by step procedure. Faith is intimidating. It means we rely on God above what can appear to be the right thing to do. 

Don't take me wrong on this. Don't get nit-picky about little acts of obedience or morality. Each time we obey God's Word is an act of faith. It's declaring that God knows better than we do and we're going to follow Him because of it. It's those big acts, the things that we don't recognize, and the very small things that we've never thought of that causes us to live by faith. Righteous people are only made righteous by faith in Christ. Faith is seen in those who believe and obey God regardless of the cost to themselves. And the terrifying truth is that we can very easily get caught up in a nit-picky thing and, in the process, build a wall in front of the cross. 

That's what Paul was telling Peter. If they're justified by faith, so are we. Why are we trying to change the gospel by now rebuilding something that Christ destroyed? If we rebuild it, CHRIST becomes a minister of SIN!!! We're representatives of Him! It's supposed to be Christ living in us, not ourselves anymore. If we're trying to earn God's favor instead of living in it, if we're trying to gain approval from those who appear to have some type of importance, if we're not real with other believers, then we don't believe the cross is enough! If we died to it, why are we trying to rebuild it?

This is crazy stuff. I've been a believer much longer than I haven't been. It's like hearing something new, or something forgotten. Remember Jesus? Remember what He came to do? Remember what He set me free from? The law shows us that we can't earn it. The law is there because people break it. If Christ set us free from the law by giving us life through His death, which the law what killed Him, why are we trying to live according to it? The shows us that we have sin. And our sin is what put Him to death. Christ came to set us free from the law of sin and death!

We may not be living according to the Old Testament law, but we do have a tendency to make our own. We tell people to clean up before they come to church. People actually believe that they're not good enough to be associated with us! Dude, that sucks. Doesn't that hurt a little bit? Do you know what that means? We're responsible for building something that has been destroyed. We've made Christ a minister of sin instead of grace. 

We've got to stop being fake people. We need to start glorying in our weakness to praise God's strength. We don't think we're weak. We don't think we need help. And unfortunately, most of us could possibly do just fine if we found Christ's body today. Shame on us! We need to remember that we still need Him, desperately need Him! If we don't, we're leading everyone away from the historical Son of God and on toward a buddy that lives on a cloud in our mind. 

Let me ask you again, and this time, pray that God reveals it to you and ask Him to cause an explosion in your soul. Have you put up barriers to the cross? 

This verse makes all the difference. 

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20 NASB)

Stop trying to live. Let Christ live in you. Stop trying to live what you think you know and begin trusting that God knows better. Not because He does know better, but because He loves you and gave Himself up for you. See what He's done? Remember.

finding satisfaction

This might not have anything to do with finding satisfaction, but a lot of us are looking for it. If you're anything like me, most of the reasons I do what I do is to find satisfaction. My work doesn't get published or printed until I find satisfaction with it.

Our lives are consumed with a quest for satisfaction, and we look for it in just about everything. What we don't find satisfaction in receives an unwelcoming spirit from us, or gets sold on craigs list or left on the side of the road hoping to be picked up by someone who will care for it.

Unfortunately many of us see this happening with our stuff. I recently replaced the sink in our kitchen. There wasn't any need for a new sink. But I saw an orphan sink on craigs list that was deeper and white that would totally change the feel of our kitchen to even more of a country theme. It was two whole inches deeper than our old one, and makes for an easier washing of all the large stuff we use for dinners. Sad to say, the old sink had to go and the new one came in to take its place. In the process, though, I couldn't get the sink drains or garbage disposal seperated from the old sink. It went by the road in hopes that someone else could find a home for it.

We throw away the stuff that doesn't bring us satisfaction. We look for the newest thing in hopes that it will fill a void we didn't know we had until we are told that we need it.

God spoke to me through Isaiah the other day. I've been mulling it around in my head for a long time now and just have to tell you what God has taught me. In chapter 55, there are some things in there that will change your life and your perspective if you allow it. The first verse talks about buying milk and bread without cost. It's interesting that God tells us to buy something for free. It makes me wonder what He means about buying something "without cost."

I think what God is talking about is that our seeking a relationship with Him costs us nothing but time. If God is asking us to come and buy something from Him without cost, it must be good. It's not a cost to us, but it cost Him everything. He freely gave so we could freely receive. The passages before proclaim the coming of a Messiah who would die on a cross to wash our sins away. Could it be that the call of God can bring us the satisfaction we've been looking for for such a long time?

The next verse is what hit me pretty hard. It asks, "Why do you spend your money for what is not food, and your wages for what does not satisfy?" Afterward, an invitation to come take from that which is living, that does impart satisfaction.

In our attempts for satisfaction, often times we look to God last. We tend to turn toward ourselves and our money, our friends and family before we think about turing toward God first. We find these great deals on things that will eventually get thrown out by us or someone else instead of finding satisfaction with what God has given us to begin with. I know this might seem a little off-base from what Isaiah says, but I don't think it is. It's easy to get caught in the race for the better thing that's out there.

Ultimately, it comes down to a question of faith. God asks about why we spend our money on things that don't satisfy. His invitation comes to us from all fronts. But we typically have our backs toward Him and don't see the invitation because we've turned around to see the shiny object that we caught a glimpse of in our peripheral vision.

Whether we want to admit it or not, our purchases begin with the thought that this new thing will make our lives better than they were. Do we believe, really believe that God is enough, that His FREE gift is worth it for us?

These verses share a type of marketplace calling. The first words are a cry for attention to the product for sale. When we see signs stating that something is FREE we turn around. We walk over to it and see if the FREE item is worth having. Is the FREE gift of God worth having? Check out the product that doesn't cost anything and see for yourself.

The other thing, we seem to always go to the mall without having any money to spend. We spend wages we haven't earned on things we don't need thinking our lives will be better now that we have them. Then we get the bill from what at the time didn't cost us anything. It bites our butts (that's where our wallets reside).

But God offers something that never even required our wallets to be taken out of our pockets. The only thing it costs is time. Time to listen. Time to spend with Him. Time to incline in His direction. He promises abundance if we'll incline in His direction.

Here's the issue and what we have to deal with. We walk through a marketplace of different promises made from a bunch of telemarketers. Each one promises an abundant life. But only One has the real authentic product and the rest will leave us coming back hoping the warranty is still valid. Is it too good to be true? A FREE gift of life? A real life, like He promises in verse 3, to truly live?

It's not too good to be true because it is true and it's completely good! Any other product is a scam set up by the same corporation. Why would we look anywhere else?

How does contentment not fit into this? We look all over for a better product. We don't turn to God. And that's how we got in the mess we're in. We look to God to pull us out of our problems without looking to Him first before we create the problem ourselves. We make decisions without involving Him, don't we? We can handle it, or so we think. Then we're stuck in a bad situation asking God to save us once again from something we got ourselves into.

Satisfaction can be found in the security of our trust placed in God alone. If God is for us, who can be against us? He will never leave you, nor forsake you. He is with you always, even to the end of the age. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life.

Do you believe that God is enough? How does your life and the decisions you've made thus far proclaim that?

getting started

Back in the day, dad had a little blue honda civic hatchback made in 1983. It was the car that took him to work every day. Eventually it became my first car. Do you remember those? Have you ever seen one? Imagine a Geo Metro but smaller. This car could fit in a Metro. It might be able to fit in your bedroom closet. It was a four-speed manual drive car that could easily change lanes by driving underneath semi truck trailers. I never did that, but the thought did occur to me a few times.

There was this moment in time when the car wouldn't start unless you pushed it forward or let it roll down a hill. I think it was preteen at the time. Dad's car gave out and shut off while he was on a DFW highway. He took the exit ramp to get off the busy road and coasted into a neighborhood to avoid any accidents. (If anyone has ever driven through Dallas/Fort Worth, you know that it requires some real skill to coast off the highway without getting hit by some other car.)

He gave us a call from his cell phone and we met him to help him get his car started up again. He told us, "Push the car and I'll try and get it going." There was no hill. It was a completely flat road. I had no help. It was ridiculously hot outside. I gave it all I had. I even grunted, hoping that the grunt would help me push a little harder. I starting moving the car forward, pushed harder to gain momentum, dad turned the key and we got the car started. When he got it started, he zoomed forward a bit and I just got off the back end of the car enough to keep myself from falling headfirst to the pavement. When I stood up all the way, I experienced something I had never experienced before: I saw stars. I pushed so hard that I was seeing stars! Has that ever happened to you? It took awhile before the stars went away.

Do you ever feel like you need a little push to get going? Or are you the one that seems to be doing all the pushing? You might be the one getting pushed and don't like it. Sometimes we all need a little motivation to get moving. However, some of us have become complacent enough that trying to get started is like pushing a car with square tires.

In Galatians 1:11-24, Paul wrote about the start up of his ministry. For some strange reason, he'd always had that motivation to do something for God. During the early years it was all about him working for God. After his conversion it became all about God doing the work in his life and him telling others about it. God had this man in mind to work through him to point to people to God. God then revealed His Son in him to preach the gospel, which is a continuing revealing of His Son.

There's something in the early stages of his ministry that I'd like to point out to you, though. It convicts me on how I do ministry and what kind of ministry I do. Paul didn't ask anyone if it'd be okay for him to go and preach. He just did. He knew the calling and acted upon it. The class of people he spoke with made no difference to him either. There was no one he tried to please anymore. Just God. That's all there was because there wasn't anything else. God already did the work so why did he need to do it anymore? God gave him favor. God approved of him because of Jesus. What other approval did he need?

What if we had that kind of attitude in ministry? I think a lot of us don't do things because of fear of what others might think. If you're anything like me, we don't begin because we're still thinking about the approval of men. But we don't need it! God has already done the work and now He has already given us approval because of His Son! God has already given us His favor! What other approval do we need?

God jump-started our ministry and pushed us into the momentum of His grace. All we need to do is flow with Him, with what He's already doing. When we can get ourselves, the desire for approval out of the way, we'll be able to declare with Paul the statement I hope defines my ministry: And they praised God because of me.

thoughts of anxiousness

Philippians 4:6-7 
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.(NIV)

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.(MSG)
How often can our anxious souls keep God from working in our hearts? Ultimately, an anxious soul refuses to consider His love and greatness. It dethrones God from our hearts. It sets up a stage for our own illusions of control, when in reality, we don't have any control at all. If we believe we're in control, we worry and become anxious. Things we don't have control over then rule our thoughts as we try and control them. In turn, our attempts at controlling the uncontrollable gives way for the uncontrollable to control us.

That's why we pray. From the very first sin from the beginning of time to all our other sins, they all say the same thing: it's a fight for who's in control. But life in our hands makes us anxious. Life in God's hands brings peace. When we pray our situations to God it allows His love to consume us rather than our anxiousness. We know when we have His complete peace when we believe that God is greater and that whatever this is won't separate us from His love. When we turn our worry into thankfulness, we can see God's hand at work in our lives. Then the next time worry comes and asks to be let in, there's an impenetrable guard at the door.  

Instead of seeking more control, which is putting ourselves in the place of God, seek more of God. If His peace that guards our hearts and minds can't fully be understood, then God and His ways fall in the same category. There's so much more to seek and understand in Him. 

A Different Gospel

I miss this. Sitting down to take time out and journal really relaxes my soul. Lately things have gotten so busy at the church that I just haven't had time to write about what I've read. Now I've finished Galatians on my own, but I don't want to forget what God has taught me and feel the need to share with you His grace in this letter.

Our church is now going through The Story by Zondervan. If you're living in the Falcon area in Colorado, come and see! One of the biggest concerns that has arisen from this is that it might be a different gospel than what the Bible teaches. It's not. It's the same. Granted, it's abridged. But all of us read abridged versions of the Bible to our kids. The people who put this together did so in a chronological way so we could read it like a novel. Most of us read things this way, and sometimes the things we read in the Bible can be intimidating because of the things that don't really make sense to us. Personally, I appreciate what they've done. This is a great opportunity for us to catch the story God's been writing since creation so we can see His hand through the historical events in the Bible. We can see His work to draw people to Himself like the Good Shepherd He is. This study is supplemental to Bible reading, and they've included all the references in the back of the book if anyone wanted to see where it came from.

But all of us, or at least those who've been raised in the church, are a little concerned any time we hear something that seems to be a different gospel than what we've heard or been taught through the Bible itself. Others aren't concerned at all because they haven't opened the Bible to see what it says. My question is, what does the gospel look like in our lives? What kind of gospel are we preaching to the world as they watch us and observe our lifestyles because we've confessed Christ?

Paul mentioned that he was sent by God, the one who rescued us from His wrath and this evil age. He gives complete and all glory to Him because of his love for God. That was the driving motivation behind his preaching. Any gospel that isn't motivated by God's love and our love for Him, isn't the right gospel. In fact, it isn't a gospel at all. In the words of Dwight from The Office, "False."

How many of us have heard a gospel that's been preached that sounds good to you? We've become professionals at twisting the gospel when it disturbs our comfort or way of life. We live complacently and apathetically in many ways. Here's an example to chew on.

Remember the parable Jesus talked about in Matthew 25? Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven, separating the people on His right and left. He mentions feeding those who were hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the naked, and visiting some in prison. Now, this is a tough question for me to ask, but are we doing any of those things? Jesus said that when we do those things we're doing them to Him. Maybe some of us don't really know Jesus that well. Maybe we've seen Him on the side of the street or laying in a hospital bed and walked right on by.

Any gospel that preaches comfort and coming to Jesus will solve all your problems and make your life better, has twisted the true gospel. Yes, Jesus does make life better, but on His terms, not ours. The life He brings isn't the kind of life we typically look for or even long for. We need to be careful that what we hear isn't a different gospel. We need to be careful about the gospel we're preaching through our lifestyles.

In Galatians 1:8, Paul says that those who preach a different gospel are accursed! This lesson convicts me deeply. I believe I'm always living a gospel that God saved me with. I don't think I'm always following the teachings that pull me out of a worldly viewpoint of life. God isn't in the business of pleasing man. He's in the business of bringing glory to Himself. And the cross is what does that the most! The evidence of a life redeemed by the glory in the cross and resurrection is the only true gospel! Anything outside of the cross is bringing glory to man, someone who wasn't made to receive glory unless God bestows it on him.

At the heart of all this is verse 10. This is what I long to say about myself and pray for every day. This is what I close with, and hope the commitment you have with Christ is sealed with this motivation. This is the defining term of your life and helps us all determine if we're really following Christ or not:

Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. (NLT)

Made to Mirror

There are so many examples that we can pull from that help us gain a better perspective on worship and the reason God made us. First off, He made us to worship Him.

Lately I've been reading a book on worship by Tozer. He's quite the amazing man of God. It's encouraging to hear words from men who have had an undying pursuit of what God desires. Tozer's example on being a mirror to reflect God's glory just opened a whole new world for me in understanding worship.

Are you a parent? If not, maybe you've had this said about you, "You look just like your mom/dad." As a parent, after each child was born, I looked intently into their face to see if there was any resemblance of me in them. As they've grown it's become more noticeable that they are definitely a child of mine. There are features we share genetically that proclaim to the world that I'm their parent. It makes me proud. And I'm not sure why.

Do you think God does the same thing toward us? From the moment we're born again through repentance and baptism, do you think God picks us up and looks intently into our newborn souls to see if there's a resemblance? As we grow, do you think He's still looking every so often just to see if there is more of Himself showing up in our features, in our lifestyles, in our thoughts? I think He does. I think it goes even further than simply seeing some similar features. He wants to see His own reflection.

We are so depraved, aren't we? If God made me so He could see Himself in me, if my purpose and reason I was made was to resemble His glory and worship Him, I've failed miserably. So have we all. If it wasn't for Jesus, the Christ of God, who mirrored a perfect reflection of all that He is, and went to the cross for our sins, there'd be no way to even begin living in worship to the glory of God.

God is in the business of redeeming. He's the only One who could take such imperfect failures in purpose and miraculously recreate them to live up to it. With the perfect Man's blood He bought the imperfect men and women to be made perfect for Him.

That requires a response for glory, His glory and not ours. And you know, God can look at us and see a reflection of Himself because of Jesus. We can't see back yet. 1 Corinthians 13 talks about how we see in a cloudy mirror messed up by the affects of sin and death, a poor reflection of what God truly is. But soon, we'll see face to face. Maybe we can't see God directly, but we can reflect His glory as He looks into the little mirrors we are and sees Himself. As Christ cleans us cloudy mirrors with the cleansing soap of His blood, the reflection of God becomes clearer and clearer not only to Himself, but also to the world.

That is love at it's deepest. God redefining our purpose from sin to glory, His glory, our original purpose. And now us loving back.

Sent On A Mission

There's always been something special about being sent on a mission. It makes us feel important. Growing up, we would play like we were soldiers getting order from our commander to perform some crazy task. My kids play the same way. When they watched Toy Story, they had to have to Buzz Lightyear that would perform a secret mission and then "rendezvous with Star Command." 


Now that I'm older, the missions have changed to trips to the store for groceries and what not. Sometimes it's for gasoline or sodas from Sonic. It can get more detailed like taking the kids to the restroom and taking out the trash (those two things are not related). One mission that must be completed every day is going to work to earn a paycheck to take care of the family. But the missions have changed with age. Think about some of the missions you have to complete today.


Paul mentioned that he'd been sent on a mission. It's interesting that he uses this kind of language in reference to his ministry. He wrote a letter to the church in Galatia, and in his greeting he stated his position, his rank in the Kingdom of God. 

Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),Galatians 1:1 (NASB)

First off, I recognize just how important his knew his ministry to be. He knew that God had called him to do this and now his responsibility would be to help others see His calling to them as well. But if I take a closer look at it, Paul's also talking about his being sent by God as part of His agency. Nothing of what He's doing has any merit given to man but only to God. Paul's been commission, sent on a mission for a purpose, a calling from someone higher up. 


Being seen as God's agent changes the way one would perceive the rest of the letter to the church. Any form of conflict between the praise that truly belongs to God and the praise men seek is squelched when the reader comes to realize that the whole intention of the mission begins and ends with God in mind and nothing else. I mean, do we have any kind of power to raise someone from the dead? Right there gives us a distinction in "rank" in the Kingdom of God. 


All this gives me a question to ask myself. If I belong to God too, and am part of His Kingdom now, shouldn't I see my ministry the same way? Shouldn't I see what I do as being sent on a mission for God? 


If that's the case, how much of my life is considered "being sent" by Him? Isn't it everything? I wonder...maybe God is actually the One sending me to the grocery store, to take the children to the restroom, to get some coffee, to go to work, to take out the trash, and get sodas from Sonic. Every moment is a moment in which to give glory to God and worship Him. Viewing life like this helps me understand the ministry is everywhere. It's with my kids. It's with in the checkout line. It's with the runner on roller skates. It's with the person behind the cash register. It's with the person behind me honking because I'm taking too long to fill up my tank.


Well, if God is sending me in each of these moments, what is He sending me to do? Check this out. 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,  to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.Galatians 1:3-4 (NASB)

This is the way people used to say "hi" in letters during the days of the early church. Paul was notorious for including the subject of his letter in his greeting. And here I believe he is telling us the content of his letter, his calling, and now helping us to realize that it's the same calling for us.

The mission is with a message of the Christ who can rescue us. Jesus gave us the mission while He was leaving earth. His last words to His disciples as He was being taking into heaven were to go and make more disciples. People should have an opportunity for God to rescue them, not only from His coming wrath, but also from this present evil age.

I don't know about you, but I think this age is evil too. I'm sure the Roman days were filled with evil as well. Some of the forms of their worship to false gods were sick. A lot of it had to do with defiling what God has set apart as holy. They would degrade their bodies and unite them with prostitutes as a form of worship. God never intended that, and we can see throughout Scripture that that form of worship wasn't something He condoned outside of marriage. It's a false worldview. It's not God's worldview, that's for sure.

But our age is evil as well. I think what Paul's talking about is a thought process and way of life. Jesus came to rescue us from that too! To rescue us from a way of thinking and a way of living that is contrary to God. He gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from it, so how can we live in that way ever again? Those rescued from impending evil and doom shouldn't simply turn around and say to the Rescuer, "Thanks, but no thanks. I think I'll go ahead and run back toward what will hurt me." It doesn't make sense.

It's time for us to wake up and realize what we're doing and see what God has called us to do instead. Paul knew he was on a mission because God had rescued him. Now he will in turn let others know about that same calling, that same rescuing that's available for all through Jesus! The rest of the letter to the Galatians clearly indicates what kind of lifestyle God would have us live, the kind of mission He is sending us on as agents of the Kingdom of grace. We'll take a look at those things this time around and see what He's rescued us from, the mission He's sending us on, and how He's calling us to live.

Be Prepared

This makes me think of that song from Disney's The Lion King. That crazy uncle Scar sang it to all his hyena friends, the traitor. But there's a message from that song we can take, in a way. It's kind of a stretch to say so, but in his preparation to successfully take over the kingdom from his brother, he was getting them ready for the job to be done and what his evil reign would look like. 


It makes me wonder...are we prepared for the true King and His righteous reign? Better yet, are we prepared to help get others prepared for it? It'd be nice to know when the King is coming. But since we don't, and it could be any day, shouldn't it bring about some kind of urgency to prepare the unbelieving so they will begin to believe? Shouldn't we feel a burning desire within us to prepare for the coming of the King of kings ourselves as well as prepare others?


Still in 2 Timothy. But I've reached the final chapter (4) and have come to the conclusion of the letter. These are Paul's last words to Timothy in writing. Winter is coming and Paul left his coat in some other city. In spite of the urgency of his need for warmth, there's a recognition of his end drawing near. His last charge come deep within, from all his conviction and all his reasons for his ministry comes the charge to preach. Let them know. Give them Truth. Preach the Word. And be ready.


Many of us understand that this mentor's instructions are meant for the young preacher. But Paul speaks to all of us in some way through this verse. Our lives should proclaim the message of grace to those around us. If you're a parent, you should be training your children in Christ to know Him. If you're a teacher or leader, you also have a responsibility to train others to know God. So the rest of verse 2 can apply to us as well.


Be ready. Prepare. Not only ready when you need to be, but also when there's nothing else going on. Be ready. 


How can God entrust something to us if we're not ready for it? 


Have you every prayed to God asking for an opportunity to share your faith with someone? Have you asked Him to give you strength to do the right thing? God does give us opportunity. Someone shows up in our lives sometime, one who desperately needs shown the love of God through us. For some reason, we back down or are completely oblivious to it. When we ask God for strength, He gives us opportunity to rely on His strength. But do we notice it? I believe we've all become accustomed to what we do, our culture, and the way things work. And hence, we miss the opportunity. We blaze right by it because we're not used to God's power being at work. We don't notice it, especially in our speech. We use words carelessly and justify it by labeling it sarcasm. I'm asking myself just as much as I am you, how can God use you in that? How can we possibly be His useful tool for His Kingdom the way we truly desire to be used by Him if that's a part of our lives, if He's not the whole of our lives?


Everything in 2 Timothy leads up to this point. Everything Paul spent time writing to Him about sticking to the Word, being grounded in it and proclaiming it and handling it rightly, hanging in there when it's difficult, believing God to be true to His Word, and becoming that useful vessel to God all lead up to this charge. Preach the Word. Be prepared to do it.


This requires work, which a lot of us just don't want to do. We hire people and bring people to church to do the work for us. We don't have all the answers, we know it, and pride ourselves in it so we won't have to search for anything ourselves. We're timid. And I think that if we're not prepared to share, we truly don't know God very well at all. Then we end up moving on toward something else, things we like rather than things that are true. If we're not prepared to share, it's because our relationship with God isn't very deep. The true God-worshiper seeks Him and is ready. (I sure have a long way to go in my relationship with Him.)


Then we get back to those things I mentioned earlier. If we're not truly seeking God and developing our relationship to begin with, God won't entrust us with the keys to the Kingdom. People won't listen because they have no reason to. If we're not prepared in this way, what else should we expect? It's the same with everything. If she's not prepared for the job, she won't get it. If he's not prepared to teach the class, no one will pay attention and he'll even feel like a failure. If he's not prepared to mature a little, he won't receive any responsibility because he won't be able to handle. If we're not prepare to share the gospel, why would God give us the opportunity?


And yet He does anyway! It helps us prepare. All it takes in one question. But we must ask ourselves this: Do I want it? Underneath this question is one that runs much deeper: Do I want God?


It's easy for us to listen to things we like. We get in the car and turn on the radio and begin listening to our favorite style of music. When we sit down in front of the television, we turn on the shows we that fit our taste. When we make our suppers we usually fix something that will dance around on our tastebuds with pleasure. When it comes to faith, because God gives us a choice in choosing Him or not, it's easy to let go of God and His Truth and grab on to something that sounds easier or "better" than what He offers. Sometimes His Word doesn't tickle our ears very much, but rather stings it like a bee flying around. The difference is truth versus untruth, salvation versus judgment, joy versus fleeting happiness, and comfort versus unending sorrow.


When we get to a point where we no longer view it necessary to prepare to share, we get to a dangerous place of finding people who claim to preach the Word, but spread falsehood instead. It feels good to hear. We want to hear that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. We want to hear that His blessings are financial. We want to hear that God gives us a checklist of things to do on how to be a better person if we look in His Word and find out. But none of those things are entirely true. It'd be nice, but those are twisted truths that tickle our ears.  


Be prepared. Be ready. Start with seeking Him so you know. Paul tells Timothy to be sober in all things. It's easier to remain sober when we're not drinking the alcoholic teachings of the world. Sure, the buzz feels good, and it may be fun for a time, but there'll be a price to pay in the end. 


Let me share verses 6-8 with you. Take comfort in this:

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NASB)

Difficult Times Will Come

Moving on to chapter 3 in 2 Timothy. It's a continuation of everything else that moves Timothy into an understanding that it's not going to be easy to convince people to pursue the things of God rather than the things of the world, youthful lusts. 


Paul begins prefaces the list of things men will do with an interesting statement: "in the last days difficult times will come." It makes me wonder about what kind of "last days" he's talking about. End times? Our last days? Are we in the last days?


I think the last question carries the most merit. For when I read the list of things men will do, I see a description of myself, a description of today. It's kind of scary to read. It cuts to the heart of what I've made faith to be in my life instead of allowing God to develop my faith toward Him. See if a description of yourself comes out of the passage.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

2 Timothy 3:2-7 (NASB)

Really, we don't have to look very far to see prime examples of this. But the stuff that sticks out me are those things that I constantly struggle with. Every day it's important to ask for God's grace to be upon us that He would give us the strength to overcome, especially since He already has.

In our culture, we've become lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. I know I have. There are moments I sacrifice what God desires of me for a moment for myself. Not all pleasure is bad. God made all things to be enjoyed, but not at the expense of Him. This cuts me to the heart. I can hear Him calling my name, asking me quietly, "How about a moment of just you and Me? I have something I want to share with you." But it's so much easier to say, "When I go to bed or in the morning. It can wait. Right now I want to watch my show." And that's when I see that I love pleasure over God. I'm beginning to feel like throwing up.

There's another section right next to it that haunts me: "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." Ugh! What does the power of godliness look like? Do I not know? I fear that I don't! But it's not that I might not know, it's that I deny it's power of having any influence in my life! There's no credit given to godliness and the power it holds to destroy a worldly life! And maybe that's why Paul put things in that order. With God being second-rate to my pleasure, what kind of power is godliness even given? None.

With these things in mind and beginning with myself, that's when I turn faith into an area of manipulation. Maybe I don't go into people's homes and captivate them, but maybe I do with this blog. If I'm not coming to a knowledge of the truth by actively allowing God to cut away the things this world has tied me down with, then my motives don't ever become pure, my heart isn't genuine, and my love is a face that I put on to cover up what's burning deep within. I think I've got that feeling coming back again in my stomach.

Is it possible to live a life of complete godliness? Does the knowledge of the truth have a chance in my life to bring me to maturity in Christ?

There's a way.

It's never easy to be persecuted for following Jesus. But if we expect it and know that it will come, it's a way to know we are really following Him. "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (verse 12)

There's something else that sticks out to me a little later on toward the end of the chapter. Godliness comes with training. And for the training, there's a manual directly from the mouth of God. And those things that I once was don't define who Christ has made me to be today if I continue in what I've learned.

This post sounds so depressing. But following Christ isn't always easy. It's difficult when He starts cutting away at you to get more of Him living in you. I don't think He'll stop until there's nothing of us left and it's all Him. But God has given us something to equip us for this life. He is the One who makes us adequate for the work He's prepared for us to do.

It's all in His Word. It's all done through Scripture. The power that works within us to produce godly lives is found in His Word. Take a look and see. Learn to love it and use it. This is what God has given us to see what He desires of us. This is what points out the areas that need to be trimmed from our life to allow more of God in. And, yes, it's difficult. But now we can expect it.

Paul is also talking about Timothy's evangelism. He's encouraging him to hang in there, to remember what he's learned, how it's been passed on to him, that the conviction is something that runs deep, and that the conviction should lead him to continue on. Sure it's difficult to have God chip away at what's left of the "us" in our hearts. But training people to see God for who He is what He longs for us is also difficult when most believe the lies of the world. However, the power of the Word of God brings godliness even to those in whom we least expect.

It's time to stop denying. It's time to remember and know. Continue.

A Useful Vessel Part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's post. It was getting pretty long so I decided to cut it in half. And there was a lot to take in yesterday too. Here's the passage I'm going through again:

Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 

2 Timothy 2:20-26 (NASB)

We discussed briefly on being made useful for God. It takes a pure heart and fleeing from youthful lusts to pursue the things of God. I left you with the description of what a bond-servant (also bond-slave) is according to the Bible, and how the picture Paul created for becoming a useful vessel to God begins with that kind of mindset.

We are all slaves to something. Unfortunately, we are slaves to things we think we need to have. We can tell what we serve by looking at our time. The more time we spend with something, the more we wrap our lives around it. We serve it. We buy things to enhance it and our experience with it.

Television is a great example. Let's move from the classic tube set to the flat-screen, hi-def, LED, 3D TV and think I've got it all. But you know what would make it better? A blu ray player and satellite dish. But I can't just get the regular satellite, I need the hi-def package that includes all the channels, most of which I'll never watch. That way I can make the most out of the HD TV I just got. And you know what will make it even better? Surround sound! That way my 240HRZ 3D HD LED TV will make me feel like I'm actually there in the movie! Hang on a sec! Is that a bump in my TV chair??? Replace with a sectional, complete with cup holders and a small fold out table in the middle. That will really help me so I won't have to sit next to the sweaty guys I'm going to invite over to watch sports with me. Speaking of guys coming over, this whole experience would be so much better if I had a wet bar in the basement so I won't have to get up and walk all the way upstairs to the kitchen to get a...

See what I'm saying? It's easy to do the same thing with clothes, gardens, landscaping, houses, cars, and appearances. We become servants to them, bound to most of it even in debt. We don't own any of those things until they're all paid completely off. But we got a good deal on financing. That decision, however, has made us slaves to it. We've built a "bigger barn" to house all our junk. Then we spend time with it, caring for it, loving it, and we worship it by spending absorbent amounts of time with it. It consumes our thoughts, attitudes, hearts, and wallet.

Aren't even those things included in the "youthful lusts" we talked about yesterday? Ultimately find that youthful lusts keep us from becoming a bond-servant to God because we've tied ourselves to all these other things we thought were something we wanted. And now we're back to the pure heart thing. God desires us more than we realize. Maybe these things that we're running after to bring us happiness or some sort of self-fulfillment, the attitude we have toward the pursuit of these things needs to be the same toward God. But the only way to get there is to flee this stuff and pursue His stuff. So what is it that consumes us? What consumes me and what consumes you?

This is turning out to be a lot deeper than I realized. The picture of a bond-servant to God runs deep, and in order grasp the rest of the passage, we have to think with that type of mindset. Our relationship with God begins with knowing and understanding that He knows what's best for us, and I'm powerless to take care of things on my own. Thus a complete trust and reliance upon Him as our Master.

With a mind focused on the Lord, we are not to be quarrelsome, but kind to all. All means everyone. You know who popped into your head. That guy will work for the example himself.

Another thing is that God expects us to teach and train others in the Way. A good bond-servant knows what his master requires of him and helps and teaches those who don't know what's required.

We're to be patient when we're wronged. How often are we wronged in traffic? How often does someone at work push our buttons to set off the fuse of wrath within us? Even God teaches us to slow down and count to 10 before we respond when we're wronged. If we truly desire to be the bond-servant used to the fullest potential, we must always remember that our anger won't bring about the righteous life God desires. Think of it from God's perspective instead of our own. I'll get to that in a little bit.

We're to correct those in opposition with gentleness. Easier said than done, of course. In the heat of the moment it's always easy to be harsher than we'd like to be because we'd rather have the result we've been looking for. We want obedience from our kids. Gentle correction is out of the picture when they don't do what they're told immediately. It's frustrating. But if we tell them to wait on us because we're preoccupied, should they expect anything different from us? Aren't we supposed to treat others the way we want to be treated? Maybe the gentle correction comes from a desire to understand and then relay our desire afterward. What ends up happening in gentle correction is the development and nurturing of a relationship. God is this way with us. The only difference is that He already understands where we're coming from. We just need to learn to trust Him.

We do all those things to lead to this: God may grant them repentance and their eyes may be opened to the knowledge of the truth! They could get out of the trap they're in! The selfish pride that brought the fall of Satan is what's holding them back from seeing the truth! Their rescue begins with a pure heart demonstrated by us!!! The truth is, they're lost. Even if God has set them free, if their heart isn't pure and seeking God, they're still in need of more of Him and they are lost too.

From a personal standpoint, I wonder if when I fail at a pure heart, that I'm doing the will of the devil. This brings a shiver to my spine and tears to my eyes. I know that if I'm not pursuing the things of God, I'm pursuing something else. A youthful lust. This shows me how much I have to grow yet and how much more God needs to take from me to make me His bond-servant. But those of us who are mature must be doing this to help those who aren't, to rescue them, to untangle them from the snare of the devil.

God, grant me repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth! Help me come to my senses in my life about what's important to You.

A Useful Vessel

Interesting title, but appropriate.

I'm still in 2 Timothy 2. It's been awhile since I've posted anything, but this just took some time to grasp for me. I've been trying to apply it to my life and have been watching it slowly take over and create a newer lifestyle. It's like getting the long-awaited update to the software that runs my being. But I'm using dial-up instead of something faster, so it takes a while for it to download and install.

Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

2 Timothy 2:20-26 (NASB)

 This passage cut so deep I had to memorize it and begin applying it to everyday life. This past week I talked with our Worship Department about this passage, and I think I'm finally getting to a place to understand what the first few verse of the passage mean with the rest of it.

God has so many good things in store for His people if we would just stop filling ourselves with trash and dirt from the world. Sure, we will get dirty from use, but we must first be cleaned from the inside or we spend too much time in the sink and won't get used again. I don't like eating using dirty dishes and uncleaned silverware. Imagine how God feels when He's cleaned us but we've put in stuff that makes us un-useful to Him.

For a longer time, I couldn't figure out what the "these things" meant either. But part of the sanctification comes on our end too. God makes us holy, but living in a world corrupted by sin requires us to work at abstaining from it. Those things that made us "dirty" before are things we must now stay away from, cleanse our lives from in order to be useful to God.

"These things" I believe are youthful lusts. All of us have things we seek after. All of us have something that constantly pulls and tugs at us to get us away from following God to where He wants to lead us. Unfortunately, maybe those things will never completely go away. Even if they don't, we can flee from them. The idea is to run away from them as quickly as you can, with all your might, all the strength in your legs, moving faster and faster as you pick up the pace to get farther and farther away. That's what it's supposed to look like. Flee from youthful lusts.

I was reading in a the book "Real Marriage" by Mark and Grace Driscoll about the development of a male in our culture. There used to be two seasons of life: boyhood and manhood. Now there are three: boyhood, adolescence, and manhood. The sad truth is that adolescence is a state of mind that excuses irresponsibility because they're young or don't know any better. I don't think that's a right way to think of the development of a man. I agree with Mark. If we include adolescence in our growth, we have a much smaller chance of getting to manhood, of growing up and making something of our lives, or making a difference in the world. Including adolescence makes it easier to keep responsibility out of the picture and mooch off others who are responsible. And that way of life is very hard to get out of if it goes excused from the mature.

I think youthful lusts equals adolescence. For example, I want it so I get it. I don't want to work so I'll take an easier way. I don't like it so I'll get rid of it. It doesn't matter to me how you feel, I've already made up my mind. If you make me mad, I'm not your friend anymore. I don't like it when I'm wrong or don't get my way, so I'll throw a fit.

Notice the trend? I don't know about you, but those kinds of people drive me crazy. They're completely selfish, unable to think of others, and refuse to get their hands dirty. If they're hands do get dirty, the tend to complain about what it costed them or brag about their accomplishment as if it were only they who made it happen, as if only they were the ones who contributed. I can't stand to work with them and I don't invite them to serve with me.

Here's the question that brought conviction and caused me to think: Am I that way with God? My "youthful lusts" may look like something different, but they're still there. My life is in the world, and the world tugs and pulls at my heart to get me to think only about here, only about things that will make me happy or succeed here. God's mind is elsewhere, it's eternal, and He longs for me to be there too. But do I treat God's commands that way? Do I throw away what I don't like to keep my comfort? Is comfort what I'm really looking for or is it God?

In fleeing youthful lusts, He tells me to pursue something else. I'm running away from something and running toward something else. In my haste to leave behind what holds me back from being fully useful to the Master, I'm desperately pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace.

There's a key to the pursuit: A pure heart. How often to the things I pursue, the things I ask of God come from a pure heart, motives that come deep within from a desire for more of God instead of more for myself? The only way to be successful in pursuing the things of God is to begin with a pure heart. It's not about me, it's about Him. It's not for my benefit, it's all for His. I'm just the vessel, He's the owner. A pure heart is what makes us useful to Him.

The lesson for a leader goes much deeper. I believe all of us are leaders in some form. Someone is watching us to see how we'll respond and how we'll handle the situation. Those are our moments to lead by example.

I remember in Bible college students would spend time debating through the night terminology over words in the Bible. One argument that lasted for days was about baptism and what the Bible says about it. I'm going to go into detail because it was ridiculous. At the very least, Jesus commanded us to baptize before He physically left earth to go into heaven and sit at God's right hand. So do it and teach it. The things is, they had no idea what they were talking about. Their understanding of the scripture was limited. Most of the debates weren't even over scripture they did understand, but over speculations about what they believed and were taught grown up. It divided friends.

Remember those people who predicted the coming of Jesus? Again, a total speculation from ignorance because Jesus said that only the Father knows, not even Jesus knows when He's coming back. Those things are the things to refuse because it does produce quarrels.

Paul does tell us what we are to look like though. I'll go over it tomorrow. This post is really long. But before I finish, I'd like to leave one more thought with you about what the heart of a follower of God looks like.

"But the Lord's bond-servant (or bond-slave)." Wow! What a picture for a leader to take in! In the Old Testament, a bond-slave was a former slave having been freed from his master because his service was up or his debt had been paid. But the former slave would realize his situation as something like this: "My master knows what's best for me and my family better than I do myself. I need to stay with him because he will take care of me and I'm powerless to do so." The master would then take an all (a small nail) and pierce the former slave's ear with it by nailing it to the door of the house. Thus the former slave would choose to remain a slave for the rest of his life and never be set free again.

That's the attitude we need to have as leaders in God's church, as leaders in our homes and communities. Complete surrender to the Master knowing that His way is better than mine, I'm powerless to take care of myself and my family, and He knows what's best for me and will take care of me. Thus we should choose to be a slave to a new Master, to God for the rest of our lives and never be set free from Him.

Approved

Remember when you got your first loan? Were you able to get it? I wasn't. I had to have a co-signer. Then I remember the day that I finally got approved. Now I'm wishing I'd had better sense not to get a loan. But there was something great about getting approved. It was a feeling of, "I've arrived," or, "I'm an adult." I know it's weird but that's what it felt like. The same thing is true of being approved for a job.

Approval doesn't come until we've met all the requirements.

My parents were some that I've sought approval from. Many relationships have thrived or been crushed by seeking for approval. There were many times I've chosen to seek approval from people that caused me to compromise standards and principles I was raised with. So now that I'm older, what or whose approval am I seeking?

I'm still in 2 Timothy 2. It's been awhile since I've posted anything so I've been reading this section over and over again trying to understand it fully. I've looked in to some commentaries to see if I'm getting this right, but what I've read and what jumped out at me personally were two slightly different things. So, I'm going to share them both because I think they both fit. I'm not an expert in the Greek language the New Testament was written in, but I do think God reveals Himself through His Word regardless of the language we're using. But the study helps us grasp a better picture.

I said all that to talk about this verse: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 NASB) ...and I just spilled coffee on my pants. This is going to be interesting.

Let's gather some info on the background of what's going on here. In the few verses afterward, Paul wrote about two guys that were messing up the faith of others by going around and saying that Jesus already came again and they missed it. So the resurrection of ourselves, God redeeming us for an eternity with Him has already taken place. Obviously that would cause quite a stir in the church at that time.

Paul likens their talk to gangrene (and yes, I did just use the word "liken"). That's disgusting. Have you ever seen the affects of gangrene? Do you know what it is? It's the death of skin cells that spread further and further unless cut off. It's an infection gone terribly wrong, an infection left untreated from the beginning. It can be dry or wet, which is even grosser. It's almost as if your body is turning into a zombie body but you're still alive and aware of what's going on. It typically begins on the fingers or toes and spreads elsewhere if left untreated (amputation is the only way to get rid of it). With no blood reaching that area of the limb, it turns black and stiff and becomes unusable. I'd put up a picture, but I don't want to do a search for that. I'm grossed out enough.

That picture though, clearly gives illustration to misunderstanding God's word or teaching something false in the church. It spreads slowly and overtakes the life of the church and God can't use it! The only way to get rid of false teaching is to recognize it for what it is: not truth! And there's only one way to get rid of it: cut it off! So if we don't handle God's Word accurately, we won't know what's gangrene and what's healthy. That's why it's so vital to the health of the believer to know God's Word, to be in it every day!

The example of these two men led Paul to write verse 15. These guys had no basis for the stuff they were saying. So Paul told Timothy to prove himself approved to God, to do everything to make sure he's one seen as approved to God. What he was teaching was truth. The way he was living is what God desires of us. The example he's setting is what should be followed because he knows and understands the truth and accurately handles it (Unlike the coffee I spilt on my pants. And yes, I just used the word "spilt.").

Another way of reading "approved" is like what the commentaries have said, and I agree with them: What we should focus on, instead of the words and sayings and trying to figure out when Jesus is coming back, is our devotion to God, our diligence in presenting ourselves to Him as approved for Him to work in us and through us.

We identify the gangrene by pointing it out for what it is: sickness (wickedness or anything contrary to what God teaches in His Word). We cut it off by paying attention to what's most important and teaching about it: devotion to God, seeking His approval rather than the approval of men.

It's easy to gain followers for ourselves when we have something that catches people off guard, or provokes them because we've hit a nerve with our words. We can easily get lost in a battle of opinions. But our diligence should only be found in seeking God's approval, in handling His Word accurately, and leaving no room for being ashamed in doing so because we know who we belong to. And God knows those who belong to Him anyway (vs. 19).

Maybe we should identify the gangrene in our lives and cut it off so we can pursue God's approval to be used as His workmen who doesn't need to be ashamed. Lord, show us how to handle Your Word accurately.

Not Imprisoned

There are so many things that hold us back from sharing our faith with our friends. Fear of rejection, lack of confidence, to name a few. I believe that what it really comes down to is our commitment to Jesus, our conviction of the Truth in our lives being surrounded by the lies of the world.


A few days ago I posted "An Invitation To Suffer" and this post kind of gleans from that one a little deeper. I'm reading 2 Timothy 2:8-13 (NASB).

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. It is a trustworthy statement: 

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;  
If we endure, we will also reign with Him; 
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;  
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Maybe scroll back a little bit in your Bible and refresh the first 7 verses in your mind. Paul expresses his deep conviction here. Because of the gospel he suffers. Because of his conviction of the Truth he's in prison. And he believes it doesn't matter where is, the gospel will not be imprisoned with him because everyone needs to hear it, everyone should have a chance.


It makes me wonder though, if even though I'm not in prison, that I've imprisoned the gospel in smaller ways. I'm not sure if Paul's conviction about sharing faith with others while in prison was more of a "what have I got to lose?" attitude, because he shared it outside prison too just like he did in it. It's what it seems like. So, what do we have to lose? And if we do lose something, doesn't that mean we're following Jesus closer? Aren't we supposed to take up our cross and follow Him? (Luke 9:23)


"The word of God is not imprisoned." I love that statement! But it convicts me. 


It seems as though Paul tells us what happens if we imprison God's word inside us or set it free. The glory of the freedom of the gospel is seen in the first two sections: "if we died with Him, we will also life with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him." It's a promise to those completely convicted of the necessity of the gospel. 


The third section defines what happens when we aren't "sold out" or "buy in" in the truth of the gospel: "if we deny Him, He also will deny us." So the times we hold back and put the gospel in prison is the same as denying Christ. That's terrifying! But even in our faithlessness, the moments we're unsure of whether or not God is going to come through, or that the Holy Spirit won't work in us to give us the words to say in sharing the gospel so we keep quiet, those times we don't believe God is true to His promises, He still remains faithful. But if we keep quiet and don't believe He is true to His word to help us and be with us, we'll never experience His faithfulness in a personal way. Maybe in the moments we decide not to share the gospel and put in prison are moments we're also denying the work of Christ within us.


The call to suffering is keeping the gospel out of prison in our lives. The promise of life is given to those who won't deny, who keep the faith, and die to themselves. It seems to be a much better deal in remembering Jesus having risen from the dead, to be relying on the power of God at work within us, to deny ourselves in order to lay hold of a faithful God instead of denying Christ. 


Choose whom you will deny. To lean one way is to deny the other. We must ask ourselves if we are fully convicted about the Truth of the gospel. God's word only has one place to go and that's everywhere. It cannot be imprisoned regardless of you. But that one person deserves to hear of His grace, and to receive the key to unlock their soul from the prison that sin is keeping them in. His word is all about freedom. We cannot afford to keep God's word in prison, but we must believe that He is true to His word.