Testing and Rebelling

     How do we handle ourselves when we find ourselves in a place we don't understand? How do we approach the Lord when it seems like times are too hard, or we don't feel that we have all we need, or things just could not get worse. Exodus 17:1-7 shows the nation of Israel in a place similar to that, and I think they give us an excellent model of how not to approach such times:

The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”

But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!” The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” 

-- Exodus 17:1-7 (CSB)

     The Israelites were travelling, as the Lord commanded, but there was no water where the Lord sent them. So they got mad at Moses, which then prompted Moses to remind them that it was God who had brought them to this place in life in the first place. That's the same as us; wherever we are currently in life, it is because God brought us there or allowed us to wander there ourselves. Nothing is beyond His scope or His vision; we are never apart from His presence and never blocked from His guidance.
     This didn't stop the Israelites from grumbling and complaining about the situation, though. I get it; there's not any water, and water is necessary for life to continue. It had to have felt like Moses was leading them out into the desert to dehydrate and die of thirst. They even started to long for the "good ol' days" when they were enslaved by the Egyptians, where they at least had access to water. I guess they figured that a terrible life with water was better than no life at all. So they kept complaining at Moses, and Moses did not know what to do. How was he to handle this situation?
     He turned to the Lord. He called out for God to help, knowing that God was totally aware of their plight and that it was God Himself who had lead them there. They had no rebelled and gone somewhere they were not supposed to go; it was totally through Moses's faith in God and His guidance that they had ended up in this predicament. God's people were on the verge of literally dying out, but God had no intention of that happening. He was not going to allow His covenant people to die out. His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would not be coming up short, and certainly not in a place that God Himself had led them. He led His people to a place of testing, and they responded by testing Him. They failed His test of faith.
     So Moses called out, and God answered with a plan. It wasn't the assumed, normal plan either. I'm sure Moses assumed that God would lead them to a place with more water, like a river or a lake. We often assume that God's plans will be pretty predictable, too. I know that I often think I can plot out God's answers and next steps for my life, and yet time and time again, I am proven wrong. God almost always surprises me with the next step on His journey with me, and He surprised Moses here, too. God brought their salvation in an unexpected and unforeseen way: He brought water from a rock.
     There is a ton of parallel here with Jesus in the New Testament. He's the Rock we stand on (1 Corinthians 10) and our source of living water (John 4). He is the salvation that came to us in an unforeseen way, as a baby in a boondocks town that grew up to be a street-preaching rabbi that literally died in our place to provide salvation to us. We do not have to go find our living water and our salvation; just like the Israelites, our salvation came to us in our hour of need, and we simply need to trust Him for salvation.
     This is not a one-time deal, though. We do not trust Jesus to save us once, and then live the rest of our lives. Trusting in Jesus as our salvation may be initiated and secured when we place our faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, but our daily walk with the Lord is meant to be a daily step of faith. We daily find ourselves, like the Israelites, confused and frustrated. We don't always understand our circumstances and we don't always see how it will work out for good. Yet, we always have a choice to make: to grumble like Israel, or trust that our Savior is the Rock of salvation every day in everyplace. We must not test (Massah) or rebel against (Meribah) the Lord; we must trust Him.
     Hebrews 3:7-4:2 puts this Old Testament passage into a New Testament context; we cannot allow a sinful, unbelieving and distrustful heart to turn us away from God. We must have confidence in Christ. We must encourage our fellow believers to keep the faith. Hebrews 4:2 clearly shows that Israel had heard the gospel, same as us in the church today; they simply did not combine the good news with daily, practical faith in the moments of everyday life. When they did that, they rejected the rest available to them: both in the immediate rest we find in placing our burdens on Christ and in the future rest we have in eternity with Him. Their lack of faith showed a lack of heart change by the gospel, and revealed them to be frauds in the faith.
     Will we trust our Lord daily, while we still have time to walk with Him and rest in Him, or will we doubt and test Him until the end of our days? The choice is ours to choose faith, and I pray that we will each do just that.

No Bad Days

As I rode in my car on the way to Louisville today, I was in a fantastic mood. As in, one of those irrationally good moods. Music was blaring, I was dancing, the sunroof was down, the skies were clear, my smoothie was refreshing and temperatures were up from the past few days. As one of my friends loves to say, “things were going my way.” Even when the gas pump wouldn’t work quite right, and when the clouds rolled in, and when traffic began to back up, I was not to be deterred, as my mantra over the past few days has been “No Bad Days.” 

 I don’t mean that in the obnoxious “happy Christian” sentiment, where many of my brothers and sisters seem to believe that the only way to be a good witness is to always have a smile on your face and not let the world see you down. They might even say that a person that isn’t happy isn’t close to God. I would, only somewhat respectfully, disagree. David wrote some pretty sad psalms to be a “happy Christian,” and they called him the “man after God’s own heart.” Paul wept for his nation, Nehemiah pulled his beard out in sorrow and Jesus Himself wept. If Jesus weeps, then he’s either a bad Christian or it’s ok for Christians to have an emotion beyond “happy.”

Instead, we pursue joy and contentment. We don’t always have to be a little ray of bubbling sunshine, like I was this morning. Instead, when I say “No Bad Days,” I mean that I am seeking to find some sort of positivity, some kind of trace of my good God and loving Savior's grace in the midst of even the worst days. Philippians 3-4 preaches a message of contentment and the pursuit of joy. This is the Christian's goal.

A particular Scripture of meditation on this topic is Philippians 4:13, which has become a real foothold in my walk with Jesus. A few years ago, when mom had cancer, the fourth chapter of Philippians became a real lifesaver for me. I repeated turned back to this chapter of God’s Word for encouragement during that time, and it gave me a much truer appreciation of this famous verse. So many people assume that this verse is all about pulling ourselves up from our bootstraps and becoming all we can be, either in the office or on the football field (sorry Tim Tebow). However, this could not be further from the truth.

Rather, Philippians 4:13 is the culmination of these two chapters of encouragement from Paul to what could have been his most beloved of church plants. The previous thirteen verses in chapter four, specifically, all speak of putting aside worry and praying, all in the name of fostering a deeper trust in Him, not in us. When the storms of life hit us (see Matthew 7:24-27), we need a solid foundation. We get our content and peace and security from others (Philippians 4:10) and from learning how to deal with stuff (v.11-12), but it is ultimately (even in those three verses) the Gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us a foothold when life tries to sweep us away in the currents of strife and hardship.

So, with all of this said, let's have No Bad Days. Not in a ridiculous, unbiblical manner that ignores the pains in our lives. We will certainly have some very rough, painful, cripplingly-awful days. However, let's not lose track of Him in the darkness. Don't get so focused on the water swelling around you that you forget who your Savior is. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he called out to Him, asking if he could walk out to Jesus. When he actually hopped out of the boat and began towards Him, though, Peter realized that the waters were thrashing about him and that if he fell in, he'd probably die. So he lost track of what was in front of him (Jesus) and instead was swallowed up by the seas. Don't be swallowed up. Instead, look for Jesus in even the most violent of waters. He's there; walk towards Him.

Dirty Love: It Ain't Easy to Love Like Jesus, But We Kinda Need To.

It is not an uncommon occurrence for people to tell us about a problem that they are having. After all, they are either griping and grumbling or they have a legitimate dilemma in their life. In the event of having a legitimate problem, they need someone to be there by their side. Yet, in our culture, we are often too busy to give people that support.

Christians are called to live in a sacrificial manner, loving people in a way that is anything but beneficial from the Earthly viewpoint. Would loving that person inconvenience you? Would it make you late for something? Would you lose productivity? If you can answer yes to any of those, then you probably should go ahead and do what you can to show love. Love is dirty and difficult.

So, what are some ways to show love to people? Perhaps you'd like to know how and simply cannot think of a way. Well, here's a quick list of things that I thought of. There are many more, but I hope this gets you thinking!

1. Say nice things. When someone is having a hard time, or even just trying to get through a normal day (which is hard enough, amiright?!), they could almost always use a word of encouragement. Job was not having a good time of things when he lost all of his possessions, children and own personal health. It appeared that God had completely abandoned him, and he could have used a little bit of cheer. Instead, his friends opted to shame him and try to get him to confess whatever sin he had committed to make God do this. Job even calls them out on it in chapter 16, calling them "miserable comforters." How often are we miserable comforters, either failing to support at all or filling their lives with all of our "advice" about how they can get out of their situation?

Rarely does the person going through a breakup, battling a health issue or failing a class need more advice, especially not in the midst of their darkest hour. What people need more than anything is support and love, letting them know that we are there for them. If there is a sin problem causing their issue, it should be addressed, but not in the form of a brutal chastisement. Think about how you'd feel in their shoes, and respond with love.

So send someone a little note. Say they look cute (in a non-creepy way...) or notice their new hair. Compliment their Tervis tumbler (those are still popular, right?). You never know how far that brief word of positivity can go.

[Side bar: someone who really understands this is Hannah Brencher, the founder/starting blogger at www.moreloveletters.com. Go check out their work. It's officially one of my favorite things right now.]

2. Do something nice. Sometimes people just need to know you are thinking of them. When Jesus saw the crowds hungry in Mark 6:34, the Bible says that He "had compassion on them." He then proceeded to give them a simply dinner of fish and bread (for 5,000 people!). Now, this does not mean that we must feed crowds of people, but it does mean that we have compassion for people in need and be willing to go out of our way to do a little something for them.

Bring them coffee on a cold morning. Surprise them with a little gift that they mentioned in conversation a while ago. Drop some food over at a friend's room during finals. Scrape the snow off their car. Pay a drive-thru meal behind you, or maybe even just give someone a ride home when they need one. It's the little things, y'all.

3. Spend time with them. People get lonely, and that can actually increase during the holiday season. Be willing to make time in your schedule for the people in your life that need you. You and I are likely surrounded by a group of people that could use a little bit of our time. So what if you're busy? I get it, that is usually my excuse, too. But Jesus, ruler of all, stepped out of His eternal rule of all things that exist, have existed and will ever exist in order to walk around Israel for a few years, spend time with some rather dense individuals and ultimately die on a cross and rise again for our benefit. If He made time for the people that deserved His least (note: that's us), then we can give up an hour (or afternoon!) somewhere in our schedule for people that need us.

Go grab lunch or tea. Give them a call and talk about life. Watch basketball with the kids. Drink hot cocoa with your elderly grandparents. Help someone fix their car (unless you're more likely to break it more, and in that case go with them to get it fixed). Show that your schedule is not as important as the people around you.

People need love. Simple as that. Our lives should not be so pristine, and I know that mine has been far too clean for far too long. Love is dirty and difficult, and loving people the right way (the Jesus way) is hard work. So be willing to put in the time and effort to do it. It can be as cheap as a hug or a little smiley face on an index card stuck between the keys of their keyboard. It ain't easy, but it is necessary for the Christian. No efforts are perfect, but all efforts are better than the one that doesn't happen!

Go out, and by the end of the week, I want you to do one thing for somebody, and then shoot me an email at thefreedbug@gmail.com. Lemme know how it went. After all, I could use some more ideas on how to love people myself. :)

Rest in the Midst of Your Burdens

Man, I am swamped these days. I recently started attending seminary in Louisville, while working at my home church in Lexington, all while balancing family and friends and interests and such. Life is crazy. My days and nights consist of reading about church history and Old Testament scholarship, writing papers on Hittite treaties, organizing and guiding and leading and preaching in growing, active student ministry, leading a small group, discipling a couple of guys and being discipled myself.

It has been during this past week, about three weeks into the semester, when I have realized that I am burning out already. So, I took much of this past weekend off and have been scaling back some things.

Alas, here it is. Monday. And I am reaping the consequences of my weekend of minimal work. And that's OK.

It is good to appreciate little things and relax a bit. I spent Friday night watching the first live MMA fights that I have watched in quite some time. It was a blast. Then, on Saturday, I spent much of the day with my family and some friends, eating jambalaya and watching LSU football. I accomplished a bit yesterday afternoon, but ended up spending last night in front of a Quentin Tarantino movie. All of this is going through my mind as I sit at my desk on a cool, autumn-esque morn, reading the Psalms.

If you have followed my blog any length of time, you're probably aware that I spend quite a bit of time in the Psalms. David, who wrote much of the Psalms, is my boy, and we think rather similarly (that is to say, we're both rather dramatic). So, as I read Psalm 35:27-28, I resonate well with his sentiment there.

"Let those who want my vindication shout for joy and be glad; let them continually say, 'the Lord be exalted, who wants His servant's well-being.' And my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness, Your praise all day long." -Psalm 35:27-28, HCSB

Now, the context of this passage is David, praying for victory over those who were oppressing him. Knowing his life story, I feel safe to assume they probably wanted him dead. I do not think anyone wants me dead. However, I believe there is something to be said here for anyone feeling some strain in life.

David writes that the Lord "wants His servant's well-being." God truly does want the best for His people. Romans 8 is a beautiful chapter on that front. While it may seem that we are overwhelmed, God has given us much in those moments. He is working for our good and is here alongside us, strengthening us through the work and truth of the Gospel (Philippians 4:10-13). This is why David proclaims at the end that he will proclaim "[His] righteousness, [His] praise all day long."

Our God is a loving God, and He wants our well-being. He wants His people to pursue Him with all they have and find joy/praise in Him. As a continuation of that, He wants us to cut out what keeps us from doing so.

So don't be afraid to take a night off. Yes, we work hard. Yes, we pursue excellence. However, it is not God's desire for us to be miserable, either. He has given us good things (such as friends, family, Cajun food and SEC football) to enjoy in His name. Don't spend your life worrying and stressing over everything all the time. He's got this. Our job is to shout for joy, be glad, exalt Him, proclaim His righteousness and praise Him all the day long. None of that involves letting the minutiae kill you.

Yes, this is a bit of a rambling post, so let me sum it up as such: David spends verses 1-8 and 11-26 ranting and rambling about his struggles, much like I did to start this post. Yet, he stops in verses 9-10, as well as verses 27-28, to rest in Him and praise God's goodness. Let's follow that example.

I challenge you: rest in Him at some point today. It's Monday, after all. We're all ramping up for the work week and diving in. Therefore, you're likely stressing already about your workload and deadlines and outside difficulties and such. Take some time off, at some point today, and rest in Him. Take a walk. Smell a flower. See a movie. Eat lunch with your phone turned off. Do something you enjoy that allows you to rest in the good, loving things He gives you and let the struggles disappear for a bit. Read through Psalm 35 and make the resting verses, the praises of Him be your refrain today. May our bones say "Lord, who is like You, rescuing the poor from one too strong for him, the poor or the needy from one who robs him?" today!

Since I've Been Gone

Hello there. Long time, no see. I will say, it feels weird to sit down and write on this blog. I haven't seen the familiar orange-and-gray color scheme of the Blogger homepage in quite some time. In fact, I haven't seen my blog much at all in quite some time. I periodically would check in to see if anyone had commented or anything, but overall, I truly left this thing for awhile. I needed to get away. I needed to spend sometime writing, just me and God.

Since then, I have come into a new place. A lot has happened, that's for sure. My, has my life been nuts since May. It wasn't long after my last post that my mom went in for a routine scan (to see if her cancer was back) and found a mass in her lung. About a month and a half later, a surgical procedure found that her soft-tissue sarcoma had returned. She originally had it in her left arm before this find, and went through both chemotherapy and radiation to rid her body of the disease. She was "cancer-free" for about a year-and-a-half, and then the cancer metastasized in her lung. No bueno, that's for sure.

She had the mass removed, but more returned quickly. The cancer was more aggressive and in a more dangerous spot this time, and had to be handled as such. Mom began working with the University of Texas's MD Anderson Cancer Center, which has a large number of doctors devoted to this particular form of cancer (and about every other kind, for that matter). MD Anderson is one of the very best cancer centers in the world, and they have been more than helpful in working to cure my mom.

She is rapidly approaching her final of six rounds of chemotherapy, in which she was forced to stay in the hospital for a week at a time, letting literal poison to drip into her circulatory system. It has been both a blessing and curse, seeing her receive treatment that could save her life, and yet was also making her sicker. While the first bout was difficult, this second bout has been all the more.

While this was all going on, my college ministry at the University of Kentucky (where I still attend) has been continuing our purpose of glorifying God by making disciples of our generation through prayer, relationships and studying God's Word. EPIC Ministry launched a website, made some contacts and gained some members on UK's campus, held an outdoor worship concert and even went through a study on our basic beliefs and values. We even expanded our meetings, going from a small-group Bible study to a weekly gathering with teaching and discussion times. We then brought back the small-group-only format on Sunday mornings, allowing us to spend more time together as a community in the Word and in prayer.

One of my mentors, Wayne Lipscomb, has continued to battle ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. I have watched and followed as this strong man has tried to defeat this neurological monster. He has continued to work at his church, and still preaches regularly, despite being weaker than he once was.

My sister got married not long after I went on my blogging hiatus. She married her longtime friend, Trent, and they had a gorgeous wedding at their church in Louisiana. Not long ago, Trent and Brittany announced that they will be having a baby in the spring. I've already become a brother-in-law, and now it appears I will be an uncle. Weird.

I was blessed to be able to preach on several occasions over the past few months, ranging from churches in South Louisiana to Frankfort, Kentucky, and twice in my home church of Victory Baptist Church, here in Lexington, Kentucky. Each time, I am more and more affirmed in my calling that I am a preacher. That is what God put me on this Earth to do. There is nothing in my life that I receive such satisfaction from doing, and there is nothing I strive for more than to help someone in their understanding of God and His Word. I know I was questioning that when we were last together, and God resolved that internal conflict. He made Bryan Watts for one thing, and that was to preach His Word and His Name to the nations. I am a preacher at heart, and now know that I am, without a shadow of a doubt, been made to do so.

So, what have I learned through all of this? What have I learned as I left on a little time of Christ-reflecting and such? Did I "find myself," or something like that? Here's a brief touch of what I have learned:

1. I'm still learning
• You are crazy if you think that I disappeared for a while and have come back with all the answers. That doesn't happen. We are not able to "find ourselves," because our identity is not in ourselves. If you are a human, and I bet you are, then you were not made for this world. Doesn't it seem like we're always messed up or in the wrong spot? Guess what: it's because we are. We're made for so much more than the petty crap we fill our lives with. I am not made for Kroger and UK and writing and girls and friendships and NASCAR and all the other things I fill my life with. I am made for one purpose: to worship God. I am designed specifically to be a worshiper, an image-bearer of the Lord God who reigns over all. By saving me, He took it another step further by making my heart new and allowing my to come to Him. My identity and my heart are not made of myself; I cannot craft a true identity for myself. I am in Christ, and He is in me. I am His and He is mine. My identity is found solely in Him, and I must continue to realize that as time goes. If you are interested in getting a head start in finding your identity in Christ, rather than yourself, then check out the Identity in Christ reading plan by Mars Hill Church on YouVersion. It's worth a month of your time. 
2. Life is fleeting
• I have written on this in the past, but has become more and more clear to me that our lives are not but a blip on the radar of time. We have such a minuscule, yet useful, span of time here on earth to accomplish what we are set here to do. James 4:14 says that our lives are but a mist, a vapor, wisp of smoke, and that we are not to be presumptuous about tomorrow. Instead, we live for today. When Christ talks about what we treasure in Matthew 6, He goes on to say that would should not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Instead, we seek the Kingdom. We push forward from where we are now, thanking God for the position He has put us in today and living for Him in that position. It isn't unwise to make plans, but it is certainly unwise to make plans without keeping in mind that He determines what we do and could change our little plans at any given moment. Therefore, we prepare for the future, sure, but our primary focus is on what we can do for the Kingdom today. 
3. Prayer is essential
• Oh, how I have seen prayer work in the past few months! I have seen prayer sustain my mother, give my family peace, bring people to hear the Gospel when I would never expect them to listen, help me with temptations, give me direction in my life, affirm my calling and bring me closer to God. Prayer is our lifeline to God, and we must make it a priority. If you are a Christian, you must pray regularly. Nothing is more refreshing to your soul than time spent with God. I am growing in this discipline, and I encourage you to come with me on it. Let's commune with our Lord. 
4. God has got you
• No matter what, if you are in Christ, you are saved. There is no un-saving you. God is not going to toss you out to the cold and forget about you. We are held in His hand, and in Philippians 1, Paul writes that he is confident that God will finish a work in the Philippian believers. Why was he confident that God wouldn't bail on them? They were partakers of grace, and by definition, God's grace cannot have anything to do with what we do. If you are a partaker of grace, then you have God's grace. Good or bad, you're under grace. Therefore, there's nothing you can do to be unsaved! God's got you! That frees us to live for the Kingdom, because we have to pressure to make sure we're still under grace! We can't fall out, so go for it!
5. Our discussions must be intentional
• I have a friend of whom I had the privilege of spending multiple extended coffee times together with over the past few months, and she taught me one thing in particular: our conversations must revolve around Christ. How often can we get distracted in talking to our Christian friends with talk of sports, fashion, music and other odds and ends? How much easier is it to gloss over the impact of Christ in our lives when speaking to our unsaved friends? This cannot be! We must discuss Christ constantly: for encouragement and rebuke among believers and for repentance and salvation among the unbelieving. Our lives on this earth, as well as our unbelieving friends lives forever, depend upon our discussing Christ on the regular. Have we really given up our lives for Him or not?

These are just a few of the lessons I have learned in my time away.  I have learned many more, but these are just the beginning. I'm glad to be back, and I'm ready to write again. Let's do this.

The Prize, Part One: What's In Your Rearview?

I have a few books in God's Word that really impact me regularly, and I'm bringing a passage of one of them today. Check out this passage from Paul's letter to the Philippians:

"...But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly [or upward] call in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:13b-14, HCSB

What a great passage, right?! I mean, what an approach to life! Let's break this down and see how we can live this out:

1. Forget what is behind
-Your past doesn't mean a thing. I'm not saying to totally forget your past; I'm not one those types. What I am saying is this: no matter what is in your rearview, it is in your rearview. No matter what I see behind me when I am driving my truck, it is still behind me. Good or bad, I have driven past it and it is relatively unimportant to my further travel.

Yes, our past shapes the present and future. If I just drove through a rainstorm, my truck is now covered in water. If I just left the gas station, my tank is full. The events of our past often direct and effect the manner and appearance of our travels. Yet, we must also move on.

The bad things, the rain storms in your life, can be seen in a new light in Christ. I am not saying they will go away; if anything, I've found that the radar gets more shades of red and orange the further towards Jesus we go. However, our approach to these hard times can be altered by His guidance. If you are in a storm, trying to navigate on your own, it can be easy to get lost. Discouraged. Hurt. You may even veer off the road in the torrential downpours of life if you have no guidance.

With guidance from the Lord above, however, you are able to approach these storms with confidence. You can know that He will guide you through the heart of the difficulty. He will never abandon you, nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6).

In the end, we must forget the past. Our life before Christ is filled with not only storms, but rebellions, lusts, mistakes, lies, troubles... the list goes on. We cannot proceed toward the glory of God if we continue to carry all of this baggage with us.

In the book Pilgrim's Progress, our hero is loaded down with a massive load on his back. Before we come to Christ, we all have a similar load. Like the hero in Pilgrim's Progress, we must have that load removed before we proceed toward God and His purpose for our life. That load, that burdensome past of sin and troubled heart can only be removed by one Being: Jesus Christ.

He died and rose again to remove those burdens from our backs! Our past, no matter what has happened, can be and will be removed by your Savior the moment that you place your faith in His great gift of grace and salvation, calling on Him as your Lord and Savior. Put your past in the rearview! He can put it behind you; allow Him to do so!

Check back next week for the continuation of this passage. We've got the past behind us, so the question is: what's on the road ahead?

He Hears Us in Our Pit

"Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in morning you hear my voice; in the morning I direct my prayer to you and watch." -Psalm 5:1-3, ESV

Ever have days when this rings psalm is the cry of your heart? I know I do. On the days when I am sad or lonely or feel betrayed or am dealing with temptation, this is the cry of my heart.

Oh Lord, hear my cry! Oh Lord, hear the call of your servant as I groan and plead with you! May our prayers of praise lift You higher and our prayers of thanksgiving give You the credit and glory. May our cries for help reach Your holy ears and may You show us mercy in our times of need!

The beauty of it all is... He hears us.

"...He regards the prayes of the destitute and does not despise their prayers." -Psalm 102:17, ESV

When we are in need, He hears us. When we feel that we are at the bottom of a pit and cannot possibly climb out, He hears us. When we are on our knees each morning, begging our Lord to give us the strength to face the day, He hears us.

This is great news, Christian! Rejoice in His hearing of our prayers in time of need!

The Defeat of the Impossible

"For nothing is impossible with God." -Luke 1:37, HCSB

How many times have you heard that verse, right? It is a favorite verse of the underdog and athlete, the troubled and addicted.

 "There's nothing God can't help us achieve, and there is nothing that can stop us with Him at our side."

This is very true, but there is a definite asterisk next to this truth: nothing is impossible with God when He decides to do so. The passage that this verse comes from is the same passage in which the angel Gabriel is telling Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God. She is obviously flabbergasted and confused by this news, and so she asks (very humbly) how this could happen, considering that she was a virgin.

The angel proceeds to tell her of how her relative Elizabeth was currently preggo at an old age, and that "nothing is impossible with God." God is all powerful, but this verse is not meant purely to inspire us on fourth-and-goal with time expiring. It is showing that nothing will stop God on His mission. Nothing will prevent God from ruling the world, and nothing can stand in His way.

Old age? Nope.

Virgin? Not an issue.

Your past addictions? Nothing He can't overcome.

Your physical condition? Not a handicap in the working of God.

God can use whomever and whatever He so chooses to accomplish His plans. He's running the ship, and nothing can slow Him down.

You may wonder in this moment: "what role do I play in this? If God is in charge, and He is looking to accomplish His goals and plans, what do I do?" You do exactly what Mary did.

"'I am the Lord's slave,' said Mary. 'May it be done according to your word.'" -Luke 1:38, HCSB

We humbly accept God's power and lordship, and do as He says. We are His slaves, and He is our Good Master. He will accomplish great things through us, so long as we are humbly looking to accomplish His great things.

Perhaps God's purpose in your defeat of the impossible is to win a football game and give Him glory for it. Perhaps His purpose in your defeat of the impossible is to overcome your physical limitations to show the love of Christ to others. Perhaps His purpose in your defeat of the impossible is to share your story of addiction and redemption in order to help someone else see the love and freedom of life with Christ.

You never know what impossible task God may want to overcome through you, but He already did one. Your salvation through the blood and resurrection is a miracle in and of itself; who's to say He doesn't have something else for you? Humble yourself, and look to accomplish His plans with His power and might.

A Word to Young Ladies...From the Christ-Following Guys Out Here

This post is written to all of those young Christian ladies out there, from the point of view of a young Christian man. Hopefully, some of the young ladies that are following God out there will see this and be helped to see where the heart of many Christian dudes my age (college-aged) is. I don't tend to write more personal posts like this one, but it's really on my heart today, so enjoy. It's about to get real up in here.

Dear Ladies,

There is a massive problem on our college campuses (and in the world as a whole): the idea of a biblical man is becoming a rarer and rarer goal for guys our age (I'm sure I just got an "amen" from some of you). Dudes are simply not willing to man up and be the spiritual leader anymore. In fact, being a spiritual man isn't all that popular, in general.

However, there isn't only bad news. The God-fearing man is not extinct, and in many ways, is making a comeback. Many college-aged guys are striving to follow God in a more real and serious manner these days. While the total number of us may be few, there is a population of young men that are trying to follow after God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

Yes, we stumble. We fail. We don't always have it together. We may even fall in front of you. Yet, we exist. While many of us are growing in Christ, we are also not meant to be alone. This is where you come in.

This same group of men is looking for you. Ok, not you specifically. That would be creepy. We are looking, however, for a woman that is truly running after her Lord and Savior. We are searching for a girl who has sold out and given all that her heart can give to Christ and her walk with Him. We are in pursuit of a woman that sounds like the words of Solomon in Proverbs:

"Charm is deceptive and beauty

is fleeting,

but a woman who fears the Lord

will be praised."

-Proverbs 31:30, HCSB

You see, a nice appearance is great. This is not a letter suggesting that you swap the gym for the couch. No, I'm instead encouraging you to go deeper and deeper in your walk with God. Fear the Lord. Love Him. Be passionate about His mission, reflect His heart and walk in His grace.

All of this is to say: ladies, your Christian walk is important to us, as well. Not every guy is into yoga pants and low-cut shirts; some guys are into a woman with a bible in her hand and prayers on her lips. If you want to truly attract a God-fearing man, reflect the words of Proverbs 31 instead of Cosmo.

Don't be afraid to be that kind of woman. Encourage us to be the men of God that we should be. If both men and women in the Church would encourage the other sex to follow the Lord with all their heart, and help each other do so, there could be a lot of happy young men and women, all serving the Lord with all they have.

My prayer is that my generation would grab hold of this. I pray that young men would step up and take their walk seriously, becoming the spiritual leaders they are made to be. I pray that young women would put aside the opinions of the world and run headlong after their Savior, becoming the God-fearing woman of Proverbs 31. I pray that men and women of the Church would come together and serve our King in His mission, and I pray that y'all are praying for this, as well.

Ladies, stay steadfast. The biblically-based man is out there. I promise.

Sincerely,
A young man in search of the Proverbs 31 woman

Let's Just Worship

A worship guide for the new year (and the rest of our lives):

"Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary."

- Psalm 96:1-6, NIV

 

Isn't this a great passage? It has a lot to it, and I really just wanted to share this with you all today. Let's break it down, and I hope you follow each section, worshipping Him:

 

"Sing to the LORD a new song, sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise His name...": Oh, sing to the Lord! Sing with all your heart. May the whole planet, nay, the entire universe sing to Him who is seated above all! He is worth of all praise and glory and honor, forever and ever and ever! Praise His great name, the Name that is above all names!

 

"Proclaim his salvation day after day, declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples...": The natural result of, or perhaps better called the continuation of, worshipping our Lord is the declaration of His splendor and majesty and power to the nations for all to hear. If we truly worship Him, it will spill over onto into a flowing river of praise from our lips, taking His name to the ends of the earth.

 

"For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens...": There is nothing on this planet or beyond this planet that is worthy of the praise that our God is due. Why? Because He made it all. He made light and dark and land and water and stars and moons and planets. He made birds and fish and plants and mammals and invertebrates and reptiles and amphibians. He made wood and metal and oil and combustion and paper and jewels. He made relationships and power and love and sex and passion and happiness. Everything you could ever make into an idol, anything that you could put over Him (idols don't have to be objects; they are ANYTHING we put over God) was made by Him or forbidden by Him. In fact, the very act of idolatry is sin.

 

Instead we should fear Him. A writer called the fear of God, "the convergence of awe, reverence, adoration, honor, worship, confidence, thankfulness, love, and yes, fear." All of that is what our reaction toward God should be. Anything less isn't up to par.

 

"Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary...": This is why we fear Him. Splendor and majesty and strength and glory surround Him; I don't think I have to expand. I don't even know if I can. Our Lord is so majestic and wonderful and powerful and glorious and beautiful and amazing that words simply do not do Him justice.

 

Just sing a song and worship. Just bow and lift up His name. That is the only fitting response.

You And Your Slavery

"For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land." -Ezekiel 36:24, HCSB

In this verse, God is speaking to the Israelites, telling them that He will bring them back to their homeland. But why aren't they there already?

Israel, for the uninitiated, was a hot mess during biblical times. They were a constant roller coaster of spirituality: some years they were on fire for God, and other years they were worshipping idols and hosting child sacrifices.

Due to their foolishness of turning away from worshipping God, they got taken captive by the Babylonian empire and were enslaved in a foreign land. Idiots, right? Don't speak too soon.

We're very much the same. We are often foolish. Just think with me: how often do you have a reason that you don't worship and chase after God?

"I'd read my Bible more, but I'm really busy..."

"I'd pray more, but I don't really know how..."

"I'd go to church on Sunday mornings, but I had this thing on Saturday night..."

You may not have had one of those exact excuses, but I promise you've had at least something similar at some point in your walk with God. Probably in the past few days, honestly. We all have.

These foolish excuses do two things: they pretend that our relationship with God doesn't need priority over everything else (and He is worth infinitely more than anything else in our lives, I promise), and it lowers our defense against evil.

You see, God is our Shield. He says that all over the book of Psalms. When we stop pursing Him and put other things over that pursuit, then we lower our Shield in the middle of battle. Lowering a shield in battle is NOT a good idea.

The forces of darkness are always looking for one of His followers to lower their shield and become vulnerable for an attack. They will strike, and without a tried and true relationship with God, we will fall. We'll become enslaved to a sin, incapable of freeing ourselves.

Israel couldn't save themselves from captivity, and neither can we. Both groups of people need God. Fortunately, Ezekiel 36 continues.

"I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all of your impurities and all of your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances." -Ezekiel 36:25-27, HCSB

Beautiful. Not even beautiful; this is beyond words. We foolishly turn from God, which leads to our enslavement to darkness. And yet, God is a God of freedom. Not just literal freedom of the flesh, but freedom of the heart. He wants His people to be saved and to have new hearts. He wants His people to be clean. He wants to give us His Spirit to free us to follow Him, and to kick sin to the curb.

Is this the year that you allow God to give you a new heart? Maybe you still have a heart of stone, and are turned away from Him. Maybe you're already a Christian, and just need to be reminded that our God has saved you from sin, so quit re-enslaving yourself. Regardless of your situation, run to Him. Run to our God and turn from foolish ways of ignoring Him. Make 2013 a year where you are dedicated to following Him.

We were dead, and now we are alive. We were enslaved and foolish, but now we are free. Remember that. Embrace that. Live your life based off of that.

-Inspired by Louie Giglio's talk "Main Session 1-Passion 2013"

Filth and Truth: How Grace and Works Combine

"Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you." -James 1:21, HCSB

This passage is in my all-time favorite book, James. James is a short, six-chapter book toward the end of the New Testament. It was written by Jesus' brother, which is pretty cool. What makes James my favorite book, however, has nothing to do with its size or author; I love how "real" James keeps it. James encourages us to take our theology and put it to work. Jesus knowledge is fantastic; necessary, even. Yet, if you do nothing with it, you're just a filing cabinet. I'd much rather use my info to do God's work than be a spiritual file folder (even though that's not always what I do!).

This verse is classic James: a mixture of deep truth and a practical, "Just Do It" attitude. It starts off by saying that we should "[rid] ourselves of all moral filth and evil." I'll get right on that!

See, James doesn't pull punches. If I had written this, I'd have probably said "try to push all sin out of your life, continuing to get better at it as you grow." James just tells us to do it. And honestly, we cannot. There is no possible way to perfectly follow this, or even follow it at all on our own. Check out the second half of this verse:

"...humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you." This half is the key to the first half; the truth of God's Word, His gospel, is the only thing that can save us from our sin, ridding us of all moral filth and evil. The only way that we can escape the clutches of sin is to humbly receive God's gift of grace and accept this glorious Word.

Without God's Word, we remain trapped, trying as hard as we can to fulfill the first half of the verse. But that is the beauty of this passage, and of the entire book of James: we cannot work righteously without God's working through and in us, and we cannot live out God's truth without working in response to this truth, walking in a righteous manner and following God.

This, my friends, is the gospel! A saving grace and truth, a miracle, and a changed heart that works as a result of that, running away from sin and toward holiness and righteousness. Christian, rejoice in this! It's amazing!

Milk Jug Evangelism

"And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'" -Acts 1:4-5, ESV

Here we have a scene at the beginning of Acts, where Christ is speaking to His disciples just prior to His ascension back into heaven with the Father. He directly tells them not to go out and tell people of His gospel, but to "wait for the promise of the Father...the Holy Spirit."

He did not want them to tell people the good news without the Holy Spirit being with them. Why would that be? It's actually pretty straight forward. How does one come to faith in Christ? It is by the grace of God, through faith. The Spirit is the Being behind all that grace and faith, working over hearts like Ty Pennington on a messed-up house.

It is by the Spirit's working that we are saved, and it is by the Spirit's power that we are able to share this great gospel with others, and it is by the Spirit that these people may come to faith in said gospel. If I haven't made it clear enough, it is the Spirit that does the work in evangelism; we are merely a vessel for Him to do His work through.

If you had an empty milk jug, how much good would that do for a bowl of dry cereal? Not much; nothing is going to come out of that milk jug, and no change is going to occur to that bowl of Fruit Loops. Yet, if that jug has milk in it, then that milk can pour into the bowl and change everything about the cereal: taste, consistency, protein levels, etc. It is not the jug, but the milk inside that does the changing. Similarly, it is not the Christian, but the Spirit inside that does the work.

Oh, and by the way, we don't have to wait like the early disciples did. If you are a Christ follower, then you have already been baptized by the Spirit and now have the power of God inside of you. Spreading the gospel is now something you can do, because you already have the Spirit! Rely on His power to save lives, not your own! You and I cannot save anyone, but the Spirit inside of us can! Be encouraged, as all you are is a vessel.

As long as a milk jug holds milk and pours it when it is supposed to, it is doing the job it was made for. As long as we hold the Spirit (which we do) and pour it out when we are supposed to (which should be a lot), then we are doing our job. Be a milk jug, and leave the rest to the Spirit. That's part of why we have Him.

Excellence in Christianity

A few months back, the Christian rapper/poet Propaganda released a new album under the title "Excellent." The title track discusses what it is like to do things with excellence, based largely on Colossians 3:23, which says:

"Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men.." -Colossians 3:23, HCSB

OK, so... how does this play out practically? Lemme tell ya. Hang tight.

1. Work hard. This passage says to do everything "enthusiastically," like we're doing it all for Jesus. That means your homework, your work, your lawn mowing, your everything... is done for God's glory. Not easy, huh? I mean, if you're giving your all in all of this stuff, how can you keep from being exhausted? I don't know, but I know what will help.

2. Rely on His strength, not yours. If we rely on ourselves, we will burn out and be exhausted. Habakkuk 3:19 discusses how the Sovereign Lord is our strength. Christian, the Spirit of God lives in you! The Lord over all, the God that runs this show, is in you! He will give you the strength to do His work. If He wants you to accomplish something, He will give you the ability to do so. He's sovereign over all; do you think he can't handle giving you the strength to do His will?

3. Rest. There's a reason that the Sabbath day existed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). God's example in Genesis 1 of a day of rest is intentional; He didn't need to rest, but He was showing us that we do. I know this is hard, and I don't even do this. If you are reading this in the United States, in particular, then you know how our culture is. We are constantly on the go, and the idea of going all out for God sounds like just amping up our already psychotic business. We hardly have the energy to do our jobs halfway, much less with a Colossians 3:23 level of excellence. Yet, we must find a way to rest. I was recently told to get a hobby, in order to avoid burning out. We must all find some sort of Sabbath day, and rest. If we don't we'll fall over under the work.

4. Realize that you will fail. Hey, guess what? Even if you follow steps 1, 2, and 3 above, you will not  work at a Col. 3:23 level at all times. We are in a broken world, and we will stumble. That's a fact, Jack. I was recently encouraged with this word: "we will fail." I know, right? Not very encouraging on the surface, yet I'd like you to ponder on this. In Philippians 3:13, the apostle Paul mentions that he was not fully mature in Christ. This seems obvious. Of course he wasn't. He's mortal, Bryan. Yet, think: this man was in prison for sharing his faith. He was leading guards and prisoners alike to faith in Christ. Does this seem like an immature believer? Of course not! Yet even this man admitted that, at times, he failed and didn't live up to his calling. He didn't meet the level of Colossians 3:23 at all times, either. Paul understood that, and we must to. We must not be afraid to fail. We must do what we can to follow Christ, and then rely on His strength to pick ourselves up off of the ground when we fail.

I know this is hard. I struggle with this as much as (or more than!) you. Trust me. But we're in this together, gang. Let's push forward and live a life of excellence. Our reputation as believers must stand out, and living according to this passage in Colossians is a great way to do so. Let's do it. Be excellent, and understand when you aren't.

Ya Scared, Homie?

"And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." -Matthew 22:39, ESV

How often do you want to do something nice, but back out due to fear? Here's an embarrassing story from a few weeks ago...

I was riding the bus, en route to one of my classes. I was sitting near the back of the bus, wearing a flat-billed trucker hat. A girl was sitting behind me. Now, as I was sitting in my seat, I realized that a yellow jacket was buzzing around the window that our two seats shared. It kept going back and forth between her seat and my own. She was obviously frightened of the stinging insect. So, what did I, manly man of God, do in this scenario?

I backed away from the window, also scared. Yep, that was my move. Kids, don't follow that example.

You see, I had a hat on that was more than capable of killing the wasp, all without putting myself in considerable danger. Alas, I was too afraid over potential danger to pull the trigger and do the heroic (and loving) thing to do.

Loving people often goes like this. We think about saying something nice, or sharing the gospel, or offering to help, and then we hold back. We think, "what if they reject my offer?" or "what if they get offended by a compliment?" or "what if they think I'm being pushy with my religion?" To compare it to my yellow jacket story, we are too afraid of being stung to act on our "love."

Yet, 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." We have a spirit of love and power, not fear. We must remember that when we go through life, or the adversary will keep us afraid of as many loving acts as he can.

Discipleship, Part Five: Conclusion

So, this is the fifth part and seventh post in my Discipleship series. If you've stayed with me the whole way through, congrats! I'm not positive I'd read seven posts that some goober on the Internet machine wrote, regardless of topic. Alas, today we draw to a close on this series. Our final topic for the series feeds off of my post from last week, Discipleship, Part Four: Teaching. We will look briefly at one question today: how do you balance teaching with the other three aspects of discipleship? As a refresher, let's re-cap the four elements of discipleship, then we'll dive in.

4 Elements of Discipleship

1. Commitment: be personally invested in your disciple
2. Modeling: you set a good example for your disciple
3. Personal Attention: you pay direct attention and care to your disciple
4. Teaching: teaching biblical knowledge, doctrine and life to your disciple

OK, so how does one balance these? We learned that both are necessary to discipleship last week, so we have to have both. But just how important are they? A few points to close out the series:

-Biblical knowledge isn't the key to spirituality: We looked at this last week. You have to do more discipling than just teaching; if knowledge-giving was the key to discipleship, then the best advice I could give would be to send my disciple to [insert your local Christian book store] to get a few commentaries and such, then watch 'em go. Obviously, the first three elements are needed along with the fourth.

Additionally, the personal side of discipleship is needed, as one can teach without discipling. When I preach on occasion, I may have 150-200 people listening to me. I am not discipling 150 people. I may be teaching, as well as aiding their spiritual walk, but that is not direct discipleship. Jesus preached to a lot of people in His ministry, but had a significantly smaller amount of disciples.

-Non-teaching isn't good enough to stand alone: Ponder with me for a moment. If I wanted to be a doctor, how would I go about it? What if I had a skilled doctor that cared about me, was dedicated to leading me, showed me how he does his job, and kept up with me on a day-to-day basis? Am I any closer to being a doctor? Of course. In my time watching and being around this doctor, I have gotten glimpses of what being a doctor is all about. I've learned some things, and probably have a pretty good idea of what this whole doctor lifestyle looks like.

Yet, what happens if I take that and try to become a practicing doctor? Will I be able to be licenced? The obvious answer is no. Why is that? I have no medical school diploma, which would be the evidence that I have knowledge in the area of medicine. I would be familiar with things I had seen with my doctor-mentor, and I would have a general idea of some different things. But what happens when I run into a disease I have never seen, or I need to prescribe a medicine that I have never heard of? The results would be disastrous.

The same goes for discipleship. Our disciples can learn by watching and being with us, no doubt, but a lack of real, intense teaching will prove disasturous for them in their walk. We won't always be their for them when they run into something they've never learned about. Also, guess what: we may model something contrary to God's Word. Even with the best intentions, we are still imperfect, sin-scarred beings that will be that way until we die and resurrect to be with God. We will mess up, and we will show them the wrong thing to do at some point.

There must be teaching, as the Word of God is essential to discipleship, and you are not capable of true discipleship without it.

-A balance must be found: In our very first post in this series, I referred to discipleship as spiritual parenting. A good parent will have commitment to their child, will model how to live life to their child, show their child personal attention and have concern for their child learning about life. Think about a parent that does the first three without teaching: the child will not survive once it moves out, as the parent never told it how to live. If the parent teaches, but never shows love or commitment or care, the child may go on to physically live, but it will be a socially warped human, having never seen how someone shows commitment, love and compassion for another human.

We must have a healthy balance. Nutritionists suggest a balanced meal; too much bread will leave you with a protein deficiency, while too much meat will leave you with no energy from carbohydrates (yes, I simplified all of that a lot. Bear with me, science geeks.). The ideal meal features elements of both, and so should discipleship. Keep the Gospel/Great Commission as the focus, apply the Scripture that went along with each element of discipleship as needed, and you are on your way to spiritual parenting.

Being a parent is never easy, and you'll mess up along the way (and like biological kids, they may very well tell you so). Don't let that scare you; you've got the Spirit of God inside you, and He will make sure you are capable to do this work. He wouldn't have sent us on this mission otherwise.

Discipleship, Part One: Commitment, Pt. 2 [More Than A Teacher]

Last time I had a Discipleship series post, I wrote about Paul's heart with the Thessalonian believers, and how he approached the discipleship concept of commitment. We talked about how he truly loved and cared for them, and therefore had a massive commitment. There's more to the commitment of a discipler, though. Today, we'll wrap up this commitment idea with a few more parts of Paul's life that pointed toward a committed approach to discipleship.

1. Be Concerned
"And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?" -2 Corinthians 11:28-29, ESV

If there was ever a group of believers that I wouldn't want to commit to, it would be the Corinthian church. These people were, for lack of a better description, a hot mess. Both of Paul's letters to this church were loaded with Paul saying, "what the crap are you doing?!" Yet, even with their consistent tendency to act stupid, Paul was genuinely concerned for their well-being. He was "daily" anxious for their well-being. Every day, Paul was thinking of them and how they were doing. When he found that they were weak, he felt weak. When they were treated badly, he was ticked off about it. This man was legitimately in-tune with their issues, and really cared about how they were.

We have to do this, too. If you are discipling someone and don't care about their day-to-day life, then I'd argue that you don't really care about them. You may care about their spiritual knowledge, which is commendable, but that isn't all there is. People have daily lives and struggles that need someone to walk them through. Your disciple is walking their first steps; don't leave them to fall on the concrete alone. Walk with them, guide them, and help soften their inevitable fall. That takes commitment.

2. Work Hard
"I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?" -2 Corinthians 12:15, HCSB

Paul gave himself to his disciples. He spent, be it money, time or energy, on them. He was spent on them. There was no part of Paul that he wouldn't give to his disciples. That's how committed he was to their lives and spiritual walks.

We should mirror this. A person's spiritual and physical needs should be met however possible. Don't be stingy toward your disciples; give any of you and/or your possessions toward their discipleship. Their walk with our Lord is worth that kind of commitment.

3. Deal With The Hard Stuff
"This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory." -2 Timothy 2:10, HCSB

Paul endured for his disciples. The fact is that discipleship ain't always rainbows and sea otters; every now and then, it's going to suck. Your pursuit of their spiritual growth will have its difficult moments; ask any parent of a child if they ever endured an unpleasant time while raising their children. I promise you, it will happen. They will disappoint you, ask you difficult questions and may even rebel against you. That will be hard, and to endure through these trials will require a high level of commitment. The reward for that commitment is clear, though: "so that they may also obtain salvation...with eternal glory."

The salvation and eternal glory is the goal for every disciple that you have. Your job is to lead them to Christ and in Christ, walking alongside them as they grow in Christ. This will take commitment, but is there any reward better than their eternity with Christ?

Discipleship, Part One: Commitment Pt. I [Paul's Heart]

I apologize. I originally intended to have this discipleship series up weekly. However, my school schedule this semester has prevented me from being able to do this like I wanted to. I will not put up a new calendar for this series, but I do plan to get these posts up every week. We'll see how that goes...

Ironically, the first aspect of discipleship we will be looking at here is commitment. Let's look at a passage from 1 Thessalonians, and pick it apart, finding how the apostle Paul & Co. carried out this aspect.

"For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but rather God, who examines our hearts. For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives —God is our witness— and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others. Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother nurtures her own children. We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you.You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers. As you know, like a father with his own children, we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers." -1 Thessalonians 2:3-13, HCSB

This is a big chunk of Scripture, so we're gunna break it into a few parts. First we'll look at Paul's heart, and the next post will focus on going beyond a teacher.

There are several parts of this passage that really point to Paul's heart toward the believers in Thessaloniki. Let's highlight a few:

-V. 3-6 says Paul and Friends were not "from error, or impurity or intent to deceive...." and had no "greedy motives...[or] seek glory from people." They obviously weren't committed to these believers for their own purpose. Instead, they were approved by God. They were on God's mission, and they made it clear that it was His mission that they focused on. We must remember to keep this central to our commitment; our commitment doesn't mean a thing if it isn't focused on God's purposes.

-V. 7-8 shows that they cared for the believers with a "motherly, deep love." That is the love we must show toward our disciples; a passionate, deep, internal love and care for their well-being.

-V. 9-10 talks of how they were being witnessed in all of their actions by their disciples. They, therefore, worked hard to have "devout, righteous, blameless conduct." This takes commitment, and we will focus more on this in a different post.

-V. 11-12 focuses in on their method of instruction: "like a father" and to "each one." Just as we disciple with a mother-like love, we disciple with a father-like instruction. Our love leads us to instruct with authority and clarity. We also instruct all disciples individually; no one is forgotten or passed over in instruction. We must have a heart for all of our disciples.

-Finally, v. 13 shows what must be the driving force behind all of our instruction and love and conduct: God's Word. We must always make God's Word the guide and reason behind our discipleship. After all, if we are doing God's purpose, we should probably listen to what He says.

Paul and the others clearly had a commitment to these believers. Next time, we will look at some more examples from Paul, showing how we must commit to more than just teaching our disciples.

For more on commitment, check out Discipleship, Part One: Commitment Pt. 2.
 

How to Contain Your Inner Hulk

Bruce Banner has a problem. He is a brilliant scientist, and an overall good guy. However, he has another side that happens to be big, green and likes to smash things. We know his other side as the Hulk.

Many Christians can understand Dr. Banner's plight, whether they realize it or not. Just think: how many times have you been trying so hard to walk with God, thinking you were growing in your faith, only to totally screw up? Maybe it's a recurring temptation you keep falling for, or maybe it's an attitude that you just cannot shake. Regardless, you feel like you have a dark side that no matter how hard you try, it keeps on bursting forward like your own Hulk. The apostle Paul understands your struggles. Look at this:

"Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin’s power. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?" -Romans 7:13-24, HCSB

He gets us! The same guy who said "To live is Christ, to die is gain" was, in fact, a human that struggled with sin like we do! How comforting, first of all, is it to know that even the apostles struggled with sin, just like us?

The question we arrive at, however, is the same one Paul arrives at: who will rescue us from our sinful, wretched body that continues to strive for godlessness? The answer is in verse 25 of the same chapter:

"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin." -Romans 7:25, HCSB

Thanks to Christ's death and resurrection, and our subsequent salvation, we are no longer slaves to the sin that tortures us. Yes, we will still struggle, as our flesh remains a slave "to the law of sin." BUt our minds and souls are now bound to Christ, and we are being sanctified (made like God) through Him! Whoo!

I challenge you, Christian: remember you are no longer bound to sin, and look to the cross in times of temptation. I will try to do the same. If you aren't a Christian, or aren't sure, run from your sin and earthly desires! Run to Christ, and allow Him to free you from the bondage of this world. He is the only way for us to escape our inner Hulk. Let Him do it.

Suffering and Strife

Lately, God has been really bringing in a focus on suffering in my life. Everywhere I turn, it seems I am learning about how to handle suffering. Thus, I write you this to share some of what He is teaching me, and perhaps this will help those of us that are either going through suffering currently or are being prepped for suffering in the future.

The apostle Paul knew all about suffering. He was shipwrecked (twice), bitten by a snake, jailed, stoned, left for dead, beaten, excommunicated, and mocked. He lived with a "thorn in his side," a "a messenger of Satan" that gave him quite a bit of grief in his life. And yet, He was incredibly faithful. Was not Paul one of the greatest leaders of the early Church? Was he not the one that wrote thirteen books of the New Testament? What gives? Why didn't God protect him from that? By extension, why doesn't God protect those of us that struggle from our grievances? Check out 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 with me.

"¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴ We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and present us with you. ¹⁵ For all of this is because of you, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God’s glory.
¹⁶ Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. ¹⁸ So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:13-18, HCSB

This, Christian, should bring you great joy. I am falling in love with 2 Corinthians, and this is one of my favorite passages. You see, if you are a Christian, you have the Spirit of God within you. That Spirit raised Jesus from the grave, and it raised you from your death, as well. Without Christ, we are dead in our sins, rebels that have spit in God's face and told Him to get lost. Clearly, we were deserving of death. Yet the Spirit rose us from the grave and brought us into this new life that we live, re-born to follow Christ.

Now that we are re-born and alive with the Holy Ghost coursing through your body, everything is working to give glory to God. Yes, your struggles are supposed to glorify God. How? Check it out: by thanksgiving. Yeah, God glorifies in your thankfulness for His grace during struggles. Being thankful for the grace that He gives you is easy when all is well on the home front; being thankful for grace when the world is crashing in is much harder. Yet, when we are thankful for grace in the struggles, all glory for our lives goes to God.

As the passage continues to say, don't give up. Yes, struggle and strife can bring you down, but we have something else to focus on: not what is seen (our dying flesh and earthly life), but on what is unseen (our future in the glory of God). Christian, your life now is minuscule compared to the life you will live for eternity. We will live forever in the glory and majesty of the God of the universe, praising His name and worshipping on the new Earth. This world will be completely repaired, and God will remake it in all of it's majesty. Everything will be made right, and we will be heirs to this Kingdom. So, stay strong. Stand firm in the faith, and give thanks for the new life you have in Christ. For as Paul says, "our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory."