Year: 2014

Categories
Christian Living

Giving Up Good Things to Obtain the Best

We all want to live the good life. We want good things.

The problem is that sometimes we chase after the good things, and this pursuit keeps us from finding the best things. There is only so much time in a day. Only so much time in a life. And when we spend our time and our lives focusing on the many good things out there, we may miss out on what is best. What if instead, we narrowed our focus to the best things and only pursued those?

Here’s my simplistic example: There are a lot of good books out there that I can read. Many people will tell me about a good book they just read. Some will even hand me their copy and tell me to take time to read it. But there are also some great books out there! Many of them tested by time and having garnered many awards. And so with the limited time I have, I can fill my reading time with many of those good books, but in doing so, I will be unable to read the best books. So I have tried to make a conscious effort to say “No” to the good to make sure I have time to say “Yes” to the best. But it takes determination and effort to keep the good from crowding out the best.

The pursuit of the good life in America hinges on success, wealth, fame. But many people who have sought and obtained that “good life” have found it to be empty and unfulfilling at the top. God tells us what will bring us the best life – pursuing a life that pleases Him. But again, this takes determination and effort to keep the “good” of the American dream from crowding out the “best” of God’s dream for me.

My American notion of the good life is for money and safety and comfort and happiness and the fulfillment of every desire of my heart. But if God tells me that His plan is best, then shouldn’t I drop my notion and try to fulfill every desire of God’s heart?

To meet His desires, it will take determination and effort as I will have to learn to give up my “good” things for His “best” things. The life of a Christian is about constantly giving up my notions and embracing His notions.

It seems counter-intuitive, but since He made the universe, this world, its rules, and me… I figure He understands the difference between “good” and “best” better than I do.

So what do I need to give up today in order to find a bit more of His best for me?
What about you?

And on another note… Many of my posts have to do with me trying to craft something around a quote or thought from something I read and thought was important. But when I can’t figure out a good way to craft around a quote, it can keep me from writing for a few days as I start an idea, re-write it, trash it, etc. So when that occurs, I’m going to try to stop worrying about it so much, and just give some of them to you at the bottom of my post, even if they don’t tie in to the post at all! Just consider it lagniappe! (some of you will have to look that word up!)

Today’s Unrelated Quotes from ‘Creature of the Word’:
“Compassion linked to the gospel is compassion that goes beyond merely observing hurting people; it sees hurting people and realizes that Jesus loves them furiously.”

“Ultimately, then, it’s not our compassion but the compassion of Jesus that fuels and sustains our desire to act on others’ behalf. When we remember how gracious and compassionate Christ has been to us, our compassion is as sustainable as our remembrance of the gospel.”

“Without Him, compassion will slowly but surely devolve into a weepy moment that we forget as soon as the commercial ends or someone breaks the mood with a joke.”

How well does your remembrance of the gospel sustain your compassion?

Categories
Christian Living

My Un-Righteous Life

I wish I could say I that I was a good person. But unfortunately this is not true. Now it is true that if I decide to compare myself to others, I find that if I choose the right people to compare myself to, I can make myself feel pretty good. I just have to make sure to pick comparison people who don’t make me feel bad.

But in reality, it doesn’t matter who I compare myself to… Because the only real standard is Jesus. And when I compare myself to Him, I always come up un-righteous.

But fortunately I don’t have to stay there.
God has made a change in me through Jesus, and He has brought me into His family. Now I’m one of the “called out ones.”

“The called out ones.” The word is plural. Believers, therefore, are placed in community with others for one reason: because God has called them out of their former ways of life. Everyone in the community is deeply sinful. Everyone is called by the same God. And everyone has been mercifully placed in community together. So why pretend we’re more than we are if everything is built on Jesus’ righteousness and not our own? Why the need to be fake? The gospel frees us to be authentic, to admit that our struggles and strengths have not been fully sanctified, and to allow others to apply the grace of God to areas of our lives that desperately need it. When community is honest and authentic, people begin to experience freedom from wearing a mask, because Jesus sets people free from the need to be hypocrites.
        We all possess the same amount of righteousness — none.
The only righteousness any of us have is the righteousness God freely gives to us in Christ.

And it is because of that righteousness that I get to be a part of His family. The community we find in His family is one that brings freedom. I now have freedom and liberation to be myself. I am no longer forced to find people to whom I have to compare just so I can feel good about myself. Knowing that I have a righteousness before God through Jesus brings me an amazing sense of satisfaction and joy.

You can have that same joy, liberation, and satisfaction.
Seek out His righteousness and His community.

(How has your relationship with God given you a sense of freedom?)

Categories
Relationships

Designed for Community, pt. 2

As I mentioned previously, you were designed for community.

You were designed to have both an intimate relationship with God and intimate relationships with others. Without both, you will never find complete satisfaction in life. Here’s another great quote on community from “Creature of the Word”

…The reason most community is shallow in our world is because it’s built on temporary foundations. The reason most relationships don’t last is because they’re built on commonalities that change over time.
When the common bond changes, the relationship changes. If you’re married, you see this happen immediately when you have kids. You once had friends you would hang out with late at night, but now you can’t do that. Even if you get a babysitter, you’re not staying up till 1:00 in the morning, because your kids are waking up at 6:50 and you’ll be exhausted.

If you play sports with a group of guys, and if nothing deeper than your love of basketball binds you together, that community will weaken and likely disappear if you blow out a knee and can’t play anymore. If relationships aren’t built on something deeper than finding good restaurants, working at the same company, or having kids in the same activities, they will change whenever the common bond is no longer there. Community is only as strong as what it’s built upon. And nothing is as strong as the gospel.

The gospel is the deepest foundation for community. What connects believers is the reality that we were all very messed-up people, broken before a holy God, yet rescued and given new life in Christ. What unites believers is deeper than anything that can divide.

A unity that is deeper than anything that can divide.

That’s what I want.
That’s what I long for.
That’s what I need.

A community built on the strongest foundation.
A community built on the gospel.

Make sure that you are a part of that community!

(How have you found this to be true? How have you found that the community you have with others through the gospel is deeper than anything that can divide?)

Categories
Relationships

Designed for Community

The Purpose for Life… What is it?
What is your purpose for life?
Could you verbalize it if someone asked?

I don’t know what you have chosen as your purpose for living, but I do know what you were designed for… Relationships.
Connectedness.
Community.

We all want to connect.
We all desire community.
But how will we get this community that we crave?guys cooking on a big grill to signify relationships and community

We find little connections all the time – at the ballgame with fellow fans, at the office with our co-workers, with our neighbors at the barbeque. But isn’t there a deeper connection we can find?

I love how this is explained in “Creature of the Word” as the authors discuss the early church of Philippi:

So the little growing church in Philippi was now home to people like this: a Wealthy, upscale businesswoman… a slave girl with a deep, dark, wounded past… a tough-nosed jailer and his family…. What else did these people have in common but the gospel? They never would have gone to the same restaurants, hung out in the same parts of town, or listened to the same music. But because God had radically transformed them, they shared a common bond deeper than anything that divided them. They were together only because of the gospel.

Together only because of the gospel….
You see, you were created for an intimate relationship with God and others.
It is the only thing that’ll satisfy completely.

Leave one or the other out, and you’ll still be missing a part of the community that you need.

What we find out is that the gospel is the only thing that can truly put us together in real community. It is what we were designed for.

Categories
Christian Living

My Independent, Private, Personal Faith

burst pipeWhen you have a burst pipe under the house… you call in the expert – a plumber.
When your car won’t start… you call in the expert – a mechanic.
When someone sues you… you call in the expert – a lawyer.
When you have a major health concern… you call in the expert – a doctor.

And when you have a theological crisis… you call in the expert…no… wait… nevermind… instead you begin thinking: “I don’t need someone to tell me about belief… I don’t need someone to instruct me about faith… I might not like their take on it… I am more than sufficient to make my own decision… I am the expert.”

It is funny how in so much of life we know that we need help by those who have been trained in areas of specific expertise, but when it comes to the matter of faith, we decide that we are always sufficient and do not need anyone else’s help.

Now don’t get me wrong, you have the same Holy Spirit available to you as Mr. Distinguished Theology Professor at the Super-Duper Preacher School (sidenote – I was unable to get accepted into that school). But while we do have the Holy Spirit available, the truth is that discipleship does not occur in a vacuum. We need others to aid us in spiritual growth. But that ain’t the American way.

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We are so very independent. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do. That is why there is usually a bunch of trash piled up under the signs that say “No Dumping.” We think, “Who are you to tell me I can’t put my trash here? I’ll show you!” (Dump.)

And in the same way, we don’t want anyone telling us how to live out our faith. That is one of the problems with calling it a “Personal relationship with Jesus.” It is personal, in that Jesus saves us individually. But again, discipleship does not occur in a vacuum. The disciples were trained by Jesus. The early church was discipled by the apostles. The people in the churches were to be discipled by the pastors and elders. In the same way that “iron sharpens iron” or a metal file sharpens an axe, we are to sharpen one another. We are told to hold each other accountable for godly behavior.

The phrase “‘Personal relationship with Jesus Christ…’ could give the impression that the Christian faith is private—‘just between you and God.’ For while our faith is indeed very personal, it is definitely not private. Private Christian faith is an oxymoron.” (from ‘Creature of the Word’ by Matt Chandler)

We each want to create a system of belief and faith that is easy and palatable to us. The problem is… that just isn’t Jesus’ plan. His plan costs your life and is to be lived out in community under accountability to the rest of the faith family.

So when you consider your own personal faith, just make sure your “Personal relationship with Jesus Christ” leads you into the accountability of a Faith Family that holds you accountable to deeper and deeper levels of God-honoring thought, speech, and behavior.