Category: Christian Living

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Christian Living

Broken Things

Brokenness.
Have you ever felt broken? a broken, shattered lightbulb
Most of us have at some point in life.
The pain seems so strong at that point. All joy seems gone. We are broken-hearted and feel as if we will never be able to smile again.

Peter had promised his friend Jesus that he would stand by His side no matter what. Then Peter denied Christ three times. The rooster crowed. Peter looked over at Jesus. Jesus’ eyes caught Peter’s. Peter remembered what Jesus had said. Peter had failed. He ran out of the courtyard weeping in his brokenness.

You’ve likely been in a similar place.
In pain.
Weeping.
Broken.

But there is good news about finding ourselves in a state of brokenness…

“God uses broken things.
It takes broken soil to produce a crop,
broken clouds to produce rain,
broken grain to give bread, and
broken bread to give strength.
It is the broken Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
God can often use our brokenness to reveal His power to us and show us our dependence on Him.”

Paul tells us:
“…to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh…. I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults , with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

For when I am weak and broken… I find I can rely on God’s strength and become strong.

When we are dealing with “brokenness,” whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we are often more open to receive healing from God. This is due to the fact that at this point in life we become more ready to cry out to God in the midst of the brokenness. God often uses the brokenness of our spirit to bring us to a spiritual healing like he did in both Peter’s & Paul’s cases.

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Christian Living

A Cup of Cold Water

It’s been pretty chilly all over the country the past few weeks, including here in middle Mississippi, so if you are still trying to thaw out, a glass of ice-cold water doesn’t sound very good to you. That just means we’ll need to use our imaginations today. Travel in your mind to summertime – the middle of July. Do you remember how hot it is? So hot you could fry an egg on the hood of your car. When you step outside the heat hits you so hard, it makes it difficult to breathe. Now you’re no longer complaining about how cold it has been, but rather, you are sweltering and sweating and wishing for cooler days and that you weren’t cooking in the summer heat. When you get to that mindset, think about a simple glass of ice-cold water.
A glass of ice cold water
Think about standing outside in that sweltering summer heat, having just finished weedeating or some other miserable summertime task that has you dying for a glass of water. Sweat is dripping off your brow and into your eyes causing them to burn a bit. But you look over on the steps by the door and there is a thing of remarkable beauty. Someone has set out for you an ice-cold glass of water. The glass is full of ice cubes and the water is glistening inside that glass – beckoning you to come over and drink it. Beads of condensation are running down the sides of the glass. Your hand grabs that cold, wet glass – it feels so good that you even get a little shiver – and you put the rim of the glass to your lips. The coldness is about to be on your tongue, you tilt your head back to take your first big swallow and to feel that ice-cold goodness pour down the back of your parched, dry throat. And as you pour it into your mouth, you get a terrible shock as you realize it is a glass of salt water. The salt is all in your mouth, and you find yourself spitting and sputtering out nasty salt water. What a terribly cruel joke.

It looked like what you needed, your desire for it was so strong, but once you tasted it, you found that it didn’t satisfy in any way.

Ocean water contains seven times more salt than the human body can safely ingest. Drinking it, a person dehydrates because the kidneys demand extra water to flush the overload of salt. The more saltwater someone drinks, the thirstier he gets. You can actually die of thirst while drinking water.

In this life, we can do the same thing as we lust after the things of this world instead of for Jesus. We thirst desperately for something that looks like what we want. Something that will make living enjoyable – that will give us a sense of satisfaction and joy. We try all sorts of things. We don’t realize, however, that all these things that we are trying are the opposite of what we really need. We are thirsty for something in life that will bring us true satisfaction, but we are not drinking from the right fountain. Jesus says He is the Living Water – the only fountain that satisfies completely.

Whatever you are filling your life with – if it is not Jesus – it will not fully satisfy. It might give a moment of happiness, but in a short matter of time, life seems empty again. Only when you are filling your life with Jesus, does life make sense and bring satisfaction. It is only then that everything else fall into its proper place and can be properly enjoyed. Take a moment today to be certain that you are filling your life with Jesus, the Fountain of Living Water.

Don’t drink in salt-water – drink in Jesus.

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Christian Living

The Storms of Life

“What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Seasoned fishermen. Long hours on the water. Tough & capable.
Words we could use to describe Jesus’ disciples.

These men were probably more at home on the water than on the land.
And so they knew when it was time to be concerned. And they were there.
They found themselves in a storm so fierce that they feared for their lives.

Does that sound familiar to your own situation? We are seasoned at handling the things in life that blow our way. We are completely self-sufficient, or so we think. But then we unexpectedly find ourselves facing a storm of life that is so far beyond our own control. A storm that, when it slams into us, we are helpless & hopeless as we try to face it on our own.

The disciples tried to handle the storm in their own power… “We are the fishermen. We are used to the water. Jesus is just a carpenter. Why wake him? What could he do to help?” This, of course, is the root of the problem in many of our situations… failing to call upon Jesus soon enough due to our fighting the terrible storm in our own strength.

But eventually the disciples accepted their own inability to master the situation. And at that moment they had at least one necessary ingredient for true faith — an awareness of their helplessness as they realized… “We’re going to drown!” At that moment they cried out to Jesus – mostly out of desperation rather than with faith that he would actually stop the storm, since they did not yet have a full grasp of who He was.

But when Jesus heard their cry, He did something about it. And it proved who He was.
Jesus is not only able to rescue… He desires to do so!

Certainly He can do so regarding our eternity, but as the disciples found out, Jesus also desires to bring rescue in our everyday lives. Jesus wants to be our daily Savior – saving us from the life we would have without Him. He says – “I have come that you might have life, life more abundantly.”

And the type of saving He provided – that of perfect calm – tells us what kind of man Jesus is.

The One with complete power and authority over all things.

Such power can do far more than just calm a storm or heal a sickness. It can transform life. That’s the business He’s in, and that is what this storm story is really about – who Christ really is. Though the disciples are rescued, the story is not really about what we can get out of Him, but rather that Jesus – One who has the power to end a storm with His voice – can be no less than God Himself. Therefore, He is worthy of worship, irrespective of when & How he chooses to use that power in our lives.

And if that is the truth, then we need to…
1. Be about the business of the Father – not your own business;
2. Be anxious for nothing – know that you are in God’s hands;
3. Don’t wait to cry out to God – He wants to be your daily Savior – helping you to experience daily abundant life and transformation; and
4. Know that Jesus is God, and He has the power to save completely & will use that power in our lives to bring glory to Him.

Sometimes Jesus will use His power to still the storms in our lives, and sometimes they will be unstilled – but it will always be done in a way that will bring glory to His name – something that we should be honored to be a part of.

How has Jesus stilled storms of life you faced?

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Christian Living

Reshaping Yourself

A lot of us look in the mirror and don’t love what we see. And I’m not just talking about physical appearances. Though you are probably your biggest critic regarding the image that looks back at you from the mirror, you are also the only one who truly knows your heart. And for many of us, we still aren’t pleased with who we are internally. We want to be in the process of reshaping and remolding ourselves, but maybe we haven’t quite figured out how.

Here is the simple answer:

“What do you love? You will certainly become what you love.”

Seriously? How can this be the answer? It has to do with our hearts. What we allow our hearts to pursue continues to shape who we are. That works both for negative habits and traits as well as for godliness. For example,

“Do you love holiness? Then you will become holy. Do you love the Word of God? Then you will become like Christ, the living Word. Do you love the name of Jesus? Then your life will manifest His name before all men.”

I agree with these authors who have simply stated the truth – as you love and pursue God, you will become more godly and righteous.

Not only does God want this for you, but you also owe it to yourself and to your children. You were created to point people to God and as you do so you will find that you love fulfilling that purpose.

“You owe it to God to illustrate His name beautifully before your children. How far are you willing to go to paint that picture? …How committed are you to calling sin, sin?” How willing are you to move toward more holiness and Christlikeness? As you spend more time with Christ, you will see “more clearly than ever that you have no right to stay the same wherever you’re missing the Lord’s mark. You must walk normally like Christ and listen well to the Spirit so that you can complete the task at hand.”

We work out and run and sweat in the process of reshaping our bodies, but until we engage in reshaping our inner self, we will never be satisfied. Reshape yourself into the image of Jesus by falling more in love with Him.

(quotes are from Every Man’s Challenge by Arterburn and Stoeker)

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Christian Living

A New Tradition for Christmas

I recently shared this with my church and thought it would be good to share here as well…

We will all soon be ready to exchange gifts with one another at Christmas. In past years that would mean that Paige and I would be frantically shopping to find gifts for our family members and friends. The funny thing is…none of them ever needed any new gifts. They already had more stuff than would fit in all their closets and shelves. Have you experienced the same thing with your family? So instead of continuing to scratch our heads over what to buy, we decided to take a different approach these past few years.

Not only did we want to focus more on the true meaning of Christmas, we also wanted the children in our family to better understand the gift of Jesus and how His love should change our lives. Therefore, each adult in the now family brings about fifty bucks to put into a “pool” of funds. We then have the children in the family look through a Missions Catalog, such as the Samaritan’s Purse “Help Others at Christmas” gift catalog, to choose how we will spend the money to bless others.

The children have a great time in picking out items to help other children and families around the world – last year they chose baby chickens, a hive of honeybees, a fishing boat, medicine for health needs, Bibles, and more! Instead of searching through a toy catalog to shop for themselves, the children end up searching for gifts to give to other people in real need. This leads to some great “teachable moments” as we discuss with them the needs of others and how missionaries can use the gifts to share Christ with the families they serve. After choosing all the gifts, we say a prayer asking God to use the gifts to bless the families and to draw the family members to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

When we finished our Christmas celebration using this new tradition these past years, we hadn’t just swapped gift cards with one another… we felt that we had helped each other better understand the real meaning of Christmas by celebrating what Christ did for us and how important it is that we share Him. During this Christmas season, I hope that you will continue to think of ways to help your family be “on mission” for God.

And if your family does something special to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, share that with the rest of us. I know I’d love to hear about it and be able to share it with my church family to give them more ideas for next year!